Why Build On Mountain?

Started by kclace, March 03, 2019, 07:30:42 PM

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kclace

It seems to me that infestations are the biggest threat in this game. So why even build on a mountain?

I always play on flat terrain. I either completely enclose off my base with double wrapped walls and/or a  second perimeter wall and focus on melee fighters. Alternatively, I construct a kill box with IEDs, turrets and heavy firearms. I can do these things on flat terrain or mountainous terrain. So again. why even bother with a mountain base?

Kirby23590

While infestations are huge threat and i hate em' with a fiery passion from a pyromaniac's perspective...

I would still go with them and large hills for building colonies there so that i have some naturals walls for the raiders when they aren't using drop pods to go around them so i don't need to build more walls for it...

I still build colonies on them just not inside in those caverns.....

And also i do need to mine more ore out of it and of course, stone chunks where i can get more from it...

And also when the hives will spawn, there's a good reason why i clog the holes in the mountains or hills with wooden or less durable stone walls so the insect hives won't spawn...

Just keep an eye on the roof tile inspector... of the roof is showing is dark green... clog it... or otherwise bugs and angry angry megaspiders will jump out from it or those hives...

One "happy family" in the rims...
Custom font made by Marnador.



zizard

lots of those people disable infestation

Canute

Quote from: zizard on March 03, 2019, 09:24:02 PM
lots of those people disable infestation
Yeah cheaters ! :-)

Some  people who got problem's with Siege's, mountain block artillery shells.
Even Sapper avoid to bomb through mountain and use the front entrance mainly.
You got better temperature managment in a mountain.

Kirby23590

@Canute

I think you mean't freezing temperatures but also extremely hot works as well...

There's a good reason why i build giant freezers inside mountains and also turn them into storages as well... Or Tombs that's are just freezing just to keep the dead frozen until you can resurrect them with resurrector mech serums!!

Them bugs hate the cold or hotness... Why didn't the Terran Federation from Starship Troopers think about using those? ;)

One "happy family" in the rims...
Custom font made by Marnador.



Shurp

Early vs late game dynamics:

In the early game, mountains provide natural walls before you have a chance to construct replacements.  This is especially helpful if you're on a map without trees to throw up a quick palisade to defend yourself with.

In the late game, mountain maps have lots more resources than a flat or small hills map, so it takes longer to run out.

One last thing: you don't have to put your base underground on a mountain map.  You can leave the base outside and just establish mines a distance from it so that infestations are more manageable.
If you give an annoying colonist a parka before banishing him to the ice sheet you'll only get a -3 penalty instead of -5.

And don't forget that the pirates chasing a refugee are often better recruits than the refugee is.

Limdood

Mountain bases also restrict pathways.

By setting up on a mountain map, even without building in the mountain, the large amount of mountains all over the map naturally restrict approaches to your base to a few avenues.  A couple pieces of wall scattered around the map to connect bits of mountain can further restrict the pathing, forcing raiders even more tightly to one entrance.

As an extra perk, when raiders flee, they may flee towards one of your walls and try to bash through a door, which can give you one last chance to try to snag some prisoners (or bodies, if you're using a mod that allows you to turn bodies into some sort of usable resource)

bbqftw

#7
infestation is quite solidly in the easier half of threats. Melee only threats are trivial in this game, even on highest difficulty.  In fact one of the strongest eco plays is just farming infestations, which is enough to buyout all relevant items in two exotics caravans on cooldown.

open mech combination drop or pirate sapper is far more dangerous.

I'm not even sure infestations have a one-hit kill attack (maybe high roll neck slash? never seen a full damage to internals attack), which is the primary indicator for difficulty.

Canute

Quoteinfestation is quite solidly in the easier half of threats. Melee only threats are trivial in this game, even on highest difficulty.
Allways depend who you ask ! :-)
Someone want that turrets will attack hunting animals, because his pawn's in power armor get killed by cougars ! :-)

TheMeInTeam

Were infestations changed so that they don't spawn-tap you?  Even in the late beta you could be instantly attacked by a couple scarabs appearing on a pawn, and they'd slow that pawn too much for it to escape the rest.  That's why I've still avoided mountains on the off times I've played Rimworld 1.0...dangerous as drop pod mechs/pirates could be they never instantly erase a pawn w/o counterplay so I preferred them.  If infestations no longer do this it's a whole different evaluation.

Limdood

Quote from: TheMeInTeam on March 05, 2019, 10:31:46 AM
Were infestations changed so that they don't spawn-tap you?  Even in the late beta you could be instantly attacked by a couple scarabs appearing on a pawn, and they'd slow that pawn too much for it to escape the rest.  That's why I've still avoided mountains on the off times I've played Rimworld 1.0...dangerous as drop pod mechs/pirates could be they never instantly erase a pawn w/o counterplay so I preferred them.  If infestations no longer do this it's a whole different evaluation.
Infestations now have a "dirty earth rumble" showing exactly where each hive will spawn.  You generally have plenty of time to get pawns about ~40 tiles away before they appear. 

It's a fair point though, that if you fail to notice one of the impending hives (they can blend into the stone floor) AND the infestation warning doesn't point to THOSE hives, you COULD get spawn tapped.  It's happened to me before even in the new implementation, but at least in now, you are able to see where each hive will spawn about 10-15 seconds before they spawn.

TheMeInTeam

Oh, that is indeed a world of difference, very different from that time I got a person who mined a tile too deeply gibbed w/o counterplay in beta.  That sounds even more generous than the drop pods, I can see why bbqftw is saying they're easier now.

Thisbrewwillmakeyougay

If I can, I always choose to build my base under overhead mountain rather than in the open. Airdrop are just to to difficult to deal with.
Pirate/Outlanders always come with grenades so if I choose to fight them inside half of my base will burn down. When I get airdropped I immediately send all of my colonist outside the base while making sure to open doors to give the raiders a way out.
Mechanoids aren't as bad, I still haven't gotten an inferno cannon airdrop.

Insect are a lot easier to deal with.
-You don't need to clear out infestations right away. Insect don't seek out your colonist if they aren't nearby, they also don't steal your stuff and they don't purposefully start fire. Infestation have a long enough warning before spawns that you should be able to send all your colonist to safety.

-I usually either pull the insects toward my kill box, or set up all my colonist in a choke point with animals(or armored colonist) in front to tank.

If you want to clear out a large hive in a room away your base you can start a fire inside and burn them all to death. You will need several layers of doors to keep them in, make sure the last one stay open so the temperature doesn't equalize once they break through.

-You can reduce infestation chance by replacing natural floor/walls and making sure the surrounding area is well lit(or so I heard). You can also mine empty rooms far from your base for insect to go.

-Infestations are more of an annoyance then a real threat, unless they spawn in your prison or hospital that is. They are a huge mess to cleanup, it might take several days clean the dirt they make.

Limdood

Quote from: Thisbrewwillmakeyougay on March 05, 2019, 05:22:35 PM-You can reduce infestation chance by replacing natural floor/walls and making sure the surrounding area is well lit(or so I heard).
No.  Insects can mine through floors.

However, they cannot mine through "things" - you can construct furniture or power cables to avoid infestations (if you build them on every available tile)  - it's "ugly" for your pawns and uses up at least 1 steel per tile, but it's a 100% sure way to avoid them.

Most people use the "minimize chances" methods though, if they are trying to actively shape where infestations happen.  Infestations are more likely to spawn deeper into overhead mountain....so having your entire base barely built into the mountain, then mining deep tunnels into the deepest parts of the mountain and hollowing it out makes it VERY likely that infestations spawn in those empty, prepared areas, rather than in your base.

avilmask

I, for once, like infestations as an event. To make it more interesting, you could use "OneSpot" mod to allow multiple pawns stay at the same tile. It gives melee characters an edge when swarming someone, so choke defense becomes harder, since you can't kill insects by tanking just one at a time.
It may be masochistic, because I also like high hills and mountain biomes.