Multiple colony management ?

[Shurp]

So I started a second colony next to my primary as a mining camp.  My main map was running low on components so I thought I'd give this a try to dig up some more while I wait for traders to bring me some.

Of course the moment I arrive a merchant carrying a pile of them arrives at the new settlement which didn't bring any money to buy them with.  Typical Rimworld inanity

But putting that aside, I'm suddenly stumped -- how am I supposed to run two colonies simultaneously?  It seems like when I hit 1x speed both colonies run, but of course I can only see one at a time.  How am I supposed to keep track of everything?  Keep flipping back and forth between them?

And how do events work?  Especially raids?  Is a raid going to show up on whichever map I have active?  And is it going to base its strength on the combined value of *all* my colonies?  If I happen to be looking at my mining camp and a swarm of pirates show up it's going to get wiped out...

Any advice on how this all works?

[Goldenpotatoes]

Multiple colonies is you running multiple maps at once, with timescale changes being global, k'now, considering they're on the same planet at the same time. You probably shouldn't be bothering with multiple colonies unless your main one is capable of being mostly self-sufficient without you hovering around to give orders.

I'm pretty positive events can occur on non-tabbed maps as they never stop running in the background. How the storyteller handles event scaling for the newer colony is a mystery however, considering Tynan is pretty stubborn when it comes to revealing how the storyteller factors these things in.

[PiggyBacon]

Pretty sure they scale as separate colonies. My main colony can get 150+ raiders while my farm/mine camp only gets 5-10. If they scaled together more than 1 would be impossible.

[dv]

With the right worker settings/priorities, restricted areas, design, etc., a colony with 10+ pawns can be set up to be pretty much ignorable. You will want at least one person as a dedicated cleaner.

[matthewgareth]

In my experience with raids they seem to scale with each map (colony) independently and not as a whole.

Basically lets say, the main colony will get like 30 raiders in a raid but the new one will only 7

(but then again I might not be correct)
(but I never thought of creating another colony as a mining outpost and not a colony, so great idea! I'll have to try that sometime

[Wanderer_joins]

I've four colonies now. It helps if your colonies are mature enough before settling a new one. They are all running simultaneously. There are two things i used to do in A15 i no longer do:
a. forget about switching sunlamps daily, you've to rely on a continuous power supply
b. i used to check the map every day to kill top tier predators, forget about it. have your pawns ready with good melee weapons/restrict them inside walls/have a herd of foxes/wolves to clear the map for you

Considering the scale of the threat: it seems to be scaled on the wealth of each colony. Still, playing cassandra extreme, there is no longer the honeymoon for new colonies, meaning the timeline is critical too regarding the threat. In my last outpost, 30k wealth, 4 guys, i got a 15 or 20+ tribal raid at day 5.

Another point considering logistics: it helps a lot if your colonies are connected within pods' range, to send a doctor, a death squad rapidly from a colony to another one.

I'm 8 years in, and end game seems more exciting than in A15.

[Shurp]

My main colony had 7 people; I sent two to build an outpost on the hex next door.  I get the feeling this isn't large enough to sustain itself from what you're describing, hmmm.

Trouble is, I'm playing Cassandra, so getting more pawns is hard.  Especially pawns that are worth anything. 

I guess I'll send them home and focus on researching power armor instead.  I was just trying to think of something to do while waiting for traders to show up...

[Wanderer_joins]

To get more pawns easily you could build an outpost with a single guy, Cassandra will help you reach the desired population in this outpost.

[matthewgareth]

My main colony had 7 people; I sent two to build an outpost on the hex next door.  I get the feeling this isn't large enough to sustain itself from what you're describing, hmmm.

Trouble is, I'm playing Cassandra, so getting more pawns is hard.  Especially pawns that are worth anything. 

I guess I'll send them home and focus on researching power armor instead.  I was just trying to think of something to do while waiting for traders to show up...

Ha you think Cassandra is hard? try Randy Random at Extreme difficulty

[Limdood]

most people consider cassandra harder than Randy.

Randy has more random events, which makes it more likely to back to back or even simultaneous raids or other events

BUT

Cassandra has a much stricter population control (cassandra's "make it nearly impossible to recruit" cutoff is like 12-14, Randy's is 50 i think).
Cassandra scales raids consistently, even into long games, whereas Randy generally tops out at a certain raid size/difficulty and only ever makes them "harder" by randomly hitting you with more than 1 at a time, which is really rare.

I thought randy was going to be harder too, but most of my colonies that made it beyond a couple years for randy went until i got bored and stopped.  Most of my colonies that made it beyond a couple years for cassandra got obliterated by 120 tribals or 14 centipedes.

[matthewgareth]

most people consider cassandra harder than Randy.

Randy has more random events, which makes it more likely to back to back or even simultaneous raids or other events

BUT

Cassandra has a much stricter population control (cassandra's "make it nearly impossible to recruit" cutoff is like 12-14, Randy's is 50 i think).
Cassandra scales raids consistently, even into long games, whereas Randy generally tops out at a certain raid size/difficulty and only ever makes them "harder" by randomly hitting you with more than 1 at a time, which is really rare.

I thought randy was going to be harder too, but most of my colonies that made it beyond a couple years for randy went until i got bored and stopped.  Most of my colonies that made it beyond a couple years for cassandra got obliterated by 120 tribals or 14 centipedes.

I've gotten 75 manhunter muffalos during a mechanoid drop in and then 4 back to back raids once (less than 24 hours ago)

[Listen1]

Ha you think Cassandra is hard? try Randy Random at Extreme difficulty

Randy will always be easier than Cassandra. Cassandra is the toughest storyteller hands-down. But that's not the discussion.

I also tried running multiple colonys, since my first colony used the killbox setting there were only a few things that made me switch to the main colony, these were:
Sappers
Sieges
Toxic and Psychic ships
Radioactive cloud thing and Vulcanic winter (to change clothes/build roof)

Everything else would easily be handled by my own colonists, mad animals and normal raids would fall in face of my killbox, and everything else runs smoothly. Base is well powered, no batteries. The second colony is for mining stone chunks and other resources. And this is a blast. I'm loving these multiple colonies settings, and I just got it started.

I want to make my hell's kitchen map, where I grow a crapton of crops and send it via cargo pods to my other colonies. They'll never know what's inside that lavish meal.

[PotatoeTater]

I handle my multiple colonies a little different. I built a mountain stronghold with my 8 colonists and once I got it all self sufficient and ready, I sent 5 of my colonists out to raid the nearby pirate encampments, (there was 15 of them close by), everytime I took an encampment I would then uses the base to mine out the map and/or grow extra crops if possible. Then once everything was mined out, I would demolish the entire encampment and send everything back to my main base, wait until the end of winter again and repeat. The few colonists left at my main scaled down the raids and my other 5 would bring gear to build drop pods for a quick return if needed. I broke a few sieges by sending two men back being the enemy's line with rocket launchers.

[DeathWeasel]

After reading this thread, I decided to start a new game and try to have two colonies soon after starting. My main colony is in an extreme desert and the second colony is in the nearby hills less than a day's travel away. My main colony is focusing on farming and building defenses while my second colony is focused on mining and shipping goods home. It's been pretty fun so far.

I've been sending all my neurotic/pessimist/brawler/chemical interest/incapable of hauling pawns off to the mining colony where they can have all the mental breakdowns they want while my main colony is filled with steadfast optimists or otherwise acceptable pawns.

A second colony filled with rejects is a somewhat more humane way of dealing with rejects than my previous method.

[lode]

a. forget about switching sunlamps daily

Why not just direct-connect solar? Plants rest when the sun goes down. No need for batteries, thus greatly reduced zzzt threats. What am I missing?