How to bring the colonies out into the open again?

[SimpleLogician]

How about pre-generated mine shafts long ago abandoned that would lead off the edge of the world and raiders could use these to get into a mountain base? Or some other kind of constant threat within the mountain that wouldn't be too bad but something to watch for. I know it's been said before, but I really like the idea of abandoned mineshafts, they could even have useful stuff in them. Or there could be prebuilt mountain bases in the mountain already that if you opened one up the people living there would leap out and attack you.

[Weyrling]

As far as 'stop mountain turtling' goes, having to locate and barricade/guard "abandoned" mineshafts sounds like a good one, especially if raiders coming through them could mine to get to you, depending on location you might not even know there was a shaft there ahead of time unless you were looking for it.
If they regularly spawned in hidden locations then making a few exploratory tunnels to safeguard your base would become particularly valuable, but take a lot of time away from your miners.

The 'stale air' morale debuff sounds pretty good as well, coming from somebody who has gone wandering in caves before, it wouldn't be a huge thing but you have to really pamper some colonists or they go on a rampage the moment they catch the plague from a pile of rotting corpses while carrying a boulder several miles at night (My colonists never have a good day during the first couple months, does that make me a terrible boss?)

There have been a fair number of potentially good suggestions so far, but many I'm iffy about (depending on how they were implemented, mostly).
I'm generally against making things that are guaranteed losses, mitigating or preventing things should be possible but also waste time and resources (Or require knowledge of the game based on a previous defeat, I'm from Dwarf Fortress after all and it takes losing a few hundred dwarves to get to a relatively competent level).

[KugelBlitz]

Well for one, plasteal being required for the ship construction makes it VERY expensive. I have tried to build outside and try to rush the ship and it takes FOREVER! This makes it so you have to play for the late game.

Also on an unrelated note, the whole concept of being stranded on a rim-world is very far fetched. If you have traders who can find you to make trades couldn't they just send for help? or couldn't you just pay to hitch a ride?
You have to look at your demographic for the game. People who play this genre love to build a base and sit tight expand and grow. When I play, even if I could launch my ship I chose not to. I spent all this time building this base now I want to see how long it can hold out.

Perhaps T should consider implementing different game modes? For example there could be modes like:

escape-early game focused, get out asap. Maybe even link the game to a leader board. This way you have a reason to escape ASAP.

survival-late game focused. Also could be linked to a leader-board with net worth, time survived, # of colonists etc...

To make the late game more interesting, we need more research objectives. As it sits without mods, you run out of research within the first year. So from then on there is no progression. Some research ideas could be:

Positivity beacon: your colonists have a constant happiness buff maybe like +5 or +10
after you are attacked by the first crashed ship that emits the psychic drone you can research the beacon.

Nano-bots: heal speed increased by x%

Neuro-Trainer production: Be able to create neuro-trainer devises. They could be expensive maybe even require plasteal.

Organ Farming: Be able to create organs and limbs. IRL we are already very close to making this a reality so why not in this universe were space travel is a ting.

These are just some vague ideas, I'm just trying to make a game I love even better.

[Johnny Masters]

Yeah i constantly speak of game modes and game purposes, perhaps i'll start a thread on it, since commenting into already made topics gets swallowed up and never read, and people seem to think of that from time to time.

[Mathenaut]

Well for one, plasteal being required for the ship construction makes it VERY expensive. I have tried to build outside and try to rush the ship and it takes FOREVER! This makes it so you have to play for the late game.

Also on an unrelated note, the whole concept of being stranded on a rim-world is very far fetched. If you have traders who can find you to make trades couldn't they just send for help? or couldn't you just pay to hitch a ride?
You have to look at your demographic for the game. People who play this genre love to build a base and sit tight expand and grow. When I play, even if I could launch my ship I chose not to. I spent all this time building this base now I want to see how long it can hold out.

Perhaps T should consider implementing different game modes? For example there could be modes like:

escape-early game focused, get out asap. Maybe even link the game to a leader board. This way you have a reason to escape ASAP.

survival-late game focused. Also could be linked to a leader-board with net worth, time survived, # of colonists etc...

To make the late game more interesting, we need more research objectives. As it sits without mods, you run out of research within the first year. So from then on there is no progression. Some research ideas could be:

Positivity beacon: your colonists have a constant happiness buff maybe like +5 or +10
after you are attacked by the first crashed ship that emits the psychic drone you can research the beacon.

Nano-bots: heal speed increased by x%

Neuro-Trainer production: Be able to create neuro-trainer devises. They could be expensive maybe even require plasteal.

Organ Farming: Be able to create organs and limbs. IRL we are already very close to making this a reality so why not in this universe were space travel is a ting.

These are just some vague ideas, I'm just trying to make a game I love even better.

The rimworlds are far isolated planets.  The presumption is that the colonists are people that need to travel farther than just 'the next world over'.  Travel that takes years and alot of cryosleep, not just a few hours and a skip to the next backwater planet.

[Weyrling]

The rimworlds are far isolated planets.  The presumption is that the colonists are people that need to travel farther than just 'the next world over'.  Travel that takes years and alot of cryosleep, not just a few hours and a skip to the next backwater planet.

There are an awful lot of traders showing up if it takes years to get to, I always assumed the ship we can make is crappy and sublight, but rich folk from glitterworlds can get decent FTL.

If we wanted to start a trading colony we'd have to become space pirates and steal somebody else's ship, or otherwise obtain an FTL drive (Which, being on a ship powered by antimatter, probably wouldn't be intact if it crashed).
I imagine they would be ludeonicrously expensive and impossible to build without dedicated factories and tons of resources, manpower, and expertise.

[vagineer1]

The rimworlds are far isolated planets.  The presumption is that the colonists are people that need to travel farther than just 'the next world over'.  Travel that takes years and alot of cryosleep, not just a few hours and a skip to the next backwater planet.

There are an awful lot of traders showing up if it takes years to get to, I always assumed the ship we can make is crappy and sublight, but rich folk from glitterworlds can get decent FTL.

If we wanted to start a trading colony we'd have to become space pirates and steal somebody else's ship, or otherwise obtain an FTL drive (Which, being on a ship powered by antimatter, probably wouldn't be intact if it crashed).
I imagine they would be ludeonicrously expensive and impossible to build without dedicated factories and tons of resources, manpower, and expertise.

As far as I know it Rimworld lore FTL is not possible.

[Wex]

Holy cow! Grab an AI and repourpose it for giving a psychic boost! Why hasn't anyone tought about this?!?

[Weyrling]

As far as I know it Rimworld lore FTL is not possible.

Then I guess people are grabbing a bunch of supplies and flying away from the "core" worlds as fast as physically possible, considering how many traders show up on a regular basis to a supposed rim world.
What does being a rimworld mean, exactly?
I should probably learn more about the lore, but considering the constant stream of trade ships I'm not really sure what the world is supposed to be on the rim of. Just how many thousands of trade ships are there, if a rimworld can get traders several times a month?

[stefanstr]

As far as I know it Rimworld lore FTL is not possible.

Then I guess people are grabbing a bunch of supplies and flying away from the "core" worlds as fast as physically possible, considering how many traders show up on a regular basis to a supposed rim world.
What does being a rimworld mean, exactly?
I should probably learn more about the lore, but considering the constant stream of trade ships I'm not really sure what the world is supposed to be on the rim of. Just how many thousands of trade ships are there, if a rimworld can get traders several times a month?

If I remember correctly these are supposed to be traders that either orbit the planet or cruise the solar system. But I gotta admit, it does seem a little bit incongruent with the lore. Then again, potato harvest is every few days, so...

[apljee]

Perhaps there could be something like eye damage forming, frail bones and such from living underground too long?

[MisterVertigo]

I'll admit I didn't read through this whole thread, so I apologize if this was mentioned already.

Why not make it that power conduits cannot be placed on the floor? Then if you built inside a mountain you'd still have to build walls to run your power everywhere. There may be other issues with that, but it was just something that came to mind.

[stefanstr]

I'll admit I didn't read through this whole thread, so I apologize if this was mentioned already.

Why not make it that power conduits cannot be placed on the floor? Then if you built inside a mountain you'd still have to build walls to run your power everywhere. There may be other issues with that, but it was just something that came to mind.

Actually the recent changes to temperature distribution have added some difficulty to the underground bases. A fire underground can be absolutely deadly unless you have dug out some vents.

Your idea is not bad, though. And it hasn't been suggested in this thread before, so no worries.

[Regret]

Has hostile creature spawning underground been mentioned yet?
bears that seek out caves in the winter?

Earthquakes that collapse un-constructed roofs? Maybe make the first constructed roof collapse in teh first earthquake after which no constructed roofs collapse anymore.

[Johnny Masters]

To some extent or another, yes.

For supports and roofs i'd say you should have to construct walls in to make proper roofs to avoid cave ins and "cave" roof beauty penalty. Perhaps evento a smooth wall.
That way you still have the benefits of underground but with more proper investment.