[Suggestion] A problem that could be solved with drop pod survivors?

[VortecusMaximus]

Drop pod survivors, for most, a free prisoner that they can sell or recruit, however for some, like myself, like to waste medicine healing them for no good reason, they don't even say thank you, and there's no benefit of it, they just stand up, and run away from your colony into the unknown of the Rimworld... This to me seems a bit stubborn and an empty feature, so I put some thought into it, what about the reputation that you get for saving a spaceman or woman, goes towards a new event, similar to resource drop pods, but better, in return of you spending a quarter of a day hauling their fat ass half way across the map, treating their wounds and tending to their needs, they then, once returned to the stars, pay you back by sending you a bunch of drop pods, of random stuff (not just 1 type of food, or 1 type of resource) instead, like a shoddy assault rifle, 4 medicine, 45 cloth, and 6 fine meals. (Totally random, each time). Depending on who you rescue, and what their space status is, obviously if they were a Glitterworld Emperor, expect a small fortune, but if they were a space miner, maybe just a little thank you card in comparison. This is just an idea, since the crash landing survivors seem a bit of a wasted event in my opinion - Thoughts and extended ideas are welcome!

[Diana Winters]

Yeah, it should give some incentive to at least rescue pawns with sub-par stats instead of letting them bleed out on the ground

[cultist]

I agree that the event is a bit shallow, and the random drop pods sound fun.

However, I think the "thankless" nature of rescued pawns serve a certain purpose. Rimworlds are not places for mercy, and good deeds go unrewarded. I understand that the player needs incentives to do things, but from the perspective of your colonists it's a question of whether or not they want to spend their precious resources on a stranger, whom they'll probably never see again.

I think it's one of those things that really draw the line between a "good" colony and an "evil" one. Are you willing to help a stranger in need for no other reason than it's the right thing to do? And if you don't, why? Is it because of low resources? Or do your colonists simply not care? These questions help shape the story. If there is a predictable reward, the motivation of your colonists is easily explained: They do it for the reward.

[Harold3456]

Both Cultist and the OP habe good points here, but I think I'm leaning more with a Cultist. The first time I played the game, I was annoyed that "Spacer" didn't get improved relations every time I saved a downed man. Then I realized that "Spacer" wasn't a single colony but a blanket term for spaced survivors. Why would one random spacer's fate affect your relations with the "Spacer" faction as a whole if they're all just random people who aren't in contact with one another?

[ro.othorick]

But that begs the question; HOW did they, wandering off into the wilderness alone with no allies technologically advanced enough to achieve orbit, leave alone interstellar travel, get home? And within the year? It's unlikely they could come back within the century; it'd be a ridiculous expenditure to come back at all. I think it's a non-starter personally.

But it's problematic as-is as well.

Think about this for a second: Shit went terribly wrong on your ship and you just got unceremoniously dropped bruised and broken to bleed out on the dirt of some unknown planet. And then some guy you never met before scrapes you off the ground and nurses you back to health. He tells you that you're on one of those infamous "rim worlds", complete with rampaging pirates, and no prayer of getting home. Who, in this situation, would unceremoniously wander off into the wilderness? Maybe if you just wanted to die in the first place. The walls around you right now are your only real shot at surviving the week.

An argument can be made for throwing them into a cell as opposed to a random bed; you don't know their story or if they'll be friendly despite their circumstances. But punishing naive trust needs to have a solid in-universe justification.

[Tagasaki]

I've been thinking after nursing back the survivor to health, there should be a continuation event "petition" whether or not you want him as your colonist.

It's the same in DF whereby some outsider comes to your tavern and lounge around until they've decided to "petition" something.

[VortecusMaximus]

+1 for Taga's idea

[cultist]

I like Taga's idea too. It would be nice to be able to persuade people to join, rather than always throw them in jail and coerce them into joining. Maybe simply add some interaction options to wounded visitors, much like prisoners? If they have a faction, they have high resistance. If they are spacers, low resistance.

[Wex]

A little spin off from the thread.
The random wanderer.
Sometimes, a random wanderer joins the colony; you have no saying in this.
You can get a doctor, an artist, a 78 deaf woman with dementia, an ugly model who won't do anything and so on.
Useless pawn, i make them melee a boomrat untill they die; it's not I had some choice in the matter.
I should have.

[VortecusMaximus]

I agree with that as well, I swear most of my colonist deaths are from me killing the random colonists that join, we should get a prompt that someone is looking for a place in our colony, have a look at their health and stats and what value they're actually bringing to the colony and then decide

[GreeneDR00L]

This is especially goofy when you rescue a person that's related to one of your colonists and they wander off after being treated.

[MuffaloDiver]

Yes, it's very silly that you have to imprison a crash survivor just to get them to join you colony.

There really needs to be another method. 

Perhaps there should be two possible outcomes from using the "rescue" option.

They can either join you or leave afterwards, and in the case that they leave there should be some random event that happens later as a consequence. 

For instance, the person could show their gratitude by sending supplies or silver as a thank you, or on the flip side, they could be a raider/pirate who decides he knows this quaint little colony without a lot of defenses just rip for the taking....

[erdrik]

I doubt they are going anywhere off world, or out of system, since the lore is decidedly non-FTL. And even assuming they did somehow have a means to leave the system, you would not receive benefits from them directly for centuries. (because of lack of FTL)

I guess it all depends on the actual destination of the spacer.
Did they fall from the same ship you did? Or did they come from an earlier ship? or one that arrived afterwards? If their ship was a different one, is this rimworld their actual destination? If it was then them leaving your colony would make sense as they would be trying to get to where ever their actual planned destination on the planet was.

I would love to see the spacer event expanded, but I think the biggest expansion needs to be in dialog. Maybe as soon as you get the Spacer in a med bed, you get a popup explaining where they are from and where they are trying to go.
But you wouldn't get that explanation if you capture them. Maybe even after you recruit them they joined but still distrust you and get a big negative thought for a long time. Maybe even a way to bring the "X leaves the colony" event back.


As for benefits to having high spacer relations, I think spacer relations should just have a small impact on the frequency and type of orbital traders. Its not that the spacers you save are doing anything to help you, so much as you are building a reputation for being a safe and civilized trading port. Or if you capture/kill them alot, you build a reputation of being a trading port of ill repute and attract traders appropriate for that reputation.

It should take a long time to build the rep either way tho, to prevent gaming it to your needs.

[b0rsuk]

Maybe spacers who later show up among trade caravans or visitors could give you better prices and other diplomatic bonuses...

[winddbourne]

I like Taga's idea too. It would be nice to be able to persuade people to join, rather than always throw them in jail and coerce them into joining.

Always this!

In fact I'd go as far as saying that it should be MUCH easier to recruit a guest compared to a prisoner. Think about it . . . I'm your enemy. You just killed my friends and locked me up. Perhaps you stripped me and stole my stuff. How likely am I to join you?

Point blank it's simply not going to happen. At best if you treat me well we might become friends. That has benefits. You show yourself to be honorable and our faction's relationship improves a bit. However if you kept me in an ugly cramped cell, failed to feed me, stole my clothes, etc . . . I might just carry a grudge.

Players shouldn't be taking prisoners just to recruit them. If my colony is poor and hungry maybe I should leave them outside to die. Perhaps I take them for some other reason. I could harvest their organs, sell them to slavers, or even hold them for ransom.

Being altruistic though could get you a lot of benefits simply by eventually having the attacks stop and replacing those events with visitors, traders, even people from that faction coming and asking to join up. But it's a long term "reward" in exchange for a lot of food, medicine, and effort.

On the other side of the same question . . . I'm in trouble and you just rescued me. You treat me like a guest. You tend to my wounds. You feed me. We talk and become friends. Suddenly it makes perfect sense that I might be recruited and join your settlement. This is especially true if I just crash landed and have nowhere else to go anyway. 

My other relationships on this planet might also play into things. If I have a brother and other family in a nearby settlement I'm likely to join them. If I have a wife and kids I'm unlikely to leave them behind . . . but perhaps you have a chance to recruit my family. Especially if your base is wealthier, prettier, or more comfortable than what we have back home.

The current system just makes no sense.