The ability to plan

[GeminiOfSin]

I apologize if I'm breaking any rules by blatantly using this as my suggestion point, but I did not see anything about it nor any similar suggestions.

So my suggestion comes from Prison Architect, specifically the "planning" function. Being able to outline and 'build' without spending any resources. I spend a lot of my time in Rimworld correcting mistakes I've made when going to build or mine out a section because I still haven't learned the sizes for everything. Plus it's just fun to be able to plan out your builds.

I hope I posted this properly, as I don't believe this is a "cheapest idea" because it might actually take some work. But I would really like to see it implemented.

[keylocke]

+1 on this.

-since there seems to be no pause button for the blueprints, i tend to lay down my floor plans and then cancel most of it while leaving only the corners of walls as markers. the reason i do this is usually due to resource or worker deficit. which means i have to lay down the blueprints again when i want to rebuild the segments that i've cancelled if i want to complete the entire base design.

-it would also be great to be able to drop blueprints inside unmined mountains, and the pawns will just auto-mine the areas that are occupied by the blueprints, so that players no longer have to wait for too long until the area is mined before being able to place blueprints. (this would let players identify mistakes in their base design early on without wasting too much time on it)

-also, builders should always prioritize deconstruction first before building anything, since players often try to deconstruct items that are standing in the way of construction.

[Monkfish]

I typically pause the game when I want to plan out structures 'n' whatnot, although the design mode in PA is very handy, means you can design something whilst things still go on in the background. Often though, I'm expanding into rock and will usually plot out the room locations 1 block in from the current wall so that the colonists can't reach the mine orders and won't start until I've added one in on the exposed wall.

As for deconstruction, I think they should be prioritised in the same way that regular construction jobs are (i.e. in the order in which they're issued), although it would be nice if colonists perform deconstruction jobs first in cases where the materials gained from deconstruction could be used in a nearby construction. To illustrate this, I'll describe a scenario I encountered yesterday;

Whilst expanding my base into a new rock outcrop, I had a deconstruction job queued to remove some stone walls that had been built in error (wanted metal) whilst simultaneously constructing a stone wall 3-4 blocks away. I clicked on a colonist tasked with building to find out what they were doing and they were walking 25+ tiles away to get stone blocks from the stockpile whereas deconstructing the wall nearby would have given most of the blocks required for the construction. I have no idea how much of a ballache it would be to have the colonists prioritise a deconstruction job to release materials for the current construction job if said materials are closer than the nearest stockpile. Now that I've said that though, it probably is easier to have deconstruction priorised over construction.

[Serrate Bloodrage]

I have to agree deconstruction should come first, Im usually only deconstructing to do something different in that same area and have to wait until its all deconstructed to lay down the new plan or they start building the new structure which can get messy

[Plasmatic]

I don't mind pausing the game to plan my structures outside.. but it does get a little frustrating counting and planning my base inside the mountain so I would not say no to a planning mode that can be used on the unmined mountain areas.

However, I don't think it should be automined by colonists as you may not want all of it set to be mined right away?

You could be planning your entire base of 50 colonists when you only have 3.. that way you can plan the whole base, but only mine/construct the bits you need as you need them.

Bedrooms are a great example of this..

[keylocke]

it should be automined by colonists as you may not want all of it set to be mined right away?

You could be planning your entire base of 50 colonists when you only have 3.. that way you can plan the whole base, but only mine/construct the bits you need as you need them.

Bedrooms are a great example of this..

edit : ^exactly this.

i also pause the game when i am laying down blueprints for construction. however, as i said before. i also have to factor in the available resources and manpower for building those blueprints.

ie : at the start of the game, i often plan out several layers of defenses to surround my steam generator, as well as plotting out the living areas, the kitchen and dining areas, etc heading towards the nearest mountainside.. however, since the available resources aren't enough to complete the entire base design. i have to cancel out the rooms and equipment that i don't want the colonists to start building yet. so what i usually do is i just keep the corners of the rooms as markers so i would know the placement of rooms as i have originally intended, and then lay down the entire blueprints again for those areas i've deleted when i finally have the resources necessary to build them. (generally when i start a new game, i tend to have already designed practically the entire base on the first day)

-what i would prefer instead is to be able to lay down the blueprints... and then pause the construction for each item individually, so that it would be easier for me to guide the colonists on what to prioritize building first without having to micromanage the builders.

-edit2 : it would be better if there would be an option to set the default construction status to "paused" and then the player will turn it on manually instead.

-----

it's kinda hard to explain. (that's why i was asking for a good movie cap software in another thread so i can show some experiments on base design). haha

[starlight]

it should be automined by colonists as you may not want all of it set to be mined right away?

You could be planning your entire base of 50 colonists when you only have 3.. that way you can plan the whole base, but only mine/construct the bits you need as you need them.

Bedrooms are a great example of this..

edit : ^exactly this.

i also pause the game when i am laying down blueprints for construction. however, as i said before. i also have to factor in the available resources and manpower for building those blueprints.

ie : at the start of the game, i often plan out several layers of defenses to surround my steam generator, as well as plotting out the living areas, the kitchen and dining areas, etc heading towards the nearest mountainside.. however, since the available resources aren't enough to complete the entire base design. i have to cancel out the rooms and equipment that i don't want the colonists to start building yet. so what i usually do is i just keep the corners of the rooms as markers so i would know the placement of rooms as i have originally intended, and then lay down the entire blueprints again for those areas i've deleted when i finally have the resources necessary to build them. (generally when i start a new game, i tend to have already designed practically the entire base on the first day)

-what i would prefer instead is to be able to lay down the blueprints... and then pause the construction for each item individually, so that it would be easier for me to guide the colonists on what to prioritize building first without having to micromanage the builders.

-edit2 : it would be better if there would be an option to set the default construction status to "paused" and then the player will turn it on manually instead.

-----

it's kinda hard to explain. (that's why i was asking for a good movie cap software in another thread so i can show some experiments on base design). haha

It would be great to be able to save blueprints from the game, to import them later. This particularly works for "generic stuff" like bedrooms.
(a la Quickfort in DF)

[Monkfish]

I like these suggestions. Not too sure how I feel about the auto-mining for buildings/furniture/whatever, but the rest is all good.

[keylocke]

It would be great to be able to save blueprints from the game, to import them later. This particularly works for "generic stuff" like bedrooms.
(a la Quickfort in DF)

yes! agreed. i usually have pre-planned defenses connected to my initial steam gen room, which i have to redo after each and every game, because the design is already optimized so i no longer need to experiment much on it. the configuration is highly adaptable, resource efficient, small real estate, and very deadly. (i've also designed it in preparation for raider center drops on roofless home areas, since i probably don't have to worry too much on "through the roof" raider landings due to them killing most of themselves and ending up getting outnumbered in the process.. lol)

same thing with the bedrooms. i just want to plop down rotatable saved bedroom blueprints of my own design (complete with all the furnitures and lighting inside), rather than having to redo things over again for each room.

[theSovietConnection]

I agree wholeheartedly with this.

If we're mining Prison Architect for ideas, too, I also wouldn't mind something like the Clone feature, where you could just throw down a basic shape if you're mass producing structures, particularly in outside areas.

[Coenmcj]

So Blueprint mode, and the ability to MAKE blueprints?

Count me in, At the moment I have a whole multitude of Red squares inside my mountain that the colonists are itching to get at.

[devin25486]

I apologize if I'm breaking any rules by blatantly using this as my suggestion point, but I did not see anything about it nor any similar suggestions.

So my suggestion comes from Prison Architect, specifically the "planning" function. Being able to outline and 'build' without spending any resources. I spend a lot of my time in Rimworld correcting mistakes I've made when going to build or mine out a section because I still haven't learned the sizes for everything. Plus it's just fun to be able to plan out your builds.

I hope I posted this properly, as I don't believe this is a "cheapest idea" because it might actually take some work. But I would really like to see it implemented.

XD Yea... I posted the same idea on the alpha 2 update video on youtube...
But I think it would be an excelent idea to use a planning tool... It would be like dev. mode where stuff happened instantly while the game is paused so that you could see what things would look like. Then after you hit resume everything would be queued up for your colonist to do.

[GeminiOfSin]

So apparently I never got any updates on people replying to my post. So I haven't actually seen* any of this. I'm so glad other people agree with me, and now more so that there's actually a planning feature in the new patch.

Edit: I'm an idiot.

[Evul]

A planingtool is in the game now. I'll keep this topic open for discussion of an expanded planing function.

/Mod

[Sion]

A planingtool is in the game now. I'll keep this topic open for discussion of an expanded planing function.
/Mod

An expansion would be to make it show the width, height and area when you draw a line (width & height) or a rectangle (width, height and area).
I'm currently using the power conduit as a makeshift tape measure, because it costs 1 metal per square.