A Major Problem For New Players

[JuicyPVP]

I've got about 35 hours in Rimworld. Not enough to say I am a seasoned player, but enough to where I understand a good amount of core game mechanics. My biggest complaint, and a frustration I have seen from others here, on steam reviews, and steam discussions, is the lack of instruction on the game's in depth systems.

For instance. I didn't even know you could do peg legs until 24 hours into the game. I still do not know how to use the restrict zones/items, and I spent a good 3 hours trying to figure it out, and ended up walking away from my computer so I wouldn't slam anything in rage. It took me until 20 hours to figure out why the hell my stonecutter table never allowed me to do anything (needs chunks near it- the in game message states "needs materials- the same as every other crafting station. Make these unique to each station/table/bill). There are many layers to the game I do not understand even though I have tried to troubleshoot/experiment with them in game. I am 25, and have been playing strategy/survival/heavy rpgs for 13 years. . . I am not stupid. A good majority of the people posting about this on steam, and on here, are not stupid.

The tutorial/help is way underdeveloped. It should teach you all core mechanics of the game, and show you how all pawn mechanics/management tools work. I understand I will need my phone open to the wiki, that's just how games are now a days (thanks Bethesda...), but the game is full of options and controls it does nothing to enlighten the player on the details of their use (or even their existence tbh).

I did not quit the game because I could see this really is a great game, with an active dev team (one guy?). However, I do not know if other new players have been so forgiving when getting frustrated because the game won't show them how to do things they want to do, even though they know it is possible to do.

I also understand this game is in alpha/EGA. This isn't something I am saying "do now or everyone will quit". I am saying before you release out of EGA, this should be addressed.

[JuicyPVP]

Note: I did not put this in the suggestions tab because I don't really have a solution to suggest. Just saying it should be addressed.

[Serenity]

The interface can certainly use a lot work, but I figured out zones or the bill radius very quickly. There are far better examples of mechanics that aren't explained and that you only learn from other people.

Usually when pawns don't do what you want them to, it's more of an AI issue.

[Hori75]

The interface can certainly use a lot work, but I figured out zones or the bill radius very quickly. There are far better examples of mechanics that aren't explained and that you only learn from other people.

Usually when pawns don't do what you want them to, it's more of an AI issue.

Like dwarf fortress, some people enjoy it, some people don't understand it well... right?

[JuicyPVP]

There are far better examples of mechanics that aren't explained and that you only learn from other people.

I agree- this was just an example I was struggling with recently. I didn't know you could harvest blades from mechanoids, but only if they are downed, not dead, until yesterday (33 hours roughly) when reading a thread about the threat/reward from raids. Again. these are just a few examples- How do I know what I don't know?

[Serenity]

I didn't know you could harvest blades from mechanoids, but only if they are downed,

Exactly. That's a perfect example of bad UI design. It's hidden in the health->operations menu. Not an obvious place when dealing with robots. Same with shutting them down. At the beginning I spent ages shooting them until they died. And I've seen some YouTubers do it too.
It would be far more obvious to have a button like for stripping corpses. The only reason to make it an operation is because it can fail and then you can sometimes try again. But that could be done with a simple button too.

[stu89pid]

I didn't know you could harvest blades from mechanoids, but only if they are downed,

Exactly. That's a perfect example of bad UI design. It's hidden in the health->operations menu. Not an obvious place when dealing with robots. Same with shutting them down. At the beginning I spent ages shooting them until they died. And I've seen some YouTubers do it too.
It would be far more obvious to have a button like for stripping corpses. The only reason to make it an operation is because it can fail and then you can sometimes try again. But that could be done with a simple button too.

Wow, I'm several hundred hours in and didn't realize any of this. Count me as one of the people shooting at downed centipedes for a long time before they are finally dead.

To some people, this might be frustrating. To me, that is one of the reasons I love this game. It is a deep game and even after playing for quite a while, there are still learning opportunities and ways to improve your colony.

For those of us that started before A15, there was no tutorial at all and the learning curve was even more steep. Keep in mind we are all playing a game still in Alpha. Tynan is still adding features and developing new systems, I suspect balancing and increasing the accessibility will come at a later time. If they did a more in depth guide now, they might have to re-do most of it before the game is released and are probably trying to avoid duplicating work.

There's not much to understand about zone restrictions. Pawn zones are separate from animal zones. Unrestricted pawns will go wherever they see fit. If you restrict them to a zone, they will stay within that zone. For example, if you are about to get raided, you might restrict your colonists to the "home" zone so that no one gets picked off outside the walls. You may also want to restrict your animal zones so your pets cant go into your freezer and eat your food or go into your medical bay and create a mess.

[Serenity]

Also good to know: zones don't need to be contiguous, but if you want them to take certain paths, it helps. I just used that to keep people under roofed walkways during toxic fallout.

A major annoyance is that animals assigned to pawns don't obey their zoning restriction when the pawn is drafted. The Pet Follow mod fixes that.

[stu89pid]

Also good to know: zones don't need to be contiguous, but if you want them to take certain paths, it helps. I just used that to keep people under roofed walkways during toxic fallout.

A major annoyance is that animals assigned to pawns don't obey their zoning restriction when the pawn is drafted. The Pet Follow mod fixes that.

Another option (without mods) is to set the master of that pet to nobody, temporarily during combat ,  so that the animal obeys it's zone restrictions and doesn't walk in front of a turret during the raid.

You probably already know this, but just posting in case anyone else doesn't.

[Serenity]

Another option (without mods) is to set the master of that pet to nobody, temporarily during combat

That's what I consider the "major annoyance". It's very frustrating to have to do this all the damn time.

[Hori75]

Actually in my opinion, new players need to explore this game. They will restart the game again and again as they gain experience about the game. Even there are some minor issues in this game. Isn't that true? 

[WhyBorne]

Actually in my opinion, new players need to explore this game. They will restart the game again and again as they gain experience about the game. Even there are some minor issues in this game. Isn't that true? 

I agree with this. I think learning new things and restarting over and over is helpful. I usually get excited when I figure out something new and get to restart and use it earlier on.