(1.0)(WIP) Adaptive Cassie Storyteller - Fine tuning

[Wanderer_joins]

Hi, i've released Adaptive Cassie Storyteller, which works as intended based on a suite of playthroughs i've done. Even though i've extensively tested it, the more the save files, the better i can adapt it.

The idea of this storyteller is to give players an incentive to fight raids actively, play permadeath and go explore. She'll adapt much more significantly to the death of experienced colonists or when your best shots are on the roads, wealth is less the main driver of raids size and increasing the number of colonists will actually helps you defend your colony (instead of proportional threat increase).

In order to test it in the most extreme situations, i'd like more saves, of flourishing colonies, but of collapsed/ failed colonies as well.

Players should be able to come back from ashes.

Thanks,

Edit: save files can be vanilla, i just need to check the threat points with the stotyteller

[Hjkma]

I get these errors constantly on this storyteller. On others, such errors do not appear.

Code Select Expand

System.DivideByZeroException: Division by zero
  at RimWorld.IncidentCycleUtility.IncidentCountThisInterval (IIncidentTarget target, Int32 randSeedSalt, Single minDaysPassed, Single onDays, Single offDays, Single minSpacingDays, Single minIncidents, Single maxIncidents, Single acceptFraction) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
  at RimWorld.StorytellerComp_OnOffCycle+<MakeIntervalIncidents>c__Iterator0.MoveNext () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
  at RimWorld.Storyteller+<MakeIncidentsForInterval>c__Iterator1.MoveNext () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
  at RimWorld.Storyteller+<MakeIncidentsForInterval>c__Iterator0.MoveNext () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
  at RimWorld.Storyteller.StorytellerTick () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
  at Verse.TickManager.DoSingleTick () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
Verse.Log:Error(String, Boolean)
Verse.TickManager:DoSingleTick()
Verse.TickManager:TickManagerUpdate()
Verse.Game:UpdatePlay()
Verse.Root_Play:Update()

Hubslib log: https://gist.github.com/HugsLibRecordKeeper/220209dedb95ac261ce5c20b73cf2cfc
Save file: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1I79rUA9EB9YokPKB_Z9vgd17fUpZMs9P/view

[Ink.]

This sounds like a neat story-teller. I always disliked the way raids were based on wealth and more colonists = stronger raids so that'll be interesting.

You mentioned that "She'll adapt much more significant to the death of experienced colonists or when your best shots are on the roads" and I was wondering what that means exactly?

[Wanderer_joins]

@Hjkma thanks for the save, i appreciate it. There is a lot of mods though, so i'll have to download the list before being able to load the save and check for this error (i can't reproduce it in my saves). Meanwhile i've scrolled through the file, and i can see that you've been through tough times, 30 killed, max pop 21, year 3.
3 colonists are relevant for my storyteller: Diver, Perry and Dorian. How many colonists do you have at this point? Are these ones the most experienced in your colony?
In this situation adaptive cassie should be more lenient than cassandra classic.


@Ink. it means when an experienced colonist die, the raid discount is more important than when a rookie dies. An experienced colonist may weight as much as 3 times as a rookie colonist. They gain experience in battles.

[Pangaea]

Does the storyteller adapt based on deaths only, or does it take into account injuries or lost limbs?

Reason I ask is that most times you won't necessarily lose people, but can end up with people hospitalised for long periods, several lost legs/arms, stuff like that. Would be nice if the storyteller eased off a bit then.


Edit: Also, is it possible to try out this mod, or is it only available on steam?

[Wanderer_joins]

Here's a dropbox link

[Hjkma]

@Hjkma thanks for the save, i appreciate it. There is a lot of mods though, so i'll have to download the list before being able to load the save and check for this error (i can't reproduce it in my saves).

As for the error, it turned out to be related to the [KV] In-Game Definition Editor mod, I just reset all the mod settings and the error disappeared. It's not clear what's the matter, I don't remember that I changed values of storyteller Fuzzy Cassandra.

Meanwhile i've scrolled through the file, and i can see that you've been through tough times, 30 killed, max pop 21, year 3.
3 colonists are relevant for my storyteller: Diver, Perry and Dorian. How many colonists do you have at this point? Are these ones the most experienced in your colony?
In this situation adaptive cassie should be more lenient than cassandra classic.

I have 15 of them (it was like at the time of the save game) and these colonists are the most experienced fighters, also they are experienced builders.

[Ink.]

@Ink. it means when an experienced colonist die, the raid discount is more important than when a rookie dies. An experienced colonist may weight as much as 3 times as a rookie colonist. They gain experience in battles.

That is awesome. I really like that idea compared to basing off wealth. I like the idea that you could have a complete badass that they just send hordes to try to take down.

Is that experience that the pawns gain in battle visible anywhere or is it all hidden for the storyteller to use and manipulate?

[Wanderer_joins]

It's vanilla. But hidden in save file and .dll.

[Pangaea]

Here's a dropbox link

Thank you. From what I could gather by comparing some files with vanilla Cassandra, yours is exactly the same in terms of the xml values, right? But if for instance you go a long time without anybody dying, then you risk facing tougher or more frequent raids?

Is it based on deaths, or amount of people downed and/or injuries sustained as well?

What about people kidnapped? Would this count as people killed, sort of? I remember in a previous game I had 6 of 9 people kidnapped, and still faced some pretty darn tough raids after that (until they wiped us out), because wealth was still high due to a big-ish base.

[Wanderer_joins]

In the situation of 6 kidnapped out of 9, raids should be much lower. In vanilla, the issue is wealth at low pop.

People kidnapped = people killed.

For people downed, they don't count.

If you go a long time without dying, you risk tougher raids, yes, because you're doing well. But it's progressive, and that's why i wanted more save files. But from models, it should take some times before overcoming vanilla, and still, since i correct for high population, it should be under control.

[Pangaea]

Thanks. That game may have been survivable on your storyteller then. Although it was kinda boring with only 3 people tbh.

If you go a long time without dying, you risk tougher raids, yes, because you're doing well. But it's progressive, and that's why i wanted more save files. But from models, it should take some times before overcoming vanilla, and still, since i correct for high population, it should be under control.

I'm quite invested in the current save, so don't think I want to change settings now, but I'll try out this storyteller afterwards. Sorry for all the questions, but I have another one. It's not that uncommon for me to go for many years without losing (m)any people. At least if I get past the first 1-2 years as a tribal colony. Assuming this happens with your storyteller as well, going for instance 2-3 years without losing anybody, how much bigger raids would we be looking at? Or is it hard to tell because population comes into it as well?

[Wanderer_joins]

Population, time of recruitment, potential deaths come into play. But i tried to make a balanced storyteller, so it's a progressive increase. You can always try in game for one raid and switch back.

To have a good idea of the modifier best would be a save file otherwise a screenshot of your population graph and your wealth could give an idea.

[Pangaea]

Here is the save file. Despite very good compression with tar.gz, I wasn't able to upload it here.
https://filebin.net/usihmy7zsywr3nsk

Not sure if you actually need the mods to load the save, but in any case I use these currently:

Code Select Expand

    <li>Core</li>
    <li>HugsLib</li>
    <li>AllowTool</li>
    <li>ModManager</li>
    <li>Achtung</li>
    <li>CommonSense</li>
    <li>Numbers</li>
    <li>WorkTab</li>
    <li>Pharmacist</li>
    <li>PickUpAndHaul</li>
    <li>DefensivePositions</li>
    <li>MedicalTab</li>
    <li>AnimalTab</li>
    <li>WhileYoureUp</li>
    <li>RimworldSearchAgency</li>
    <li>MoreHarvestDesignators-1.0</li>
    <li>ShowDrafteesWeapon</li>
    <li>StackXXL</li>
    <li>DontBlockDoorMod</li>
    <li>TraderDismissal</li>
    <li>RecipeIcons</li>
    <li>RF - Packed Lunches</li>

Since I have Numbers I can easily see the amount of kills. Therefore, if Breixo or Wasp were to die, with around 100 kills each (most are animals though), they would probably weigh heavier than some of the others.

I'll definitely try out your storyteller in the next save. That way I get a better impression of how it compares. Probably on Rough, as Savage was perhaps a step too far for me. Got to space, but damn was it hard.

No deaths here, but in truth that is because I save-scummed a few times. It was too hard to take deaths due to one-shot-kill auto cannon friendly fire 

I do use 2x or 4x storage (with StackXXL) on some types of material to make storage of food, textiles, steel and bricks more manageable, so it's possible lots of my stuff get truncated on load, affecting wealth.

I'm five years in, have 20 people, and the history graph looks like this. A little over 500,000 wealth.

[Wanderer_joins]

Hi, thanks for the save file, it'll help a lot. Actually it's interesting to have a file with 0 death / save scumming, since one of the purposes of this storyteller is to create different difficulties over deaths. Here you would have explored the hardest path.

That said it's relative, it's harder compared to a story including deaths but i'll have to explore your save file on my labtop next we to see exactly how it does compare to vanilla (my phone is dieing trying to open the file). There is a random factor on experienced gained by colonists.

That said the screenshots showed you had a great fun and a very nice base design with a killzone not relying on a maze trap, i approve.

I'll edit this message when i've analysed the save, it's a good example of mature, successful colony.

One of the other goals of this storyteller, is to help people play with an active defense ( like yours) being more lenient and "rewarding" risk taking and deaths.

Play rough, take risks, go caravaning and embrace the story!