Starvation at Whitaker

Started by b0rsuk, July 10, 2016, 03:06:01 PM

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b0rsuk

They landed on ice sheet, where average summer temperatures float around -30*C.

The X is the landing spot, the arrow shows where I chose to build a bunker for them. It's an extremely sheltered spot on the largest possible map. Slate, sandstone, and polar bears.

Wren Akula, 52, a caveworld tender who became an inventor. He's a lazy teetotaller and a careful shooter, but actually incompetent with guns and with absolutely no passion. Passions: melee, social, animals (8), growing (8), crafting and research.

Joyce 'Sass' Akula, his 43 year old mother, was a convent child who ended a medieval farm oaf. She's slothful, slowpoke, obese, and incapable of violence. She can't even cook well (4 + passion) but she's an expert constructor and gardener, and a bit of mining skills.

Allessia Girard, 63, a refugee turned gardener. Chemical interest, very neurotic, psychically sensitive. A skilled shooter with very good potential, good miner and amazing gardener.

They're currently starving.

I was very careful and immediately ordered the three to carry steel, wood and survival rations. Steel for construction, wood for warmth. Before they got up on their feet, a snowhare started munching on the rations. So as soon as they constructed a basic warm shelter they hauled the rest indoors.

On ice sheet first priority is research table, then beds. After getting components and medicine indoors, Wren only cared about hydroponics. Meanwhile the two ladies were busy mining steel and rock for the hydroponic room.

b0rsuk

#1
Here's how the first raid went.

I decided to skip turrets and cross my fingers. I could probably shoot the shiv wielding maniac as he wades through snow, and time was absolutely crucial in any case.

Dressed in warm clothes, and armed. He carried no food, but he took his time and decided to prepare for attack. That was a mistake, because a brown parka stands out like a sore thumb on a snowy plain:

So no, not everyone starves.

Soon the pocket of steel at my shelter ran out, and I had to make short trips to an outside vein. On several occasions, colonists had to run away from the white death. A hungry bear cuts both ways. I modified their sleep shedule so they're awake at night and can mine while bears are sleeping.

As food started running out, a wanderer showed up. Andrews, 38, a jealous, smartass recruiter. By sheer luck, bears were away at the moment. She was carrying 3 fine meals! 3 meals, 4 people, who will draw the short straw ? She was kind enough to grab some leftover steel from the landing zone and went for the shelter, passing Sass and Allessia mining steel, entering the reasearch-warehouse-sleeping room...

... only to be immediately hit in the face by Wren. Something about her annoying voice made him snap. A social fight ensued. Wren seemed to win at first, but the true winner was Tonto, the yorkshire terrier who ate the first fine meal.

With a bit left to reseach, Wren and Andrews researched hydroponics in two shifts.

* * *

A battery, 7 hydroponic tables, wind turbine, solar panel are up. Everyone is starving. Andrews had a wandering mental break. Fortunately indoors, or she'd be bear food by now.

Rice is 75% grown. Tonto has strict orders not to leave the research room, out of fear that he might eat rice before harvest. It's going to be nutrient paste for everyone.

Suddenly!

Will she make it past the bear guardians ??? Yes, it's 22h. They go to bed early.
A caveworld tunneler can't shoot, but she'll be my best miner by far, my first competent doctor and an artist. She's also lazy and abrasive, but shhh. She'll get her own workshop.

b0rsuk

#2

That was close.

Later that day:

Joy time is over.


Sweet taste of nutrient paste!!

b0rsuk

#3

Because of all the rubble, construction dragged on past the dawn. How are they going to finish it before the single battery depletes ?


By waiting for the right moment.

Newcomers can't be lucky forever. Seikilos was a test subject turned minstrel. He would actually make a good addition to the colony - very shooty, and at least one flame in each of his unblocked skills.


Bears are bad for trade.


But they help you when you least expect it. The bear north of the wall self-tamed. The bear south of it nuzzled Grub to death, ate the corpse while under fire, and walked away like nothing happened.

That's the first perimeter wall, and a swan song for bears. I built a turret south of it, in a natural choke point. There was a small pirate raid, and a turret was built only to blow up. Components are running short.

There was a raid by a single scyther. But no one was hit.

One of bears was a cannibal, and prefered to attack the wounded one instead of nearby human corpses. The wall enabled me to take pot shots, and I had 3 bear corpses... plus a second self-tamed bear.

With no corpses to eat and no humans to hunt, bears ragequit. Only occasionally a bear wanders in from outside the map.


Much later - an ice sheet party. Andrews had to be arrested, she had a hissy fit just outside the colony door. She had enough of the cold, so she started to wander, and... undress piece by piece.

The colony is taking much longer to build than I anticipated, partially because of the less than ideal design decisions I made. I opted to build much deeper, and in the transitional period from a hole in the ground travel times were very long.

b0rsuk

#4

But overall, the colony is shaping up. This is the perimeter - very long, and even traveling to the turrets may cause a minor hypothermia on a character wearing a cloth parka. I don't dare to remove snow between the 2nd and 3rd wall for security reasons. Most of steel inside has been mined, turned into 3 turrets, more generators, heaters, and a comms console. It was a hard decision because I need power, warmth and many other things - but going past the bottomest wall just to mine components feels like a major adventure.

Sass, slothful slowpoke oaf, rescued Blanka, cult child/drifter - brawler with a passion for cooking and construction. Sass had Severe hypothermia on the way back, so Wren jumped out and hauled her inside so Sass could continue unburdened. BlankaAndrews recruited her, Jenkins the surgeon healed her just before she bled out. She has a poor steel spear for now.


This is the current colony. Extra doors are necessary to save heat - start of winter and colder than -80*C outside. NPD has been moved from where the stockpile is to the top left. I actually have a nice dining room now. No one has time to make good sculptures, so I'm making lots of flower pots. One bear corpse has been chopped up to battle a temporary rice crisis, I have two more so I could make fine meals. But there's beer. It's not peachy yet - two hydroponic tables are turned off, and I'm looking around for components... and room to build generators. I don't want a single lucky mortar shell to doom the colony.

I will probably change the hydroponic room to face north, and maybe make a corridor run from it through the living quarters.

Digging out rooms became complicated by the plasteel, and my dining room has gold vein. There's a bit of silver left to mine just outside colony door. But I would really appreciate more mundane veins. Time to do some digging ?

The whole colony has a power killswitch - the idea is to use it in case of infestation, but I will need more wood and warmer clothes. If I make surplus food Wren might train the bears for obedience and release (skill 8).

From raids I got a PDW in a good shape, two tolerable armour vests, a beat down personal shield and half of my clothes. One of the very few cargo pods I could retrieve (the largest map size) dropped outside my door and I have 61Medicine now! Andrews is the most stressed out colonist, but I think she's just jealous.

Current roles are as follows:
Andrews - recruiter, stonecutter, crafter (too smart + two flames), cleaner
Wren - handler, grower, hauler. He and Andrews are good researchers, but I think other stuff is important now. Wren would like to craft too.
Sass - a  very good constructor, but slothful and slowpoke so I made her only build indoors. She's also very good with plants. Also a cleaner.
Jenkins - the surgeon, miner and constructor. She travels faster but is lazy when she starts working. She builds outside. Oddly enough, she has a green thumb with skill 3 and no passion, but she's not allowed to play yet.
Blanka - builds inside, cleans, brews beer.
Allesia - badass, very neurotic miner, riflewoman, and a gardener.

No social fights for a while, they mostly get along fine now, despite two negative relationship traits.

b0rsuk

#5

Andrews couldn't get a posh room just by asking nicely, so she seduced Wren. Does she like wifebeaters ? They're getting a slate double bed, because in my colony you can have as much slate as you can eat! The entrance is through the comms room, because they're both nerds. And they're getting a cooler from the old research room too. I wish I could use fewer coolers. But the extra one is from the freed up rooms. And there were components in the new warehouse, the opposite of the comms room. They will get a royal bed in near future. And that way the corridor has a nice length of 15 - shotgun range.


When in doubt, build turrets. I had mixed feelings about the middle one until I thought: plasteel! And yes, those are lamps to illuminate targets at night, naturally all behind a switch.

I have a bit of power surplus now, maybe I'll put another two hydroponics for cotton. Beer and rice production is steady. Blanka will be soon 8 at cooking, maybe a cooking stove but only 2 bear corpses. Somehow, no trade ships, and caravans don't arrive because it's too cold.

b0rsuk

#6

The colony has grown and is successful. I made several optimizations including a couple of plasteel autodoors. Unless something nasty happens, I'm on the usual way to build a ship and leave. Another steady and boring game from now on.

Lots and lots of plasteel, little steel (I'm building plasteel stuff partially to save steel!), okay components. Two new recruits - Maverick, father of Jenkins, who is an obese taster, pyromaniac, artist, and won't do dumb labor. He's taking care of brewing, stonecutting; he and Jenkins make sculptures. About a day later Victor - Caveworld Tender/Herbalist. Has potential to be a miner or a great crafter, but his talents are mostly redundant and I don't have enough crafting materials to support two.

So I'm still stuck with one good shooter, plus three unskilled people with PDWs and a pistol. More than enough to take care of melee raids. Technically only Sass is incapable of violence, so if I find lots of steel I'll build mortars. Against psychic ship I bought two tinfoil hats.

The most dangerous event is probably infestation. I have mediocre melee fighters and I'm holding on to my 3 bears (the baby is now a juvenile bear) all trained for combat. With more steel I'll make shotguns. It's currently summer 5501, but in colder seasons I can freeze their asses by unpowering the whole base. I bought a decent supply of wood, have parkas (and woolen jackets + tuques to not fear cold that much). Very little silver though.

I got another pet, a self-tamed snowhare. Neither the hare nor yorkie nuzzles people. I would buy an alpaca or two.

My defenses beat all common raids without so much as a scratch. A large tribal raid could be nasty, as a really smart sapper team. I have 3 pirate factions and one hostile tribe!

Trade caravans were really awesome this summer, too bad I had no silver. And look at their bodyguards!