I want to hear about exploit strategies!

[Shurp]

Why not artillery bugs that shoot *eggs* which hatch elsewhere on the map... "oh crap, they're colonizing my freezer!"

[Britnoth]

You may disagree with the huge ant infestation being helpful if a psychic ship lands behind it. 

[EvilMoogle]

Maybe less-aggressive hauler-type bugs?  If you leave them alone long enough they'll start scavenging from your base.

If you ignore them you can have a semi-peaceful existence at the cost of them looting your freezer from time to time (amount based on number of hives).

If you attack them they'll start organizing "raids" with soldiers (sized based on number of hives).

[DariusWolfe]

I was recently playing a game (large map size) when a bug hive spawned in a dark room near the southern end of the map, and my base was located at the north. I didn't have the resources to fight it and it wasn't bothersome so I left it and it kept multiplying and multiplying, and is now a massive hive that has eaten up the small hill it spawned in (one annoying thing is that I constantly get Roof Collapse notifications because the bugs keep mining adjacent cells).

Almost all of the raids, sieges and trade convoys I get come from the south and they all get eliminated instantly when they walk a few steps up and the bugs swarm them. My colony is super safe now becaus nothing can get past the megahive and I've limited all my colonists to stay away from it, but I think the game is also spawning very few raids or threats now because maybe the storyteller thinks I'm dealing with a giant hive when we're peacefully co-existing? I can also scavenge items from the dead raiders or even capture raiders who are incapacitated at a safe distance from the hive by waiting until night and then sending my psychopathic jogger (Lots of rotting bodies to be seen in that area) to snatch and run while most of the hive is asleep. I set up some incendiary mortars to set the hive on fire if I need to but honestly it's the best thing ever so I won't. I guess this could be an exploit if you purposefully mined a bunch of dark tunnels near the map edges hoping for an infestation. It could also just be a cool strategy. It would definitely be better if the hive was somehow a threat to the colony but right now it's 100% safe and 100% beneficial. Something like bugs going out on hunts perhaps? Right now I'm thinking of a way to distract the swarm so I can jog in and grab some of the insane amount of sweet sweet jelly that's been building up.

Man, I hope Tynan doesn't consider this an exploit. This is what I call "emergent gameplay". Plus, there's always the possibility that the hive expands too much, or you make a mistake and bring ruin down on your head.

[stu89pid]

Weird... Seems to me that building a barricade to block in rioting prisoners is a sensible strategy.  The only thing "exploity" is that the prisoners give up. They should be willing to dig at the walls (as traders now do)

It makes sense, but it doesn't meet the intent of the mood system. When people go berzerk, this should be a big risk for the colony. If all you need to do is spend 5 granite to build a temp wall, than this mechanic is not creating the level of problem that the developer intended.

[stu89pid]

You may disagree with the huge ant infestation being helpful if a psychic ship lands behind it. 

What would happen if you poked the ship with a sniper rifle from range? Would the bugs and mechs fight it out?
I would think the bugs attack the mechs just like they attack any raiders/siegers, but I can't say I have played a game where mechs and bugs have come in close proximity.

I'm not sure if this would be considered an exploit or not, but if you want to avoid the penalties associated with bonded animals, you simply can remove the pawn as the master before combat. The pawn will have a "Not India's master" penalty for the short duration of the combat, but this, to me, is much less risky than losing one of your hauler pets.

This is another possible exploit. I will send miners to mine a long straight path through an entire mountain. You can criss cross these lines to find many of the hidden steel and other metals. This is not an exploit at this point.

But having many single lane tunnels carved out throughout mountains (Typically a short distance away from your base) greatly increases the chances that an infestation is going to happen in a safe place. If you build doors at the entrances to these tunnels, it makes dealing with infestations risk free (By using the door exploit and having straight lines, a sniper standing in the doorway can clear a lot of bugs out without ever getting hit). Even without the doorway exploit, putting a sniper at the end of the tunnel can do serious damage before the bugs have enough time to close the gap. And since they only give chase for a short while, you just have your sniper run away when they get within a couple squares, wait for the bug to lose interest, and repeat until they are dead.

[Serenity]

Positioning a sniper far away from the bugs won't even attract them. You can kill them without ever going after you.

[JuicyPVP]

I'd love to hear about any exploits you know of in this thread. Are there other no-risk ways to defeat infestations or sieges? The ones I know of are:

- Shoot infestation bugs from long range

- Shoot siegers with sniper rifles (until they attack)

I shoot wasps nests at my house from 20 feet away with Raid and they do not attack me all the time. I do not think long range engagement of bugs is an exploit- its just smart tactics... Im not going up to a fire-ant hill and beating it with a stick in real life... Im spraying poison/gasoline on it from as far away as I can get. I would like to note I don't LR bugs in game, but burn them.

What else am I supposed to do to a team of 11 seigers? Mortar them? I do that too, and then use a sniper team as support for the mortar fire (or visa versa?). That is an exploit?

[stu89pid]

Positioning a sniper far away from the bugs won't even attract them. You can kill them without ever going after you.

True, but infestations do not typically happen in an open area where you have enough room to snipe them from max range, at least in my experience.

The tunnels help guarantee you get that range advantage.

[Serenity]

Yeah, it's certainly a rare thing. I had it happen yesterday when they spawned in an open pocket that I mined out for steel.

Strip mining is the the more common way to see that though. Like here:
https://youtu.be/e-70WA5uaEs?t=433

[Britnoth]

What would happen if you poked the ship with a sniper rifle from range? Would the bugs and mechs fight it out?

They should. But then you have a psychic ship guarded by dozens of respawning ants instead.

[stu89pid]

Yeah, it's certainly a rare thing. I had it happen yesterday when they spawned in an open pocket that I mined out for steel.

Strip mining is the the more common way to see that though. Like here:
https://youtu.be/e-70WA5uaEs?t=433

Oh nice video example, that's very similar to what I am doing except my tunnels were spaced a little further apart and connect on the far end.

What would happen if you poked the ship with a sniper rifle from range? Would the bugs and mechs fight it out?

They should. But then you have a psychic ship guarded by dozens of respawning ants instead.

Well, if the bugs kill the mechs, depending on how the map is arranged, you would probably be able to get in range of the ship and plink it down to 0 without aggroing the bugs, although this would take a bit of time with just one sniper rifle.

But now I am very interested in getting a starship troopers defense line setup in my newest colony, it just sounds fun and another the possibilities in Rimworld are endless.

[Shurp]

It makes sense, but it doesn't meet the intent of the mood system. When people go berzerk, this should be a big risk for the colony. If all you need to do is spend 5 granite to build a temp wall, than this mechanic is not creating the level of problem that the developer intended.

Or you can have your colonists grab wooden logs to beat the berserker down.  Or you can shoot him.  Berserk isn't meant to be a severe problem as far as I can tell.  It's just meant to be a problem you have to respond to.  It's really more of a problem for the berserker than the colony.  And letting your colonists go berserk is a way to run out of colonists

[Shurp]

Note that if you snipe enough members of the mortar team they will give up firing shells and will attack your base instead.  Maybe this behavior should be added to the bugs.  Plink enough of them and they get angry and go out hunting the threat that is plinking them.

(and then get obliterated by turrets

[Alenerel]

Is the good old "easy entrance" considered an exploit? I mean, creating one "free path" to your base full of traps and directly in front of your guns.

I have watched in some videos that sometimes they sap, but if they dont they will all die easily.