Purpose of the "world"?

[lizifox]

Hi,

I'm a new player.  Still working on my first colony (6 colonists at this time) in an relatively easy setting. 

I'm sorry if this is a stupid question. But I'm wondering: is there a purpose to the whole world generation? Do you ever leave your current map? Invade the neighbouring maps? Or is it just an elaborate way to generate a random map?

As far as i can see, only the current map influences the game.  And the bigger world is used for nothing?

[Adamiks]

You can't leave your map, but you can make it bigger (or smaller if you have not-so-good PC, or you want to have harder game) for resources + having more time to prepare for raiders (because they spawn on the edges of the map, so the bigger is map, the more they will need to walk).

[Hauler_bot]

He's talking about the world map. Not the little part you build your colony in.

I have wondered about this myself.

[Adamiks]

He's talking about the world map. Not the little part you build your colony in.

I have wondered about this myself.

Ahh... Then it's mostly that same thing. You can't leave the map. Also, if you delete the map, every colony with that same map will be corrupted. And if you talk about "seeds", then they're mostly for the sake of sharing/copying that same map.

[Reolos]

Random Map Generation is a thing of beauty in of itself. It does affect long play, in that, when you decide to start a new colony on the same map, that colony you started will still be there. It is also a nice vehicle for delivering the different random factions that you encounter. On top of that, it creates a "realistic" way to choose your biome and starting location. I often spend 20 minutes (1/2 the time compared to DF) or more looking over my map and choosing my spot, I enjoy it.

Thinking about this game as an immersive-survival-roleplaying experience, the world map gives the backdrop for your colony. Just like the galaxy in Star Wars, the map gives you the background for the personal stories we experience there. Without the galaxy/world map, our "suspension of disbelief" would suffer.

Remembering that this game is still Alpha, the world map gives us the potential for a lot of actual gameplay. We may be able to leave OUR colony at one point. We may be able to send trade missions or assaults off-map. we may be able to expand our colonies to neighboring or new locations. Without the world map already in place, these things come off the board.

[Adamiks]

Random Map Generation is a thing of beauty in of itself. It does affect long play, in that, when you decide to start a new colony on the same map, that colony you started will still be there. It is also a nice vehicle for delivering the different random factions that you encounter. On top of that, it creates a "realistic" way to choose your biome and starting location. I often spend 20 minutes (1/2 the time compared to DF) or more looking over my map and choosing my spot, I enjoy it.

Thinking about this game as an immersive-survival-roleplaying experience, the world map gives the backdrop for your colony. Just like the galaxy in Star Wars, the map gives you the background for the personal stories we experience there. Without the galaxy/world map, our "suspension of disbelief" would suffer.

Remembering that this game is still Alpha, the world map gives us the potential for a lot of actual gameplay. We may be able to leave OUR colony at one point. We may be able to send trade missions or assaults off-map. we may be able to expand our colonies to neighboring or new locations. Without the world map already in place, these things come off the board.

So TLDR, Map is crucial for the game itself, but other than that, every map is almost that same?

Well.... I would say you've put (am i doing it right? From what i know "putted" isn't a word ((well, it is, but only in golf)) so i'm not sure...) too much of the backbone into that post.

[NoImageAvailable]

As far as i can see, only the current map influences the game.  And the bigger world is used for nothing?

That's pretty much it. AFAIK the only reason the world is required to play a colony generated on it is due to the way faction data is saved but there is no real reason why you couldn't replace world gen with say a series of dropdown menus where you choose biome, etc. with factions randomly generated as part of the map.

[Regret]

The game is more fun this way.

[Grimandevil]

the world gen is clearly there for future features.

[Alistaire]

There exists a class "Site" which is saved in <sites> in the world save file (though it does nothing and is not accessible to mods, sadly) which suggests Tynan has got some world map locations planned or at least has the possibility to expand on the map.

[Grimandevil]

dont forget, there are some spawn points for other factions on the map. It could be used from simple calculating travel time, to the point of visiting them.

[IkeaSwede]

Currently the overworld is just there as a "base". If you've ever played Dwarf Fortress, you know that the map there makes sense; If you settle near another settlement, they may pay you a visit and such - a necromancer from a nearby tower may come and raid you etc. Where you place yourself matters in that game.

As of now, the over-world does little else than to give you the freedom to choose what form of biome to live in, and give you a bit more of a feeling of control, and possibly a sense of "there's actually a world out there" feeling. But as for actual gameplay, there doesn't seem to be much to it; Yet. It has the potential, but it's up to where Tynan wants to play it.

[Shurp]

I think it's also worth pointing out that if it were just a drop down box selection, you wouldn't be able to pick *which* Dry Large Hills Tundra location you want.  With the world map, you can browse a variety of landing sites and pick the one you like best.

But once you've generated a world... no, there doesn't seem to be much point in generating another one.  Or has anyone seen any significant difference between worlds?