How about upkeep costs instead of raid scaling ?

[b0rsuk]

Tier0=Colony landed. That stick is awesome! I'm happy to have this stick.
Tier1=We've been here a bit.. I'd really like a roof.. and food. this handful of berries is good.
Tier2=Ok we can eat now and it's warm/cool. I'm bored.(introduce joy needs)
Tier3=I want fancy things!(Introduced requirements for manufactured goods like drugs/better food/art)
Tier4=I want technology!(Introduced goods made from goods. Fancy clothing, real lights, advanced joy items etc)
Tier5=We can't make this stuff!(Introduce needs that MUST be imported)

I don't understand how this would work. Could you elaborate ?

[maculator]

^
If I had to guess, I'd say it works like the raids but with need for "luxury".
Wich is quite an interessting approach. Maybe not a "standalone", but a nice addition.
Seems fair that you colonists are easy to keep happy in the beginning but if you get richer they want some of that.

[NiftyAxolotl]

The problem with supply and demand would be the simulation. You would have to figure out the pawns in the area that would trade with you, then do stats on everything they would need, or want.

Meh, I'd just fake it. Even something as simple as:
(Price for today) = (Price for yesterday) * (Random drift) * (Adjustment for player purchases) * (0.95) + (Static Price) * (0.05)
That would feel fairly natural - prices bounce around and react to the player, but generally revert to the mean.

[Nafensoriel]

@Seeker89-
Think about it backward. Do not simulate the traders stimulate the items. The traders draw their inventories randomly. Adding a weight to what is spawned based off an external table would be 1 calculation done when the trader was created. Low cost to reward.
Simulating the list would also be low cost. You are not trying to simulate a pure economy just cooling overproduction in one colony(or5). You could weight the values off a 7 day cycle which would additionally lower the overhead costs to the game. Calc the table and everything just reference it like they would already.

@b0rsuk-
Code wise? Flags based on gameplay events. Either number of days, tech level, colony wealth, or production items built.

IE for the first tier flag joy is effectively off. I mean realistically if you just slammed planetside in a cryopod would you really care about joy right away? You wouldn't even be majorly focused on what you were eating or if you had a house. In real life, this "oh god I'm alive" phase would only exist for a few hours to maybe a day or two.. In rimworld a few days just because of balance would be fair.

As you progress with survival different mechanics become fully active as a slow break in mechanic eventually ramping up to full simulation. Then when you reach a set development level(wealth+time) to add in extra difficulty the game begins to demand external trade mechanics for your pawns satisfaction. For simplicity, it might be easier to do this via trade goods like hyperweave clothing/furniture requirements with the penalty for not having these items being a stacking time-based mood debuff.

Alternatively, you could add in another bar menu and introduce a completely new goods tree(rimphones!?) though this would probably be more of a performance impact.

So..
Joy decay forced to -zero- until game day 5 or pawn has own bedroom.
*decay vs joy in general because events should still impact mental breaks. Additionally, to prevent scenario design limitations... IE if someone makes a drug-mule who lands with the stash they will have a source of joy from day 0.

Food diversity forced off until game day 10 or pawn has own bedroom and the colony has fueled stove.
*Might even be interesting to add in skill flags and more tiers of this based off if you have a good cook or multiple crop-types. Would, of course, necessitate more complex food system though. This effect would only apply to food mood debuffs such as raw food.

Manufactured goods would simply be a switch enabling debuffs for tribleware or sub superior beds. with technology needs being more advanced(and harder to craft) versions of these items such as a royal bed and devilstrand dusters.

The general idea is to always apply pressure to the colony beyond raids by advancing the simulation in ways that explicitly require risky behavior and play. Your perfect mountain colony with flawless killbox might still result in Berzerk Colonists and failure simply because your cook got tired of sleeping in a soulless bedroom with everything made of granite and alpaca wool. You would now have to think a bit more than pure efficiency to constantly satisfy everyones needs all the time(with the simple truth that you never will.. which makes for better stories).

[b0rsuk]

@b0rsuk-
Code wise? Flags based on gameplay events. Either number of days, tech level, colony wealth, or production items built.

IE for the first tier flag joy is effectively off. I mean realistically if you just slammed planetside in a cryopod would you really care about joy right away? You wouldn't even be majorly focused on what you were eating or if you had a house. In real life, this "oh god I'm alive" phase would only exist for a few hours to maybe a day or two.. In rimworld a few days just because of balance would be fair.

As you progress with survival different mechanics become fully active as a slow break in mechanic eventually ramping up to full simulation. Then when you reach a set development level(wealth+time) to add in extra difficulty the game begins to demand external trade mechanics for your pawns satisfaction. For simplicity, it might be easier to do this via trade goods like hyperweave clothing/furniture requirements with the penalty for not having these items being a stacking time-based mood debuff.
(...)

This sounds suspiciously like "Low Expectations" mood buff colonists get at crash, that goes away with time, except more detailed. Would it be meaningfully different ? You mention no food diversity and everything made out of stone.

Thea: The Awakening makes your pawns receive stat bonuses the more diverse your diet is (up to 10 ingredients). But how would you code furniture monotony ?

[CannibarRechter]

> 1: A more powerful and dangerous raider faction that mostly ignores low progress factions until they reach certain tech and development levels would be a good start in my opinion.

Extortion. For at least some of the gameplay time, this faction is so dangerous, that you have to pay them protection money. Eventually defeating them through a base raid or something would be a major end game goal. It would be nice to align this with the various base locations and their proximity to you being more meaningful.

[Seeker89]

there is already the beauty system in place, and pawns know when they share a room and how nice that room is. so a basic way of doing this could be the expectations would be how nice their room based on time and wealth. This would make the game easier at first but have a bigger mood debuff later in the game if things aren't met.
How could we have this where the clothing/furniture isn't locked in? like does it have to fueled stove? or a hyperweave clothing? because... well... mods.

I do like the idea of paying off the raiders. "give us this and we won't unleash the horde"

[Nafensoriel]

@b0rsuk
Pretty much yes it would be a similar system. The only functional difference is the approach. With mood debuffs only you have the potential of effectively rendering the buff(or debuff) pointless by using counterbuffs. It's a bit of my opinion but certain (de)buffs should supercede any ability to fix them for the long-term gameplay balance. IE just like real life winning the lottery doesn't cure your PTSD magically. It helps but you'll still get flashbacks and nightmares because money doesn't directly counter that particular mental impairment.

As far as "all stone" comment that was in reference to tiering stuffified items not only in terms of value and beauty but also in "expected technology level". A good quality wooden bed would be fine for a tribal or an outpost just getting its crops and cows going but would it really be acceptable to near glitterworld tech'ed colonies where your workers are bionic golems and your defenders are covered in head to toe power assisted suits? The best real world analogy I can give is hotel quality. When you are out of college and dirt poor a hostel looks awesome. You mentally don't notice the generally crappy beds and lack of privacy. When you are a senior manager of a fortune 500 company, however, the same hotel will not satisfy you because your "needs set" is more expanded and varied.