Your Cheapest Ideas

[Leon_RM_BR]

I love the ideas I see around here, but often they tend to be on the complex side. Often, assembling a lot of simple systems and letting them interact is better than designing a big complex system. I want to hear your ideas for full systems and modules, but I'd also really like to have the suggestion stream be balanced between big and small ideas.

So I'm making this thread to specifically ask: what ideas do you have for the game that are really cheap to implement? Ideally these are things I could do in less than half a day. Try to think of things that re-use already-existing systems with minor tweaks to create new variations.

Here are some examples:
• Barbed wire: A building that slows down movement.
• Molotov cocktails: Grenades that start fires.
• Assassin: A raid from one super-powerful raider.
• Weaponbuyer: A story event where a trader offers to buy all of your weapons for a high price.
• Potatoeater: A muffalo gets a taste for human crops and starts eating them exclusively.

None of these, by themselves, will set the world on fire. But put into the simulation together, they can create new stories. And I can afford to do a lot of them. So, have at it! What are your cheapest ideas?

An idea is cheap if a developer could sit down today and have the feature finished in four hours or less.

If your idea is at all complicated or uses game systems or AI behaviors that are not already in the game, it is not cheap and should be posted elsewhere.

Hello, first, congratulations on the success of the game. I speak of Brazil and you have many fans here.

It would be great if we could attack other villages and steal supplies. This would take the game to another level. I believe there is something of 4 hours of work but very worth it.

A big hug.

Olá, primeiramente, parabéns pelo sucesso do jogo. Falo do Brasil e você tem muitos fãns aqui.

Seria genial se pudessemos atacar outras vilas e roubar suprimentos. Isso levaria o jogo a outro nível. Acredito que não seja algo de 4 hora de trabalho mas valeria muito a pena.

Um grande abraço.

[DariusWolfe]

This should be a pretty cheap one, and possibly needed with the next update adding a LOT of animals.

Different classes of meat and leather, rather than unique meat and leather for each animal type.

For meat, examples would include Ruminant Meat, which covers cattle, deer, muffalo, camels. Rodent meat would cover rabbits, squirrels, chinchillas, etc.

I'm less sure how to do leather, but the principle should be the same.

Either way, animals whose meat or leather is significantly different can still give unique types, but overall I think it'd be a small but notable improvement to have less different types of each.

[Decker]

Regarding the planning tool, it'd be nice if you could have a secondary colour for planning, or multiple colours.

That way when I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to tear apart a mountain I can differentiate between what I'm mining and what I'm building.  Sure you can use the mining tool, but I may not want to direct my guys to mine that particular part.  Or maybe if we can suspend specific orders (did I miss this option?).

When I start up a new game with the intention of mining out a mountain I like to do all my planning first on my base building.  Suspendable mining tasks may be the better suggestion here.

[DariusWolfe]

A quick fix that might help is to use the Mining Tool, but omit (or delete before unpausing) any blocks that intersect the surface. It'll leave the general shape of your planned dig, while not allowing your colonists to get to it.

[Solar System Colonist]

@Decker The planning tool could use more colours... three would be the best (walls, furniture, empty floor).

Hello, first, congratulations on the success of the game. I speak of Brazil and you have many fans here.

It would be great if we could attack other villages and steal supplies. This would take the game to another level. I believe there is something of 4 hours of work but very worth it.

A big hug.

Attacking other villages has been proposed many times... the simplest implementation would be making your raiders disappear from the map for some time and return back with more resources and less limbs. Still too complex for the purpose of this thread, since you're adding a new mechanic instead of reusing older mechanics for new gameplay.

Also, sorry for the uncalled for advice, but "regards" sounds better for Euros than "a big hug", due to Europe vs. Latin America cultural differences.

[FlayedOne]

How about milking boomalopes for some explosive liquid?

It could be used to manufacture molotov cocktails, grenades, rocket launchers and artillery shells.

It would provide some nice incentive to farm those bad boys.

[skullywag]

How about milking boomalopes for some explosive liquid?

It could be used to manufacture molotov cocktails, grenades, rocket launchers and artillery shells.

It would provide some nice incentive to farm those bad boys.

I have a mod that does that called "boomjuice", havent released it yet as I thought I was the only madman who did stuff like this. Ill chuck it up for A14 for those willing to risk it all.

[PKGhost]

When I search for mods to allow for tiny map sizes (25×25, 50×50), I only find people asking for very large or huge map sizes.  When I'm at home I play on a pc which can handle any map size.  But when I'm traveling for work I play on a laptop that isn't meant for gaming and even current smallest setting can get laggy and generally runs slower. I think adding the options to play on tiny map sizes will increase Rimworlds availability to more people who don't have nice pcs, and allow for others to try a game with very limited resources and space.

Thanks 😉
PKGhost

[blub01]

When I search for mods to allow for tiny map sizes (25×25, 50×50), I only find people asking for very large or huge map sizes.  When I'm at home I play on a pc which can handle any map size.  But when I'm traveling for work I play on a laptop that isn't meant for gaming and even current smallest setting can get laggy and generally runs slower. I think adding the options to play on tiny map sizes will increase Rimworlds availability to more people who don't have nice pcs, and allow for others to try a game with very limited resources and space.

Thanks 😉
PKGhost

the thing is, you can't go much smaller than the current smallest map size without lacking space and resources.

[FlayedOne]

I have a mod that does that called "boomjuice", havent released it yet as I thought I was the only madman who did stuff like this. Ill chuck it up for A14 for those willing to risk it all.

Well, there is at least two of us:D I would greatly appreciate it if you released it:)

[blub01]

something I noticed in a youtuber's video - apparently you can't change the dialogue text on game start when making your own scenario. I might be wrong, the youtuber didn't show the process of making his own scenario, but if I'm not, that would be a neat (and cheap) addition.

[winddbourne]

Simple Items:

• A Tent of cloth/hide that lets you sleep outside without the penalty
• A 1X1 Table for the rich explorer to eat from
• A drying rack and meat Jerky to go with our pemmican
• A fishing spear to use on water tiles
• A blow gun and poisoned darts

Construction

• Flimsy woven reed walls/doors
• Sand bags that require cloth and dirt rather than iron . . .
• "Tribal" planting areas for berry bushes, agave, etc  . . .
• Flower bed and hedge planting areas to improve the beauty of our settlement

[b0rsuk]

Lightning spires. Odd alien structures that make lightning strike 3x as often within 20 squares radius of them.

[Thorbane]

Lightning spires. Odd alien structures that make lightning strike 3x as often within 20 squares radius of them.

I'd like lightning rods.  Force lightning to strike it instead of the surrounding area, keeping thunderstorms from lighting crops on fire.

[b0rsuk]

Snake Eye (eye implant)
Gives the pawn thermal vision, able to see well in darkness and in bad weather (counters accuracy penalties). No mood penalty for darkness. Similarly to Power Claw vs Bionic Arm, it comes with some kind of penalty - maybe it looks creepy ? Otherwise no Sight bonuses.