Just how difficult would you like RimWorld to start off?

[keylocke]

thing is, in 1-2 years time you cant make a evolution from sticks and stones to plasma gun. so a mega tech tree like game "civilization" seems somehow overwhelming.

plasma guns and other hi-tech weapons and armor can be looted from the corpses of dead enemies / visitors or bought from traders. (until they are researched) allowing colonists to use hi-tech gear without knowing how to manufacture them.

there should also be research books and tech schematics, in addition to neurotrainers being sold by traders for a quick boost on tech research (or crafting). some schematics may even be rare loot drop from enemies..

and there are scientists, engineers, inventors, etc.. colonist backgrounds that should qualify them for researching advanced tech faster than normal people.

etc..

[ccheuer]

some schematics may even be rare loot drop from enemies..

That would be a great idea, but have it based in some way that would make sense for the invasion. Like, if its a mechanoid, something like construction or ever, for humor, have them as the great artists. The Tribals? could be crafting, construction, growing, or something of the ilk. The raiders could be straight up medical, shooting, or melee, though I feel melee would fit better with the tribals.

On a side note: Meanwhile the Dev is reading this, going you know what, this would be awesome. All the while, his crying tears of rage at the fact that if he goes with this, complete re-write of research and how things unlock.

[Ramsis]

some schematics may even be rare loot drop from enemies..

That would be a great idea, but have it based in some way that would make sense for the invasion. Like, if its a mechanoid, something like construction or ever, for humor, have them as the great artists. The Tribals? could be crafting, construction, growing, or something of the ilk. The raiders could be straight up medical, shooting, or melee, though I feel melee would fit better with the tribals.

On a side note: Meanwhile the Dev is reading this, going you know what, this would be awesome. All the while, his crying tears of rage at the fact that if he goes with this, complete re-write of research and how things unlock.

Yes but honestly as young as research is right now, I don't think a schematic system would hurt much.

[Goo Poni]

Ah, I was working on the assumption that once research is complete, the notes are whisked away to the colony god's archives (the player's past research tab in the research UI) and the bench is available for a new idea to be studied upon it. How big the room would need to be would depend on how often new ideas will spring up. If your typical colony (~10 colonists) is constantly full of ideas, yeah, you'd probably have to build an entire laboratory to compensate. But if the research trickles in, not accounting for minimum skills, then at most, you might need 2-4 benches to hold all the currently ongoing projects.

Alternatively, if the notes could be made into a tangible item, you could store them in an actual physical archive when incomplete which would allow you to prioritize different projects to take precedence on a limited number of benches. Take them off the bench and store them until later. My problem here is that you could just accrue all the projects in the game and we'd be back to the current system with a new coat of paint.

EDIT:
Research would probably also need to be bumped up in the prioritization to sit above at least hauling and cleaning. To me, I think that hauling and cleaning are more menial tasks than research and trying to get a colonist to do research at the moment basically entails stripping them of all other duties so they have absolutely nothing else to do. Then again, manual priorities. *shrugs*

Except for one key thing. A fire/decent invasion would wipe out all of your progress on research...

I don't see that as a problem. If a raid has knocked you sideways hard enough as to bust up your research of all things, you've probably got other things to worry about such as half the base in flames. Research can be restarted the moment you construct new benches and people settle back down into daily routine. It's a setback, as is any successful raid but nothing insurmountable.

This thread is about how much we would rather our colonies to suffer and fight tooth and nail to elevate themselves to a higher way of life.

[mumblemumble]

I think things need to be far more simple starting out, but perhaps if it were adjusted that way they could still drop down an emergency supply vault from the ship to jump-start the colony, similar to minecraft starting chests.

[dragonid1423]

I think it would be cool if you started with sticks and stone, BUT! Depending on what you colonists back story and profession is, you would have mixed tech. This might be a bit weird so I'll explain.

Say if you started with a engineer, a Teacher, and.. a Noble. The engineer obviously having been in the profession, would know about mechanical things. If he specialized in say, solar power, his solar panels would have their efficiency increased by 5-10%. The teacher would know quite a bit of knowledge making the research go faster, I know this already happens, but if the things that were based off of what he/she taught would go even faster than her level provides. And the noble... He just walks around wondering why the invisible magic goes out during night.
All that other stuff? You have to research. I think adding this level of knowledge and tech to the game would be a very nice element to the pre-existing randomness.

[ccheuer]

I think things need to be far more simple starting out, but perhaps if it were adjusted that way they could still drop down an emergency supply vault from the ship to jump-start the colony, similar to minecraft starting chests.

get the mod prepare carefully.

[ble210]

I miss having to saw logs into planks of wood.  Made the early game a unique struggle, and felt right.

[keylocke]

get the mod prepare carefully.

^this.

i actually miss Edb's prepare carefully mod when play-testing. coz it made things so much easier to modify the starting characters, the number of characters, their traits, their starting equipment, starting items, and how each character look, etc.. (via a points system to keep it a bit balanced) all in one very convenient package. it even allows you to save your presets..   

i wish it was in vanilla, since it allows me to get more "connected" to my starting characters and it gives the game this "rpg" type of customization.

ie: i can make proxy characters for me and my friends or my family, i can give them traits and backgrounds similar to their real-life counterparts, i can even make them "look" like their real life counterparts.. lol.

it feels so much better than just playing with 3 random characters that i don't care about if they live or they die...   

[Pale Peril]

In the earlier alphas, I had just figured that as software development progressed, eventually player's choices in game play would eventually trigger certain conditions.

Thus, the choice of having the Orbital trade beacon / Comms console had the advantage of being able to open up trade with merchants but also the disadvantage of now you are broadcasting and making your colony's presence known.

Pinging out to the world you want to trade would truly start to trigger Raider group attacks (If you are signaling you are willing to trade, then that means you have stuff to steal.) and can trigger the visits from the the Mechanoids (Demonstrates the colony has tech, a threat which now no longer can be ignored. [I assume the Mechanoids for the most part ignore the tribals, otherwise realistically large groups of them wouldn't exist as they would have already been wiped out.])

So for some player's strategy could be to delay in their building of the beacon and comms. To just focus on the low tech aspects of the colony and try to make do with less colonists, if that is the play style they want to pursue.

This would be a kind of a self-regulating way for when the player wants to start tackling large raids on their colony, but also have the option to stave off such large scale attacks if they don't want to encounter them yet. (At the cost of not being able to get access to the higher tech goods or being able to manage the colony efficiently.)

I had assumed this was the direction the game would take, but I really don't have any evidence of that.

-Pale Peril

[Pale Peril]

In the earlier alphas...

To expand on my earlier post...

Another trigger, this time in regards to the Tribals, is once colonists have the tech to "summon" magical items of power from the sky (i.e. Boomsticks and instant bountiful harvests that are obviously gifts from the gods via some vile, infernal pact.) is why Tribals respond by attacking the colony in mass instead of just the small raids.

With that said, I think it would be neat that necessarily not all Tribals want to attack in the early game (pre beacon/comms), however it would also be cool to have at least one tribal group start hostile, as that clan needs sacrifices to their cargo cult gods or just are just plain cannibals with an insatiable taste for human flesh. [Though perhaps the colony's own penchant for organ harvesting can be used for trade or tribute in order to alleviate conflict with even those groups.]

And the background reason why Tribals can't tolerate the presence of your colony's tech is they instinctively know by hundreds / thousands of years of terrible experience: tech use attract Mechanoids attacks. Hence why they are luddite tribals to begin with.

-Pale Peril

[Pale Peril]

To answer the actual thread question and poll:

Other (Please explain in comments! We'd love to hear your idea!)

In keeping my above examples of gameplay in mind, I would play as long as possible very low tech, even at just sticks and stones level or a little medieval (I assume future versions of Rimworld will have a means to cook simple meals inefficiently with something like a campfire that is using up your wood resources.) while assuming any electricity use would otherwise spook tribals.

I'd build mostly with wood, fearing only lightning strikes in regards to structure fires, as mortars and large attacker groups with a tenacity to have arsonists with them wouldn't be occurring quite yet. (And have the strategy to clear plant growth from around structures in case of a forest fire.)

Large scale stonework and mountain bunkers would inherently be limited (Researching Pneumatic Picks would be avoided, as to not attract the distress of the neighboring Tribal's unfrozen caveman lawyer...)

With the exceptions of a wandering raider fireteam, a small band of kidnapping cannibal Tribals, or a rare early game single scyther scout (That may not be armed with a Charge Lance)... I'd feel it is safe enough be focusing on raw resource hoarding, getting my Growers well trained while they are low tech farming, and laying the foundation of future fortification of the colony.

Once I'm satisfied with my preparation, or desperate for new colonists from too few pod drops (or when my patience to play only at low tech runs out) then I'll research the higher techs that start escalating conflict with the other groups.

- Pale Peril