Got an idea for a Storyteller incident?

[Theotenai]

Not sure, they already can contact every trade ship passing nearby so... ^^

[AwMeGawd]

I have read a lot of this thread and wonder why a large percentage of ideas are 'bad' for the player. Maybe we could come up with ideas that help the player out?

Rescue a colonist - A colonist and a group of raiders spawn on the map for a while. They don't attack existing colonists. The players choice is to use resources to kill off the raiders and free the prisoner.

Missionaries/ Aid agency  - When colony resources are poor maybe a group of well wishes just drops off supplies.

Brain Expander - Colonist discovers tech that, once used, gives an existing colonist access to an ability they didn't have before.

Space S.W.A.T - During a raiders attack S.W.A.T arrives and helps out.

Alien Experiment - An alien arrives and gives a high tech item to colonists as a 'gift'... but it is an experiment and the alien then causes a calamity the colonists must survive using the device. Surviving colonists keep the high tech.

[JuanEnrique]

Diseases that spread if not taken care of. from a cold that fatigues colonists faster, to deadly spreading viruses that can wipe out the entire colony / planet.

on the animal part, id love if there´d be tamable animals. say you killed a muffalo and fed some of the meat it to a wolf or dog type animal.... he´d become your friend.... maybe. like the prisoners, you could treat him well or bad, training him to either "cease and capture" or "rip to shreds"

ive said it before , and im going to say it again... i love this game already

[Robitski]

Weather: Hail - Damages buildings, and can even destroy them if not seen to. Needs to be cleaned away afterwards.

Hit and Run: The raiders are taking a swoop over your colony and will drop grenades. Be prepared! (Will damage but not destroy buildings underground).

Bumper Yield: All crops reach maturity and drop 2x more food than normal.

Planet Fall: Some guns fall in some debris from your crashed ship.

[Joedoe1025]

Rescue a colonist - A colonist and a group of raiders spawn on the map for a while. They don't attack existing colonists. The players choice is to use resources to kill off the raiders and free the prisoner.

Missionaries/ Aid agency  - When colony resources are poor maybe a group of well wishes just drops off supplies.

Both these ideas are great but here's a bit of a spin on both

Slave traders: Planet bound raiders with several slaves (3 to 5) that can be freed with the death of the raiders, however slaves under the control of the raiders will also be forced to fight you so use caution if you want to free them all.

Research team: A team of researchers have arrived near your colony and are requesting protection for a set time limit. Raiders/aliens ensue and you can either protect them or let them die. Successful defense results in a tech boost and possibly a scientist (low to moderate chances)

Medical Ship Crash: A medical ship has crashed close to your colony leaving many wounded (some dead) refugees.  You must provide aid to as many as possible until assistance arrives (Three days to a week) rewards vary based on degrees of success (ranging from medical packs (High chance) to medical personal or thankful refugees (Low to Moderate based on success rate)

[Renham]

orbital pirate attack: pirates launch some strikes over your base, better hide under ground otherwise you may die.
this will be prior an attack.

pirate odst (orbital drop shock troopers): they will come down to chew buble gun and kick ass... but there is no buble gum.

slavist raid: they will come fast as a thunder and try to capture one or two of your colonist.

volcano: you will suffer from ashes fallout (low sun light) toxicity of the food and water, your food production will be reduced in a third, only hidroponics will produce as two thirds of their capacity.
reduced vision, you will only be able to see at a short distance
possible rain of fire, beware fire, keep grass short to avoid an spread.
geothermal energy sources will appear arround the area. 
earthquake, some caves may collapse.

all this in one event. its a very long one so... yeah it will be fun to survive under this conditions.

[123nick]

Muffalo Herd Charge - a entire "group" of muffalo suddenly become enraged and starts to attack your colony.

[glenn]

It's just a slight variations on some that have been mentioned, but I like the idea of a single member of a raid being different than the others, so that you can't just indiscriminately kill everything with funnels, mine trails, etc.

• VIP - The raiders are actually kidnappers.  Not killing the child VIP will gain a reward, or some loyalty.  Of course, killing the child could raise the fear level of your colonists if that is your thing...
• Villain - One of the raiders is a super-villian.  He will hang back, and run away if his crew is slaughtered.  Then he will come back and taunt you with his villain monologue.  I really like the recurring bad guy story.  In order to catch him, you would need to block off his path of escape.
• Raider prep - a variation of this was mentioned, but there should be incentives for going after the raiders before they have had time to "prepare" (maybe there already is).  Perhaps their loyalty is lower, so they are easier to incapacitate and won't fight to the death.  Maybe they are rattled and their skills are at a negative?

[glenn]

Another interesting story element would be to have stories that force you to change what you are doing.

An idea would be an alien artifact falls from the sky.  The object is immovable, so you will need to move your base/defenses/crops/etc. to utilize it (or get away from it).  (Maybe you are down to one colonist and it luckily falls right into your existing colony)

The artifact could do any number of useful things:

• a singularity power source, like a new geothermal power station
• affect emotional state -- increasing loyalty or fear
• generate light
• create darkness
• improve crop growth
• have the local animals attack raiders (the Cinderella effect)
• slow movement in the area
• speed up movement in the area
• provide protection against solar flares
• disrupt electrical devices in an area
• have a shielding effect on targets in an area

Clearly, you want to be careful not to invalidate an existing colony, but getting people out of their comfort zone would be the goal.  Perhaps they aren't movable, but could be destroyed by players/raiders trying to restore the balance.

[Seppukun]

Earthquake: Geyser production is interrupted for x amount of time and a ton of walls need to be repaired. Structures on sand take damage. Boulder rubble appears spontaneously in caves and near cave exits.

[jjgoldman]

Running from the Law/Raiders

a lone figure comes to your base asking for help.  Do you admit him knowing that a large force is coming to try and take him back?

[mumblemumble]

Abnormally close sun orbit : a nearby star gets a bit too close, and makes the planet unbearably hot. All colonists outside take damage from heat, and fires start at random outside from the sheer heat.

Food poisoning : Shoddy cooking (or a malfunction in the paste dispenser) makes the food bad, incapacitating someone, or otherwise making them less useful due to the illness. (perhaps 1/2 of all abilities)

Malfunctioning beacon : Happens in thunderstorms if a drop beacon is struck, super charging the signal, making raids, traders, and any other traffic become much more likely, since the signal can be picked up by anyone in the whole solar system.

[shokwave]

If some kind of earthquake is implemented, it should 'turn off' the existing geysers and create new ones, similar to the way an earthquake often 'turns off' hot springs or geysers in real life (shifts the ground, heat escapes elsewhere).

This is good from a "forcing change" on the player perspective, not just dealing damage that can be repaired. You'd have to sell your old geothermal plants, find the new ones, and connect them to your power grid.

[NexusTrimean]

From the underground bases topic.

Make Earthquakes an event similar to an eclipse, but able to trigger small Collapses (ranging in size from 2x2 to the same as a blast from a mining charge) in previously stable underground areas. Make it random throughout so that a small undergound base may get by unscathed, but a larger or more spread out bases will likely take more hits. This Idea empowers the player, Giving them the  choice to evacuate, or risk staying.

"The Moon has reached perihelion*, seismic activity will increase for the next 24 Hours"

*I Believe Perihelion is the correct term, it would occur when the moon is directly between the gas giant and the parent start, where Gravometric forces would be in greatest opposition as the two bodies try to tear the moon apart.

[Clint]

Exo-scientists:
A group of scientists from an advanced race beam down and examine you for a nature documentary they're making. (They just mill around for a while and then leave)
It splits the colonists into two camps, 1 feel like superstars in the limelight and the other feel like apes in cages.
Happiness is obviously the major effect here.

Tourism:
Similar to the one above, tourists come to visit your colony and it causes polar happiness effects in your colonists as well as a small increase in your $ reserves.
Tourists come complete with flowery shorts and cameras equipped in weapon slots.

Ghosts/spirits:
Ghosts or spirits begin flashing in and out randomly in your colony for X-days.
They flicker lights on and off, play with power reserves by making batteries empty and fill, and periodically make security turrets fire for no reason.
Decreases happiness and increases fear greatly if seen by colonists.

Perhaps higher chance of happening if there have been many deaths recently?

Trade Embargo:
Due to some interstellar war or deplomacy that your colonists know nothing about, no trade ships can enter your sector for the next X-number of days.

General Trade effects:
"Due to the 'Gluttonites' of the planet 'Obeseite IV' the universe is experiencing a food shortage, prices have consiquently risen."
or "Thanks to the Empire beginning a project they call "It's totally a moon... we promise..." there is now a shortage of metal, prices have risen."
You get the idea...

Disease:
I know this has been suggested a lot... but seriously... Disease. Do it. You know you want to...
Several types/stages of disease would be nice:
a) Increases tiredness of colonists.
b) Generally makes colonists work and move slower.
c) Begins to injure colonists and they require medical help
d) Incapacitates colonists
e) Death (perhaps a very rare zombifying disease that reanimates after X-days?)

Drums in the deep:
"Your colonists delved too greedily and too deep..."
Either it awakes some kind of singular boss style alien creature (Balrog...) which will begin to wreck your colony, or it unleashes a hoard of smaller alien critters.7
Higher chance of happening if you have a large underground area, and even higher chance if you have recently been mining.

Refugees:
We already get singular refugees walking about, but this event would see a ship contact you requesting asylum on your colony for X-days.
During this time you would be under a much higher % chance for raids.
Declining would reduce colony happiness as we "left them to die" but accepting would mean providing them beds and food despite them not actively helping the colony...
Decisions... Decisions...

Solar Activity:
I believe somebody already mentioned this but it would be nice to segment the solar activity into several types:
1) Increased solar activity for more power generated
2) Decreased solar activity (eclipse) for no power
3) Solar Flare, disables electronics for a short time
4) Coronal mass ejection, Disables electronics and deals damage to people who are outside for short time.

Religious/Political strife:
Not sure if this is really a good direction to go in, but having political or religious zealots attempt to convert your colony.
Accepting the conversion would have short term happiness effects as nobody likes change as well as some noticable long term effects in the types of raids and prices from traders.
Declining would lead to a one time large raid, with perhaps an increased % of small raids from this faction in the future.

Weather:
Heavy rainfall causes slight depression and lower external crop yields, also lower solar power output.
Drought causes major reduction in external crop yields and slight depression.
Dust storms cause moderate depression and damage any components or people who are outside.
Hurricane/tornado cause major crop damage, major colony damage and large happiness drop.

Technically not weather but in a similar catagory:
Geothermal activity increase, increased power from geothermal plants with a small % chance of them taking damage/exploding.
moonquake, causes minor structure damage and caveins.

I think that's about all I can think of for now...