Roaming Herds & Global Events

[MikeLemmer]

Now that I've been playing A16 for a few weeks, there's some expansions on its ideas I would like to see in upcoming updates:

• Roaming herds on world map. Rather than just waiting for herds to wander onto my colony's lands, I would like to see roaming herds on the world map and send out a hunting party to intercept them. This would also be a foundational step for seeing/interceping raids and caravans on the world map.
• Global events. Currently, if you set up 2 colonies next to each other, their events are completely independent. Eclipses, cold snaps, solar flares, volcanic winters, etc will only affect one colony and not the other. Such events should affect all colonies in a wide radius around an epicenter, not just one.

[SuperCaffeineDude]

Being able to see migrating parties would be add a great level of depth to the game.

Currently a lot of events can feel quite arbitrary, i.e; "20 wargs attack you out of nowhere".

If we could see and intercept the migrations of animals, and later travelling caravans, it would make the game seem far more alive.

[daduhweewah]

Yea the events need to be synchronized for your colonies for sure. How have you liked running two colonies Mike?

I have found that running two colonies is kind of a hassle. (given I have set up my game to allow me upto 55 colonists and I am on an ice sheet on the coldest planet setting, and sent a group south to the only temperate area on the map (still can not grow crops outside as summer max temp is -2c) which luckily was just shy of being out of reach of my pod launcher.

So having to have 8 sun lamps (1600 each) each with 25ish hydroponic growers (70 each) so I'm using 30k ish power just to have the crops I need for these colonists, on top of that I am buying every scrap of meat I can afford from bulk traders and premade meals from them also which cost a fortune, then having the second colony in a cold biome now I am flying meat from the new colony since there are actually animals on that map, and flying crops into the new colony, it just becomes a lot of work to keep two functioning, I cant imagine trying to do 3 - 5 full sized colonies - not to mention just the lag (youd have to have an insane computer to not have lag, I have a bit of lag on max speed with my two colonies but can run the first two speeds without a hitch)

It would help immensely if events were synchronized so you were kind of going same strategy on each map. I am sure in the future running two colonies will be greatly improved upon, but right now it is pretty demanding to run two and still be enjoying the game. Though, I am going to continue doing two until I am completely sick of it. Then just going to try and raid every single location on the map, ally or not.

[Anomaly]

So much would be opened by having events tied to the world map. If the frequency of raids, caravans, and roaming herds of trouble is any indication, the map should be alive with little icons moving all over the place.

Perhaps scouts and communication with friendlies would affect what you can see?

I want to select retreating raiders and put bounties on their heads for allies in the area.
I want to rush to the aid or rescue of allies in trouble.
I want to know how long I have until the mongol horde reaches my land.

[MikeLemmer]

Yea the events need to be synchronized for your colonies for sure. How have you liked running two colonies Mike?

It's not really that different yet. I only visit it occasionally to hunt. It's literally just a butcher's bench in an abandoned building with some sleeping spots on the ground. However, I just had 2 alpacas wander into my base, so I'm thinking about turning the 2nd colony into an alpaca farm for their soft cuddly wool. I also had the luck to have a tundra spot adjacent to my ice sheet base, so traveling between the two is near-instantaneous.

[daduhweewah]

I have 25 animals on my main base, and 12ish on my second base (from taming alpacas and muffalos and some random dumb tames)

My second base is a 21 day travel by caravan from original base, so I cant send things without using the pod launcher.

It has gotten more fun (loaded it back up a bit ago and played for a couple hours) Once you get stuff set up it is easier to manage, just building the base up to have beds medical area storages food supply etc then it is much better. May even try to see what a 3rd base can provide, though the world being ice makes it pointless. You can at least wall off areas then place only the sun lamp and a couple heaters and grow crops as long as the ground is appropriate (so tundra should have plenty of farm area) then you can grow haygrass and devil thread (though devil thread may be a waste of time since one solar flare will kill your progress due to temps dropping well into negatives) So that's what I have done in my new colony to keep my random animals fed without wasting meat on kibble.  It has definitely made the game better, its pretty unique to travel and settle multiple locations.