Alpha 16! Discuss.

[KevinHann]

This sounds... unintended. Maybe your colonists suffer from sensory mechanites and that spooked them off? 

[Shurp]

Questions:

1) Where did the character tiles disappear to?  I had just gotten used to them...

2) What is this "bad temperature" work penalty?  Yes, my stove and my butcher table are in my freezer.  How much of a penalty is my cook suffering, and where is this shown?

3) Why is Randy hitting me with an eclipse on day 3?  Talk about aggressive!

[Spdskatr]

Haven't personally played it yet. But I'm gonna ask those that have, does the caravan feature solve the lategame boredom issue?

Edit: I meant lategame, instead of endgame.

Lategame boredom? Specify.

1. Running out of resources
Once you have found the option to enable multiple colonies, you can create a mining base adjacent to your main colony to stock up on tons of resources. Tip: Use drop pods, as one muffalo can only carry 140 steel. You can even build deep drills. Be wary that raids will still be as strong as if they raided your main base, so set up defenses ASAP.

2. Raids
Enemy outposts are just three wooden buildings - and they won't bother you unless you go into their home area. That makes siege tactics perfect for decimating them. To unload resources from a muffalo during a raid, just click on them, click "gear" and find the item you want it to drop. Then click "Drop".

After you defeat an enemy base, you have 24 hours to loot everything from it and form a caravan with your newfound loot, otherwise the caravan will automatically form.

Once all the bases of a faction are defeated, the faction is considered "Defeated" and they won't raid or trade with you ever again.

3. Drop pods

Transport pods have many purposes. Either to resupply a mining base with food, to reinforce your raids, to defend yourself from other people's raids, and to launch mid-base raids on pirates. They are relatively cheap to produce once you have set up bulk mining. Chemfuel is also very cheap to produce as it can be made from any raw food or plant matter, as well as wood.

4. Endgame goal

There is still an option to build your ship, but after 5 or so days a message will appear that there is a starship hidden on the planet and you have to conduct an odyssey to get to it (Transport pods have limited range). Once your caravan reaches the starship, the entire caravan will be sent into space.

2) What is this "bad temperature" work penalty?  Yes, my stove and my butcher table are in my freezer.  How much of a penalty is my cook suffering, and where is this shown?

Work speed penalty for production tables in "bad temperature" (x0.6) or "outdoors" (x0.8)

Honestly, a stove in your freezer is still more efficient.

Unofficial changelog

[A Friend]

I think it would have been better to ask how long your colonies usually last now. "Lategame boredom issue" is too vague. Usually by 2-5 years, your colony would have achieved everything and there'd be nothing left to do except restart (or get rekt by Randy).

[MikeLemmer]

I've used the option to run multiple colonies to set up a part-time hunting camp right next to my colony. I randomly selected my starting location on an Ice Sheet neighboring a Tundra. Looking over my colonists' stats (not a single Grow or Cook above 1), I realized I could be in some trouble. So I decided to send my hunters to the nearby Tundra to see if they could find more food. Sure enough, there's a muffalo herd there, plus plenty of berries to pick. I set up shop in an abandoned building, built a butcher bench quick, hunt down & chop up a muffalo, and then haul the meat back to my colony. I have to be careful how many colonists I send over at once in case I'm attacked by raiders, but it's an interesting solution to my food & wood shortage problems. Hopefully it'll last me long enough to get my Hydroponics room going... or just decide to move my entire colony over to the tundra. (I would've done that from the start, but it was -30F outside and steel/wood weighs a lot.)

[Spdskatr]

I've used the option to run multiple colonies to set up a part-time hunting camp right next to my colony. I randomly selected my starting location on an Ice Sheet neighboring a Tundra. Looking over my colonists' stats (not a single Grow or Cook above 1), I realized I could be in some trouble. So I decided to send my hunters to the nearby Tundra to see if they could find more food. Sure enough, there's a muffalo herd there, plus plenty of berries to pick. I set up shop in an abandoned building, built a butcher bench quick, hunt down & chop up a muffalo, and then haul the meat back to my colony. I have to be careful how many colonists I send over at once in case I'm attacked by raiders, but it's an interesting solution to my food & wood shortage problems. Hopefully it'll last me long enough to get my Hydroponics room going... or just decide to move my entire colony over to the tundra. (I would've done that from the start, but it was -30F outside and steel/wood weighs a lot.)

The sky's the limit! I've got a logging camp, a mining base and a giant farm all linked via transport pods to my main base, which has become a specialized production area for apparel, medicine and weapons that I send back to the other bases. This means that I can finally mass-produce mortars; I'm sure everyone's pretty scared of me by now

[Serenity]

One thing I just noticed with the improved world generation: coastal mountain maps are now pretty common. Awesome

[MikeLemmer]

The sky's the limit! I've got a logging camp, a mining base and a giant farm all linked via transport pods to my main base, which has become a specialized production area for apparel, medicine and weapons that I send back to the other bases. This means that I can finally mass-produce mortars; I'm sure everyone's pretty scared of me by now

I hope this leads to Tynan tweaking the animal spawn rates, or modify how you hunt. It's nuts that the most reliable way to gather meat is to continuously make new colonies adjacent to yours, set up a butcher bench, and hunt all the animals there before moving on.

[Bozobub]

Why is that "nuts"?  That's how subsistence hunting actually works IRL.  People followed the herds, generally, not the other way 'round, until modern large-scale animal husbandry came into practice.

[Shurp]

Interesting point.  We now have the option to play as hunter-gatherers clearing out one neighborhood before moving on to another.

It would be interesting to see the Tribal factions do this on our colony map.  You see a message "Tribals have decided to hunt in your neighborhood"  They build some small wooden huts, then hunt and kill any animals they find outside.  As long as you keep your animals inside they're safe.  Though they might decide your colonists wandering around outside look tasty...

[MikeLemmer]

Why is that "nuts"?  That's how subsistence hunting actually works IRL.  People followed the herds, generally, not the other way 'round, until modern large-scale animal husbandry came into practice.

Because multiple colonies/tiles in RimWorld are still treated as completely separate things. It's most noticeable when you have 2 colonies side-by-side: one will have a Cold Snap or an Eclipse and the other will be just fine. It gets really weird when one's under a Volcanic Winter. Most importantly for this topic, it means that herds of animals don't actually travel; they just appear or disappear from each colony with no way to actually track them. And since RimWorld (currently) doesn't handle traveling colonies well, you either have to wait for another herd to travel near you... or set up a temporary colony and take advantage of the bountiful initial setups to slaughter everything on the map before moving on to the next tile.

Frankly, I'd love it if next update, you could see herds traveling on the map and send a hunting party out to kill a few of them. Or have some other means of sending people out to hunt away from base than just setting up a new colony next door.

[DepOpt]

Interesting point.  We now have the option to play as hunter-gatherers clearing out one neighborhood before moving on to another.

It would be interesting to see the Tribal factions do this on our colony map.  You see a message "Tribals have decided to hunt in your neighborhood"  They build some small wooden huts, then hunt and kill any animals they find outside.  As long as you keep your animals inside they're safe.  Though they might decide your colonists wandering around outside look tasty...

That would be a VERY cool random event. If it was an allied Tribe, then all would be well. Maybe even have a couple trade opportunities. If it was an enemy tribe, it might be more like a tribal version of a siege.

Frankly, I'd love it if next update, you could see herds traveling on the map and send a hunting party out to kill a few of them. Or have some other means of sending people out to hunt away from base than just setting up a new colony next door.

That would be pretty cool. A smallish map with a large herd of animals on it to hunt.

Personally I'm looking forward to finally having a use for boomrats; i.e. as guided attack bombs on enemy bases, with no fear of burning down my lovely home region. I'm quite fond of nice, lush forests and rainforests, so being able to weaponize forest fires on my enemies without ruining the whole reason for playing in those zones (it's pretty, don't judge me) is a glorious day.

[Spdskatr]

Personally I'm looking forward to finally having a use for boomrats; i.e. as guided attack bombs on enemy bases, with no fear of burning down my lovely home region. I'm quite fond of nice, lush forests and rainforests, so being able to weaponize forest fires on my enemies without ruining the whole reason for playing in those zones (it's pretty, don't judge me) is a glorious day.

But you already can... Animal areas... Also tuque drop pods. Ignition and wait...