Your Cheapest Ideas

[MikeLemmer]

It's probably been suggested before, but crops ought to have different temperature tolerances. As it is now, every crop can be grown as long as it's growing season and the soil has a sufficient fertility rating. Mushroom and fungus plants should grow year around and require very little light and low fertility, flowers and smokeleaf should be extremely temperature sensitive and would require a temperature controlled hydroponic room to be grown in some climates, potato should have high temperature tolerance while corn and rice flourish in hotter environs. I think it's unrealistic that if you are in a temperate forest, you can farm every crop. In real life, some of the most valuable commodities on earth are crops that only can only grow under extreme conditions.

I think it's too easy to farm cash crops like psychoid plants too. A single harvest can yield hundreds of doses of flake. Nerfing psychoid plants to require a narrow temperature range (around 35-45) would also give incentive to settle in rainforest and desert biomes.

Not sure if this is already ingame, but fertility ought to decrease slightly around mountains/rocky areas. would nerf mountain bases by making them a bit further away from their food source and force early investment in hydroponics.

also, berry bushes should die in the winter. I've kept my colony going in the winter just harvesting natural berries. I don't know if natural berries have a higher food poisoning chance, but I haven't noticed it.


thanks for listening.

Plants and animals. As it stands, every animal has different cold tolerances, but the same heat tolerance: 122F. It would be nice to have hot-climate animals that can tolerate higher temps, especially since heat waves often drive animals from the map... into other areas that presumably also have heat waves. You'd think they'd adapt to that by now.

[MikeLemmer]

Give T-shirts a heat insulation bonus. As-is, there's almost no reason to prefer T-shirts over button-down shirts.

[Thundercraft]

It's probably been suggested before, but crops ought to have different temperature tolerances. As it is now, every crop can be grown as long as it's growing season and the soil has a sufficient fertility rating.

I think the crop system is pretty good the way it is. Having a limited growing season is almost like dealing with temperature tolerances. Granted, some plants just won't grow in certain climates. However, growing something in the wrong climate may mean it will still yield food, just not viable seed. Even in cold northern climates like in Alaska and Canada they can grow carrots and many other vegetables we are familiar with. It's just that the window for growing is shorter.

And soil fertility does have a big impact on growing speed and which crop is best. Gravel only has a fert. of 70% and players often recommend that only crop worth growing in that are potatoes. See this video for details: Quick Tips for Farming, Food and Drug Crops, and Hydroponics

Mushroom and fungus plants should grow year around and require very little light and low fertility...

That depends on the type of mushroom or fungus. Some require rich soil or lots of moisture, some don't. Some need a near absence of light, others are more tolerant.

...flowers and smokeleaf should be extremely temperature sensitive and would require a temperature controlled hydroponic room to be grown in some climates...

Again, that depends heavily on the species or variety. There are some species of flowers that thrive in the desert. And there are some flowers that grow in some bitter cold tundra areas where little else will grow.

I think it's too easy to farm cash crops like psychoid plants too. A single harvest can yield hundreds of doses of flake. Nerfing psychoid plants to require a narrow temperature range (around 35-45) would also give incentive to settle in rainforest and desert biomes.

I think you should read this reddit: Some quick numbers for the drug farmers [RimWorld]

To summarize: The math shows that drug farming is hardly worth it. I've read similar conclusions elsewhere, too. Believe it or not, growing hops and brewing beer seems more profitable than any form of drugs. And utilizing regular crops is not that far behind drugs. Cooking lots of fine meals with a decent cook is a decent way of making money in RimWorld. Don't believe me? Then check out this video: How To Make Money in Rimworld

Not sure if this is already ingame, but fertility ought to decrease slightly around mountains/rocky areas. would nerf mountain bases by making them a bit further away from their food source and force early investment in hydroponics.

In a vanilla game, an "early investment in hydroponics" seems rather difficult. Aside from the research to unlock, you have to build sufficient power and/or batteries. A single sun lamp requires 1600 W, not to mention the 70 W per hydroponics bay.

I've read several complaints about the power requirements of hydroponics. And several in RimWorld chat wrote that hydroponics isn't worth it unless you've settled in tundra or ice sheet where there isn't much other choice for food. That may explain why mods which lower the power requirements for hydroponics seem so popular...

As for the fertility of mountain areas: Actually, such areas are covered in a lot of mine-able rock, leaving comparatively little for grass, trees or soil. And, in my experience, they also seem to have more gravel and overall less soil fertility than usual.

[FreakyNeo]

So here's my cheap idea: Orders don't get mined away.
I like to go Dwarf Fortress Mode and plan my rooms out with the planning feature (that is the objects in the room not the room itself) and then mine where appropiate, but the orders get mined along with the stone. I usually remember what i had planned for the room but it would be a huge Quality of Life Improvement. I doubt i'm the first one to point this out, but hey every vote counts when it comes to small stuff like this right?

[Zebukin]

Before all mechanics of caravan forming will be reworked, there is two things, that can make it possible to form caravan without heavy problems:
a) ability to send chosen person to sleep. Just because I can send person to go to eat or smoke joint for the relaxing.
b) it is not so necessary but ability to mark the zone, where animals shoud stop untill they will be loaded full.

[Zebukin]

Build wall from any block.
Really. Sometimes there is no need to calculate how many blocks of each type I have.
I Just want to buld temporary fireproof barrack or some columns and no matter, what sort of stone they will be.

[NeverPire]

Build wall from any block.
Really. Sometimes there is no need to calculate how many blocks of each type I have.
I Just want to buld temporary fireproof barrack or some columns and no matter, what sort of stone they will be.

Why not call that patchwork wall ?
More seriously, the difficulty comes from the repartition of the different ressources you have, an auto repartition will cause surely some dissatisfaction.

[CrazyEyes]

Mountain bases have already too many benefits, meteorits like explained increase much more their benefits compared with normal one.

I mean, if we are looking to nerf mountain bases, just creating a red level event "Earthquake" that randomly causes overhead mountain roofs to collapse, like maybe 1/8 of them in an earthquake, would raise the challenge significantly.

It would, but that's less of an incentive not to build a mountain base and more of a punishment for chosing to do so. It would be effective but inelegant.

[Marduk]

It's probably been suggested before, but crops ought to have different temperature tolerances. As it is now, every crop can be grown as long as it's growing season and the soil has a sufficient fertility rating. Mushroom and fungus plants should grow year around and require very little light and low fertility, flowers and smokeleaf should be extremely temperature sensitive and would require a temperature controlled hydroponic room to be grown in some climates, potato should have high temperature tolerance while corn and rice flourish in hotter environs. I think it's unrealistic that if you are in a temperate forest, you can farm every crop. In real life, some of the most valuable commodities on earth are crops that only can only grow under extreme conditions.

I think it's too easy to farm cash crops like psychoid plants too. A single harvest can yield hundreds of doses of flake. Nerfing psychoid plants to require a narrow temperature range (around 35-45) would also give incentive to settle in rainforest and desert biomes.

Not sure if this is already ingame, but fertility ought to decrease slightly around mountains/rocky areas. would nerf mountain bases by making them a bit further away from their food source and force early investment in hydroponics.

also, berry bushes should die in the winter. I've kept my colony going in the winter just harvesting natural berries. I don't know if natural berries have a higher food poisoning chance, but I haven't noticed it.


thanks for listening.

Yeah, crops and leathers are 2 areas that are definitely in alpha stage and are already prepared for significant variation to be implemented, but still aren't, which Tynan is probably planning to do eventually. Some leathers already have non default stats (muffalo, thrumbo, pig for example) but most don't.
Some mods have some more of that done already though.

[carbon]

EMP IED

Unless there's some obvious balance issue I'm not seeing.

[RolanDecoy]

In the list of custom scenario options, add "Start without technology", with a field for the relevant tech(s) that are yet to be researched.

Strangely enough I haven't found any way of starting a game without electricity (research already known) and such. Either I'm not looking right or it's just not there...

[Al-Horesmi]

Make is so that scythers stay with the centepedes, they waste their tactical advantage by coming in two waves.

[Thundercraft]

Make is so that scythers stay with the centepedes, they waste their tactical advantage by coming in two waves.

Doesn't that depend on the weapons their enemy (your colonists) are equipped with?

Okay... I'll just have my colonists snipe the scythers with guns while they hold back next to their slow-as-snails centepedes.

[Al-Horesmi]

Ah, sometimes I forget it's rimworld, and sniper rifles have lorger range than miniguns. I'd say the solution would be to bump up charge lance's range up to 45, it's basically a sniper rifle anyway.
In any case, that would at least be more challenging than "wait for them to enter killbox, then go deal with the centipedes". Right now scythers have no purpose because they come alone and get overwhelmed by the defences, even if it's just a line of colonists.

[DariusWolfe]

Ah, sometimes I forget it's rimworld, and sniper rifles have lorger_[sic] range than miniguns.

As opposed to what? Real life, where the effective range of an M107 sniper rifle is roughly twice the effective range of an M134 minigun?