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I've just used drop pods& caravanning to get my AI core. When the pods appear on the map (drop on edge) they're inside a mountain along with the enemy mortar base, meaning I can't see my pawns or the enemy. Caravanning allowed my lot to appear in the visible third of the map, but still came under fire from the mortar crew with no way to tell where to dig to access the enemy emplacement (& the building containing the core)

I eventually managed to gain access to the hidden area by waiting (while under mortar fire) for the 'spare' enemy to dig his way out to gain access to me, but it was a tough & very close call!

I've not seen a similar report of this sort of thing, so I thought I'd better report it. A save is available if you wish..

Something I did notice were dead megascarabs lying around (hypothermia, it was winter), did that set them off? A glitch assuming that I'm causing the damage?
Thanks

Bugs in A17+will aggro towards your pawns if harmed, no matter where the dmg came from. This makes them a PITA & has already been reported as a bug (hah!) a few times

The new cave system in B18 may help (bugs spawning but non-hostile), but I've yet to encounter one in my preferred biome(s)

From what you've written ISTM the bugs were aggro-ing due to environmental (temp) dmg. I hope this is addressed, but that's up to DEVs to balance (eg player-initiated firestrike on sealed room vs natural biome temp)..

BTW did you take a look at temps within the spawn area? Bugs shouldn't be able to spawn at <-17C (A17 stats), so unless you've been digging deeply & greedily into undermountain & then heating those areas they shouldn't have appeared..

Grow skill will automatically prioritise plant cutting only if crops are at 100% to generate max yield; I'm unsure if sowing trumps this (I can see arguments either way)

Painting areas with 'harvest/cut plants' will allow pawns to  clearcut an area (eg for building/materials) while ignoring yield; this uses 'cut plants' skill. Again I can see arguments either way..

I'm not even sure if swapping 'grow' & 'cut' skills in the priority tree helps that much: some colonies will prefer one over the other; others won't care that much (eg look at tropical forest vs arid shrubs vs temperate)

Since medicine/drugs don't got any quality, you don't need a higher skill in these 2 categories, it don't even speed up the crafting process.

(but apparently intellectual does, for some odd reason..)

My understanding is that the low-light adjustment was removed a couple of versions ago & hasn't returned in B18 (I did check some pawns during battles & couldn't seea 'darkness' penalty to attk or def). Whether this will be reintroduced/adjusted in future builds I leave for DEVs to decide..

Don't see a problem meself: if you want the grow zone harvested immediately paint 'harvest plants' over the relevant zone, otherwise growers will wait until the plants are 100% mature before they're harvested (to gain max yield). Turn up 'cut plants' in appropriate pawns' work priorities to enable efficient cutting of immature plants/trees, once selected as above

The dodo example from earlier is not a good one, though, because it wasn't humans that hunted the dodo to extinction, it was the rats, cats, dogs and other predators they brought with them that the dodo didn't naturally defend against (by, for example, building nests high up in trees like other birds do).

My understanding was that the dodo's extinction was mainly caused by 'local' whalers needing food (meat, eggs) for their crews (& passing their reccommendations around  to other captains for good food spots), but I'm perfectly happy to accept rats & other immigrant predators may have had a significant effect..

Shouldn't be the swamp a difficulte biome then Arid/forest like when you play as tribe ?
And even when you turn most swamps area into soil, you still got a higher infection rate and different flora then at other biomes.

..and, somewhat oddly, no 'free' med or food plants, same as tropical/jungle..

I actually find your argument a bit off. Animals don't really learn to be afraid of us, as much as they just are naturally because of our size and other factors. Why I say they don't learn is because if that were true the animal offspring would have no clue and it would effectively "reset" that behavior each generation. They are not like humans where the parents can tell their offspring about these dangerous mushrooms or bears or whatever.

Animal predators in the wild are 'taught' by their parents (social animals such as wolves etc) once weaned, or tend to be rarer because they're left on their own (eg reptiles, snakes); this mortality rate is offset by the larger initial gene pool (eg egg clutches) the latter tend to produce. Birds do similar things, altho they may fall between the two..

If you remove the time limit you need to remove the "safety" too. AFAIK you can't get raided on any temporary map nor do you get incidents.
If you leave the implementation as is and just remove the time limit it's just exploitable. If you are willing to change the implementation further just to remove a time limit that is not a big problem IMO there are a bunch of questions you have to address regarding wealth, raids, incidents etc.

FWIW I've experienced several events (including raids/manhunter packs & even caravans) while exploiting temporary maps in A17 up to time limit; I've no idea if this has been removed in B18 but I think not: ISTR a raid occurring while I was happily mining out some components recently (during timeout ofc..)

Totally agree with your take on the time limit, however

Finally, let the trees, especially cold species, grow when it's cold.

Yes. There should be at least 1 or 2 trees like Pine that grow in the cold. Instead of stopping their growth at 0°C slow it gently down and stop it -20°C or something like that.

I think the biggest issue lies with clothing. It needs to be much closer in term of balance. Allow leather tuque, remove the work penalty on parka, and add a social impact on tuque. That would greatly close the gap.

Absolutely disagree. Since I'm not on board with your balancing premise at all I can't see no reason for this change. Bowler hats and cowboy hats have a social impact because they are stylish. Most tuques not so much. And do you see many people in leather tuques? Maybe some bikers but than it is more for wind protection and style than for warmth. And work penalty for extreme warm outdoor clothing (read: thick and cumbersome) just makes sense.

Ever seen a tree explode because it freezes (ice volume expansion)? I have, once; it's not something you want to be nearby as 2' long 'splinters' can really ruin your day, plus it's completely unpredictable (unlike, say, a dead limb dropping: an experienced woodsie could spot the latter potential)

WRT the headgear issue I find it odd that bowler (derby) hats offer no extra protection; that's what they were designed for initially (cf c18-c19 gamekeepers, then police/security forces before helmets). WRT temp protection perhaps make tribal veil (or even headdress)  similar to a balaclava/scarf combo, with accompanying social penalty? As said above, leather tuques would be effectively useless vs -ive temp

WRT general clothing I agree that (wool) dusters are currently imbalanced, but it's hard to see how they (& other overclothes) may be tweaked within the scope of the game design. Parkas slowing movement is slightly more nonsensical than degrading manipulation IMO, but still makes a certain amount of sense; maybe dusters should degrade manipulation a little (due to long sleeves/coattails getting in the way of precise work) too?

I expect 14 days for the refugee mission is to allow enough time for them to heal to walking status (given tribal-level unskilled medics); about the others I've no opinion

Most any animal, including small to medium size predators, would FLEE at the SOUND of a gunshot. Only a few animals, including some non-predator animals, would become and maintain aggression if actually shot. A wild boar might actually charge you if you shot it. A grizzly might, too. Anyway, this is a game. Fact is, normal wildlife represents no threat to humans with heavy weapons (e.g, 308 rifle, 12 gauge shotgun). Is that what you want to see here?

Yes? What would be better would be if animals avoided my colony all together. Wolves don't just wander into the middle of a populated, bustling area full of humans.

I suspect you both miss the point: animals /learn/ to be afraid of predators (including humans). Some animals (especially predators) will attack something they perceive as dangerous; most will flee (the classic fight/flight response). Eg the dodo became extinct because its limited biome (certain islands) allowed it no time to recognise humans as predators when they came ashore; likewise other (human-driven) extinction (& near-extinction) events for certain other (sub-)species, including some apex predators for human trophies (under the guise of 'protection' of humans/livestock/land)

Animals that have no violent contact with humans have no reason to learn to be wary (see eg  Monkey Temples in Nepal etc). Nothing to do with the sound of a gunshot (altho that /may/ be perceived by the animal as a close lightning strike, something they may have learned to avoid due to accompanying flames).

See numerous naturalist/explorer accounts over the last 150yrs to confirm the above..

I don't think you can overdose on Penoxycycline or Luciferium,

In A17 I had one pawn become addicted to Peno (I got the timings wrong, I think); no idea if this is still possible in B18..

FWIW IIRC Peno only needs to be administered once every 5 days to gain the benefit. I think the Lucy min admin time is 2 days, but it may be 1; I never use it

Pawns are too much of delicate little snowflakes. Horrible penalties for bad moods, and other than less a chance of someone going on a murderous rampage, very little in the way of reward for having happy people.

Keep 'em happy & they're far more likely to have a new buff rather than a break (altho how useful the buff will be for a particular pawn is moot ATM..)