Utilizing Fear Tech

Started by EarthyTurtle, November 12, 2013, 11:12:51 AM

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EarthyTurtle

I'm drunk with the power Fear Tech has given me...

Before now I've overlooked Fear Tech, mainly because I saw it as inhumane. I hadn't seen anyone else using it in their bases either, not for the major part of it anyways. Perhaps you would see some cages to insight fear in raiders or generally used in some sort of combat function.

However I was curious, in theory one could control a colony purely by scaring your colonists into submission. So I started a new colony and put Fear Tech to the test. The results, were excellent! I don't even get this kind of loyalty from extremely happy colonists.  :D

For the most part the colony is just unlit corridors and cages. The front of the base is the killing chamber, I make sure ALL my colonists attend every raid that comes their way. Nothing like a healthy dose of witnessing death and getting wounded to keep those colonists in line.

Raids now aren't really a problem anymore. In fact I welcome them openly, raiders increase fear making my rule over the colony stronger. I don't have spoiled colonists anymore complaining about how hungry they are because they have to wait for the raiders to attack. They know to keep quiet, or else...

Darkness increases fear, so I save dramatically on power levels. In fact I don't really need those solar panels out the front their mainly for show. You know what else I'm doing for show? Putting turrets in every room. There should be a fear inducing debuff for that too, perhaps something like "Unnecessary show of force"? Every dead body can be used, why waste time digging graves or burning bodies when keeping them on display causes fear :D. Let the colonists know what will happen if they turn on me. Oh and yes I do make special cages in high traffic walkways for deceased colonists. I think seeing your dead friend is not only traumatizing but sends a nice message 'this could have been you, don't you dare fail me'.

In fact I only really have happiness increasing stuff where necessary. The hydroponics bay is probably the happiest place in the whole colony. I make sure to keep my comms room well armed though, to ensure that everyone says what I want them to say >:3. No crys for help to passing traders, etc.

Slave traders are my buddies, I got ride of 2 assassins and for myself a farmer and a marine out of it with even better states and could actually labor :D (Assassins surprisingly fetch a high price as slaves). It also cuts out that long tedious process of 'making them loyal', slaves know to do what their told straight off the bat. I like to keep 1 person prisoner though, just so I can beat them a bit longer since it has a colony wide fear effect. Assassins are good for that, since they can't labor for your colony they might as well be an example of what happens when you refuse to work. It takes a bit longer to convince prisoners to join your colony however I think it's far better at sustaining loyalty than happiness is. To give an example of how effective it is, I've never had a mental break and maybe only drifted close in the early days when I didn't have as many bodies to work with... I confess I am now an Evil Evil EVIL man...

Overall, fear tech actually yielded better results than a happy colony. Anyone else utilized fear tech in this fashion?

Negocromn

#1
Yes, in my current game I have just a very small prison and gibbet cages thrown all around, nothing else. No electricity, no food dispenser, absolutely nothing, just a massive massive field of potatoes.

Have like 10ish nobles and assassins, 2 oafs. I execute a prisoner a day usually, randy random won't stop throwing people at me.

Also defended the last 15 or so raids by attacking the raiders, without using either m24s or r4s. It's hella fun, I recommend.



ShadowDragon8685

See, this?

This is the sort of play-style that should be leading to mental breaks.

In the dark, surrounded by turrets and gibbet cages in inhuman conditions?

That's the sort of thing that leads to a leader being hated. And people who hate someone will risk their lives to depose him.

Fear should be only a temporary mechanic, something to do if you're desperate and your shit is being wrecked. It should work in the short term, but for every day a colonist's loyalty has been maintained through fear, his mental break threshold should increase by 1. Eventually (after three months and a day of this,) his mental break threshold should reach 101, while fear is capped at 100, and what follows thereafter should be a bloody revolution.
Raiders must die!

todofwar

How do you get those little numbers next to potatoes?

ShadowDragon8685

Raiders must die!

Tynan

I'll just say that this is pretty twistedly awesome.
Tynan Sylvester - @TynanSylvester - Tynan's Blog

EarthyTurtle

:D Ty! it's definitely an interesting way to play. Suddenly the raiders look more like a liberation army next to your cruel methods. I like to imagine myself as the colonies evil A.I computer core who's slowly and subtly enslaved the colonists. Forcing them to do my bidding, mining me precious ore and harvesting essential power. Ensuring their loyalty by aggressive/excessive displays of cruelty and power.

Quote from: ShadowDragon8685 on November 12, 2013, 01:25:32 PM
See, this?

This is the sort of play-style that should be leading to mental breaks.

In the dark, surrounded by turrets and gibbet cages in inhuman conditions?

That's the sort of thing that leads to a leader being hated. And people who hate someone will risk their lives to depose him.

Fear should be only a temporary mechanic, something to do if you're desperate and your shit is being wrecked. It should work in the short term, but for every day a colonist's loyalty has been maintained through fear, his mental break threshold should increase by 1. Eventually (after three months and a day of this,) his mental break threshold should reach 101, while fear is capped at 100, and what follows thereafter should be a bloody revolution.

Oh I have no doubt that they hate my guts :D. But their so afraid of what would happen if they did revolt, what I would do to them. It's like the slaves trying to revolt against the master. They wouldn't dare, else they taste the lashings of the cat o' nine whip! Or in this case a brutal beating in the prisoner chambers possibly leading to loss of life.

Nasikabatrachus

This is what happens when you let nobles run the place: fascist dystopian doomforts at the edge of the galaxy.

I was playing earlier today and I had a thought about doing this, but I had no idea what it would be like when effectively implemented. I've found the gibbet cages to be ineffective when placed near raider landing sites, and underwhelming/inconvenient when used to intimidate prisoners, but I guess I just needed to consider that their real use was domestic oppression. My dorfs colonists would probably break down just setting up the system of their subjugation, though.

Quote from: ShadowDragon8685 on November 12, 2013, 01:25:32 PM
See, this?

This is the sort of play-style that should be leading to mental breaks.

In the dark, surrounded by turrets and gibbet cages in inhuman conditions?

That's the sort of thing that leads to a leader being hated. And people who hate someone will risk their lives to depose him.

Fear should be only a temporary mechanic, something to do if you're desperate and your shit is being wrecked. It should work in the short term, but for every day a colonist's loyalty has been maintained through fear, his mental break threshold should increase by 1. Eventually (after three months and a day of this,) his mental break threshold should reach 101, while fear is capped at 100, and what follows thereafter should be a bloody revolution.

I agree with this, in that I think this kind of colony should lend itself to not infrequent mental breaks and revolutions, but I also think that it would be good if there were story-based reasons to set up a colony like this (a sadistic noble befriends all the marines and they decide the noble is Dear Leader) and (bloody) ways to keep it stable.

Col_Jessep

I tried using feartech in one of my colonies today and what really bothers me is how easy and cheap it seems to be to keep control of your colonists compared to keeping them happy.

When I try to keep the colonists happy I have to build large bedrooms, a stable power supply, I have to waste metal on carpets, keep the place clean, remove the bodies ASAP, pay for lots of furniture... And when I get hit by a bad solar flair at an inconvenient time I might have to arrest some colonists to prevent them from going mental. This requires micromanagement and lowers my workforce (prisoners and wardens).

With fear I just have corpses in some highly frequented areas (bedrooms, growing area, hallways) and  I'm set. Solar flair and eclipse are my friend. If one of my colonists dies - even better! They spread more fear than strangers.

I think fear tech is an interesting idea but it needs to be balanced. The idea to cause severe mental breakdowns after a while seems to be a good solution imo.

Planetary Annihilation Imminent

ShadowDragon8685

Machiavelli said it pretty well. A ruler will find it easier to be feared than loved, but a ruler who is feared needs to take care not to be hated more than he is feared, for a ruler who is hated more than he is feared will be facing the pointy ends of a revolution in short order.

(I'm paraphrasing, there.)

Filling the place with corpses and keeping it dark and messy shouldn't keep people in line, it should drive them insane.
Raiders must die!

W1Z25

this is bringing out everyone's sadistic side lol

i shall have to try this

Merry76

The problem with fear tech isnt that it keeps unruly colonists in line by scaring them shitless so that someone can rule with an iron fist, it keeps EVERYONE in line and there isnt anyone to be scared of because the one ruler that orders them around (the player) isnt physically present. They literally build the things they are scared of themselves to keep eachother scared all the time. It really doesnt make much sense if you put it that way  :o

Being so overwhelmingly scared should at least rob them of the full effect of sleep (they probably hardly regenerate without a medic (to be implemented))- which is ok for a while, but should literally drive them insane after a few weeks. If you really want to play evil overlord, book the insane off as "calculated losses", and send them towards the raiders. Insanity should make them good cannon fodder - practically immune to stun because they shut off emotions long ago, and fighting in close quarters like rabid honeybadgers.

You could have a few chosen ones in a "happy place" so you have a few non-insane colonists that shovel the mad ones around with straightjackets, explosive collars and cattle prods.