Merging logs and planks

[ctgill]

I happen to enjoy the log plank difference, using the "craft until x" bill on the table is a handy way to make sure I always have some for building while avoiding having a colonist spend all their time doing so. Getting a good grower who can craft is useful I've found and I think I've struck a nice balance in doing this.

Leave the growing and crafting to 1 person, the construction and whatever else have you to whomever else remains. At first you may need to manually prioritize the crafting of planks as needed but that's why that is there I would think.

In the end I'm in favor of avoiding the resource merge, I like the depth of having to manage more and more resources. I'd go a few steps further and say you already have oak bring on the spruce and plywood for +/- to surroundings. (joke)

[dazhat]

I don't think they should be merged. I think there should be a door made of logs for the early game to allow buildings before the first sawmill.

Progression from logs to planks is quite easy at the moment. Perhaps the only efficient way to create planks should be with the electric sawmill.

[Froboz]

For me, I like the way, that there are logs and planks in this game. Maybe it's now harder to get your base done, but why not?
I understand RimWorld as a game where three people crashed on a weird planet trying to survive-why should they be able to build a fully equipped base in the first few day they arrived?
I would love to see them the first days sleeping in the wrack of their crashed space ship, trying to get something to eat, to find something safer to live in, to survive. When time goes on, the will be able to build more and higher tier stuff (like it's now for wood, but also maybe for metal etc.).
And with time and progress the surrounding tribes and city will take notice of the colony, pirates will start raids...
This maybe would also mean adding more dangerous animals for early game difficulty and delaying things like electricity in more mid-game situations. Sitting around a campfire to have a warm and safer spot in early game... That would be so gorgeous.

Ehm, ok, back to my point: I would appreciate to let this mechanic in the game or maybe give us an option either to enable or disable such more-deep mechanics.

Could not have said it better.

[mrblonde1990]

I strongly disagree on this dev, if it was just the one resource it would be to easy to get a base with power. you could get them all to tree cutting straight away and just have planked walls without the need of crafting. I thought roguelike's were ment to be hard and unforgiving.

What we need are breedable animals.

[SSS]

I like the differentiation between logs and planks from a realistic viewpoint. Suspension of disbelief and such. I don't mind that it takes longer to get things started. Unless we're going to start sending prefabricated materials with the colonists when they crash, you really shouldn't be able to have a place built in a day or so. Actually, I wouldn't mind if electricity was out of bounds for awhile and you had to research a method of making planks from logs. (I find myself skipping log buildings entirely.)

I also feel that if metal is made more abundant / wood is made unneeded for worktables and such, the wood economy is going to be ignored in favor of the old style. The wood isn't just there for aesthetics (I hope). It needs importance or it's just a redundancy.

[Jotun]

It depends what you're planning on doing with the wood economy.

As it stands, logs have little practical distinction, you chop logs, saw into wood, and then basically use wood for everything. Logs are mostly just your platinum to planks' gold, if you follow. 1 log represents a bunch of planks.

If you were planning on making different things you could process wood into, then it would make sense, as you would collect wood from trees which gives you your source, and different uses for it could be gated behind different technologies or power inputs and suchlike. Though even then, you're essentially just producing a farmed resource. You could convert almost everything into 'farmed, edible' 'farmed, inedible' and 'mined, inedible' and not lose much.

I dunno, I'm not honestly too sold on wood in general, it's not a significant change from metal, and metal is still plentiful so why not just use metal all the time? Even stone is less useful with the HP change.

I think all the construction materials could use something to make them distinct. Perhaps replace wood with 'fancy wood' or something, and make fancy wood structures and items look better and give colonists happy thoughts, but processing it into fancy wood takes a long time and has to be done by hand by someone with good crafting skill, and doesn't produce a lot. Rough wood could be a solid construction material both for log and plank walls, log walls would be tougher, plank walls would be cheaper. Metal walls would be much tougher and more expensive, and non-flammable, stone walls could be both attractive to look at, and more durable again than metal walls.

That's just one balance, of course, wood as the cheap, mass construction material. Stone being the tough defensive and decorative option, metal being good at everything but consuming a rare and very useful material. But I think some sort of more distinct balance between the construction materials might help keep different resources valuable.

[Dr. Z]

Totally agree with Jotun, Metal is still to common. I like the idea of much different wood-types. Imagine yourself in this situation: You wouldn't use the metal in buildings but in things that need electricity, your houses wood be made of wood and building an entire base from metal would consume an absurde high amount of, so that would be very rare seen because nearly impossible.

[Nasikabatrachus]

I concur with the nays. Of course, my preferences are towards on the dwarf fortressy aspects of the game, which means I would ideally like it if you had to make all your tools and process resources through multiple steps to accomplish certain goals.

I don't think metal is too common, though. I've found that wood structures are both aesthetically pleasing and allow for more metal to be used for more important things, like, say, turrets and energy production.

[Jotun]

Totally agree with Jotun, Metal is still to common. I like the idea of much different wood-types. Imagine yourself in this situation: You wouldn't use the metal in buildings but in things that need electricity, your houses wood be made of wood and building an entire base from metal would consume an absurde high amount of, so that would be very rare seen because nearly impossible.

I also think if you made metal walls very good, but also made metal hard to come by initially, you could do a lot to distinguish the earlier game from the later game. You'd start out making most things from wood, but as you slowly got more metal, you could replace parts of your base with metal walls and roofs, which would make your base much more durable and less prone to fires/conduit accidents.

Maybe also add some things that require different room types? Like some things can only be built on certain floor types, or away from flammable things. A nuclear reactor for example (I assume with the uranium that's going to be a thing?) could require thick metal or stone walls to shield from radiation, wood objects and walls would catch fire in proximity to it. Later crafting stations could throw sparks which would start fires in wood walls and such, perhaps introduce heavier roof types which need stone or metal walls to hold them up, but which can travel further unsupported and are more resistant to artillery?

There's lots you can do to make building tiers distinct. And the ability to convert wood very inefficiently into high-tier decorative items would keep it useful in the late game.

[Ruin]

I am fond of deeper resource chains (e.g. *wood*>*planks* over just *wood*). It adds some nice complexity and resource management to the game for me.

[ousire]

Having to saw planks to construct items, and giving the player options of building both log and plank items makes the game feel a bit more realistic in my opinion. I would be a little sad if it was removed

But I WILL admit that it slows the game down some in the very beginning. The hand saw is so slow versus the electric saw. If you made planks easier to get in the beginning of the game that would really help things. Either by giving you some in the initial drop, making the hand saw faster, or items cost less planks. Or something like that

[ItchyFlea]

Perhaps there could be a way to separate the two. The "easy" storytellers allow logs to be used as building materials without requiring them to be sawed into planks, while the "hard" storytellers keep the current system.

I think that the current system should be left as-is.

[Coenmcj]

Perhaps there could be a way to separate the two. The "easy" storytellers allow logs to be used as building materials without requiring them to be sawed into planks, while the "hard" storytellers keep the current system.

I think that the current system should be left as-is.

what about those of us that like the complexity but prefer the lighter difficulties?
perhaps an option in a menu somewhere is a better idea?

[Dr. Z]

Wasn't there a poll here?

[minami26]

I love making planks, because.. 
I tend to lean on a little bit of realism and survival like the people here says.
you know