Tribes and Animals

[Ragnvard]

Hey everyone. So with Biotech and all the mechanoids, xenogerms and stuff I was kinda thinking about unexplored or under-utilized parts of the lore and like. A big one that came to mind was the tribals. There's quite a few mentioned in the lore and some even have psychic powers through the Anima trees but there really isn't much to them in game. What about expanding the tribals?

Could the tribals have worked out some of their own "tech" through the Anima? It's directly related to the archotechs as far as we can tell. Maybe not the anima implants I know some mods have but I kinda feel the ingame tribals are kinda lacking. Maybe some expanded psychic powers (exlusive to tribals?) or some unique weapons based on the Anima trees. They don't need to be better than persona weapons or even equal but maybe some kinda of alternatives that open new strategies like the tox weapons did.

Of course leaving maybe 1 tribal faction as the default would be fitting as just crashed refugees more or less "devolving" but the Anima aligned factions could make for an interesting opponent/ally. Also we have dryads. They really seem to fit the whole tribal theme but kinda suck. No, they shouldn't be equal to mechanoids but some kind of buff/rework wouldn't hurt imo.

Overall I was kind of just thinking there's a potential with alternate "late game" ideas. Having a "low-tech" option with it's own perks/downsides as opposed to the mechanoid option could open up some alternate gameplay strategies and have its own stories.

On a possible related note but just another observation, we have Thrumbos, Boomalopes, Muffalos and Boomrats as Rimworld specific animals (Megasloths and Alphabeavers being extinct and genetically modified respectfully but otherwise identical to their originals as far as we know could be included or excluded) but that's it. How about more Rimworld specific animals/wilflife? Bugs are there but without mods they're just an enemy really (do they need to be?).

Boom-animals at least offer chemfuel and some funny attack options while Thrumbos stand as the strongest animal with a very valuable hide you can make use of. I don't think we need animals for everything like some mods add but it would be nice to see more unique wildlife with their own perks in the game.