Remove the randomize button

[Kregoth]

I feel that the randomize button for starting out really isn't needed, and we really shouldn't be deciding what happens at any level. I really think the Storyteller should be what determines what you get or choose.

No more smashing the randomize button. You pick randy random and you get random, you don't even get to pick where to land! pick Cassandra Classic and you get 3 colonist that should get you started, but aren't great. Phoebe just gives you 3 awesome people, or maybe a bunch of awesome people, and you get to pick 3!

The idea of the game is about 3 random people who survived crashing into the planet, how they continue to survive is up to you... mostly! Mashing the random button is tedious, and to me it really doesn't make sense as you have no control on what randomly happens for the rest of the game, why should I here?

I can understand it as a placeholder, but I really think the when I choose what storyteller I want, they give me people that fit's their storytelling. It also reduces the amount of steps needed to start a new colony, making it easier to just start a new game, and get 3 new random colonists who I can actually play with. That to me is a hell of a lot better than staring at the damn screen not doing anything other than hitting a button.

What do you think?

[A_Soft_Machine_Man]

I'm always game for a little more differentiation amongst pawns, and I feel it'd give even more impetus to actually set up an efficient hauling and corpse...disposal...system beyond just the irritation of having pawns constantly boohoo over a few skeletons.

[Kegereneku]

I think you are not fully considering others interests.

Some players are perfectly okay with the way things is being done right now
Some players on the opposite want total control over the first 3 survivor, or at least over traits.
And then there's the problem that with a truly random choice the player might end up with ONE colonist he really dislike but cannot replace unless he randomize again the others/map he like.

So the best solution is still to let the Players choose what to randomize.
The only limitation needed for balance is to keep player from minmaxing a characters with no effort.

Plus, all it take for you to not decide is to click 3 more seconds on "next step" and close your eyes to chose a place on the map at random. That's not much.

[RemingtonRyder]

Maybe there could be preset paradigms! Like the Prepare Carefully mod, but still randomising many of the details.

So for example, you could put in YYY and you'd get three youthful colonists, but they would be random in other respects.

Or you could pick CMS and get a crafter, medic and shooter, but no guarantees about their other attributes.

Then there's which just picks three completely random people.

Your favourite settings would be saved so you can try them again.

[Kregoth]

I don't think you really understand, the randomize button is what causes that mentality. If the game never had that randomize button from the very beginning, I doubt the whole min/max discussion would have been as relevant.

regardless, I still think the randomize button just needs to go. The option to deal with bad colonist's is in the game, so it's extremely rare to get an impossible start. Having that randomize button lets players just plain skip something that could have taught them something new, so they can better deal with it next time.

Not only that, it acts like a massive spoiler! I would love to have discovered traits, and backgrounds from the people in the game I met, not because the randomize button spoiled it for me

I don't want to "prepare carefully" either, this isn't Dwarf Fortress. I just want to play the game and discover what happens. Besides to a brand new player its much less information to take in from the start. Letting the player discover the game through play, rather than getting spoiled that their might be psycho's and androids they have to deal with.

[BetaSpectre]

I prefer the Randomize Button.
Some colonists have absolutely no skills whatsoever.

Or I just prefer a certain build set, if you say keep it to mods. I've tried. The mod stopped updating.

[RemingtonRyder]

I don't think you really understand, the randomize button is what causes that mentality. If the game never had that randomize button from the very beginning, I doubt the whole min/max discussion would have been as relevant.

That's why I suggested a compromise. Keep most of the randomisation, but let players influence the outcome like with world seeds.

The idea is to create interesting random choices, not 'screw this, I'm going to back to main menu' choices. Which is what would happen if there isn't a choice.

[Kegereneku]

This is not a problem of understanding, this is a problem of expectation.
Even if the game didn't let you randomize things separately, players would be asking for it (see), considering it a missing features.

Many game cannot have several starting condition because it would just break the game in a way that is not interesting.
Rimworld isn't one of those game. Thanks to the idea of having different Storyteller you can have different start with different pace without making the game illogical.
In fact I bet that if you could start a game with 10 carefully chosen colonists you would still have a pretty balanced gameplay as Storytellers will probably ramp up the challenge accordingly.

Hence the best solution is to allow differents way to start the game. If you want to randomize everything, you do so. The one and only inconvenient is to tell of your starting condition when sharing screenshots.

[mcduff]

Why not just, like, not use it? And if people like it, they'll use it?

Why is how other people play an issue to you?

[Elixiar]

Plus, all it take for you to not decide is to click 3 more seconds on "next step" and close your eyes to chose a place on the map at random. That's not much.
[/quote]

This.
Nothing is stopping you from hitting the randomise button, just press next, and click a random spot on the screen and play. Don't remove other peoples ability to control at such a small request.

If you couldn't choose where you land and you wanted to play in the desert... what if you were having a bad luck day and just kept getting into arid or boreal?

[hector212121]

Ok, you get what you want.

Then you get a colony with people who are literally only capable of shooting and stabbing.

kthxbai