Any big features coming in A18?

[mebe]

There must be something specific to different PCs or mods because I'm running on a old i7 with not a particularly new graphics card and never have any issues with performance or stability, large maps, multiple colonies, large colonies - all just work. Don't tend to use many mods at all.

[Bozobub]

Pretty much any graphics that isn't outdated integrated crap will suffice; even newer integrated graphics will work fine.  RimWorld is CPU-bound, not GPU-bound.  And i7s aren't particularly "old", as processors go, nor are they weak.  Try running RimWorld on a Pentium D (pre-Core2Duo dual-core) with integrated graphics, sometime, as an easy example, or on an Atom ^^'.

Tl;dr;  Yes, of course different PCs certainly can make a difference.  And any mod that isn't a simple reskin is likely to, as well, since it will inevitably add processing time to each game "tick".

[Vlad0mi3r]

I'm willing to bet medicine ranks during treatment (as opposed to during surgery) will be fixed, if nothing else, as well as pathing (because Tynan has mentioned both, at least in passing).  Those, alone, would be plenty good; anything else is gravy, imo.

We've seen a *lot* of new mechanisms, lately (caravans, drop pod delivery/invasions by the player, multiple colonies, etc.); I think we're way overdue for a good housecleaning, optimization, and bug-squishing interlude.

Yes please this would be awesome. Why build nice quick paths when they will walk through the flower bed.

[sarke]

We've seen a *lot* of new mechanisms, lately (caravans, drop pod delivery/invasions by the player, multiple colonies, etc.); I think we're way overdue for a good housecleaning, optimization, and bug-squishing interlude.

What?! The last TWO major versions (A16 and A17) were both primarily bug fixes (A16 did add some stuff though) and based on Tynan's post A18 is looking to be as well - hence the point of this thread...asking if we are getting anything besides more small additions and bug fixes....

We've had too much interim time for fixes..... time for new big stuff before we get to Beta and have to start worrying about balance.

[Bozobub]

Are you high?  Think about the fact that caravans, multiple colonies, and the actual spherical globe came in A16; put down the pipe and smack yourself awake.  Medicine also worked properly in A15 and now does not, as an easy example of why your statement makes zero sense.

[sarke]

Are you high?

Yes

Think about the fact that caravans, multiple colonies, and the actual spherical globe came in A16

As I said, no BIG features. The spherical globe is OK and all but nothing huge imho. Caravans and multiple colonies are both small features at best. In fact, Caravans actually take away from the game in their current state. Hoping animal riding will fix that.

[Bozobub]

Hence, YOU also want housecleaning, balancing, and bugfixes, as well =).

Adding a zillion new features every patch may sound like a great idea, but do we really need something as badly-written as Windows, itself, which regularly does exactly the same thing (often adding many new features w/o fixing long-standing bugs/optimizing much at all)?  Even the largest software developers can't make THAT work, and no one ever really has.

Additionally, adding too many things at once makes game balance extremely difficult, especially in a game that depends largely on emergent behavior from the interaction of many complex systems, like RimWorld does.

[Nafensoriel]

To be fair in alphas you don't usually give a crap about balance and performance/stability is only really needed to a point. As long as you can see where to polish after the feature push and don't dig yourself to deep a hole it's usually BETTER to spend minimal time on these things.

Think about it.. How many games are out there with shit feature sets yet they run great on a potato or have perfect balance among their 5 total features. Even if you consider "perfect" balance games like the original starcraft these titles did not start out as such. An experienced dev team coding a familiar archtype of game can eyeball balance pretty well while rolling out new features but it's by no means a focus until all the features are done. Features are your lifeblood. They are the sum total of why people boot up your software and keep booting it up time and time again. This is the fundamental reason why ludeon and bethesda games are always seen as "good games" and are played for years(sometimes decades) past release. The open mod nature highlights why features are king. Endless feature sets mean endless replayability. The catch is the BASE GAME must contain a wide enough feature set to build off of or the whole thing comes to a crashing halt.

Features are life.. especially whole new branches. The twitter post about incidences is right on point for properly expanding what rimworld needs at the moment. A wider incidence pool equates to more modability foundation and more replayability as a result.

[Bozobub]

Sorry, no, I can't agree at all.  It's a mathematical certainty that your strategy, in fact, WILL eventually backfire .  Compounding error every generation is a potential logarithmic increase in the complexity of any problems over time, you know.

Adding broken systems to broken systems is silly and counterproductive at best.  And especially in a system that depends on emergent behavior, as well as scripted (storyteller) events, the longer you wait to fix any given problem, the larger the repercussions will be in the overall system.  In other words, the perceived change to players will be more jarring, the longer you wait to fix known issues.

Easy example:  Medicine quality, currently, is completely broken for treatment (although not surgery itself); herbal medicine is as good as glitterworld medicine at the moment.  Don't you think that fixing this bug *just might* significantly change how players play the game, when fixed?  Now, imagine if Tynan went on to include one of the big bionics expansion mods in "vanilla", without fixing medicine, a very basic bug.  Now imagine {x} more improvements and addons to medical procedures, without fixing that bug.  Starting to see the problem yet?

Most mod creators I've see weigh in on this subject seem to favor bugfixes over new systems in priority, as well but that's also my own personal experience, YMMV.

At some arbitrary point, adding new features WILL end up more a hindrance than benefit, if you never clean up your spaghetti code.  Clean code also doesn't mean you can't have as many new features as you (and Tynan) like, of course.  Don't kill the game with love; be a little more patient.

[Calahan]

As I said, no BIG features. The spherical globe is OK and all but nothing huge imho.

Out of curiosity, if you don't consider a spherical planet and the ability to travel around it to be a big new feature, then in that context, what new feature from previous Alphas has ever been "huge"?:

The drugs system(A15)? Scenario system(A14)? Family and relationships(A13)? Animal taming(A12)? Or earlier stuff like the joy system or seasonal weather??

IMO all the above are (at best) on par with a spherical planet/travel, if not lower, in terms of being a big/huge new feature. So if you only consider them to be "OK" new features as well, then I'm afraid there's a good chance you will always be disappointed with any new features that are implemented in the future*, as I'm not sure any of them will ever meet whatever criteria you are using to define "huge new feature".


* I have no insider knowledge in regards anything Tynan has planned for the future. But I'd put good money on him not adding a new "RimWorld meets Civilization feature!!! Build armies, research super-futuristic tech (including giant killer robots!), and expand your empire across the globe as you lead your people on a 6,000 year mission towards world domination!". Assuming of course that that would count as a huge new feature, which it might not.

[Kushala Daora]

I've never been disappointed with an update. I play each Alpha to about 15 - 20 years in game, and for Alpha 17 i gave my save game for testing. Optimizations have been made for late game, I look forward to A18!

[ChuggingClorox]

As I said, no BIG features. The spherical globe is OK and all but nothing huge imho.

Out of curiosity, if you don't consider a spherical planet and the ability to travel around it to be a big new feature, then in that context, what new feature from previous Alphas has ever been "huge"?:

The drugs system(A15)? Scenario system(A14)? Family and relationships(A13)? Animal taming(A12)? Or earlier stuff like the joy system or seasonal weather??

IMO all the above are (at best) on par with a spherical planet/travel, if not lower, in terms of being a big/huge new feature. So if you only consider them to be "OK" new features as well, then I'm afraid there's a good chance you will always be disappointed with any new features that are implemented in the future*, as I'm not sure any of them will ever meet whatever criteria you are using to define "huge new feature".


* I have no insider knowledge in regards anything Tynan has planned for the future. But I'd put good money on him not adding a new "RimWorld meets Civilization feature!!! Build armies, research super-futuristic tech (including giant killer robots!), and expand your empire across the globe as you lead your people on a 6,000 year mission towards world domination!". Assuming of course that that would count as a huge new feature, which it might not.

Hot damn you seem easily triggered by small questions and comments all the dude said was that the previous feature was ok there was no need to be rudely sarcastic and realistically adding something like a spherical planet and the ability to travel it is a very impressive addition from a development standpoint (as id never be able to work out how to do it myself) but from a player standpoint in terms of content its not a massive addition. Now the last thing you said about civilization meets rimworld that would be cool in a much smaller iteration and hey why not be able to research super futuristic tech thatd be badass i mean not everyone wants to spend time playing the game to simply build a ship and escape, i think some people have expressed the desire to stick around and manage their own slice of interstellar paradise.

[Nafensoriel]

Bozo I'll agree to a point but it also depends how you built everything as well. If its just a big pile then spaghetti is a serious issue just touching the pile.. if its more modular and built with some forethought for possibly having to gut and redo things(such as concept tests) then its less of a nightmare and compounding errors don't entirely apply. In your example if all the bionic module pulled was a single variable then you can safely(ish TM) gut and redo medicine however you feel without seriously impacting bionics. Though this is rimworld.. everything touches everything and I will admit I'm relatively new to poking around its guts as a player.

I just don't think rimworld is anywhere near the "chris roberts" point of oversaturation of features. Even simple concepts such as caravans can turn into huge developments in game replayability just by nature of expanding the game from a "colony simulator" to a "civilization simulator". Really the core game has the sky as a limit for where it will end up. Truly remarkable for a game which basically defines the difference between graphics oriented games and gameplay oriented ones.

[Andy_Dandy]

Tynan on Twitter yesterday:

"A18 still developing! Swamp biomes, caves, named world features (oceans, ranges, deserts, etc), new art description tales, new plants, &more"

Maybe we will get Alligators, Storks and Frogs?

[Trblz42]

Tynan on Twitter yesterday:

"A18 still developing! Swamp biomes, caves, named world features (oceans, ranges, deserts, etc), new art description tales, new plants, &more"

Maybe we will get Alligators, Storks and Frogs?

River based creatures that can attack pawns would be awesome so alligators+swamp is a nice twist! Looking forward to A18