Two Colonies - A Balancing Act

[O Negative]

I decided to try something different, today. Earlier, I found myself wondering: "What if I set up the western side of the map as an allowed area, and the eastern side of the map as an allowed area, and then put half of my colonists on each side?"

Guys, this is so much fun, in my humble opinion. If you're looking for a unique challenge, I would definitely recommend this. It's like having a multiplayer feature, except you're playing by yourself (  )



So far, the western and eastern colonies have already developed specialities. While the western colony is largely agriculturally oriented, the eastern colony has become a tech conglomerate and is already starting to produce weapons of decent quality. These "districts" have no interaction with each other, and are actually separated by the beginnings of a thick stone wall. Should any members of either colony start to cause issues within their precinct, they will be migrated to the other side. I've decided that if neither side is a good fit (can't get along), the colonist will be imprisoned, sold, or terminated.



I'll try to let you guys know if anything interesting happens from here on

[Posswam]

This is an excellent idea, well done!

Which scenario did you start with?  This seems like one where you could set up a good custom scenario, maybe starting with 4 or 5 pawns, with a pretty good spread of skills.

It will also be interesting to see how the AI storyteller reacts, because the two colonies are going to be at different stages / have different levels of security etc. So something might not be a threat to one but could decimate the other.

Very interested to see how this one pans out.

[Deimos Rast]

you might have to tweak the story tellers pop cap some if you go big. Wonder if you could do some type of trading spot in the middle...exchange guns for butter (which actually fits in your case).
I think this kind of gameplay really benefits by a fleshed out set of rules. I would be tempted to cheat it a lot.
Thanks for sharing.

[O Negative]

@Posswam: I started with 4 decent pawns (only one was incapable of something), and absolutely no resources crashing down with me.

So far, I've only encountered one raid, but it spawned on the industry-oriented side which has a pretty decent melee fighter. The raid was quickly dealt with... this time. It's still early. I have concerns for later game raids which will use both sides in their calculations.



@Deimos Rast: Yeah, the story teller pop caps are a concern of mine. I know how to mod them to be higher. But, I'm interested in seeing how it goes without doing that, first.

I've thought about doing a surplus center within the wall between the two colonies as a "we have no use for this, we might as well share" kind of thing. All this would require is a minor overlap in the allowed areas.

Cheating the rules is going to be easy to do, but you could think of this as a will-power exercise. Having the freedom to adjust the rules you initially set in place isn't such a bad thing, if you do it right



Update: The First Summer

[O Negative]

The First Summer:

It's been almost a year since first landing on this planet, Banthos. Both sides have managed to survive everything that has been thrown at them so far, but it hasn't been much up to this point. In fact, the agriculturally oriented colony has a very skilled diplomat, which has managed to recruit a good number of new colonists. On the first day of the first summer, however, 3/4 agriculture colonists & 1/2 industry colonists came down with Malaria. Luckily, both sides had been growing small amounts of healroot up to this point, so they weren't totally unprepared.

3 days later, and the infected colonists are in "extreme" condition, and are unable to walk. Their immunity levels are at 98%, with the exception of one who is at 99%. It is at this time that the pirates of Banthos decided to raid the under-militarized, agricultural colony. They decide not to attack immediately, but to plan their attack instead.

Almost immediately after their arrival, one of the infected colonists of the agricultural colony goes berserk, and starts attacking the doctor that has been keeping him alive thus far. She holds her own against him, as his weakened consciousness has made him a poor fighter. After putting the incapacitated colonist back into bed, she quickly treats his wounds and limps back to her room to rest. Every member of this colony (the West) is officially on bed-rest...

Before the sun has a chance to rise, the pirates begin their assault. They have 3 soldiers, decent quality ranged weapons, and all the moral they could ever want. The colony under attack, however, can't even feed themselves at this point. All seems lost for the West. Until...

A glimmer of hope! Two friendly tribals have come to their aid! There are only two of them, but could this be the West's saving grace!? With one wielding a great bow and the other a slate club, they intercept the pirates' greatest threat; the lvl 10 shooter with the superior shotgun. One shot from the great bow lands directly in the left lung of the pirate, setting his ability to breath down to almost 50%. The tribal with the slate club approaches the pirate, in what appears to be an attempt to finish him off, but she wasn't fast enough! The pirate turns, and fires a clean shot directly at her torso; killing her instantly. The tribal with the great bow fears for his life, and fleas back to his village. I can't say I blame him...

At this point, the infected colonists have all developed immunity to their Malaria. However, they are still recovering from the effects of the disease and are unable to walk. The only person capable of fighting back at this point is the diplomat/doctor. If only she had a weapon...

Then, something interesting happens... The pirates almost completely ignore the homes of the West, and start to break through the wall separating the two colonies. Once they break through, they break into the house of Smith and Hudson, the only two members of the Eastern colony. They're met with dismay, as brawler Smith (wielding a good quality longsword, made by herself) cuts them down with only a few swings to the torso. The shotgunner goes down rather quickly, as he was already injured. The second pirate to enter the building gets a few hits in, but it's nothing compared to the damage Smith is able to dish out. The third pirate doesn't bother, and leaves the area as fast as he can.

At the end of the day, both colonies live on. But, for how long? I guess we'll see.



The East finally has a 3rd member. Davenport crash landed in a drop pod, and has since been recruited. Normally, they would have just let her die, but her mining skill was naturally at 11 with a burning passion, and that's incredibly valuable for the East's interests.



Both sides are coming together decently, although not as fast as I would like them to. My attention being divided constantly has taken a toll on my normal progression :/

I hope to have turrets set up soon for the Eastern section, at the very least. All raids so far seem to prefer to break through the "bridge" between the two sides in an attempt to kill Hudson and Smith. I'm not sure why...

[O Negative]

Anniversary:

Winter has finally passed, marking one year of living on Banthos. The West continues to produce more food than they could hope to consume, whilst struggling to find the technological resources to protect themselves from outside threats. Meanwhile, the East is in an incredibly strong position (militarily), yet struggles to keep the food and medicine supply up. It would seem these two colonies might benefit from each other. However, the wall between them has created an interesting social divide between the two populations. They refuse to open the gates to the bridge...

A few days pass, and the pirates of Banthos return. This time, they have a small army, armed to the teeth with explosives and automatic weapons. They decide to split up, half of them breaking through the wall to the East, while the other half start to burn down the homes of the West. In a foolish attempt to save her home, Holly (doctor of the West) runs to put out the flames. She is met by a man wielding a shotgun, and has her left leg blown off completely. She falls to the floor, in agonizing pain. The pirate turns his barrel at her a second time, and destroys her right hand with a second shot. He leaves her there to suffer, and makes his way to the bridge. When he gets there, he is met with a member of his militia running for his life. Unwilling to risk his pitiful life, while satisfied with the damage he has done to Holly, he flees with his comrades.

Holly is left incapable of taking care of herself, or her friends. It is up to them to take care of her for now.




Aftermath:

Both colonies have suffered losses; although, the East sustained no significant injuries. Nevertheless, both sides decide to take precautions with what resources they have. Fast-forward a full season, and...



The West:

The West has found and installed a prosthetic leg onto Holly, so that she can move about freely once more. A trader named Engie, left behind by her unforgiving allies, has joined the West's colony after Holly patched her up (albeit poorly). A wooden wall is built as a temporary "resistor", which will hopefully offer them more time to react to the next attack... Engie digs a mine, in search for components, with the hopes of bringing this technology-impoverished colony up to speed.





The East:

With the last raid having so many explosive and incendiary weapons, the East decides to step up their defensive game. However, they don't do it in the normal way most might consider. Instead of setting up turrets, Hudson decides to build a fortress. Smith cuts the stone necessary, and Hudson puts together a massive effort to protect the East's future. He looks at his work so far, grinning, daydreaming of the day he can finally tell his fellow colonists...



"Welcome to Fort Hudson."

[SoilFox]

I really like the story so far

[Dingus]

Fort Hudson has a nice ring to it.