[Mod Request] Combat Events

[Xeldrakka]

Hey there folks. Just thought I'd post one of a couple of event ideas I've been mulling in my head and see if someone with a solid understanding of the game's coding language might find it interesting enough to take a crack. The general idea behind the events I have in mind is that each expands the combat options of the game as story telling mechanisms, and the idea here in particular was heavily inspired by some of the event options in Haplo's Miscellaneous mod.

The event would be a Colony sponsored attack against one of the worldly settlements. Tribals, raiders, and outlander towns would all be fair game, as would groups like Shinzy's Nordals and Pre-Transcendants if they're being implemented in your play through. Each settlement would have a difficulty based on a settlement strength number which would possibly be derived from  the amount of points they're capable of mustering in a raid, multiplied by a number assigned to each faction type. For example, you might assign a multiplier of 1.0 for tribals, 1.2 for outlanders, and 1.5 for mercenaries, plus or minus some random variation assigned to each settlement during worldgen.

You, as the player, would have to gather a chosen group of your colonists to form a fire team and send them out to attack the targeted settlement. The team would have its own strength number which would be based on its collective hunting skill, its collective doctoring skill, its average damage resistance, its average speed, its average weapon range, its average aim accuracy, and either its total weapon damage or its DPS (if such a thing can be calculated) or both to account for high damage from powerful weaponry like sniper rifles, high quality melee weapons, and shotguns while also counting sustained firepower from rapid fire weapons. Either a multiplier or additive based on the size of the fire team would then be tacked on to account for strength in numbers.

Once the fire team is selected and the raid is commenced, the fire team will leave the map off a randomly selected edge. They will be gone from the colony map for either set period of time, or a period of time that would correlate to the distance of the Colony to the distance of the settlement they are attacking if such a thing is possible. Once off the map, the fire team's strength will be checked against the settlement's strength, and an set of opposed rolls will occur. An RNG will conduct the opposed rolls a certain number of times, possibly one for each day the team is slated to be gone, to simulate the battle. Thee difference of team strength versus settlement strengths will be derived into a bonus for the stronger side, and an outcome will be configured based on the total result of these opposed rolls.

When the allotted time for the team to return has passed, they will respawn on the map edge they left from, and a description of their raid will be presented. A fluffy description of how successful they were and what damaged was inflicted upon them will show up in the text, as will the relative value of their spoils of war and whether or not the place they attacked will be sending pursuers. The basics of the results would look a little something like this.

Overwhelming success: The fire team was an unstoppable force of destruction, cutting down all of the (target settlement's name) warriors who opposed them while suffering minimal injury in return. (randomly selected fire team character) orchestrated the bombardment of the settlement's fortifications, turning the besieged walls into smoldering ruin of broken stone and rent metal. (character with highest hunting skill) personally battled the champion of (mayor of target settlement's name) forces, mortally wounding the veteran warrior in a fierce duel of wit and combat prowess. The faces of the (Colony's name) fire team will be forever remembered by the inhabitants of (target settlement's name), their names to be cursed and whispered in dread for generations to come.

The (Colony's name) reaps the rewards of this epic battle. The fire team returns home with travel sacks laden with bounteous spoils of war and (random prisoner name) in tow, a captive taken by (random fire team member) in the aftermath of the battle. The dead of (target settlement's name) are beyond the count of grief, and the inhabitants will have to spend a full season just trying to recover from the loss of life. The reconstruction of their settlement will take longer. (Mayor of target settlement's name) can find no one amongst the survivors of (target settlement's name) to attempt to exact revenge against you.

The fire team returns with no more than one half of its members wounded by 1-5 points of damage on a small number of locations. They'll return carrying high value loot: Fat stacks of gold, bundles of uranium and plasteel, cybernetic limbs, glitter world medicine, lavish meals, charge rifles, power armor, prisoners, high value statues, and anything generally worth a very great deal of money. There will be no perusing adversary to generate a raid against your colony. In addition, all of the Colony will gain a positive mood bonus from the fire team returning healthy and successful. The fire team members will have an additional positive modifier representing their high spirits from such a successful mission.

So, to be more general, the idea is to have 6 possible outcomes: Overwhelming success, successful raid, fierce skirmish, bloody stalemate, failed raid, and fire team slaughter. Going down the line, each outcome sees more damage to the team with less loot gained. The first three all stem from more successes for the fire team during the RNG roll, while the latter three all result from failures. Success of any sort provides a mood boost for the whole colony, failure of any sort provides a mood penalty. Overwhelming success and fire team slaughter also provide an additional bonus and penalty respectively. Failed raid and fire team slaughter will always result in a pursuer raid occurring shortly after the fire team returns, and they will always return empty handed in those two circumstances. Finally, fire team slaughter should result in at least half the team being killed outright (they do not return to the colony), while the remainder of the team returns with extensive damage and possibly in need of rescue, representing them operating on pure adrenaline and survival instinct until they can get into the outskirts of the Colony's wilderness boarders and signal a need for assistance.

So yeah.. this is the first of like.. three event concepts I have in mind. If this is something that speaks to the community of amazing mod programmers here, please feel free to take the idea and run. I'm also very happy to expand on details and offer what aid I can for those looking to collaborate on this. 

[Mr.Cross]

While your idea is well thought out, I wish I could help. But i'm only starting off in code. I like the idea, and can't wait to see what the more experienced modders think of this.

[Basixsoka]

I like this article very much and wanted to get it.

[Alistaire]

The problem I have with this is that it doesn't contribute to a memorable story, interesting gameplay or the current mindset of guiding players to
fix problems themselves (something about giving a man a fish versus teaching a man how to fish). You quite literally gamble resources.

[Xeldrakka]

That's very true, which is part of the reason that it's designed to be player initiated. Where as other mods certainly have the impact you mentioned, I've been wanting to see something designed that allows one to.. as you put it.. gamble the resources you have acquired. The idea is that it would extend and give extra depth to the growth of combat oriented colonists and colonies. We've all seen facilities and defense mods that make the average rimworld colony look like a Warhammer 40k imperial kill grid. I would see the power, quality, and quantity of equipment acquired (like the top tiers of your excellent set of weapons) have a greater purpose beyond manning the trenches.

More options and more varieties of options that are internally consistent with the mechanics of the game are a good thing, no?