Messages

Not a lot of news except the developers are working on it.

https://ludeon.com/forums/index.php?topic=35510.0

I have this mechanoid idea for which I want to get some feedback.

It is based on a Screamer type 1 - autonomous robot saw blade. See http://screamersencyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/Screamer_Type_1 for some ideas.

These screamer mecha can arrive via ship crash or other random events when mechanoids show up. The difference with the current mechanoids is that they will find a place to hide under ground and stay hidden for at least a few (>5?) days.


Characteristics
- melee attacks only (big saw blade)
- high movement speed and slow turning speed
- when moving makes a screeching sound w/ effects like psychic drone all genders
- low armour
- has AI with high chance to go berserk
- while dormant undetectable / cannot be hit

dormant mode
- The mecha will sleep under ground until awakened. During this time the mecha cannot be harmed or found unless ground penetrating radar is build.
- With the radar you can find the general area where the mecha is sleeping.
- Mecha will try to repair itself for movement but not armour and AI.

how to trigger/awaken the mecha
- If a large group of moving entities is passing through the detection zone (ie 5 block radius around mecha)
- Lightning strikes
- Explosions (ie mortar shells)

mobility
- High movement speed but slow turning speed.
- Limited to soft surfaces only, unable to move through rocks, concrete and steel flooring.
- Can move through wood flooring but at lower speed

attack mode
- attack normal - attacks alive creatures and enemies
- attack berserk - attacks anyone even the pawns controlling it.
- cannot be targeted by user to specific enemies.

upon hits on mecha
- 10% chance to go berserk
- 10%chance to explode
- 5% chance to be downed
- 20% chance to reduce movement speed and melee strength
- 10% chance to go dormant

capturing
- downed mech can be rescued
- mecha needs repair before deploying
- needs AI controller? to deploy
- needs AI controller? to prevent attack on pawns.

resource requirements
- AI controller ?
- Power consumption to maintain control?
- repair items ?

The idea is that this mecha will give another type of enemy - a "cloaked smart hunter mine".  One that is hard to find but if the user forgets about it it can play havoc on the colony/life on the map.  Even if a colony controls several mecha's, it's not a guarantee the mecha's won't turn against the colony.

Let me know what you think about this enemy?

Tynan on Twitter yesterday:

"A18 still developing! Swamp biomes, caves, named world features (oceans, ranges, deserts, etc), new art description tales, new plants, &more"

Maybe we will get Alligators, Storks and Frogs?

River based creatures that can attack pawns would be awesome so alligators+swamp is a nice twist! Looking forward to A18

You're right and that's why I choose "close to vanilla". Many QoL mods are fine tough some may argue that they are actually changing already too much. It really depends on personal preferences.

Take some of the mods to make & install prosthetics for humans and animals. Definitely not vanilla but OP depends on how the mod is balanced (ie resource used, mood impact, chances on failure to operate etc).

My own goal is to identify a set of QoL + minor mods as a baseline to start games. On top of that I may still add mods for specific purposes (ie combat extended, slavery etc). For development of mods I want to make sure that everything works with this baseline set.

Without pictures it's hard to guess but it is usually

Tick ON Allow non-dead man's apparel.
Tick ON Allow smeltable and non-smeltable weapons.

These fields should only apply to workbenches - a small bug

[limited set of Mods]

I am starting with some first work on mods but I am running into issues that my Rimworld mods (for the games) are causing some issues.

is there a way to run Rimworld with a limited set of Mods (Misc Core, Hugs lib etc) through command line for Dev reasons and in normal mode (all my QoL etc mods) for gaming purposes? Mod-E could do it AFAIK but i wonder if there is a better way?

I've tried to run Rimworld in VirtualBox on Ubuntu too but it seems very slow with 2CPU and 8GB as resources assigned. The dev world I am running is the 5% coverage with 200x200 size. My host OS is W10 64 w/ i7 quad core and 16GB w/ Steam client

yeah, concerning clothes dusters are the answer to everything in rimworld
If only nudists would like them.

Not sure if they agree in extreme low temperature situations - I don't see any eskimos in a kilt   

In later game research the deep dril + ground-penetrating scanner. Once you have the scanner, find the smallest pockets of resources (about 2x1 to max 2x2). These smallest pockets are usually uranium and should produce 75 Ur per completed haul.

i'm trying to build my first mod with new walls and lights. The idea is to add new types of walls and new types of walls with build-in lights.

I could use some pointers where to look for:

• make a light switch on / off depending on day/night cycle
• configure the night, after constructing, for pawns to set the  day/nigh/on/off and color (depending on colored lights research)

Wait.. is colony manager not OP? I never tried since it looks like it does everything for you? I guess that's a gray area.

I guess the definition of OP is not clear. For me something is OP if the benefits out way the cost far too much vs Vanilla
So "Tilled Soil" is OP as it increase the crops output without any cost to build it. "SuperSoil" may not be OP as it is very expensive to upgrade a single tile.

"Colony manager" issues orders based on rules set by the user like: cut plants in areas near windmills or cut wood if stock < X. An user can do this but becomes tedious in big colonies and usually always after the fact (ie run out of wood / food / energy). Its a job that costs time for a pawn but saves time for the user. Not OP for my standards.

  thanks - going to have a look at that one!

Misc.Training
Hospitality
Tilled Soil
I would have to disagree with these mod being Vanilla, to many extra features, they are great mods and i have trouble not using some of them, but they certainly are not Vanilla.

Misc. Training & Quality Builder can be used to improve skills. The silly/tedious vanilla alternative would be build several beds out of stone blocks or to have someone drafted and shoot at walls.

Tilled soil - ok maybe not vanilla enough but what about "Super soil" - it requires a lot of research and it is (very) costly to improve the soil.
Hospitality - why do you think it's too OP for vanilla?

I would add in auto seller, it doesn't change any of the prices or enable you to do anything you couldn't do yourself
numbers  - saves a lot of time digging for those little pieces of info.
map re-roll   saves time on having to start a new colony just to get a decent starting map
plant cutting is for Growers
silly builder surgery is for doctors
bulk drug burning

Most of them I don't know - will have to check them.

For plant cutting / silly building I use fluffy worktab mod - reallign work priorities in the way I want them. Ex: repair vs construction priorities.

bulk crafting recipes (as long as they don't change the per unit cost)

"Feed the colonist" like "Bulk Craft" will reduce the cost per unit a bit but this is an IRL scenario too. If you cook at home for 4 people you have less waste and cost than cooking 4 x for 1 people. So a 3.75 usage for 4 meals is reasonable IMHO.

StackXXL

I use this mod in x2 mode, not x10. This allows for hoarding (and indeed more powerful raids) but also keeps the base more organised.
So game changer yes but it doesn't change the game balances

I have (guess everybody has) a particular way to setup jobs for a given bench.

Lets take a tailoring bench as example:
Winter clothing jobs (parka, toque) - range X - drop on floor - Make until you have 1 - Count only if quality is >=Normal - Resources: cold insulating cloth/wools
Summer clothing jobs (duster, cowboy hat) - range X - drop on floor - Make until you have 1 - Count only if quality is >=Normal - Resources: heat insulating cloth/wools
Other clothing jobs (pants, shirts etc) - range X - drop on floor - Make until you have 1 - Count only if quality is >=Normal - Resources: none-heat/cold insulating cloth/wools + leathers

Similar things for Art, Machining table, Cooking etc.

These jobs are tedious to setup right and I make them for every colony (but pause some of them based on biome/situation)

Is there a way to save these job profiles and reuse them in another colony?

[not OP]

I would like to know which A17 MODs you consider that are not OP, close to Vanilla and still improve the overal game experience.

Here's my thought on this:

• Colony Manager, Relations Tab, Medical Tab, and Work Tab
• Quality Builder
• I Can Fix That
• Feeding the Colony
• Allow Tool
• Defensive Positions
• Hand Me That Brick
• JTReplaceWalls, JTExport
• Misc.Training
• StackXXL
• StackMerge
• Hospitality
• Tilled Soil

Not sure about these ones:

• Fishing - still works in an ice biome !?
• Repair workbench - allows you to repair anything if you have the mending packs so not a free trade.
• Mending - OP for me as you repair without the kits, removes the "D" label too.
• Recycle - breaks down clothes/weapons to get back some of the materials (<50% AFAIK)
• EDB PrepareCarefully - OP if you don't use the points limit function. 
• SuperSoil - big tradeoff between cost to upgrade a single tile vs improved crop results - OP vs Vanilla

Updated: based on feedback

I guess pawns can't self-tend when they are laying on their back.

Not sure if this is a bug or a feature