Bank Vault - for robbers and traders

[REMworlder]

^{Bank Vault Door - Gus Heinze}

Bank robberies are a staple of the old west. Between scyther invasions and psychotic boomrat waves, Rimworld's space western vibe often gets overshadowed. Flush with deserters from a nearby civil war, outlaw gangs are looking to pull off a bank robbery. Can the colonists stop them?

The Purpose of Bank Vaults
Bank vaults let colonists store silver in bulk, and also make it available to trade. Commercial vaults in Rimworld contain simple telesyncs that allow certified orbital traders limited access to a safe's contents.

While orbital beacons are used for many cheap commodities, bank vaults are used for expensive and fragile products. Vaults require a small amount of power to operate, and usually are usually protected behind plasteel doors. Bank vaults are commonly used for large amounts of precious metal reserves like silver and gold.

A safe's ability to resist outside attacks depends on the material it's made of. A 1x1 vault has a rough capacity of 1,200 units of silver bullion.

Robberies
While bank vaults provide an enormous amount of utility, some orbital traders are rumored to sell the approximate locations of active vault telesync codes to criminal enterprises.

While robbery methods vary, the most popular method across Rimworlds is brute force. Gangs will break through outer defenses and immediately fight their way into the room holding the safe. Other times heists consist of two groups: a sapper crew that slowly chews through walls and rock and a screening assault force that distracts the defenders from the impending breach.

Common methods of securing safes involve redundant security doors leading to a small room bored into hard rock. These vault rooms sometimes contain backup batteries to supply nearby doors and turrets, as well as provide the safe with transmitting power in the event of an emergency. Colonies with vaults under siege have been known to sell off silver below market value to nearby traders, rather than lose it all to raiders.


Summary

I feel stupid leaving really valuable stuff sitting out in the open next to an orbital beacon, but I also don't want to have to spend loads of time hauling expensive goods from place to place just so I can trade with them. The bank vault offers a nice solution to the incongruity of storing valuable stuff outside next to orbital beacons.

Having a vault also gives raiders a concrete purpose. It could also introduce a rationale for wall-breaching raider activities that could circumvent killboxes; they'll break down walls, but slowly, and only to get to safes.

A small amount of power consumption and necessity for shielding forces the player to make choices between utility and expansion. Even cooler, in the event of an attempted robbery, colonies could also allow raiders to breach the safe and abscond with silver rather than fight to the death and risk kidnapped colonists.

Optional Changes to Make Bank Vaults More Useful
-Make silver more fragile so storing it in the open requires care.
-Require an orbital beacon nearby or withing range of the vault, encouraging safe placement towards the front of colonies instead of deep beneath mountains.
-Vault types (like stone, metal, plasteel) for resource economy.
-Vault sizes (1x1, 1x2, 2x2), either acting as furniture or as a structure component.
-Vault capacities, to determine how useful vaults are and how many to make.
-Allow vaults to be the *only* way to sell silver or X commodity.
-Allow precious items like AI cores or master weapons to be stored in vaults.
-Slow down movement speed if hauling or carrying silver.

I hope this was interesting to think about!

[litlbear]

beautiful and well thought out, currently raiders aren't even there to steal, this gives a purpose

[FridayBiology]

Love the idea of tag team raiders.
> large attack group with smaller drop in mid battle group.

Maybe make vault part of zoning?
> only able to zone if one door and fully walled?
> creation of reinforced metal type?
>> in courage user choice with fake vault protection using wooden walls and doors?

[H_D]

Your suggestion requires thing that I want so much - Bandit raids focused on stealing things from your base. I understand that it means brand new scripts for AI, but it would change gameplay greatly and force new tactics. Tynan pls.

[Wex]

Raider after basic resources - medicine anyone? -
Pirate afrer valuables - gold, plasteel -
Tribals after food - colonist fall in this category -
Modern settlements - a mix of the above, technology, bionics -
These are suggestions; they could easly be expanded by adding other factions.

[Fifty Foot Ant]

+1 this, a very good idea, would love to have pirates who actually steal rather than the one who mindlessly kill all colonists and leave with nothing gained and something lost. 

[Stan-K]

+1

I may cry next time my gold & silver reserves are set on fire. Vaults tend to be fireproof right? http://i.imgur.com/GwiNg57.png

[Mikhail Reign]

You know beacons work under roofs now right? Like you can store stuff inside a mountain and still sell it.

[JimmyAgnt007]

Thats what i do with the vault in the middle front of my base here https://ludeon.com/forums/index.php?topic=17754.0