Books

[Third_Of_Five]

For the past week or so, I've been putting together a list of suggestions to post on the forums. However, one suggestion I had seemed to stand out from the list, as it is apparently the 'cheapest', yet most intricate, and, as far as I can tell from my time browsing the forums, also my most original suggestion that I came up with. Regardless it's definitely my favorite, so in the interest of increasing the chances of the developers actually noticing my idea and considering it, I've decided to make a separate thread for this particular feature suggestion:

Books.

Rimworld has a great mechanic for making art. However, all that artists seem to be able to make are sculptures, and maybe beds and chairs if they are also good at crafting. It seems odd that sculptures would be the only art form available, and I do not doubt that Tynan probably intended to add in others, which is why I would like to suggest books.

Books would be another simple, yet intricate feature that would work similarly to statues. They would require their own work station, a writing desk, to create. (Unlike other work stations, however, perhaps they could increase the beauty of a room, rather than decrease it? This would allow them to be placed in colonist's bedrooms, which seems more fitting for a writing desk.) At the writing desk, a bill can be queued up to write a book, much like at a sculptor's table, and anyone assigned to art will go to the writing desk and begin working on it, again much like a sculptor's table. The book would require materials, presumably one unit of cloth or leather to act as the binding, as well as perhaps some paper, if Tynan is planning to add paper into the game. Much like with queueing up a sculpture or piece of clothing, you would be able to specify in the writing desk UI which types of material you want the book to be made of; maybe you only want the binding made with cloth, or maybe by a specific type of leather you have an overabundance of, or maybe you want it bound by a valuable material, like devilstrand or synthread. The material the book is made of will affect the price, just like with statues. However, I think it would make more sense that the quality of the book would have much more of an influence on its price than the material, compared to statues.

Books would vary in quality just like statues, with poorly written books being of 'shoddy' or 'awful' quality, while epic game-of-thrones-style literary masterpieces would be of 'legendary' quality. Each book would have a randomly generated description, just like statues, describing the purpose and story of the book. (e.x. "This book is a fictional sci-fi story about a cowboy named Marcus, who lives on an Urbworld in the distant future. The book is written in a very romantic style, with very heavy themes of surrealism and class conflict. Etc.."). Additionally, perhaps books could also be non-fictional/autobiographical, or sometimes be fictional stories that are based off of actual events in the game, again like with statues. (e.x. "This book is a non-fictional autobiographical account of [insert author's name here] time spent at the colony. Etc..." or "This book is a fictional story based off of the events of [insert date here] when [insert event here] happened. Etc...").

Instead of being placed in a room like statues, however, books could rather be used by other colonists for entertainment. Books could be placed on shelves, and picked up by colonists during their free time, when they then find a place to sit (whether in a chair or somewhere outside) and read it. Reading books would give colonists a source of joy, and improve the player's research skill, much like playing chess or using a telescope. Of course, the amount of entertainment and skill bonus the colonist gets from it depends on the quality of the book.
Books would be very lightweight and easy to store/carry around (and perhaps they could even stack if placed in shelves?). However, they would also be very fragile, and extremely flammable, essentially getting destroyed the instant they catch on fire. They would also deteriorate very quickly if stored in an area that is not floored or roofed.

I also have a couple of other ideas for books, but I don't really want to go into detail about them so I'll just throw them out there and let you guys do with them as you please: Perhaps in addition to writing books, writing desks could also be used to make copies of existing books? Maybe when making a bill with a writing desk, you could make a bill for different types of books, much like how you can make bills for small, large, and grand sculptures? Perhaps people with a low or disabled intellectual skill are illiterate, and can't read or write books unless taught? Perhaps if religion is added into the game, you might be able to obtain bibles/holy books through trade?

Anyway I thought it was a decent idea for something to add into the game. It's simple, yet has so much potential to add depth to the game. Let me know what you guys think.

[Barazen]

Love the idea, and gonna add my two cents...

Maybe better to be reliant on primarily the intellectual skill, with a bonus from the art skill to determine quality...

Skill training should begin quickly, getting rank 1-4 rather quickly, but very quickly begins taking a long time to train skills after that... maybe even being unable to keep up with skill decay by lvl 6?

Maybe making religious books is a bill you can select, and that one gets governed by social. Those books can trigger social events like chess, drawing certain pawns in to listen to the reader.
Or major events like parties where all previous listeners gather at once, priority of location goes to marriage spots.

Science books can be read to gain skill, again, boosting low levels to a median point, while only slowing skill decay at higher levels.

[Sylvain07]

I think books could used to trade tech (like "how make a revolver", "how make a bow"). Actualy in rimworld, you can create all the things without exchange. I think if we must trade some techs, it's a way to create more rich histories. Of course, each research have a minimum of tech because the player should not be blocked.

[mistomaxo]

this has good potential. imagine being able to buy instructional manuals that can help teach various skills without needing to use resources or land the same way that learning by practicing does?

[ertxyz]

this has good potential. imagine being able to buy instructional manuals that can help teach various skills without needing to use resources or land the same way that learning by practicing does?

I immediately thought about manuals. An interesting twist could be that they could increase skills by a significant amount, similar to neurotrainers, but with high production requirements: Long time to craft, and the pawn that makes a manual should have high intelectual level as well as high level in the skill the manual teaches. This should make it difficult enough to produce to keep it reasonably rare.

[Sylvain07]

I don't see the book like a purpose for earn money. I think pawns could make virgin books. When they travel in a other city, they could write a new tech by book (if there are avaible). They could discovery new exotic tech like slingshot (a weapon really maked with stone  ).

The communication consol could used to ask which tech are avaible in the cities.
I think there are too tech in the machining workshop, maybe "revolver" and "shotgun" are a beginning.
The problem of this idea is the player shouldn't blocked if the tech aren't avaible in the near cities. So, the player's colony could buy to the merchants some books, and better order a specify book when used the communication console.

The book could be used to find new locations (with maybe a adventure!)
In first you buy a mystery book in a tribal camp, in second you read your book for entertainment (with a counter like craft). Finaly you find a new location on the map (an abandoned colony, spaceship destroyed...)

[Third_Of_Five]

I think books could used to trade tech (like "how make a revolver", "how make a bow"). Actualy in rimworld, you can create all the things without exchange. I think if we must trade some techs, it's a way to create more rich histories. Of course, each research have a minimum of tech because the player should not be blocked.

I really like that idea. Perhaps this can be a special type of book that you can queue up in a writing desk. Like you could have an option to "write novel" and another option to "write research article" or something.

[BlackSmokeDMax]

I think books could used to trade tech (like "how make a revolver", "how make a bow"). Actualy in rimworld, you can create all the things without exchange. I think if we must trade some techs, it's a way to create more rich histories. Of course, each research have a minimum of tech because the player should not be blocked.

I really like that idea. Perhaps this can be a special type of book that you can queue up in a writing desk. Like you could have an option to "write novel" and another option to "write research article" or something.

There was an older modpack (A13 was last update IIRC) that had a very similar mechanic:

Arbitration: Realistic Research ( https://ludeon.com/forums/index.php?topic=19276.0 )