Just make raiders open doors.

[b0rsuk]

It's no secret Rimworld has no locks. Forbidden doors are just that - forbidden. If you use a psychic animal pulser, your own pets will go through your doors and eat you. Berserking colonists are not stopped by doors either. Animals go and eat what they want.

So why not just make things consistent ? Make raiders open doors. That will be a very easy fix to the "whack-a-mole" strategy with colonists who shoot at raiders from doors and close doors if targeted or approached in melee.

If you really want to have locks in the game, make them have like 50 HP and cost a component. 50 HP and a granite door is busted open. But it's not destroyed and can be repaired relatively cheaply, or used without a lock to isolate you from bad temperature, etc.

Either way I expect an official and consistent stance on doors. Either they have no locks and raiders open them, or they do have locks and we  can lock stuff from people and animals.

[Mihsan]

Solid point, I agree.

[BetaSpectre]

IMO they should have locks, but outsiders that need to pass will tear them down. If you want to go to war over the matter then it'll be up to the colony then.

[Hans Lemurson]

I think you should be able to equip them with scyther-blade booby traps:  Make Doors open Raiders.

[SpaceDorf]

This could be another distinction between normal doors and autodoors.

But I agree with b0rsuk .. one way or the other .. it should be consistent.

[O Negative]

Pretty solid suggestion, if you ask me.

Although, killbox fanatics may disagree.

[Aerial]

+1

Though this might be a behavior to reserve for the highest three difficulty levels so that those playing on easy settings can still hunker down and be (largely) safe inside their bases. 

That's not criticism.  People play the game for different reasons and like different aspects of it.  But for those who want significant pressure from the raids without being outnumbered 20:1, the OP's suggestion could really help.

[PiggyBacon]

It use to be colonists had keys to the doors. Only they could use the doors nothing else if they were knocked out they couldn't use the door unless they picked the key up again. Same went with raiders if they got a colonist key they could use the doors. But that was forever ago it seems.

[b0rsuk]

Doors are currently extremely effective as de facto embrasures. I know, because I abused them so much I'm sick of it. It's like I'm playing on a different difficulty level than the one listed.

Door peeking is extremely effective against raiders, and manhunters as well. Against my colonies manhunters don't last a single day. You just need multiple stone doors spanning some distance. I think door peeking makes the game more shallow because I don't remember a time when I had to *sneak* past sleeping manhunters.

A natural solution for manhunters would be making the entire pack fall back beyond rifle range if they can't reach tasty pinkskins. But I would accept manhunters able to open doors. They would only do so if provoked with shooting. Current situation is that manhunters are fully capable of destroying doors, and fast, they just don't do so out of kindness of heart.

[O Negative]

I'm not sure how I feel about any animals being able to open anything other than an auto-door. It's actually always bothered me to see chickens roaming around opening my doors and what-not.

I still agree with the idea the initial idea, but giving the manhunting boomalopes & boomrats the capacity to enter your base bothers me.

[Aerial]

I'm not sure how I feel about any animals being able to open anything other than an auto-door. It's actually always bothered me to see chickens roaming around opening my doors and what-not.

I still agree with the idea the initial idea, but giving the manhunting boomalopes & boomrats the capacity to enter your base bothers me.

I don't think manhunters should be able to open doors, but they should be willing and able to batter them down to get to the munchies and crunchies hiding inside.   Some rebalance to the scaling of manhunter pack size with difficulty/wealth would be needed in that case.

[O Negative]

I don't think manhunters should be able to open doors, but they should be willing and able to batter them down to get to the munchies and crunchies hiding inside.   Some rebalance to the scaling of manhunter pack size with difficulty/wealth would be needed in that case.

Heh, agreed. They kind of already do this, though. If a manhunting animal sees a colonist, they'll follow them and start bashing on the door they just went through. The bigger animals are far more likely to succeed in getting through said door(s). I'd like to see a decent nerf in hitpoints to doors and building made of wood, while walls and stone/metal "buildings" are much sturdier. A healthy human should be able to knock a standard door down in just a few (3) hits.

It would certainly make things more interesting, even with the addition of locked doors.

Heck, I just thought of something else, too. Manufacturing keys to be put in the inventory of colonists. Having extras lying around could be a hazard if a prison break ever occurred. Gotta say, I'm liking the idea of lockable doors the longer I think about it

[b0rsuk]

Rimworld used to have door keys but they were removed for some reason. But it was before I joined.

I'm mostly annoyed by the mess and inconsistency. What is this, Javascript ? Animals can open doors if they're from your colony. Manhunters can't open doors, unless they're your animals frenzied by psychic animal pulser. Humanlikes can open doors if they belong to your faction, or not if they belong to a hostile faction, or they can open if they're visitors. Jailbrakers can open doors - I think ? But berserking prisoners bash doors. And here's the kicker: these things change without warning. Or rather, Tynan doesn't document all changes in changelogs.

[PetWolverine]

I think it mostly makes sense if you think of them as still having keys, just not as an actual item, sort of like how everyone is equipped with an invisible pickaxe (or are they mining that granite with their bare hands?). Keys are distributed to friendlies only. Friendlies that are berserking still have their keys. A prison break happens when prisoners somehow steal or copy the keys, but a berserking prisoner doesn't have one. There's a consistency to it, although prison breaks make me want actual keys and locks for some sort of counterplay without amputating legs.

But animals opening non-autodoors still doesn't fit. That just seems like a sacrifice of realism for gameplay, because keeping animals would be too much of a pain to be worth it if a colonist always had to open the door for them.

[Sola]

Locked doors seems nifty. 
barred doors should not cost a component, but are one-way only.  (bar slides back into place as door closes)
locked doors should not cost a component (perhaps steel instead?), but the door takes longer to open (because key), and locks behind the pawn.  Alternatively, allow a "lock door, unlock door" option that works similar to "hold door open" feature.