Vanilla Bionics Availibility - And Other A13 Thoughts

[pdxsean]

I've been playing for a while, since before clothes had qualities and deteriorated. I play lots of other games, but always come back to RW when a new alpha is released. I'm not the best player but I'm OK and avoid save scumming for the most part, and try to avoid underground bases. I've always played alpha and Cassandra, but my difficulty level goes up and down. On A13 I am playing Cassandra Rough, mostly because I was concerned about bugs and components. 

Five years in my colony is doing pretty well as expected, but the real shortage I am noticing is bionics. I have nine bionic limbs among my 23 colonists, and I think one was lost at some point in a surgery mishap. I think it took like six seasons to get enough money to start buying every bionic limb that traders had to offer. This does not include power claws, which I don't use, or things like joywires or painstoppers. I'm taking purely arms, legs, and eyes.

Currently I have need for 15 bionic replacement parts and of course I can't even come close to giving people free bionics to make them better.  This does not include power claws, which I don't use, or things like joywires or painstoppers. I'm taking purely arms, legs, and eyes. I have guys walking around on peg legs for crying out loud.

I don't know if this is related to the trader scarcity, although I do find the frequency of land and ship traders combined is pretty great. Maybe the land traders need to bring more bionics? Or is the balance supposed to be that where a player who puts his pawns at moderate risk won't be able to keep up with bionics? Most of my casualties are from sapper raids and infestations. 

It's great that we can make everything else, weapons and power armor especially. I am really enjoying that as my colony grows more advanced. I feel like the raiders tend to have lower quality weapons than in the past which definitely makes it valuable to have good crafters working away. 

Now that I am into my sixth year I do feel like the danger is coming much faster. I just had a string of incidents - a sapper raid, 10 (of 23) pawns struck with Malaria, and then an infestation. Maybe it's just a coincidence or bad roll on the RNG but it feels like Cassandra is out to get me and honestly that makes me want to keep playing more. I don't think I've ever gotten past five years with any of my colonies, so great job there. 

I'm glad I'm only playing on Rough. Sure, seiges and alien ships and raids are pretty easy to deal with, but sappers seem stronger than before and the infestations are brutal even on a low difficulty with a good strategy. I can't imagine how I would fare at Classic or Challenge. Anyway great job, absolutely worth the wait, and I am really looking forward to a little balancing to make my next playthrough that much more enjoyable. Thanks Tynan!

[blerkz]

Had a similar experience on Cassandra Rough. Components mean you can't spam turrets everywhere, so you have to put colonists at greater risk. Someone losing an arm or a leg is a big disadvantage, and it leaves you in a weaker position for the next raid. Double whammy if you don't treat your colonists as expendable.

I modded in more trader ships which mostly solved the problem.