[Mod request] Dune-inspired mod

[CyberTribe]

Hello fellow Rimworlders!

So, I have a roughly-shaped mod idea, I brought it up on reddit several days ago in a discussion about mods that one'd like to see implemented, so I've thought about maybe posting that idea here, and probably it inspires someone to really work with that (as i'm myself is not a developer, unfortunately... probably I should've become one...).

Ok, enough of the long intro, so, here's what I've thought could be cool.

Dune-inspired mod, with several key features:

Base

• Special mode of planet generation, which output is some kind of a desert planet
• Desert tiles in the world map have a chance that they will have Spice on them - another kind of resource

Spice

• Spice is a special resource, that can be used for trading, for refining, and for raw consumption
• Result of raw consumption of Spice is enhancement abilities and serious addiction, addiction is built fast, but it doesn't have any negative effects on itself, however trying to stop eating spice after addiction is on a high level usually just kills the pawn
• You can refine Spice and turn it into a safer kinds of products, that are better suited for storage, and that give severely less rate of addictiveness, of course those are sold for a much higher reward
• To gather Spice you can either setup your colony on a desert tile with Spice (not a smart move) or send an expedition for Spice-gathering

Spice-gathering

• Spice-harvesting can be done manually by pawns or using a Harvester (buildable or buyable vehicle)
• Expedition can go on foot, use harvesters to move through deserts on tracks or use ornithopters for airborne delivery of harvesters
• There's several kinds of ornithopters, at least: heavy, for harvesters delivery, and light - for pawns delivery
• Ornithopters can be used for finding Spice, you can launch them on a "prospecting" mission, that will discover tiles around you that have Spice (and there can be different levels of Spice-richness of those tiles), for a prospecting mission you don't need to manually land on a tile and look for yourself
• Usually - the hotter the tile - the more Spice there you can find, and the more Spice you have there - the higher the risk of Sandworms being near and getting to you fast

Desert dangers

• So, the main dangers of the Desert are temperature, which increases thirst and is just a constantly applied debuff to the rate of thirst, and sandworms, which are attracted to any movement in the desert
• To fight temperature and thirst while your pawns are in the sands - you can use special suits and have a supply of water (you can't really find water in the desert, so you have to take it with you)

Sandworms

• You can't really fight sandworms...
• I mean, seriously, they are huge, so the only option would be to nuke them, essentially clearing that map tile completely of any life
• However you can use light ornithopters to monitor sand around your spice-gathering operation, for early-warning of incoming worm, so you have time to use your heavy-one for Harvester evacuation, or your pawns
• While you travel through sand by foot or on wheels - there's a chance to attract a sandworm, so your expedition might be attacked by it during travel
• The other way to work with worms - is to ride them, so you'll need special equipment, a pawn very capable in animals handling, and some luck
• So you can use sandworms to move across desert tiles, and even attack other settlements or spice-mining operations
• If you really want to - you can use special devices for sandworms attraction - to either ride them, or to guide them to an enemy outpost
• Sandworms only travel through sand

Water

• Water gathering - is another challenge, there's no immediate water source on the planet
• Options for getting water are: import it form a space trader, gather it from the winds with special buildings
• Water can be used for drinking by pawns
• Water can be used for a slow terraforming of a planet

Sandstorms

• There's only one other danger left - sandstorms
• It's a special kind of event, it blocks any solar panels, outputs a lot of energy from wind-turbines if they are left turned on, but damages them very fast, it damages any pawn that stays outside, and essentially wipes almost any things left outdoor, including ornithopters, stationed on the base and not in hangars

Well, that's the base part of a mod-idea, of course it needs much more shaping, balancing, It also need factions (at least we know which 5 of the factions needs to be included).
Of course it needs a developed techtree (preferably with a rimatomics-style of research), special economy-buildings and workbenches, shield-technology and new weapons and many more stuff.

TL/DR version:
A Dune-inspired mod with sandworms, harvesters, ornithopters and expeditions for Spice-gathering

Hope some of the modders will be interested enough to make it real

[AcetheSuperVillain]

To help out any modders who take this up, I feel like a few of these things could be based on existing mods. 

Sounds like a sandworm could just be like any seriously big animal.  To make the Sandworm truly dangerous, it should have some way of dealing with Embrasures or even be capable of destroying walls and doors.  Alpha Animals has the Gallatross, which can shoot projectiles through embrasures, and the Summit Crab, which causes damage to any pawns or structures that it touches.  Bichang makes the Red Dragon, which is an impossible to face opponent.  The Call of Cthulhu - Cosmic Horrors mod adds various animals that act as siegers, and also the Chthonian event encounter, which is very similar to a Sandworm, although they're not as dangerous as they could be. 

You can ride animals through the Giddy-Up mods, so you could probably just use that same mechanic to tame and ride a Sandworm.  You could maybe use a similar mechanic to create an Ornithopter.  There is a Vehicles Mod, but I don't know if it works.  SRTS Extended has vehicles that you can use to travel around the world map. 

Sandstorms could possibly function like the toxic fallout event, where you're basically getting a health effect the longer you stay outdoors.  Instead of "toxic build-up" it could just be "battered" or "sand blasted" or something.  Too much and you die. 

There's a mod called No Water, No Life, which makes your colonists need water, and Bad Hygiene which adds sewage systems.  Needing to get water from space traders sounds pretty harsh to me.  To me, having a trade beacon is more of a mid-to-late game thing to build, my colonists would be dead long before they ever got that established.  Maybe trade caravans could carry water.  I don't know the Dune lore all that well, but if there are native animals on Dune, there could be some sort of process that would allow you to boil off their water.  (or do that to people too)  If you want to cross the streams a little, I think Luke Skywalker's family were water farmers on Tatooine, maybe there's some sort of equivalent process.  Also, realistically, you can create water by combining oxygen and hydrogen.  Maybe there could also be some sort of specific workshop that trades Spice for water, or converts Spice to water. 

(Actually, I just looked up the Wikipedia article for Arrakis, and it says that the planet does have ground water, but not surface water.  Sandtrout clog up any water deposits, so maybe they're like the alphabeavers of Dune?  This makes me think that maybe water can appear and disappear at random, like as an event.)

(Also makes me wonder how you grow food without water.  The Wikipedia article says that cactuses grow on Arrakis, so maybe these absorb water through their roots or something.  If so, you could allegedly harvest cactus juice from them to solve some of your water needs.) 

(Oh wait, so there's Sandplankton, right?  Maybe you can harvest this somehow into a version of Nutrient Paste?)

[CyberTribe]

(Actually, I just looked up the Wikipedia article for Arrakis, and it says that the planet does have ground water, but not surface water.  Sandtrout clog up any water deposits, so maybe they're like the alphabeavers of Dune?  This makes me think that maybe water can appear and disappear at random, like as an event.)

Probably it's better to make water obtainable through well drilling with special tech (like in rimefeller for example?)
But still you'll need some way to gather water from the start, and a way to make food to... Though here we could really go to cactuses farming probably.
So in the beginning you just cut wild cactuses for food and water, then you start farming them, then you develop tech to get to underground water and to get it from the air, and then you start to make space for farming some more conventional food sources.
Seems like a nice set of steps for setting up food and water production.


But seems like that idea doesn't really appeal to anyone, but that's fine, maybe it's just not that great for a mod

[AcetheSuperVillain]

But seems like that idea doesn't really appeal to anyone, but that's fine, maybe it's just not that great for a mod

Give it more time, a mod like this would be a big undertaking. 

To me, I feel like the need for water might be too big of an annoyance.  (frankly, it was too annoying with the No Water, No Life mod)  Since RimWorld ignores water by default, and there's plenty of other mechanics to have fun with, I think it might be best to just ignore water.  People could add a water patch later. 

[Canute]

The game don't lack on good idea's for mods.
But such a mod would need a talented modder with XML and C# knowledge and don't forget an artist for all the grafics.

[Ogliss]

ive been think alot about this myself recently, as a dune lover, though doing it justice would be a massive task, its defo on my list of mods i wanna make, but until AvP is stable and finished im not gonna have much time for it

[CyberTribe]

I'm not sure how the rules are about necroing your own old thread with a mod request.
But with the upcoming release of a new Dune films and a series - that mod might be a bit more interesting for players, if it was ever created.