[A16][WIP] RimVerse - Return to the stars

[Gedos]

RimVerse

Description
RimVerse aims to let RimWorld have a more defined mid- to endgame goal, apart from expanding your base and improving on what you have already made. Build a spaceship, launch your colonists into space, and resume your initial journey! Become an intergalactic trader, explore the glitterworlds and discover the secrets of the universe!

Mod Features
The mod will be released in several stages, with new features being added each stage.

Stage 1 (Current)

• Build a spaceship, similarly to vanilla, but with a proper livable interior
• Fill your ship's hold with chemfuel, install a control panel, fill your ship up with colonists and launch off into space
• Keep your ship in space and avoid costly landings with short-range droppods
• Keep your colonists alive with hydroponics, using your ship's onboard chemfueled generator
• Sell your colony's excellent merchandise for a pretty penny as an orbital trader
• Surprise your enemies and drop your colonists into faction bases, FROM SPACE

Stage 2

• Return to civilized life and visit the glitterworlds, where you can find highly skilled colonists/crew members
• Improve your ships fuel, generator and life support system efficiency by researching
• Defend yourself from space pirates with several upgrades
• Cross paths with other ships, trade with them, or enter and raid their ship
• Dock at spaceports across the universe and see what stories may unfold there

Stage 3
TBD

How?
So, the core functionality of a persistent, seperate spaceship environment will be provided by the caravan ambush map introduced in A16, except it won't expire after 24h. You will design a spaceship on the ground, not connected to any other building, and when activated through the control panel, it wil disappear from the colony's map and be placed into a seperate ambush map, which will be "space". The spaceship will be visible on the world map on the tile that it is currently above. The spaceship's size in squares will determine the idle and engine fuel consumption, while the electricity usage will determine the generator's fuel consumption. The more lifeforms, be it animals, colonists or prisoners are on board, the more power the life support system will require. In order to save space on the ship, ceiling lights will be present. More details will follow.

Images
My very original and beautiful ship example (without droppod launcher):





Author
Just me for now.

Downloads
None yet.

[Thirite]

> RimWorld meets FTL

[Hydromancerx]

> RimWorld meets FTL

YES!!!

Also please add the whole oxygen stuff from the Mars mod.

[WarlordToby]

OH. MY. GOD.

This has been literally for months in my mind! "What if we could actually be in space?" "I'd like to make actual spaceships."

You, Sir, if you manage to finish this project; notify me ASAP!

[Gedos]

Thanks for all the support, everyone! Yes Hydro, I do plan on adding the oxygen stuff from the Mars mod to add a level of challenge to space travel. I'm currently investigating whether it would be interesting to have certain resources unique to some planets, but I think it would be frustrating to start over from scratch several times with the same crew. It might be cool to have certain planets with mechanoid ruins or very rare tech, but this would certainly be a stage 3 thing. I'll keep you guys updated!

[Pink Omega]

This is one of my dreams in rimworld, always wanted to live on a glitterworld...
I hope this isn't too complex for the game and you will do it!

[Wishmaster]

Why do we need chemfuel to produce electricity ? the vanilla ship reactor produces power out of nothing. or maybe this won't be balanced.

I love the idea anyway.

[Nickvr628]

Only if we can build mortars and bombard the enemy from orbit. MUHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA!!

Get hype

[DariusWolfe]

If you abandon this mod, I may well track you down and make you into a cowboy hat.

This is amazing.

Although, I'm skeptical about the part where you want to visit other worlds, as it's either going to shatter canon or be unplayable, since it's years of travel between stars in the existing fictional universe.

[Thirite]

Just so everyone is aware, a mod of this scale will likely take an absurd amount of work. If you can get a working "living in space" prototype, it would be an excellent proof of concept to parade in front of Tynan. I imagine something like this was never in his plans, but the more I think of it the more I love the idea.

[Hydromancerx]

Yeah even if it was like an orbiting space station it would be super cool!!

[Gedos]

Thank you guys for all your enthusiasm! I'm not coding just yet, i'll start once i've figured everything out in my head to prevent major roadblocks along the way. Let me know if you have any suggestions because I'd love to give spaceships as many uses as possible, to really make them add something substantial to the rimworld expenience.

Why do we need chemfuel to produce electricity ? the vanilla ship reactor produces power out of nothing. or maybe this won't be balanced.

I feel like a spaceship is going to be a very significant thing, it will carry a bunch of colonists and can make you loads of money. The only thing you really need to keep in mind when running a spaceship is that you have enough chemfuel reserves, so that you can keep your life support system online and move around in space. Fail and your ship will be stranded in space, with your colonists going insane because of food shortages and oxygen deprivation. I feel like using a ship reactor to magically facilitate all your electricity needs is just a bit too easy, as running a spaceship should be a very lucrative, but complex and risky task. Also don't forget to bring components, because your life support system just might break down!

Although, I'm skeptical about the part where you want to visit other worlds, as it's either going to shatter canon or be unplayable, since it's years of travel between stars in the existing fictional universe.

That is very true. In order to make this mod work, the speed of spacetravel or the distance between stars will need to be altered to make this all viable within a rimworld storyline. It might be cool to make it take some real significant time though, like an ingame season to get from your homeplanet to a glitterworld, since all sorts of things could happen on the way there and you'll need to manage your colony while the ship is en route. Realistic orbital mechanics are not a feature of this mod i'm afraid, haha.

Just so everyone is aware, a mod of this scale will likely take an absurd amount of work. If you can get a working "living in space" prototype, it would be an excellent proof of concept to parade in front of Tynan.

Yep, that's the idea! The plan is to start with a permanent, caravan ambush kind of instanced area in which the spaceship "colony" will live and all the space events will occur, while still running the homeworld colony alongside it.

Yeah even if it was like an orbiting space station it would be super cool!!

Eventually i'd like to add docking with spaceports where you can wander around and meet other spacefarers, pirates and merchants, who can give you information about the universe and potentially interesting planets.

[Pink Omega]

Oh! I have some suggestions. Maybe when you build the ship, you would need to survive while inside it (controlling colonists like in a normal colony, but while travelling on space, duh) you could stop at some...space stations? or trade with another ship to buy food and fuel etc. Also, the travel could last maybe 1 season? depending on the planet you want to land on. And then you could arrive to a normal rimworld or even a glitterworld, maybe in the glittlerworld the game could turn into some sort of the sims thing...dunno, but i think it wouldnt work...Maybe you could spend your silver in a house, buy food make colonists happy etc, like in a city

[Sarelth]

If possible, for the space travel aspect of the mod, you could try to do a Caravan style map of the galaxy, with the ship as the icon to move between the different biomes (sectors) of the map having similar base icons for where planets are located.

[apljee]

can we get an update on the status of the mod/how it's working out so far?