Limit on solar flares?

[Untrustedlife]

Eh, I understand your point but I still think they are interesting because it dramatically effects game-play. (Just as a season would) and still do not want them nerfed (nor able to be dealt with) at the moment.

Perhaps at some point, but not right now.
(This is my opinion)

[Vagabond]

Hey,

Suspension of disbelief only goes so far. Some people are able to do so more then others. Those who can't throw ALL logic and reason aside, have a hard time coping with things that kinda just mock logic and reason. Especially since these scientific principles are becoming so readily available through media and entertainment, I.e: I didn't know about wormholes until I saw the movie Stargate for the first time when I was like... nine. Now, the facts behind real concepts that are used in science fiction might not always be one hundred percent accurate, but we the consumers get a basic understanding of the principles (some even more through research out of curiosity).

Rambling. Sorry.

Cheers,
Michael

[Untrustedlife]

Intense solar flares can knock out technology, they do (sometimes) but the earth has a shield called the "Magnetic Field" that pretty much acts as a shield from these.

The moon we are on in game (and yes, it  is a moon orbiting a gas giant) perhaps has NO magnetic field. And therefore the solar flares have extreme effects.

If you want to be realistic, the gas giant we orbit around perhaps would have even more extreme effects on our planet, radiation for example that kills everything not in rock. And its gravity causing structure-destroying earthquakes.

[Vastin]

Really it just depends on how critical power becomes as the game's development progresses. If the tech levels in the game remain low enough that we're never totally reliant on power for survival, then the occasional flare is simply a hazard to be weathered.

If however we reach the stage where you really can't imagine your base functioning at all without power, then there will have to be at least some limited remedies to the event (or it'll have to be really short and relatively infrequent).

Even as it stands now, a 3-day flare would basically drive everyone in your base completely insane from raw food penalties and there isn't jack-all you could do about it. Luckily they seem to be limited to 24 hours.

[colonistPally]

Really it just depends on how critical power becomes as the game's development progresses. If the tech levels in the game remain low enough that we're never totally reliant on power for survival, then the occasional flare is simply a hazard to be weathered.

If however we reach the stage where you really can't imagine your base functioning at all without power, then there will have to be at least some limited remedies to the event (or it'll have to be really short and relatively infrequent).

Even as it stands now, a 3-day flare would basically drive everyone in your base completely insane from raw food penalties and there isn't jack-all you could do about it. Luckily they seem to be limited to 24 hours.

Yes, same thing with eclipses. If for whatever planetary rotational reason eclipses were like "2 days" it'd be a pretty much instant gg.

I see eclipses and solar flares not so much as game enders by themselves, and not so much as to keep someone on their toes, but as combos.

For example solar flare + raid, eclipse + plague, Eclipse + short delay + raid, mad boomrat + rescue + fog, dry lightning storms (and staying dry for 2-3 days after, with mad boomrats). Stuff like that.

So solar flares shouldn't be independently crippling (maybe even toned down slightly so they balance better early on) but they need to maintain a sort of "combination" effect where they play off the other hazards and weather effects to devastating ends. I'd almost consider adding more, like "dry season" where pretty much the whole zone can burn up. It gets close now but I've only seen it once and it still petered out. I'm talking like extreme dry spell, which makes the whole area combustible combined with maybe people eating double rations (to try to stay "hydrated."

I want the game to be as "strong" as possible but also "smart" as possible, if that makes sense. Maybe early on the solar flares are actually even shorter (6 hour?). Just to give you a scary taste of what to expect.  Then as the "director AI" gets more testy, ramp up to the 12 hour. Same thing with the plagues, maybe if you're starting out it's a half-plague instead a full one.

Maybe when the solar flare is up to full power it's actually like "night of the comet" instead of a solar flare and the entire grave (including animals) rise up to attack your base. MmMmMMmMmMMm....

I think what people're really asking for is scalability. That way based on the "director AI" it can be a nice soft solar flare, or a devastating end of the world one.

Apply that to like the mad squirrel situation. Call it like infectious rabies. Have the "director AI" scale from one mad squirrel through to ALL OF THEM. Same with the boomrats. Scale from 1, to all of them. Same with the Muffalo's, early game it sends 1, as the "director AI" gets frisky it sends 2 or 5 or 10 or all of them at once." Of course the turrets need to be able to hit them. But you see what I mean?

[Karakoran]

Also, how about a Solar-flare detector? It shouldn't be too hard to build something that can detect forming solar flares before they happen.

GENIUS idea here, what about an Observatory? It could be a very expensive machine that requires research, loads of resources, and a scientist to check on it on occasion, but it could tell you when solar flares will happen, when eclipses will happen, and when trade ships will arrive. Perhaps even raider parties, though that might be a bit much.

[colonistPally]

Also, how about a Solar-flare detector? It shouldn't be too hard to build something that can detect forming solar flares before they happen.

GENIUS idea here, what about an Observatory? It could be a very expensive machine that requires research, loads of resources, and a scientist to check on it on occasion, but it could tell you when solar flares will happen, when eclipses will happen, and when trade ships will arrive. Perhaps even raider parties, though that might be a bit much.

Hehe could just build a quantum cannon attached to the thermal generator and blast them out of the sky. Have someone assigned to the com room, broadcast "friend or foe" signals and just blast them out of the sky if they fail, and send a mop up team to take care of the rest.

Man it's really fun imagining these things.