[MOD] (Alpha 9) Better Than Sentry Guns (v1.0 - Mar 6th)

[FlowerChild]

Better Than Sentry Guns

Note: I've decided that I no longer wish to update and maintain this mod.  As a result, I am hereby releasing it into the public domain.  Feel free to do whatever you wish with it and its code (included in the download).

I am proud to present version 1.0 of Better Than Sentry Guns:

Download Link

WARNING: Given the more spread out progression in BTSG, it is *highly* recommended that you not play it on difficulties higher than "Rough".  Difficulty level affects the size of the waves of enemies the AI storyteller throws at you, and without access to turrets in particular in the early game, this can make large numbers of enemies on the higher difficulty levels next to impossible to fight off.  Even on Rough it tends to get really rough at times :)

Installation instructions may be found in the readme included with the download.

What is Better Than Sentry Guns?

BTSG is a mod which attempts to create a deeper and more prolonged gameplay progression and to further refine the balance of the game in general.  To this end, it includes revisions to stock systems (such as how crops grow), tweaks to the stats of various things (such as research costs and trade prices) and a small number of new items and features.  In general, it aims to make small adjustments to the way things work in order to have the maximum impact on gameplay.

What are the key features?

-Revised farming dependent upon seeds to plant crops. Seeds come in two varieties: terminator (single generation), and fully viable, and each crop type (potatoes, corn, cotton, etc.) has its own set of seeds, available from various traders.

-Delayed tech progression and reworked tech tree. There are a number of additional research projects that help better throttle player progression and break gameplay up into distinct stages where you're working with limited technology.  Overall research progress has also been slowed so that the player has to work harder at surviving while researching new tech, and thus feel a greater sense of accomplishment when it is achieved.

-Delayed access to turrets.  In order to build turrets in BTSG you must both research the corresponding tech and either trade for specialized parts on the black market (represented by slave traders), or harvest them from incapacitated mechanoids.  This helps emphasize the tactical elements of RimWorld early on in the game, reduces the dominance of kill-boxes as a defense strategy, and tends to make early game survival a much more desperate affair where you'll regularly have to put your colonists in harm's way in order to thrive.  It's also the change that's behind the mod's name ;)

-Cooking on campfires.  This isn't a big feature, but I just mentioned it here as if you don't know about it as a player, things will get pretty rough once you realize you don't have early access to stoves :)

-And much more!  Other changes should be pretty apparent during play (let me know if they aren't), but a full change log can also be found in the readme include with the mod's download.

Why the name?

"Better Than <insert questionable design decision>" has become a bit of a running gag with my mods, starting with "Better Than Wolves" (Minecraft), extending to "Better Than Starting Manned" (Kerbal Space Program), and "Better Than Giant Bees" (7 Days to Die).  While I am normally inspired to start modding projects by those kinds of odd design decisions within games I otherwise love, in the case of RimWorld, there's really nothing major I can point out in the design that I object to (at least not to the same extent as the others), and "Sentry Guns" was the best I could come up with ;)

Regardless, no offense towards the developers has been intended with any of my mod names.  They're my rather tongue in cheek way of poking fun at the few things I don't like in the games that I love the most.

What's coming in the future?

Nothing is really off the table at this point.  The extent and type of modifications I make with my mods is usually only limited by my own interest in a game, and the game's modding capabilities.  RimWorld is one that I am both particularly excited about, and which has a particularly powerful modding system :)

Where can I view the mod's source code?

It's included in the mod download in the /BTSGSource directory.  Feel free to check it out for learning purposes on your own modding projects.

Enjoy! :)

[SlimeCrusher]

Wow i wasn't expecting this, it sounds really awesome!
I'll have to try this once i finish other stuff im doing 

[FlowerChild]

Thanks guys!  I hope you have fun with it

[Pokk720]

Nice Nice Nice. I always love modders who aim to add challenge and diversity to games rather than simply making them easier.

[hawk.]

Congrats on the official release Buckle up your seat belts, boys & girls. This is not for the faint of heart.

[FlowerChild]

Congrats on the official release Buckle up your seat belts, boys & girls. This is not for the faint of heart.

Come on...it's not that bad.  Just because I lost my last colony to a well placed pirate grenade and the resulting bloody dismemberment doesn't mean it's THAT hard

And as an aside, thanks for the testing and feedback on the various pre-releases man.  I'm quite pleased with how this is turning out.

[hawk.]

Oh, it's hard but sooooo much fun and well thought out. It's been an absolute pleasure to play and you have to know I really enjoy our back and forth. I can't wait to see where you take this.

[FlowerChild]

Just as a reference to anyone who may be lost on the above, this mod has been in various states of pre-release over here for the past week or so:

http://www.sargunster.com/btwforum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=8789

[TheSilencedScream]

I'll add this to my list of mods to try.

Think you could do a research road map for us, if you get the time?

[Sir_W_Scott]

Good thing you can't ban people from posting FC ;3
Glad to see your still modding!!
Can't  wait to see what you have in store for RW!!!

...I'm kind of scared to try this mod xP

[FlowerChild]

...I'm kind of scared to try this mod xP

Bah, worst that can happen is a few dead colonists and a lesson learned

In all seriousness, I generally aim for "brutal but fair", so if you find anything that feels otherwise, be sure to let me know.

Think you could do a research road map for us, if you get the time?

It should be pretty straight forward once you're in-game, with (hopefully) what you're trying to achieve having a fairly apparent connection to what you have available for research at any given time, but I will agree that some kind of visual aid on the tech tree would likely be helpful, both with the mod and in general.

[hawk.]

...I'm kind of scared to try this mod xP

You should give it a shot. It is challenging but every small hard fought victory is very rewarding and the tension of the early game is downright delicious.

One small but of advice: Don't ignore the warning in the OP about difficulty settings. Even then, much like your first few games in vanilla (assuming you were playing at a decent difficulty level), your first few games with this mod will likely be a struggle. If you are like me, that is why you fell in love with RW in the first place. The vanilla game is deep and challenging; the mod highlights and expands upon that same premise.

EDIT: Ninja'd by FC

[FlowerChild]

One small but of advice: Don't ignore the warning in the OP about difficulty settings.

....and in the readme...and in the mod selection screen.

I like the games I play to be tough, so if I plaster warnings all over the place bolded and in all caps about turning down the difficulty, you know I'm utterly serious about it

[Boboid]

Play on Rough? Ha ! I laugh at danger and drop ice cubes down the vest of fear! And tweak the nose of the dreadful spindly killer fish.

130% with melee weapons only me-thinks!

[FlowerChild]

130% with melee weapons only me-thinks!

Best of luck