First impressions

[stefanstr]

Hi guys,

I have purchased RimWorld a few days ago and I would like to share some initial thoughts. Please note that I have been playing on pretty benign settings (Cassandra on low difficulties or Phoebe) so I haven’t experienced any crazy raids or mechanoids yet. I wanted to learn the basics first. On to my impressions.

The good
- it’s the most playable and polished alpha indie game I have ever played - it almost feels like a released product already
- Firefly references - I love the wild west feel and the soundtrack. It adds so much to the experience for me.
- the story-driven design - I think this is the most special thing for me. The unique personalities and backstories of the colonists and the way the whole game is designed makes it easy to „storytell“ the whole thing in my head. I love it.
- the tactical combat engine
- the game looks very cohesive, and there is good interplay between the elements - I get the feeling that Tynan has a really good sense for what content makes sense for this type of game, and what doesn’t
- I love the body part based health system, although it isn’t quite balanced yet
- overall I am having a lot of fun, although the game is pretty hard even on the easy settings (I guess it will change with experience)

The bad
- recruitment only via imprisoning (or am I missing something?) - I would prefer it if it was possible to chat up visitors and try to convince them to join you - maybe even have guest rooms and let them stay over?
- too much insanity - I like the whole concept of insanity, but I feel it hits a little too often, a little too hard. The other day, I was playing on Phoebe, there were no big conflicts, I had plenty of food, and I had very nice apartments for my folks, with carpets, lights, tables and whatnot. All of a sudden, one of the guys goes insane and starts attacking everyone. I am sure there was some reason for it but it made no sense in the context. Also, the events with faraway computers making colonists insane happen a little too often, in my opinion.
- too many weather events - I like the solar eclipses, the thunderstorms and so on but it is a little immersion-breaking if my solar panels short-circuit a few times a month due to rain. (If solar panels reacted to water like that nobody would be using them in real life). And also, the solar eclipse shouldn’t happen every gameplay. Maybe add some other events with similar effects, like sandstorm or heavy clouds...
- some typos - not a biggie but I found quite a few typos in the descriptions like „neutoric“ instead of neurotic

The ugly
- I could really only think of one thing here - this game is too damn addictive! I am in my thirties and it has been a while since I last played so late into the night that I could barely function the next day. Well.... it happened with RimWorld. (Oh, and BTW, please don’t fix this one. )

[joeloverbeck]

I might be wrong but I think it's the batteries short-circuiting, not the solar panels themselves. It's an incentive to keep batteries indoors or in shed-like structures. I usually build small rooms to hold some batteries between building other rooms (particularly when I'm going into a mountain) for those moments when the power inevitably goes out.

[Timber]

The bad
- recruitment only via imprisoning (or am I missing something?) - I would prefer it if it was possible to chat up visitors and try to convince them to join you - maybe even have guest rooms and let them stay over?
- too much insanity - I like the whole concept of insanity, but I feel it hits a little too often, a little too hard. The other day, I was playing on Phoebe, there were no big conflicts, I had plenty of food, and I had very nice apartments for my folks, with carpets, lights, tables and whatnot. All of a sudden, one of the guys goes insane and starts attacking everyone. I am sure there was some reason for it but it made no sense in the context. Also, the events with faraway computers making colonists insane happen a little too often, in my opinion.

Hello Stefan,

I'd like to clear some things up.

There are four ways to get new colonists:

• arrest a incapacitated raider and then convince him to join
• arrest one of the visitors and then convince him to join
• purchase slaves from a slave trader
• have a random person join your colony from an event (relatively rare)

Arresting visitors is the least optimal option since visitors usually come in batches and the rest of the gang will not take kindly to a kidnapping of their friend. Even if you manage to fend them off the faction to which they belonged will now be hostile towards you.

All of this is done (I think) to create an incentive to use the faction system. If a faction is on good terms with you you can request military aid in times of need. The more they like you the more of them will show up. If you don't have enough reputation you can always make a donation of silver to improve your standing. This is very handy when you are facing overwhelming numbers of raiders and need some meat shields ASAP. One of my best Rimworld moments was a 3 way crossfire between my colonists, raiders and a helping gang. Massive, massive fight.
Note that asking for help will consume reputation so doing it for every attack will drain your silver reserves very fast.

If you really need new colonists you can purchase slaves from a slave trader. Be sure to use the colonist with highest Social skill you have when negotiating with the trader - a higher Social skill means better prices.

As for insanity - it used to be even worse :/ I struggle with it myself sometimes but here are some tips I can give:

• Improve dining area as much as possible: flower pots near places your colonists visit often, colored carpet, best meals avaliable
• get a dedicated cook, aim to get to fine/lavish meals asap, keep a good stock
• build spacious bedrooms (4x5 or so)
• have a dedicated cleaner
• keep an eye on your dead colonists: if left unburied/burned everyone else will be sad

Top priority after a large engagement:

• burn the corpses asap (very important)
• have a dedicated colonist clean the blood in critical areas
• DO NOT sell any prisoners to a slave trader soon after - this will crush morale even further
• if you see someone about to go mental - relieve him of all duties and let him rest

Hope this helps,
Timber

[stefanstr]

Thanks for the comments guys.

@Timber - a lot of your suggestions wouldn’t really apply to my games as I played relatively short games (I always made a mistake or had some disaster that was to hard to deal with) and I played on low difficulties so I didn’t have any massive enemy attacks. I will keep them in mind for the future though, so thank you.

Regarding insanity: as I said, I had relatively short playthroughs. It’s not always possible to have a great dining area within the first month (and I had colonists go insane as early as mid-February).

Thanks for the explanation of the faction system. I kind of get how it works, but I think it would be even better if we were able to have a friendly way to get them to join you. Maybe extend an invite to a faction via the Comms device and have a chance of somebody coming over as a new colonist? Don’t know. I don’t like the fact that you can only get new people by force.

[milon]

@stefanstr, first I'm glad I'm not the only old guy here.  I too have found while playing RimWorld that I'm not as young as I used to be!

Anyway, could you screenshot (F10) your colony and upload a picture?  (postimg.org works well for uploading.)  It sounds like there's a design flaw or two if people are breaking as early as February.  Maybe we can give you a hand with that.

As for the number of weather events, I'm sure that will even out later.  There's only so many events currently available to the story teller, so it picks from what's available.

[Timber]

Thanks for the comments guys.

@Timber - a lot of your suggestions wouldn�t really apply to my games as I played relatively short games (I always made a mistake or had some disaster that was to hard to deal with) and I played on low difficulties so I didn�t have any massive enemy attacks. I will keep them in mind for the future though, so thank you.

Regarding insanity: as I said, I had relatively short playthroughs. It�s not always possible to have a great dining area within the first month (and I had colonists go insane as early as mid-February).

Thanks for the explanation of the faction system. I kind of get how it works, but I think it would be even better if we were able to have a friendly way to get them to join you. Maybe extend an invite to a faction via the Comms device and have a chance of somebody coming over as a new colonist? Don�t know. I don�t like the fact that you can only get new people by force.

Hmmm I see what you mean. For a budget version of a dining room try this:

Build the diner in the same room as the Geothermal generator. Believe it or not being near it actually boosts morale.
Place the table in such a way that the dining colonists are near the generator as they eat.
Pave a floor out of wood - that you should be able to afford right away.
Later you can swap to carpet. I don't know if wooden floor gives a bonus or not but carpet most definitely does.

I can show you the diner I've used on my 2 year colony:


Combine that with social chats that they have when there's a food rush in the morning and you should have yourself a stable colony.
Actually now that you've got me thinking about it I should probably move the food stockpile to the room above the geo station so the colonists have to go along the whole thing to get to food. The more exposure the better.

[milon]

@Timber, that's pretty smart.  I remember reading somewhere that natural geysers give a mood boost (beautiful environment, or something).  I'm going to retool my standard base plans now. 

[ShootyFace]

Agreed on most points, especially on being able to interact more meaningfully with visiting factions. I love the fact that they randomly stop by, but to what end? Being able to have a colonist talk to them would be an interesting way to either increase their opinion of you or possibly decrease it. There wouldn't have to be any dialogue, and the outcome could be based solely on the social attribute of both the 'greeter' and the visitor. Maybe the 'greeter' could even offer an item for trade, or you could offer one as a gift (again to increase the factions opinion of you, if even slightly). Giving us the ability to interact with the visiting factions would be another awesome layer to the game, I feel.

[stefanstr]

Hi everyone, and thanks for the comments.

@milon - I have the feeling that RimWorld is the kind of game that can attract the more mature crowd. I am sure we are not the only oldies here.

I don�t think I can take a screenshot of a game gone wrong (or several, as this happened to be my usual problem) as I tend to delete save games as soon as I decide I am done with a playthrough. In the meantime, I found a simple solution (read somewhere on the forum) - I plant a small rose garden and if someone is close to breakdown, I draft them and make them go to the garden and �meditate" for a while. This works for the most part (well, at least until raiders land in the middle of my colony and burn it down...).

@Timber - Thanks for the tips. I will use them, of course, although I am not quite happy that this is the way to play. I think it would be better if colonists were aware of broader surroundings. Forcing them to go past a geyser so they don�t go mad? It feels a little gamey.

@ShootyFace - Totally agree. This is my main gripe with the game at the moment, beside the �insane insanity.�

[edit] does anyone know why this forum changes apostrophes and quote marks in my posts to „unknown symbols?“ Doesn’t seem to be happening for other people.

[gnodin]

Hello here,

I remember Tynan said somewhere that he will add some interactions with the visitors later.
We just have to wait i guess.

@stefanstr For your insanity problem, maybe you send your colonist to do work too far away at the begining.
When one of my people go insane in the beginning of the game, it's always because he has to travel far away in order to haul something in my base while not having the mid-game bonus thought (and after the buff "New colony optimism" has faded).

If you want to send your colonist far away on the map, be sure they are well fed and rested at the begining of their journey...
They often decide to haul things and starve on the road. They will continue the task and try to come back and get crazy...

I hope you will understand. English is not my native language. I can read preaty easy, but the expression is a little more difficult...

[stefanstr]

Hey gnodin,

You are probably right on the money. I have been trying to haul all the resources that are scattered on the map at the very beginning before any raiders come. I will stop doing that and see if it helps.

BTW. English is not my native tongue either. I don’t know how much it shows. I have been using it daily in my professional career for years now, so I hope it isn’t too obvious anymore, but who knows.

[gnodin]

Hey,

You need some of the starting ressources scattered on the map but not all. Just prioritize some PACKAGED foods, some metals and then start your base in a place easily defensible (for your game in harder setting  ).
For lower difficulty, just next to some geysers and metal spot will make the trick!

Start a growing zone ASAP and cook simple meal ! (with a dormitory...)
You should no longer have insane colonist!

[milon]

BTW. English is not my native tongue either. I don�t know how much it shows. I have been using it daily in my professional career for years now, so I hope it isn�t too obvious anymore, but who knows.

I guessed that, but only because of the broken apostrophes and quotes. It's a common-ish problem with non-English keyboards and/or character encoding. Not sure what the solution would be.  Could be keyboard, forum language setting, PC language setting, etc.  Ultimately, most forums recognize a basic single quote and basic double quote, and they break when you try using the "open" or "close" quotes instead.