Late Game Faction Warfare

Started by Xerdun, May 27, 2017, 02:06:10 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

Xerdun

Faction Improvements and Warfare Part 1

I should start by saying I'm not privy to Tynan's plans to expand factions in the future, however, I wanted to share my suggestions for changes that could be implemented over the short term, to the long term of Rimworld updates. I believe I got fairly carried away whilst typing this, so I did my best to create subheadings and structure it. Also, due to the sheer size, I didn't proofread what I've written, so entirely possible I've made some ridiculously random typos. Forgive me.
 
Short Term Tweaks

More Factions

From a realism perspective, it seems entirely unconventional that a mere half dozen or so factions would have taken control of the world's entire landmass, spaced across fairly evenly. My first suggestion would be to rework the faction generation to spawn around 100 factions on planet gen. This would work for a huge number of reasons, as well as forming the basis for the later suggestions. Each faction should be localised, with a randomised number of settlements. For example a tribe may occupy a small territory, with 1-3 localised villages. On the other hand, pirate factions could hold multiple outposts across the map, but would much more likely be ruled by their respective warlord, rather than having their own distinct leader. This is why I don't assume it would make much sense for pirate factions to have more than 1 or 2 settlements. Finally, settler factions are much more likely to see a wide range of options, from colonising great swathes of the planet, to holding a single settlement, therefore giving the faction anywhere from 1 - 8+ settlements.

I imagine this would be amongst the most simple to integrate of the suggestions and is the starting point. To me it makes much more logical sense, and gives the following benefits

More meaningful interactions
With your neighbours solely occupying the areas nearby to you, it's within your interests to retain good relations with those next to you, whilst not having to worry about those in the way beyond. Whether there's a fog of war system to hide those factions more than X tiles away, I couldn't say, however, to bypass overcrowding the faction screen with over a 100 factions, it would make sense to only include those that you have had interactions with and / or are nearby.

Faction elimination
Whether through my own foolishness or otherwise, I prefer to play on a 100% world genned planet, giving me a ridiculously populated planet, which is, frankly, awesome. However, what this means is that there is almost 0 chance of me actually wiping out another faction within a playthrough. By increasing the number of factions, within localised areas, it allows you to react to other factions in a much more meaningful way. That tribe who's village you burned. Well that was their only settlement, they're now either destroyed, or reeling from your assault. More on potential faction warfare later, but I'm sure you can see where I'm going

Ruins

With the addition of roads, particularly ancient roads, Tynan has made a bold statement regarding the distant pasts of the planets in the Rimworld universe. However, roads are merely the first step, and I believe expanding this further to cover ancient / abandoned ruins would be a super touch. These could be implemented exactly as the current faction settlements, are but provide a host of new options and storytelling mechanics - why was it abandoned? Are the old colonists merely hibernating in cryptosleep? Mechanoid attack? Is it empty? A poisonous fungi that infested the area and must be carefully cleaned before the disturbed spores poison your colonists? So many opportunities, also giving the player the opportunity to potentially set up another base of operations.

Faction Traits

I'm almost certain that this is on Tynan's to do list somewhere and like with pawns, a faction trait list gives infinite opportunity to breathe so much life into the dozens of new factions you'll encounter on your planet. I won't delve too deeply into this, given that this is something I've seen many others elaborate on far more successfully than I ever could, however, imagine that seemingly friendly tribe next door are actually cannibals. Or the seemingly vicious raiders, actually have an unquenchable smokeleaf addiction, that you can leverage to keep them in line. Or the settlers on the continent over are all elderly nudists (best not to imagine the horror of this one).

This could be expanded to cover religion and dozens of other mechanics in the future. Hunk of spacecraft lands amidst the cannibal tribe's huts and next thing you know, they're being ruled by mechanoids who have sent them from a mild nuisance, to a well equipped, space faring nation.

Whether traits are introduced randomly or otherwise to the player's colony from the offset, or are earned as play goes on, would be down to the developer. It would be particularly incredible to, after an unsuccessful raid, heal and release your prisoners of war, and have this looked upon favourably by the raiding pirates, increasing relation, but also giving you a "weak" faction trait, which others feel they can take advantage of. Releasing said prisoners could also piss off any other factions who are at war with them. Again, I could let my imagination run rampant on this one, but there are so many much more capable than I.

Prisoners

Like with ruins, what would in my eyes be a fairly simple edition (my eyes being those of someone who has as much development experience as most primary school kids), however, it would make sense for pirates to hold prisoners, who could either be recruited, recaptured or released back to their faction once you've "liberated" them from the pirates. Tribes would likely have slaves taken from battle and even colonists may keep prisoners from invaders. Makes sense, not a lot to go into here, although it might be a nice touch to introduce a system that allows putting prisoners to work. Will leave this one to the imaginations of the many before me to suggest a slavery system, but in its most basic incarnation, it'd be cool to be able to rescue prisoners from pirates. More on this again later.



More in Part 2 Below

I will either find a way or make one.

Xerdun

Faction Improvements and Warfare Part 2


Medium to Long Term Enhancements

Enhanced Caravans

Already implemented in the game for the player, but now with the road system implemented, it would be a welcome addition to give the world map a little more life with trading caravans, making their way around the world. Additionally, caravans of soldiers, or prisoners, runaways or wild manhunting packs could also be included. Rather than having caravan encounters being seemingly random, roaming groups of individuals could be actually rendered on the map, a la Mount and Blade, allowing the player to try to outrun or circumnavigate potential threats. This would also require the addition of movement speed system (which may already be implemented, I'm not sure) for caravans, since if they all moved at the same speed, it wouldn't be particularly exciting. This could lead to some really exciting possibilities within faction relations across the planet (more on this later), as well as the opportunity to introduce purely nomadic factions. There could be nomadic tribes who migrate across the planet as the year goes by, only ever stopping in one place long enough to gather what they need, before setting off. Manhunters who decimate areas. And let's not even get started on ambushes - that is, parties who are completely hidden on the map, but interact in the way events do now. This could introduce the opportunity for the player to scout and see potential attack forces moving towards their settlement and intercept them. It could allow for the player to set ambushes along key highways to pillage and loot potential caravans. The opportunities are endless.

With regards to AI controlled parties, there are a number I would like to suggest

Manhunter packs of randomly selected animals
Faction Aligned Traders
Faction Aligned Raiders
Faction Aligned Siege Parties
Faction Aligned Foragers
Faction Aligned Sappers
Rogue Mechanoids
Thrumbo Herds
Independent Traders
Independent Raiders
Highwaymen (and women)
Nomadic Tribes
Refugees
Fleeing Parties (for example, after beating back a pirate raid, you can chase down the survivors' caravan and capture / kill the rest)
Peacekeepers
Slavers
Travellers
As the names suggest, all of these caravans would behave uniquely and interact with each other upon the world stage. For example a siege party from the neighbouring pirate settlement may be intercepted on their way to your base by a pack of manhunting chinchillas, leaving several of them wounded before they attack you, but also giving the player to added reward of chinchilla meat upon defeating the invaders.

Prosperity

With so many new factions, it doesn't make sense for them all to have the same resources, this is no communist utopia and there are the haves, and the have nots. In my mind this would translate into a number of visual and / or numerical criteria for every faction on the map, that represents their relative position. Suggested criteria would be population, wealth, military, technology, land resource (to name a small selections). To my mind, these stats should be merely playing in the background and solely revealed to the player through scouting, rather than having access from the offset.

Each of the above criteria would not only shape the world generation for that faction (for example, a faction has the following:

Population: 12 / 50
Wealth: 85/ 100
Military: 42/100
Technology: 18/100
Land Resource: 73/100
The following would factor both into how the faction develops over time and what you would find if you were to view their settlement, forming the basis of many other features. The above example would have 12 colonists, of a possible 50 (for example). A high wealth would indicate they have vast stockpiles of resources, of a fairly high quality, whilst a mid military rating of 42 would show that they perhaps have a mix of weaponry and defences, but nothing too frightening. Technology of 18 may show that they may not have discovered electricity yet, and finally, land resource of 73 is fairly high, indicating that their land is rich in resources.

More on how these criteria relay to the rest of gameplay later, but they would all play a part in how that settlement develops. So a high land resource, would allow them to increase their tech and wealth faster. Having 12 people, as opposed to only 2, would also allow them to progress faster. At the same time, having this many people would dilute the wealth and military score. This is obviously just an example, but over time these numbers should change, regardless of that factions interactions with others. So for example, at the end of every season could there be a 10-30% chance of population increasing by 0-6. Like with all these suggestions, I have no idea of the complexity or necessary game resource to make these ideas reality, but I hope if nothing else it inspires.

Resource Outposts

Tying into the above prosperity system would be resource outposts. Although perhaps not technically counting as their own settlements, factions may have a number of distant manned (or I suppose, unmanned) outposts that they use for their own gain. I'd like to see this for the player as well. These consist of settlements on the map that serve a particular purpose. For example, after crashlanding in a desert, you may have made quite the base for yourself and faction. However, what you've found is that you've spawned with very little arable land and steel. So, rather than moving your entire colony to pastures new, you've decided to send out a few brave colonists to set up a forward outpost. This forward outpost could be for any of the following, to name just a few suggestions

Research Outposts
Outposts within special regions of particular scientific value that allow you to conduct otherwise unavailable research, or alternatively conduct research more quickly. For example, an ancient mechanoid ruin could allow you to set up a research post to learn how to create charge lance equipment and turrets. Or a particular rare plant in the rainforest could be researched to refine into medicine unlike any other, but is incredibly rare and fragile and only available in that location. The produced research can only be used at that particular outpost, however, until it is safely shipped back to your settlements

Military Outposts
Outposts constructed in areas of particular strategic importance, more as a staging ground to prevent assaults. Doesn't produce any resource, unlike other outposts, but perhaps allows you to construct automated defences to compliment the garrison, or provides shooting / melee skill bonuses. By setting up military outposts in key locations (for example at the entrance to a mountain pass), potential attacking parties would be unable to circumnavigate and would first have to destroy your outpost. However, the payoff would be that they are not self reliant and need to be shipped regular caravans of food and goods to be viable. Is it better to set up a military outpost with half your colonists, to prevent an attacking force, or keep them at your main base? This could also have an impact on neutral and friendly passes, allowing you to control the flow of resources across key areas of the map. A military outpost on a river crossing, for example, could force your travelling caravan to pay a toll in either the form of goods, or silver, in order to get past. Do you want to pay, or risk doubling your caravan's journey by going the long way?

Mining Outposts
Relatively self explanatory, very basic outposts to gather steel. Steel would accumulate at the outpost over time, with the random chance that you would also find more valuable resources such as gold, silver, components, jade or plasteel. After stockpiling enough it would be shipped back to your headquarters.

Farming Outposts
Similar to mining outposts, only focused on farming.

Each of these outposts would have to have prerequisites reflected in the world map, for example, it wouldn't be much use setting up a farming outpost on an ice sheet, a mining outpost on the plains or a research outpost in the arse end of nowhere with no quantifiable scientific value.

Once your colonists arrive in their destination, you'll be transported to a smaller map, similar to if you were starting your own colony, to build the outpost. However, to save on computer resources, the outpost should not be rendered beyond a simple number crunching process when not actually being visible. For example, you've set up a mining outpost on a smallish map in the desert mountains. You've begun work on a small, self sustaining base, with some defences, and designated the areas to mine. Then you leave to go back and manage your colony. The outpost is now running itself, It has a food count (which is based on the farmable land you've previously designated to farming) and you can choose to periodically ship more food as and when. For all other intents and purposes this though, unless you choose to re-enter and view that outpost, it's not running as your main colony would in the background.

Of course, these outposts would be the subject of random events, fires, disease, attacks etc, as your main colony, at which point you can re-load the outpost, solve the event, before leaving it to be automated once again. I don't feel I've explained this as succintly as I'd like, fingers crossed you get the idea. Basically I wanted to get around the processor hungry resource needs of the base game now if you have more than one colony.

Once set up, your outpost generates resources that accumulate based at random rates dependent on factors such as land prosperity, number of colonists, resources they have. After gathering a certain amount of resources you can designate a caravan to transport those resources back to your main settlement. This could potentially be automated, with certain colonists being able to be told to collect resources from outposts to bring back, or having outpost colonists bring it to the main base, either giving you the option to temporarily abandon the outpost (if you want to take all colonists) or leaving it less defended. This would then play into all the gameplay opportunities of the caravan system - that is, what if your outpost is attacked whilst half your colonists are transporting steel back to your capital? What if your caravan of corn is ambushed en route, leading to starvation at your main city? What if your primary military outpost is besieged by a tribe, giving a nearby group of pirates the chance to slip past your defences to focus on your main base. So many storytelling opportunities that make for interesting stories.

This risk reward of outposts is what would keep them balanced. There could be limits set for the number of outposts you can maintain, but realistically, this would already be set by population. You could set up 20 outposts with 20 colonists, but they wouldn't be as effective as 2 outposts with 10 each, so there wouldn't necessarily be a need to spam them. Similarly, having to risk all your research or goods by transporting them back to your main settlement before they have any beneficial effect, would add to the balance. No point having 3 highly fertile, productive farms if your caravans producing the food keep being taken out by bandit parties and manhunters on their way back to base.

Faction Relations and Warfare

As well as relations with the player, as it happens, all factions already have relations with one another and there's a very basic element of this already implemented within the game, as well as elements of actual warfare. However, why not take this to the next level, using all the systems detailed above in terms of caravans, outposts and prosperity. I'm sure you can imagine for yourself how all 3 of these features interlink, but this was the one I was most excited to write about, so I'll be damned if I'm going to stop now.

The local tribe, let's call them Tribe A hates Tribe B. Cuturally they're opposed due to some randomly selected faction trait. Or maybe they're just jealous, Tribe B has much more wealth, whilst A has a more powerful military.

Tribe A Prosperity

Settlements: 1
Outposts: 0
Population: 18 / 50
Wealth: 21/ 100
Military: 40/100
Technology: 10/100
Land Resource: 36/100

Tribe B Prosperity

Settlements: 1
Outposts: 0
Population: 9 / 50
Wealth: 57/ 100
Military: 18/100
Technology: 22/100
Land Resource: 41/100

Notice all this is represented in numbers, so it's simply calculations being used to tell a story of tribal warfare.

Well tribe A has asked the player to help in coordinating an attack on one of Tribe B's villages. You're to attack from the North, under cover of darkness, whilst they from the South. Spoils to be divided equally upon victory.

However, regardless of whether the player decides to get involved with the attack, Tribe A is going to attack Tribe B. Tribe A calculates that it needs 12/18 population and 21/40 military prosperity points to attack Tribe B. After some preparation, Tribe A puts together a raiding caravan and the 12 tribesman, with 21 military weapon points (translating to a few plundered firearms and some good quality bows, perhaps?) sets off on their way to Tribe B. This caravan is rendered on the map, and can be intercepted on it's way, perhaps by a random event. Perhaps they lose a couple of warriors in the swamp, or one of them is a coward and chooses to head home, or the caravan is intercepted by a larger force of bandits. Thankfully for Tribe A, nothing unfortunate befalls them on their journey, and they reach Tribe B's settlement. From there, a simulated battle takes place, similar to those in Mount and Blade, where population and military prosperity points are pitted against each other and the battle is underway, with a fresh helping of some Rimworld randomness.

This could end in a number of results for both sides, including the following.

Tribe B repels the invaders leading to:
6 of Tribe A's warriors flee
2 of Tribe A's warriors captured
4 of Tribe A's warriors killed

The 6 fleeing tribespeople head back to base, in a caravan, perhaps to be pursued by the remnants of Tribe B
The weapons captured are added to the military prosperity of Tribe B
The prisoners are executed, resulting in a hefty relations issue, and lowering morale for future raids
The prisoners are ransomed back to Tribe A in return for wealth
Etc

However, victory did not come without cost, and Tribe B lost 2 tribespeople, and 1 sustained significant injuries. Additionally, they lost more military points in defence than they gained in loot.

You can imagine how these scenarios would play out without the player even being aware, endless warfare happening across the planet, changing the landscape over time.

Alternatively, if Tribe A had conquered Tribe B, there would be a number of potential outcomes, depending on their faction traits. They could:

Pillage resources from the settlement to take home, resulting in fewer casualties on either side.
Take prisoners
Both
Burn the village to the ground, eliminating the faction and leaving a blank tile
Make Vassal, forcing an alliance between the 2 tribes, that could result in a story later down the line
Conquer, the remaining population of Tribe B is assimilated and now Tribe A has 2 settlements, both weakened for now, but that will regain strength over time.

In this way factions can rise and fall over time, perhaps a settlers faction that's growing too powerful will democratically choose to break up into independent settlements, resulting in multiple factions. Perhaps a pirate horde will sweep across the map, unstoppable until it reaches a bloody stalemate with a neighbouring warlord. On a balancing and stats level, I'm sure there is plenty of behind the scenes tweaking that could be made in order to make this viable, as well as combining this with Rimworld's knack for glorious random events, such as a small outpost of pirates holding off against a horde of primitive tribespeople, against all the odds.

Although all these random events would be occurring irrespective of the player's participation, they could also get involved and influence events, or strike out on their own tales of conquest, just as now,  but with the opportunity of much more meaningful consequences. Conquering a tribe may allow you to turn them into your food producing vassal or looting a settlement may cause a negative impact with other civilised factions in the area. Conquering a pirate stronghold could give you the opportunity to occupy it to turn it into a forward outpost, creating resources to further your ambitions.

Summary

The opportunity for faction development is staggeringly deep and would provide even further variety and options for the late game. Whilst in the first couple of years of your colonists' story, they may not even be aware of the factions beyond their own borders, as they battle against the elements, disease and hunger, however, once established, it would give something for player to work towards as they seek to conquer, subdue, enslave, burn or ally with the rest of the planet.

Once again, I reiterate that all of these points are solely based on my own imaginative interpretation and may be entirely unrealistic in terms of coding possibility. I would certainly welcome feedback about all individual aspects of my suggestions, particularly as it took quite a while to write them all down. For me, this is about taking Rimworld to the next level, taking it from a story solely about how your individual colonists live, but to how factions with their own unique traits, histories and relationships evolve within an ever changing, wider planet.

Thank you for reading
I will either find a way or make one.

Seriously Unserious

Wow! You really put a lot of thought into this! There's a lot of good ideas in there. If the devs could implement even 10% of what you discussed it would be a big change to the game. The main concern I'd have with adding so much would be making the game too much of a resource hog to be playable on many systems. Still, I'd love to see at least some variation of this implemented in some way that keeps the system requirements within reason.

OmG_PotatoeZ

I think that if, like you say the game should have hundreds of factions, then when you are in the global map, only a small portion of the settlements show up. For one, that makes adventures exciting when you randomly come across a colony, two, it allows for surprises such as "an unknown frequency has been detected at longitude,latitude should we go investigate? And you discover a new settlement/race or you walk into an SOS or a trap! It also makes it so lower end computers don't crap out due to all the stuff it has to generate.

Seriously Unserious

Quote from: OmG_PotatoeZ on June 06, 2017, 02:57:23 PM
I think that if, like you say the game should have hundreds of factions, then when you are in the global map, only a small portion of the settlements show up. For one, that makes adventures exciting when you randomly come across a colony, two, it allows for surprises such as "an unknown frequency has been detected at longitude,latitude should we go investigate? And you discover a new settlement/race or you walk into an SOS or a trap! It also makes it so lower end computers don't crap out due to all the stuff it has to generate.

I'd love that! It would introduce one of my favorite mechanics of games like Civilization and other 4X games, exploring a large, unknown world to see what's out there and who you'll meet. Maybe you'll run into a bunch of savage head-hunters or cannibals, maybe you'll run into friendly, if primitive natives. Maybe you'll run into some fellow spacers marooned on this world too. Maybe you'll find something far, far worse, or maybe you'll find nothing but empty wilderness as far as the eye can see.

Xerdun

Quote from: Seriously Unserious on June 07, 2017, 01:58:49 AM
Quote from: OmG_PotatoeZ on June 06, 2017, 02:57:23 PM
I think that if, like you say the game should have hundreds of factions, then when you are in the global map, only a small portion of the settlements show up. For one, that makes adventures exciting when you randomly come across a colony, two, it allows for surprises such as "an unknown frequency has been detected at longitude,latitude should we go investigate? And you discover a new settlement/race or you walk into an SOS or a trap! It also makes it so lower end computers don't crap out due to all the stuff it has to generate.

I'd love that! It would introduce one of my favorite mechanics of games like Civilization and other 4X games, exploring a large, unknown world to see what's out there and who you'll meet. Maybe you'll run into a bunch of savage head-hunters or cannibals, maybe you'll run into friendly, if primitive natives. Maybe you'll run into some fellow spacers marooned on this world too. Maybe you'll find something far, far worse, or maybe you'll find nothing but empty wilderness as far as the eye can see.

This is exactly where I'm hoping Tynan will take the faction system in the future. The only issue I can think of at the moment is showing where factions are on the world map on world gen, although my guess would be that they either spawn in over time or are generated as you expand your "territory" and explore beyond your own map
I will either find a way or make one.

saleem285

This is actually amazing , i have discussed it in another suggestion I've made ... I wish tynan sees this !

Mufflamingo

What I really want is to stop calling factions, factions. I want them to be a country. And they have a sphere of influence where you cannot build any settlement. (Building something there would be an act of war.) 3tiles away from their settlement maybe.

Also, I want the settlements to be grouped up or near each other so they will look like a country.

Well, that's just me.
Bleeeee. . . . .

SpaceDorf

A country or "group with same interests" is what a faction represents for me anyway.

Call it .. faction, country, group, state, nation, realm, .. whatever .. the idea general idea remains.

Just don't forget to discern between settlement and faction.

Maxim 1   : Pillage, then burn
Maxim 37 : There is no overkill. There is only open fire and reload.
Rule 34 of Rimworld :There is a mod for that.
Avatar Made by Chickenplucker

Bakar

The countries could then go war with each other and ask the player colony for help
if they help they get silver but have to fight
if they refuse they lose heir friendship with that country
Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.

Headshotkill

#10
I can imagine my colony joining an outlander-union/country and when war breaks out they will levy my 3 best warriors.
Scavenging locations where battles have recently taken place, freaking world wars while we're at it.

Also

+1 from me for this idea, I love it.

protocol47

Great ideas!

It would make a ton of sense for Outlander and tribal factions to group their settlements together, and have raiders scattered about, without any real centralized government. Seeing the various caravans moving around would be great, as well as a fog of war to reward traveling further out from your settlement. I feel like manhunters and ambushes could still run off the system they currently use now, no need to model and track them, only to hide it from the player. The military outposts could also serve to push back fog of war, using it almost like a lightening post. Agricultural and mining outposts wouldn't serve this purpose well so they wouldn't be able to push it back as far. New items could be built to help push it back, like radar or detector or something.

The outpost system might be heavy on processing power, but I would love to see it happen. I think agricultural and military outposts would be most useful, mining would be great but you would eventually exhaust the resource in the area (kind of like real life). The smaller map size used during attacks on outposts currently would probably be best for those, easier on the system. I use the campsite mod now, and have often though about leaving the camps permanently. I've only ever have 1 camp at a time, but didn't notice any lag in processing.

Faction relations sounds amazing, I would love to engage in geopolitics with tribals and raiders. I think adding a faction trait system would make this much deeper. Traits like religious/atheistic, peaceful/warmongering, tribal/high tech, cannibal/vegetarian etc. This would help form a basis for which factions would gravitate towards cooperation with each other. A High-tech atheistic society would be unlikely to get along with hyper-religious tribals for example. Nothing too complex, just something to give them a reason to love/hate each other to start.

You mentioned vassals, setting up a system for this would be great. When a settlement has been defeated the player can choose to wipe it out, take it over  (populating it with some of their own colonists), or assimilate it into their own faction. An assimilated colony would operate as a standard npc colony, they would send caravans of tribute to the players main settlement. The player wouldn't actually look into the colony, it would run autonomously. This would help reduce the burden on the processors.

Sorry, went on a little rant there.

horus

I likre your idias, but what you are suggesting is unachievable without a total rework of the research. as of now research is balanced around the game as is. what's the point of making research station if there is nothing to research? as of the game balance right now assult rifle is just as good as charged rifle where less damage is compensated by range.
I think the entire research and balance aproach needs to change for the game to move forward. research points just have to go. instead it can be made to research focus, where you try to improve something or get an understanding of something and while doing so you have a chance to improve, get something completly new that had nothing to do with research focus or get nothing. that way assult rifles will differ from one another and higher research might mean better rate of fire, larger range and more damage. to prevent player from being able to just use weapons from raids easely ammunition can be introduced. you can't fire that charged rifle if you have no ammo for it, but you can study that charged rifle to maybe make a terrible copy of it after 1000 of failed attempts if you posess enough knowlege from other techs to do so, otherwise it can still boost your knowlege in other techs, like getting more efficient solar panels.

this would make research stations important as you can try to learn things like power armor that would not require 1000 days to make and would be a viable equipment.

Bakar

We can become the ghenkis khan of rimworld
Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.

corestandeven

As others have said, if only a small part of what Xerdun suggests was implemented, for either A18 or in a future release, this great game would improve even more. To highlight a few:

- Completely agree over outposts. There must be a way to implement these without these just being more colonies to manage. I agree with the 1 colony limitation on grounds of the resources required to run the game, and the fact the player is unlikely to be able to manage more than 1 easily. However, limiting outposts so they can only be a certain size, or having them run remotely as suggested by Xerdun would be good.
- His faction ideas are cool. I also would prefer more factions, but only those with a certain range can be contacted/interacted with (again to avoid performance issues). It should be possible to elimate a troublesome faction, or later in the game encounter an even bigger more dangerous faction. Fog of war could certainly work to achieve this.
- Prisoners in enemy faction bases and outposts is surely easy/quick to implement? Will helps keep the game varied and interesting if you meet other NPCs out there.

There also does need to be late game crisis or faction threat. Either a large dangerous faction, a mechanoid threat, large nomadic horde, Glitter world faction, etc. something. Currently end game is just underwhelming.