Instead of research - knowledge and teachers

[hoochy]

Research is a good way to "Scale gameplay". Instead of allowing users to create that nuclear reactor on day 0 you require them to research their way there. Spending valuable pawn time on the research bench instead of getting more resources and defenses is a gameplay dynamic.

However I think it could be done better and in a way which would open up more gameplay opportunities, and fits in better with the Rimworld "World". And that is you have to educate pawns themselves on topics to build more things. And this also means certain pawns would already come with certain knowledge. And if your professor teacher pawn who knows everything dies, well then you lose your ability to build those complex things if he never taught anyone else ! Now there is a real reason to keep those frail, one eye'd seniors around, the older someone is the more they should know, in theory!

Research Changes
* Remove research

UI changes
* All buildings should be visible in the menu, any that can't be built should be greyed/red'd out and have a tooltip or messagebox which says "You have no colonist with the appropriate knowledge to build this"

New tasks
* Learning, which replaces the old "research". Now colonists share and teach themselves things, so you need more than one colonist to "share" with.

Pawn changes
* New base trait, intelligence, which defines how quickly people "learn" and "share" such information.
* Each pawn needs data that defines the things they "know", and hence the things they can allow the colony to build.
* Social interactions may even be "teaching" moments, now more reasons to have pawns socialize. Even if it is much slower than getting pawns on the "Learning" task. Everyone knows that guy who thinks he knows something so well who can't just help always talk about it and eventually gets a slap for not shutting up.

New items
* Certain books you can buy that allows pawns to educate themselves on their own at a slower pace than if you had a pawn that knows it. Now a real use for a library!

Since the game already has things like the "Teacher" backstory, and "too smart" trait, and old people, it seems a perfect fit. It makes the game, at any point a lot more dynamic because you can have that great base that no one can touch until your professor pawn dies and now you can no longer repair or build those turrets. It removes a lot of the "safety" you feel once you have researched everything, and also gives you a feeling there is more in the game to do.  And it finally gives a reason to have those crappy frail useless pawns around if they are actually knowledgeable, instead of finding creative ways to accidentally kill them "go haul that rock chunk on the other side of the map during an ice storm".

[Fluffy (l2032)]

This is an amazingly awesome idea! Research never made much sense on the scale ( both in number of 'citizens' and timespan ) that RW plays in, and this approach makes for much more interesting colonist choices.

I love it!

[mumblemumble]

Neat idea,  but removing research entirely sounds extremely messy.  I can't even begin to imagine how to balance what you suggest. I do like the idea of tutoring however.  Would be cool for a 13 level shooter to spend time showing a level 0 the ropes.

Just replacing research sounds almost impossible without either having it be a brick wall,  or exploitable. Just too difficult without problems.

[Mathenaut]

Now there is a real reason to keep those frail, one eye'd seniors around,

For like another month or two maybe, lol

[stefanstr]

Why not combine the two: The researcher needs to teach other pawns what he's researched in order for them to be able to build it...

[mumblemumble]

Why not combine the two: The researcher needs to teach other pawns what he's researched in order for them to be able to build it...

and essentially doudou the effort to get stuff done? Maybe triple? Hell no.

I think teaching skills like shooting,  cooking,  ect would be better than research.

[stefanstr]

Why not combine the two: The researcher needs to teach other pawns what he's researched in order for them to be able to build it...

and essentially doudou the effort to get stuff done? Maybe triple? Hell no.

I think teaching skills like shooting,  cooking,  ect would be better than research.

On the other hand, this would nullify traits like "no manual labor" since you could teach anything to anyone. I kinda like the current limitations on learning and skill usage.

I like the OP suggestion better: to teach construction of specific items, and not general skills.

[skullywag]

but wouldnt that mean RNG for the relevant skills or grind, which is similar to what it is now.

[mumblemumble]

Double *(fucking auto correct broken on my phone.)

Also,  its not that these people haven't been taught  ,  they have things preventing them. Egos,  trauma,  or other bs. A teacher wouwould be able to fix this,  a therapist maybe.

Also if we had to research,  then teach,  that would easily double the time it took to say,  get hydroponics working.

[hoochy]

Neat idea,  but removing research entirely sounds extremely messy.  I can't even begin to imagine how to balance what you suggest. I do like the idea of tutoring however.  Would be cool for a 13 level shooter to spend time showing a level 0 the ropes.

Just replacing research sounds almost impossible without either having it be a brick wall,  or exploitable. Just too difficult without problems.

Its fairly easy to balance the start game. Just limit what "knowledge" the 3 starting pawns have, but randomize it to some extent.

The biggest factor in stopping production of anything shouldn't be research or knowledge, but resources. Its like the mayor of Detroit knowing what needs to happen to make Detroit great again but he doesn't have the resources to do it.

Artificially placing restrictions on users with no gameplay consequence is kinda an old school way of doing things.