Suggestions

[DaveStrider]

Here's my list of ideas for the game.  I doubt that any of them are particularly cheap, although i believe that they'd fit well with the theme of the game.

LOS based AI
One of my biggest annoyances with the game's raiders at the moment is that they're omniscient. They always know what's behind the next corner and plan accordingly. I'd like to be able to hide a wall of turrets behind a door and surprise the first few raiders to walk in (bonus points if the other raiders "hear" the turrets and decide to use a different strategy (like finding the power source)). I imagine this would make invasions much more tense, especially if they breach into your base and have to search room by room.  Another fun thing you could do with would be to separate someone from his allies, which could lead to decreased morale, and possibly surrender. Perhaps you could actually hide your people from the raiders, by making them leave the base through a hidden exit, and accepting whatever damage the raiders cause.

Fog Of War
Tying in with my previous idea, Fog of war would make invasions much more tense. Raiders landed but you're not sure where? Do you risk a scouting party, or will you just hope that they fall for your traps? I think this would level the playing field slightly if my previous idea were to be implemented, and would encourage regular patrols of your territory (or CCTV cameras)

Hygiene
On my current game i have a person dedicated to cleaning. I feel that hygiene would make for a nice addition to the Fear/Happiness system i.e A clean person would feel happier, but a dirty person would be unhappy (and perhaps scare others, depending on the smell) and may even run the risk of becoming ill. I think non-essential mechanics like this would add flavour to the game without the stressful threat of failure.

Water
I can't help but notice that there's a lot of desert on the rimworld. Water would provide a taste of survivalism, while opening up a lot of opportunities for story development. These are just some potential ideas:

• A treacherous colonist poisoned the water supply, now everyone's sick and you need to search for more clean water
• Someone decided to wash themselves upstream, the water doesn't quite taste right
• There's a heatwave and the well's dried up, The only other water source is right next to a raider campsite

Treachery
When i first started playing, i was incredibly suspicious of my newly recruited raiders. It seemed logical that there was at least a chance of betrayal. Betrayal could be a tide-turning event in the middle of a battle, especially if all of your turrets are outside.