ED-Excalibur: Request for feedback on idea for an upcoming mod.

[Jaxxa]

Hey Everyone, I have started some initial work a mod that I am thinking will eventually supersede a number of my current mods, I wanted to get some feedback on my current plans for it.

The basic thing I want to change is that in a number of my current mods you get access quite advanced technology that does not logically fit with the rest of what your colony is able to develop. These are just researched and deployed as any other building in the game, not anything interesting compared to the abilities it gives you.

My mods that I am thinking of integrating initially include Shields, LaserDrill, OmniGel and advanced things like that.


What I am planning to do is changing the way that you will get the buildings and adding a bit of a quest / progression.


The general idea is that it would go like this:
* a time after you have a comms console you would pick up a distress call from a survivor on a military ship that is damaged and going to crash into the sun.
* They need help to save the ship and give you the ability to send them power and metal so that they can fix the ship. They promise you advance weapons and technology if you help them.
  * Once the ship is stabilized in return for continued supply of power/metal they will bring fabrication systems online and you can order them to drop pod down things (mostly minified buildings)
* There would still be a minimal research cost, but it would be small compared to the complexity of the building as you are just learning to operate something instead of building it from scratch and you do with most buildings. But there would also be a Power/Resource cost before you can use something.


What do you think of this idea? Do you think it would be interesting to have a different way to acquire things, or would the more steps just be annoying and you would rather unlock and build things normally.

[Roolo]

I think this idea has a lot of potential. Rimworld could definitely be more interesting when it would have more minor goals that actually have more impact than "you get a random item + maybe some faction relation". Events like the one you propose would really force the player to make hard decisions: Will I invest in the event now, with a great potential benefit, but a short time risk, or will I focus at solving the current problems the colony has instead? I think a lot of players would like this, but undoubtedly, other players won't like it, but the nice thing about mods is that no one is forced to install them.

That being said, I do think that in order for it to be really interesting, and not just a burden, there should be quite some variety in what events can occur, and how these events occur. If you already know what's going to happen each playthrough, it won't be as interesting as it could be. Of course this makes it more complicated and time-consuming to implement, so it's up to you how far you want to go. But just re-using the same event, but with different lore each time would already make a huge difference IMO.

[Chaos17]

You will need to tie your mod to a custom scenario because the colony would still need to be a little advanced to do your quests but I like your idea. Having different type of scenario with real different type of events that could be tied to a storyline/goal would be cool. But so far what I saw that "change" the game are overhaul mods that bring a new "settings".

Maybe you would like to start with a simplier storyline that won't need to have a stable colony to do your quests? Because like the other guy said, players may have difficult time to choose between accepting your quests if their colony isn't stable.

Here's a game that have simple quests, it's also a sandbox game:
https://youtu.be/znh5ksgzOS4
If it's interest you to see more, there're a lot of Let's play on it.
I'm advising you this game because it has a similar approach like you want to do "unlock new technologies" with storyline.

[Fenocide]

I really like the idea, and I'm a big fan of every mod of yours I've used (probably most of them, all but omni gel). I did like the idea of not just a comms console, but maybe other triggers so it isn't just "oh you got a comms console hoping you could buy food to avoid starving this winter. Give me steel now or I die in a month."

[Kori]

I really like this idea, more complex quests are always a welcome addition!

[Chaos17]

Hi,

It's me again, I comeback with a better "idea" that I just found while playing the game "Frostpunk".
Frostpunk unlock technologies based on your "policies" choices that impact on the mood of your city.
In our case it will impact the mood and health of our pawns based of their traits and needs.

Frostpunk research tree is interesting but lack a lot basic stuff that you have in RimWorld like make better clothes. These people are facing really harsh weather (between 104.0 - 158.0 Fahrenheit) yet they can't make better cloths... yes, they do have hunters...

[Jaxxa]

Thanks for the feedback, good to know that people like the idea.

At this stage I dont intend it to be difficult to complete the quest as it will replaces a number of other mods and I dont particularly want to lock them behind a random or overly difficult event.

I will probably explain it as a slowly decaying orbit, maybe the longer you ignore it the more power / repairs you need done to stabilize the ship, but I imagine that you would possibly have year or more to work on it, so not so much of an issue.

Although I would like to look into adding additional random events that could trigger after you have the ship, I would probably not get around to these until after the initial release of the mod.

[Canute]

going to crash into the sun.

That is unrealistic, Transport pod's can't fly that far. You would need a Ship engine/reactor at last.
Let the ship get burned at the atmosphare /crash on the planet instead.

After you accept the mission, the ship will send a shuttle (need chemfuel) or teleporter (need power) to interact with.
But if you fail the mission, the ship will send you a last bad present because you fooled him (Orbital beam on the colony/shuttle).