Manufacturing Economics

Started by Vastin, February 02, 2014, 11:57:35 AM

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Vastin

So, obviously manufacturing isn't in the game yet - only construction. But it is pretty clearly a thing that is coming.

The biggest questions I'd have regarding that are:

1) Will there be more material types to work with - metal types or qualities, or non-metal resources such as petro-chem or crystalline materials for example. Or is the intent to stick with a very simple resource system based on just one or two resources?

2) Right now on-map metal is a finite resource. Unlike DF, it wouldn't take very long to mine out the entire map if you put your mind to it. Granted you will occasionally get random drops, and you can barter for metal - but it would be very hard to base a manufacturing economy on this kind of input, so your economy would still fundamentally be agricultural unless deep-mining or something like that became possible.

So, are we likely to eventually see things like permanent ore veins or oil 'patches' that we can plonk energy/labor intensive mining units onto in order to generate a steadier stream of raw materials from?

Like geothermal vents, these would make the map considerations a good deal more complex, requiring you to place parts of your operation all over the place, and making you make all kinds of research and development decisions based on what is available - which I would consider a real plus.

Tynan

Quote from: Vastin on February 02, 2014, 11:57:35 AM
So, obviously manufacturing isn't in the game yet - only construction. But it is pretty clearly a thing that is coming.

The biggest questions I'd have regarding that are:

1) Will there be more material types to work with - metal types or qualities, or non-metal resources such as petro-chem or crystalline materials for example. Or is the intent to stick with a very simple resource system based on just one or two resources?

2) Right now on-map metal is a finite resource. Unlike DF, it wouldn't take very long to mine out the entire map if you put your mind to it. Granted you will occasionally get random drops, and you can barter for metal - but it would be very hard to base a manufacturing economy on this kind of input, so your economy would still fundamentally be agricultural unless deep-mining or something like that became possible.

So, are we likely to eventually see things like permanent ore veins or oil 'patches' that we can plonk energy/labor intensive mining units onto in order to generate a steadier stream of raw materials from?

Like geothermal vents, these would make the map considerations a good deal more complex, requiring you to place parts of your operation all over the place, and making you make all kinds of research and development decisions based on what is available - which I would consider a real plus.

1. Many resources. You'll be able to mod in production chains using nothing but XML. E.g. define a resource here, a trader who offers it there, and a thing you can build with it in a third file. This already works in the version I'm writing now.

2. I'm thinking about this one. It's a toughie.
Tynan Sylvester - @TynanSylvester - Tynan's Blog

Vastin

If there are a number of different resources, it wouldn't be hard to split the difference - and create a lot of game variation simply dependent on what permanent resources actually do or do not generate on a given map.

Perhaps some basic iron veins might be guaranteed, but I might build a very different economy depending on whether I discover a dilithium vein vs a uranium vein? Trade ships would allow you to fill in the gaps and construct some of the stuff you wouldn't be able to based on your map resources - but that's obviously not reliable, and probably wouldn't help much with exports.

What resources are or are not renewable on a map would fundamentally affect what kind of economies players can build. Of course, right now metal is limited only in theory - in practice you can easily trade for a lot more metal than you can generally use through agriculture alone.

In any case, once your mod and crafting systems are in place, it'll presumably be pretty easy for us to mod in permanent resource generators to see how they affect play.

GC13

Quote from: Tynan on February 02, 2014, 12:23:05 PM2. I'm thinking about this one. It's a toughie.
You'll probably need some building like a "Mine Elevator" that a colonist disappears into and come out of with a bunch of metal after a delay, but you'd need to add some kind of restriction on construction, like only on the rock floors you get when you mine out a wall or something.

Coenmcj

I would reckon pre-defined spots would be better similiar to thermal vents allowing for it to not be that overpowered, while of course keeping these "Mineral vents" spawning inside of the rockey cliffs so as to make it a nessessity to dig to find them.
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mrofa

Easiest way to get various resources would be a ability to scrap weapons :D
All i do is clutter all around.

windruf

i'd like crafting like in wonderland online with addition from gnomoria (i like when my gnomes make necessary parts automatic)

keylocke

i kinda agree with the 'rabbit hole' type resource harvesting, with multiple types of resources needed for production rather than just metal. forcing players to divide their defenses across the map, rather than focusing on creating chokepoints leading to a centralized killzone guarding the main entrance.

anyways, now that we're at it. how about rabbit-hole types of events? (ie: players can uncover an entrance to a ruin and then they can send colonists inside for an adventure, or maybe just some random events that occurs while colonists are digging inside a rabbit-hole mineshaft, etc..)