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Messages - carbon

#346
Ideas / Re: Raid Balance
September 21, 2016, 04:51:57 PM
The save file in case someone wants to extract harder data than what I've provided.

[attachment deleted by admin - too old]
#347
Ideas / Re: Raid Balance
September 21, 2016, 04:50:09 PM
Finishing up my raid tracking colony:
D0 - D65
D65 - D120
D120 - D183(end) is here

Save game at endpoint can be found below.

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Non-raid overview:

Spent the first half of the summer indoors due to fallout. For late Summer and early Fall, I did the best I could to greatly expand my indoor growing operation before the cold set in again. Aimed to ease cashflow problems with excess food and goods to sell. My stonecutters struggled to keep up as the rock chunks were getting farther and farther from base.

Finally finished the Deep drilling scanner which took ungodly amounts of research since I'm a Tribal. Spent most of the Winter trying to locate a plasteel deposit in preparation for building a ship out of here. Found one after about 12 exploratory drill rigs hit steel instead. With that running and my grow operation producing lots of food to sell, my wealth really starts spiking. In the first 10 seasons it reached 150k, that doubles to 300k within another 2 seasons.

I get ready to build the ship, but I still haven't had a psychic ship land at any point, so I call in a set of 4 exotic traders at the same time. After some price shopping, my man "Kazz" hooks me up with an AI core for a "measly" 3,806 silver. Sure, Kazz, whatever you say. I also start buying up bionics around that time point.

Turns out ships are actually really steel-costly to build. I desperately try to pump out enough of the stuff during the Spring to make the 3rd year anniversary deadline, but it just can't be done. Probably could have made it if I hadn't decided to include all the cosmetic enhancements on my ship, but spending all this effort just to leave in a flying pogo stick simply wouldn't do.

There was another infestation in there at some point. Too far and too exposed to be memorable.

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Raid overview:

Randy sends a pitiful 5 raiders on D120, who stand around like idiots getting fallout sickness before attacking.

Two sets of mech raids on D132 and D147. Can't figure out why, but all the mechs have only 60% movement despite being in perfect health. In the first instance, Randy tries to favor the mechs by giving them a manhunter hare as back-up. In the second instance, he sends me both friendlies and visitors, but counterbalances a bit by invoking a Zzztt... event while the fight is playing out. I have enough high quality weaponry at this point that the mechs get dealt with without much drama.

I captured a friendly tribal in the D147 battle to try to get at least one tribal raid by the end, but it wasn't to be.

D171 raid got partly distracted by my exploratory drill rigs far from base. The raid in general is a good example of why raids simply don't do as much damage once you have decent weaponry. Once you can essentially guarantee most of the enemies take at least modest damage in the initial confrontation, they are hobbled by wounds the rest of the fight and never pose a threat.

Psychic ship at D177 was too late to provide the AI core to my ship. I wasn't going to take the chance of a close quarter exchange like in year 2. I tried setting up some explosive traps around it and used exclusively snipers to engage. The traps were really lackluster. Only one was triggered and did pitiful damage. Good news is 4 decent quality snipers make mechs a non-threat.

One last raid on D179 looked to be a bruiser. 4 Triple rocket launchers (triprocks) made me think I might actually be in trouble. Then, 3 seconds later, two traders I had called a few days earlier drop in. One of them was only a few tiles away from the raiders. The trader AI really can't deal with threats in-transit, so they were largely on the receiving end of the punishment, but at least they baited all 4 triprocks without me having to lift a finger. What was left of the raid didn't hold up to the first exchange of gunfire I had with them.

----

No major casualties this year, so the totals for the colony are:

3 Dead (1 to sniper fire, 2 to inferno mechs)
2 Permanent injuries (both bionic'd by the end)

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Synopsis:

At no point did Randy Intense ever send a 2:1, Pirates:Colonists ratio raid or higher at me. It's possible that's due in part to my lower wealth (tundra is harsh for tribals), but playing on an easier biome would simply have made getting better weapons and gear a breeze. I never did unlock making charge rifles or power armor. Not that it mattered.

Of the deaths, all were essentially preventable.

Manhunter raids, while there's snow on the ground, not a threat.

Friendlies, while helpful in theory, need to come more prepared for whatever threat they are dealing with and spawn closer.

Even if a woman rejects your advances the first 25 times, you should keep asking. She'll marry you eventually.  ;D

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Raid table, base at endpoint and my Cadillac of flying pogo sticks attached below. Save file will be one post down (attachment limits).

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#348
General Discussion / Re: Edit: Have Coolers overnerfed
September 21, 2016, 12:27:35 PM
Huh. Weird.

Unroofed and partially unroofed rooms no longer make any sense to me in this version. But that's a topic for another time.
#349
General Discussion / Re: Choosing clothes
September 21, 2016, 11:58:57 AM
From the generic bill info (negatives good for cold, positives good for heat)...

Hot weather clothing:
Cowboy hat = +8 Heat

Mixed weather clothing:
Duster = -15 Cold, +15 Heat
Power Armor Helmet = -3 Cold, +3 Heat

Cold weather clothing:
Power Armor = -45 Cold
Parka = -40 Cold, -3 Heat
Jacket = -15 Cold
Tribalwear = -10 Cold
Tuque = -10 Cold, -2 Heat
Button-down shirt = -4 Cold
T-shirt = -3 Cold
Pants = -3 Cold

No Temperature impact:
Armor Vest
Kevlar Helmet
Psychic Foil Helmet
Military Helmet

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I believe that's everything. T-shirts and pants do not impact hot weather tolerances.
#350
General Discussion / Re: Choosing clothes
September 21, 2016, 11:24:32 AM
If it's 46 degrees outside, you're going to want dusters and cowboy hats on your colonists. T-shirts and pants don't have an impact on high temperature tolerances.

Just make two outfits: one for warm weather, one for cold weather. Make the switch for everyone from one to the other when they start going out of their tolerances. EDIT: What Serenity said^

OR just make wool dusters. Wool-based dusters basically solve any and all temperature related problems.
#351
General Discussion / Re: Edit: Have Coolers overnerfed
September 21, 2016, 11:14:06 AM
I was going to point that out as well. Heat-sink-chimneys were what was heavily nerfed recently. The coolers themselves seem to be operating more or less normally.

You're going to need a bigger heat sink. Something on the order of 10 or so unroofed tiles are now required to maintain outside temperature in a room. I find that a heat-sink-hallway in the middle of my base that's partly unroofed is a good way to go.
#352
Ideas / Re: Armor & Shields
September 20, 2016, 09:39:40 PM
Sexy snowwoman armor? Check!

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#353
General Discussion / Re: Joywire
September 20, 2016, 05:31:10 PM
I just checked, looks like social skills don't require any consciousness check.

If you had a colonist who simply recruited and sweet talked traders all day, you can joywire them and not impact their performance, so long as they don't walk around much.
#354
General Discussion / Re: Joywire
September 20, 2016, 11:58:29 AM
Since we're on the topic, does anyone actually use joywires and not regret it? If so, in what context?

I always found the "cripple everything just to be happy" trade-off to be unreasonable. Painstoppers, by comparison, make for a decent trade-off. Your colonists shrug off injuries, but are more likely to be killed rather than preemptively downed in combat. It's great for older folks who are dogged by chronic pain, but don't see much combat.
#355
It would be cool if they could leave the map healthy and pass along word to their spacer buddies about how great you are. As a result the next trade ship that enters orbit will give you a really good deal on a few (random) items.

Capture and release method is definitely the way to go if you want to make sure the person survives.
#356
General Discussion / Re: Who is Shearing My Camels?
September 19, 2016, 09:44:00 AM
One could argue that a wild camel / alpaca / etc would have a bunch of knots, burs and other junk accumulated in its hair that make its initial wool crop completely unusable for cloth making. Upon taming, they have their hair trimmed down and are allowed to regrow it in their domesticated environment where their hair is kept suitably clean for wool use.

Not sure how realistic that is, but if you had to justify the current system, it could work.
#357
Is there an echo in here? ::)
#358
General Discussion / Walls to limit blood splatter?
September 18, 2016, 07:54:31 PM
You build a hospital. It's all clean and sterile. Then you actually start using it and the blood ends up everywhere, ruining that sterile nature you worked so hard to ensure. So I was wondering if there is a way to reduce or at least limit the amount of blood splatter from patients who are actively bleeding or undergoing healing work.

Two things I noticed about blood splatter:
1) Blood seems to be limited to 5 units per tile
2) Blood tends to get put down in a 1 tile radius around the bleeder

So what happens if you put walls down around your patients to try to limit blood on the floor? Does it act to limit or even reduce the amount of contamination, or does the blood simply migrate further in other (non-walled) directions?
#359
Ideas / Re: Raid Balance
September 18, 2016, 12:23:05 PM
Second update for my quantitative raid tracking colony covering D65 - D120. First update (D0 - D65) can be found here for those interested.

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Non-Raid overview:

Given I'm on Randy Intense, a lull in the action was inevitable. The second summer and fall were that lull. One infestation occurred on D67, but I didn't even bother to include it on the raid table since it was far enough away to not present an active threat. Dispatched with only one minor bite from a scarab.

A slaver must have heard my earlier calls for more manpower, because they arrived with two slave who actually had decent stats for once. Bought both eagerly and put them to work.

Winter was tough as far as weather. Had recurring brown outs due to lack of sunlight. Repeatedly forced to shut off nearly everything but the heaters to keep my plants and colonists warm. Had enough wood fuel to get through it and a few solar flares without cutting things too close. Power situation is much improved by end of the second year, so I don't anticipate a repeat going forward.

I'm still a bit lacking on things to sell (growing things being tough in the tundra). So my wealth and ability to buy shiny things has been reduced compared to what I'm used to, but I have all the necessities at this point.  We're definitely in mid-game territory.

Ler, the colonist who keeps hitting on all my females, finally has a lover. Maybe he'll finally stop having a -15 mood de-buff from all the rejections. Makes my life easier.

The colonists must have sensed the two year anniversary of the colony. They started a party to celebrate (pictured below).

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Raid overview:

The first raid after the summer lull was on D81, but I ended up being so disappointed by it that I willingly accepted a request for help from a model that same day. The second raid was certainly beefier, but still not above the 2:1 ratio. They were dispatched with only a few bits of wall knocked down and singed trees.

The D84 warg raid was interesting at least. They slaughtered a visiting trader and a prisoner I had released seconds before they came. However, so long as they are spread out around my base, it's easy enough to pick them off one at a time. Took 24h to do, but I dispatched them all without casualties. I still never figured out where the last two wargs went.

Compared to wargs, D93 muffalos running through thick snow are a joke. Poor traders.

The D100 Poison ship is the sort of event I would savescum if I were a less reputable player. I should have just taken potshots at it with sniper rifles until they were all dead. Instead, I stood way too close to it behind some walls and hoped a single EMP would somehow protect me. I realized what a horrible mistake that was when 6 mechs popped out on all different sides of the ship. The EMPer managed to stun a single scyther before he and another colonist were inferno cannoned out of cover and quickly gunned down. I tried to be a hero and save one of the downed, but my surrogate hero met a similar fate as the two before. Don't EVER be a hero when mechs are involved.

I really thought I was going to be completely overrun. Even Randy thought so. He spawned friendlies to "help", but 3 of the 4 only had pistols and they spawned on the opposite side of the map.
Thanks for nothing, Randy!

Good news is I was actually smart enough to position 2 snipers back from the main group to add supplemental sniper fire to the mix. They at least helped take out a few and provide distractions for the rest. A little praying and spraying and I somehow managed to pull through with only the initial two dead (of a total of 7 seven combat). My surrogate hero actually made a full recovery, but his savior took some flame to the eye.

Boomrat raids are fun. But again, spread out, in thick snow, not nearly the terrible threat you think they should be. Thick snow is the MVP of my colony this year.

The D115 sapper raid was the first sapper to actually do some real sapping. Three grenadiers concentrating on one spot can cut through slate walls like butter. Didn't help that I had two friendly fire incidents early on. My doors are still mostly unpowered stone, so repositioning to counter an enemy that's made it inside was tough. They made it as far as my prison before I could get a decent firing position on them. Sadly, one of the prisoners who died was the grandfather of Ler, who already lost his father in the first year. Ler is probably smart to choose non-violence.

Now I have fallout to deal with. Not that it matters much. Tundra never had many plants or animals to start with.

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Year #2 Major casualties:
2 Deaths
1 Burned eye (replaced with bionic)
1 Destroyed big toe

Raid table and current image of base attached.

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#360
Ideas / Re: Your Cheapest Ideas
September 18, 2016, 08:09:42 AM
Quote from: Tammabanana on September 18, 2016, 07:38:48 AM
...
* A 1x1 table, please? Good for smaller rooms. Sometimes those kids get right out of bed and start snacking in the middle of their bedrooms, without bothering to go to the kitchen table.  >:(
...

Better yet, make pawns able to eat off of chess boards as though they are tiny tables (which they are). It would already be well balanced given that chess boards are costly and time consuming to build, so in the vast majority of cases a small table is still better. But if you need a table and you simply can't afford a 2x3 space for it, a chess board could work.