Another alpha release, still can't play the game

[Omenpapa]

Nope, there isn't any technical issue, I could play the game if I would choose to, but...

I have a really hard time to start the game, by choosing a place and starter colonists. You can literally have millions of options here, and while this can be a positive thing for some ppl, I find it overwhelming and a lil bit cheap/not balanced. I want to know/feel what a specific difficulty can offer to you, but even after choosing the difficulty, u can have 10 times harder-easier time based on the colonists and place u choose.

1, I would prefer if instead of us choosing a square on the map, the game would give us general options for a biome and would take care of the rest.

2, I also feel that spamming the random button for the colonists is a really bad design or I guess lack there of(I hope that is just a placeholder). I would prefer if we could choose between presets with less randomness. For example we choose a goal/theme for our ship. Did we have a trader ship, a military ship, slavers etc. That would give us some basic starter equipments/items and also would tighten the pool of what kind of colonists we have.

I really hope we gonna see a mod which lets us start out something like this, or it would be even better if the game would feature such a thing.

Right now, I'm hyped abpout the new features, but I found myself spending 30mins again between the main menu and before the actual game starts. I just can't decide, and also not want to. This "forced me" to just alt-f4 the game again, just like when A9 came out. I wanna play the game ^^ Please help me ^^

Is it just me? Do you feel the same? Do you have some ideas how could the game improve on this part?

[XelNigma]

Either you are indecisive to a ludicrous level or you are trolling.

Regardless, I dont think much can be helped on your first issue.  I would suggest just picking a location with in the biome type you want and go with it, The maps are pretty much all the same when you get down to it. You can specify more by picking a flat or mountainous area.

Your second issue with the random colonists can be helped.  Get the Prepare Carefully mod, then go to reddit.com/r/rimworld and either ask or do a search for pawns others have made and use that as your preset pawns. Or better yet design your own. The mod also lets you pick what you start with, allowing you the roleplay of the type of ship you was on.

[Omenpapa]

I'm not trolling. I consider myself a min-maxer, and I also love challenge in games. It's kinda hard to min-max or even try to find the optimal gameplay, when there's no strict starting position/colonists setup.

I tried prepare carefully a couple alphas ago, and in that time It wasn't balanced at all. Like adding bad traits still lowered the amount of points we can spend on any traits, which made those traits pointless. Again, that was a half year ago or even more. I should check it out again probably.

I also consider myself a "theory crafter", and I love spending time with understanding the game mechanics,systems then optimalize then try another thing then optimalize again. I just can't do this in this game, since there's no "starter setup" at all, there's no reference point, simply because everything is just waay too random, even before u "start the game".

[Kegereneku]

Good game designers keep people from minmaxing with no effort, a video game is an experience where you have to confront odds using limited resources, unpredictable challenge and do so within the limit of the gameplay.
Else there is no game, the players would only apply obvious text-book solution without any challenge.

I have never liked the "Nintento hard" games with fake-difficulty, but nowadays it's rare to find a game that is really challenging in Normal mode, though I might just be too used to videogame.

However, alternative form of starting a game (like say : total randomization) are worth discussing.

[Omenpapa]

I do agree. The game shouldn't be like u have to do these and these and these in this order to win. That's lame and boring. The game should be random enough to not let you win with 1 single strategy all the time against everything.

I do usually play on the hardest diff too in most games, but not always. Mindless numeric difficulty like what vanilal skyrim had(+100% hp to mobs +100% dmg received from any source to ur char) might be okay, but simply increasing these numbers actually not adding alternative or better gameplay, thus I never touched the legendary difficulty.(I can kite a single mob forever, why would I want to kite it for 2 minutes instead of 30 secs for example).

In general, I prefer choices/some control over randomness, but a simple "start" button and randoming absolutely everything would be still better then the current version of the gamestart if u ask me. Is there an addon which does just this? So simply randoming a position to start at and also randoming the colonists?

[TLHeart]

want a random start, easy, generate the world, start colony, click on any spot  on map, accept the 3 random generated colonist the game gives you, and start playing a totally random start.  Nobody is forcing you to change the 3 randomly generated colonists.

[ItchyFlea]

Your colonists are so random because they simply were never meant to colonist a planet. They were passengers aboard a ship that went boom. They were the lucky ones to escape before that happened. Of course, now you control their fate.

Were they the lucky ones? Or were the ones who died in their longsleep pods on the ship the lucky ones?

[Boboid]

I've never seen someone with such intense analysis paralysis.

If you're struggling to learn about game mechanics because

since there's no "starter setup" at all, there's no reference point,

then you just need to actually have played the game more.

The solution to your problem is comprehension, but you're claiming comprehension is impossible because you're not willing to attempt something without sufficient information. Information you'll only be able to gather if you actually play the game.

Iteration isn't impossible in Rimworld, simply find a preset -arbitrarily or by your own design- and play it until your hands fall off. You'll get there eventually.

[wakko151]

I have no respect for you or your opinion. It just shouts lazy and unmotivated. The problem is not the game. The problem is you.

[Omenpapa]

I have no respect for you or your opinion. It just shouts lazy and unmotivated. The problem is not the game. The problem is you.

Wow, just wow

[Boboid]

I have no respect for you or your opinion. It just shouts lazy and unmotivated. The problem is not the game. The problem is you.

Wow, just wow

Well to be fair he's not wrong, he's just an asshole

[Omenpapa]

So you think I'm lazy and unmotivated? let me see.

Why do I post an issue with the game on the forum if I'm lazy? Why do I suggest an alternative?

Maybe I should had write something like "It's shit! Fix it!", that would be just as usefull, informative and motivated like wakko151's post.

I do beleive my issue is valid, and actually this topic came up yesterday at a streamer's channel on twitch. Another guy mentioned this same exact problem(he said he can't get into this game, because he hates the colonist creation system / spamming the random button)...Okay, not entirely the same problem, he didn't mention the colony's place picking as an issue.

Another fun fact, that I read today a topic on this forum(https://ludeon.com/forums/index.php?topic=12311.0) where a guy mentions this too. Sadly this was his first post, that's why I didn't say this earlier.. some might think I created another acc or something Anyway, we all "know, that I'm lazy and wouldn't do such a thing"

If I wouldn't care about this game(unmotivated) then I wouldn't even be here on the forums.

You say the problem is me, and not the game. I say to this that u might be right here. Why? Because most ppl who actually read game forums and participate in converzations like this, we can safely assume that they are passionate about the game. They either love it, or hate it. Me? Sorry, i'm not in those categories, which can make me a "problem".

I like the game enough to care about it, but this is not blind love, what wakko151 has.

The game is in early access/alpha state, where the dev, Tynan clearly interested in player feedback. I gave my single, biggest issue with the game and suggested a solution to the problem.

I think I'm doing what the dev kinda asked from us, giving constructive feedback.

You can agree or disagree with it, but calling names and be mean in general to me or anybody else on this forum won't help the game or me or u or anybody, which makes it pointless.

[Boboid]

This is quickly turning into a much larger discussion about accessibility and learning curves/walls.

I suggest you try some of the solutions mentioned above and then come back and report how it went. I suspect after playing 10 colonies under similar circumstances you won't feel the same.

Failing that not every game is for everyone.

[RemingtonRyder]

I guess the key here is to figure out what sort of colonists you can manage.

For example, colonists who can't haul or do some job types can make your starting three a bit inflexible. But equally, a starting three that are age 50+ with various ailments can struggle to support themselves.

But when you've played a particular setup, even if it's not a min-max, you have the experience to make it work.

Also, you can't always be picky about who you recruit when you get in-game. It's not XCOM. Sometimes you'll have to use what you've got.

[icepyrox]

So I'm kind of between everyone here, so let me offer my perspective.

I have very little issue choosing a spot except that the icons are a little hard to see so I have to select a few until I find what I want.

As for the colonists? I would like to see some of the randomness curbed based on difficulty or something. I'm still learning and playing casual so of course I'm not going to accept the biologically 68 yr old with a bad back, frail, and cataracts. I'm also not going to pick that person who is abrasive, nervous, and incapable of intellectual, dumb labor, and plant work.

If I was playing Randy on challenge, then sure, anything goes. I'm not there yet. I do find myself hitting random quite a bit to avoid what I feel would be a Randy build.

But here's the thing: I'm not really looking for the perfect colonists. I'll accept a chef with a bad back or a miner that's abrasive. In fact I love some of the traits that are somewhat negative just because they add flavor. I don't want to use Prepare Carefully and make the super awesome perfect colony. I just want the first 3 to have a possibility to live long enough (given my inexperience) to capture a 4th and recruit them.

Omenpapa does sound like someone who should play a colony or two with Prepare Carefully (or back the difficulty down a little - I personally backed down to base builder instead of Prepare Carefully) so he can actually get into the game long enough to learn what he needs, but I do feel he makes some points that would improve quality of life to some extent.

This game gets better with each release and I understand it's still alpha, but seriously, the reason it gets better is because there are suggestions out there and some make sense.