Event: Wandering Inventor

[Crow_T]

This is an event that could be used as a substitute for the caravan quests- a wandering inventor may pass by the colony and if approached they will offer to build a rare item,  most likely an AI core but the other rare things can come up. You will get a materials list, creation fee, and time span for the item to be made (think quadrums), as well as other demands, eg a nice bedroom, only fine meals, etc. The inventor will get cranky over time and leave with the pay if the demands aren't met or materials aren't supplied. Also, because of the inventor's incredible skill there will be a significant increase in raids during their stay. When the item is  made they go on their merry way. With the right balance this could be a fun option to the quest.

[patoka]

interesting. probably a bit hard to implement through the difficulty of playtesting, but still worth thinking about
i could think of two types of these inventors:
one is the glitterworld genius that could either make a whole bunch of glitterworld medicine, a telescope, an ai core, a megascreen television, a year's worth of luciferium, legendary arms and armor of type and material of your choice (you still have to bring the materials), implants and bionics of your choice and so on
the other one would be a shaman that could build you any one of the artifacts, legendary clothing of the and material of your choice (still you have to provide the materials) and so on.

the shaman would require a very impressive room and the glitterworld inventor an even more impressive room to live and work in, the shaman would also take less long and only require fine meals, while the inventor is used to glitterworld standards which require lavish meals.

maybe both of them even want private tv's, billard's and chess tables? the shaman probably also would want a fire. both of them require ac's, but i guess it is obvious that it is more important with the shaman due to the fire.

ofc this event would be very rare, at best it would happen once every two years.

[Crow_T]

I was thinking the preferred conditions would be more random based on the inventor traits as well as some quirks they may have as individuals. Knowing what they would want would make it easy to just make a room just in case. I think the inventor has a chance of being a PITA but not always

[patoka]

oh, yeah, i feel ya.
makes sense. maybe they want specifically a couch made of chinchilla fur, an excellent bed, a pile of slate blocks and a human corpse with all its toes intact

it could be a whole list of things (which you could open to check anytime)
he'd only start working once he has his starting resources (like corpse with all its toes and slate blocks) he will worker harder if he gets some luxury items (like a chinchilla seat and an excellent bed)
when he is at certain limits, let's say every 25 percent, he will ask for more resources for his job. he will be happy with the luxury items he gets from the start. you'd also have to bring food regularly.

fun idea, hopefully not too difficult to implement.
i guess the idea behind this challenge is that you'd either ignore this dude or give him a whole bunch of resources, feed his ass for a long time and keep him from harm, whil also looking out to keep him happy because his happiness (and therefore his health and luxuries you grant him) have direct influence on the speed he works at. he will leave as soon as his mood drops below a certain limit, doesnt get the "expectations" mood buff but gets a considerable additional mood buff for his luxuries. feeding him lavish meals and keeping his room safe, clean and making it look nice will do the rest.
you have to look out for mind drones though, maybe you have to strip him and only leave a psychic foil hat for him and some new clothes.

well i don't know. seems like a sub game of a kind, but if i compare it to events like volcanic winter and poison fallout, it is kinda totally different, but shares similarities like the duration, how often it happens and what a severe effect it might have on your current game state.

[Crow_T]

One of the ideas behind this that would need to be balanced is the risk reward tradeoff- either caravan to an unknown place to get a part, or deal with issues (which should be harder) in the comfort of your own base. Plus it could make for interesting stories As in, Ugh the inventor got killed with only 3 more work to go! etc.

[patoka]

One of the ideas behind this that would need to be balanced is the risk reward tradeoff- either caravan to an unknown place to get a part, or deal with issues (which should be harder) in the comfort of your own base. Plus it could make for interesting stories As in, Ugh the inventor got killed with only 3 more work to go! etc.

i guess the way most people would fail the most often is that they forgot to bring him food for a day, he started to starve, got pissed and pissed off without finishing his work though :/

this is a thing i can totally see as a downside. you probably wont ever fail in an epic way, you'll just suddenly see the message that he left and you'll feel dumb and that you wasted all your time and money :/

there should be something more epic connected to this event...maybe all inventors are pyromaniacs by default? maybe they cause explosions from time to time and you have to not only save their life but also repair everything that got damaged? i guess the crazy prof trying to light up the place for the tenth time is a big annoying, but maybe combine it with other things aswell. maybe he will at some point admit that the pirate faction has put a bounty on his head and that pirate raids will be harder as long as he's there? maybe all raiders no matter their faction will have abducting that guy as number one priority and will therefore try to blast their way through to him?
there are some options here to make this a kickass event, let's not let this become another idea of this sort: "i have too many resources and my pawns are out of things to do, gimme something to do"