Call to arms

[Cassey]

I'd like to suggest some type of "Call to Arms" button where I could program each colonist to go to a per-determined spot and enter Draft mode (and maybe call that Combat mode?).

On larger, longer games, my defense is very routine.  Spending a lot of time during raids just repeating the same setup over and over, then releasing them.

I suppose the next extension would be to automatically engage this mode when the raiders start to move, but that would be very optional in my mind.

[NephilimNexus]

Patrol points for Militia colonists.  If you want them to just stand guard, make your patrol just be two points in the same spot.

Borrowing from "Evil Genius" (old, but still fun) you could have a Alert System for base defense.  How it would work:

Blue - Colonist puts away weapons, runs away from all combat.
Green - Colonist carries weapons if told to and will defend themselves if attacked.  Will perform regular base functions.  This is pretty much what we currently have.
Yellow - Colonist grab available weapons (unless manually assigned one) and will perform Militia orders (patrol, defend spot, etc) until their needs pull them away (eat, sleep, etc).  Once satisfied, they'll return to their Militia jobs.
Red - Colonist grabs best available weapon (unless told otherwise manually) and will perform nothing but Militia orders until released (or they collapse from neglect).

Important difference between this & "Evil Genius" is that alerts can be assigned individually on a per colonist basis.  So now your super vat-grown assassin who is useless at everything but combat can be put on Yellow Alert while you nerdy research guy can be put on Blue Alert and both will actually do what you want them to.

[Renham]

it neds a combat sub menu, with advance formation tactics and a position layout for combat.

[todofwar]

I agree, one button to bring everyone in and get them ready would be great.

[Morrigi]

I definitely support this.

[Semmy]

I like the idea but also dislike it.
In Dwarf Fortress the game really needed a call to amrs/alert button to get your squads of soldiers to do what they had to be doing during invasions combat megabeasts etc.
I can see it being usefull within rimworld.

On the other hand i think that this game doesnt have the big scale Dwarf fortress has and i have hardly found myself in the situation where i would say gosh if i could just alert everybody.

But it can become alot micro to have to recruit every guy and position him every time.

[killerx243]

Right now I've got 20 colonists, 17 of which are able to fight (not con artists). A call to arms button would be great for me as it gets tedious when raids happen every 10 min.

[obuw]

Ah, good to see what I just suggested has already been suggested before.  I did use the search and look at the existing suggestions thread, but there was no mention of this thread.

It would be very helpful if I could just set up a "safe zone" for my civilians and a "battle position" for each soldier colonist, so whenever a raider attack is about to happen I can press a "battle stations" button, which tells each soldier to move to their battle position, and prevents civilians from leaving the safe zone.

[Stickle]

I've wished this existed, too, so I definitely support the idea. And I think it would even add to the atmosphere of the game if done correctly; for example it could be tied to a structure with sirens/alarms, and watching your colonists preparing for an assault would be kind of neat!

Whereas now it's just, "you go here, you go there, you go there, you, stay out of the way," every time.

[Tobman10]

I'd like to suggest some type of "Call to Arms" button where I could program each colonist to go to a per-determined spot and enter Draft mode (and maybe call that Combat mode?).
On larger, longer games, my defense is very routine.  Spending a lot of time during raids just repeating the same setup over and over, then releasing them.

I agree with this, and have experienced this a lot before. Having to call all my colonists to one spot, check that all of of them have weapons, then individually send them off to their positions. It gets real annoying. I also suggest having some sort of "Panic" button and that would trigger all colonists to equip the closest, best weapon and get to a good defensive spot. I also think that the colonists way of firing upon an enemy become better, because I've had times where one of my colonists is not in recruit mode and is walking somewhere, when a raider engages him. He would just fire a couple shots and try to continue what he's doing. I think when a colonist is fired upon, they should get to the closest defensive position and engage with the enemy unless told not to do so. 

[Tobman10]

I've wished this existed, too, so I definitely support the idea. And I think it would even add to the atmosphere of the game if done correctly; for example it could be tied to a structure with sirens/alarms, and watching your colonists preparing for an assault would be kind of neat!

Whereas now it's just, "you go here, you go there, you go there, you, stay out of the way," every time.

Agreed. I think adding sirens and lights would be cool, it could increase the reaction time of colonists, and like you said, would be cool to watch them all run around and prepare for battle as raiders are advancing and sirens are wailing in the background. Genuine chaos.