Late Game Opposition. Idea Thread

[Reolos]

Tynan has stated loosely that game content and events have only been designed for the first 50 or so game days. Having swarm after swarm of tribespeople and raiders attack your base then, is not so much endgame design, but, early game events that have been multiplied for difficulty.
The purpose of this thread is to compile a list of late game opposition that we'd like to see as a community. Instead of always facing "50 tribespeople are attacking immediately", describe what events you would like to face as you progress.  Please be as descriptive and concise as possible. Many of these likely have been described already, but a compiled list might be helpful.
Here are a few of my suggestions, more to follow:


Acts of God (Weather)
Weather currently consists of rain, wind, lightning, or these in combination. Solar flares, blights, and eclipses are a little more flavor.  I propose the following:

Electromagnetic Storms: Similar to the dry lightning storm we already get, but much more intense. Many more strikes, new animation for ball or branch lightning, chance for colonists to be hit if outside, and interference with electronics.

Floods: Perfect for coastal and jungle biomes. Either yearly "flood season", where the waters on map will rise exponentially, or "monsoon season", when heavy rains lead to flash flooding: standing water everywhere that will evaporate over time, or both! Obviously damages crops, could overflow structures, need sandbags to prevent. Benefits could include dispersion of rich soil.

Hail Storms: Big ol' nasty ice balls from the sky. Stay indoors or get pelted! They damage structures and power building, some damage to crops and livestock (if implemented).

"Mud Season": I grew up in Vermont, and this is a real thing there. Every dirt road turns into a quagmire, slow, and almost impassable. Could be a great addition to a Boreal/Tundra biome between Winter and Spring.  It could be just an annoyance though?

Droughts: Quite simply a period with no rain. Crops, wildlife and trees would shrivel and die, if a water mechanic were implemented, there would be challenges there, hydroponics would be all the more important, if the water to run them could be found�

Hurricanes/Typhoons: Could include bracing winds that damage structure and could blow pawns over, damage crops, blow over trees, and blow items all over the map. The eye could be engineered, a period of calm in the middle. A benefit could be new items blown in.

Tornadoes: Perfect for arid biomes. Causes severe damage to whatever it touches, accompanied by high winds, dispersed by repeated contact with structure and topography. Muffalo should fly...

Dust Storms: Arid and desert biomes. Severe damage to solar and wind power, fries electronics, destroys crops. They could "build" new topography of packed sand.

Meteorite Showers: I would LOVE this. No place is safe but under mountains. They could cause impact craters, fires, and destroy structures and roofs. When the dust settles, they could leave behind rare stone and metal!

Earthquakes: This has been mentioned as a "punishment" for mountain turtling. I don�t see it as such, but rather, a challenge for any kind of player. Buildings could crumble if poorly supported or built of inferior materials. This could influence base design, with the building of double walls, more supports, bastions on corners, etc. being important. Mountain bases could have cave-ins and rubble. Colonists could be cut off from others.

Mudslides: In warmer, wet biomes, after a hard rain, mountain slopes could slide down, blocking entrances, and creating a lot of cleanup.

Locust Swarms: Same as blight, but with more flavor. They could strip trees and wild bushes as well. It might be possible to catch some? You could process them into yum-yum paste.

Stampede: Either wild animals or your own domesticated ones would go crazy, and run in one direction across the map, destroying everything under their hooves.

[Reolos]

New Factions
There are some nice mods out there already that create new AI factions. Here are some ideas that I think fit into the Rimworld mythos.

Cavepeople: Tribes of subterranean humans, with pale skin and dark vision, that will come to the surface when provoked. Trade in mostly mushrooms, metals, and gems (inter-faction trading needed).

Hivers: Hive-minded settlers, who don't like the non-linked. Attacks would be very unified and concentrated, and I picture a Queen who stays at map edge. Maybe they could use psionic weaponry? They could be won over with gifts and slaves for new drones. They would mostly trade with industrial goods.

Coreworld Prospectors:[/color] They have come here for profit, not necessarily violence. When provoked, they with fight to protect their interests. They also may target you if your colony has a lot of silver, gold or gems (please?) available.

Mafia/Syndicate Factions: A faction bent on exploitation. Protection rackets "Give us silver and we will keep the tribes off of you", extortion rings, etc...

Wolves: They are not a faction per se', but certainly a threat. Migrating wolf packs that target elk and Muffalo herds, or you if you get too close.

Gargantuan Creatures: Also not a faction, but a huge creature of alien origin, bent on your destruction. Maybe it breathes radiation and really hates big moths?

[Reolos]

New Forms of Attack
Enemy factions come on the scene and either attack, mill around and then attack, or siege and then attack. Here are some other ways they could initiate conflict.

Orbital Bombardment: Perfect for mech and spacer factions. Dropping bombs from space before your own drop pods doesn't really guarantee there will be someone left to assault, but there will be pretty craters!

Strafing Runs: With fighter aircraft, spacers or mechs could strafe a colony, lighting everyone up with cannons and missiles!

Vehicular Assault: Tanks, dune-buggies, aerofoils, etc. A swarm of baddies riding from one end of the map to another in large fast vehicles would be an epic encounter.

Burrowers: A certain type of mech could be outfitted with a nose drill, to burrow into a base and open it up for assault! This could also work for out-worlders, but with charges to blow holes in base walls.

[Reolos]

Scripted Reasons for Raids
As the game stands, other settlements and mechs attack, try to kill or damage what they can, and run off. Some tribespeople and raiders will open caskets and kidnap the occupants, others will try to kidnap incapacitated colonists. Raids shouldn't be announced with a reason, but those reasons might include:

Scouting Mission: One or two pawns early on, who will run around the base at top speed, take some pot-shots, and disperse. Flavor really, but makes sense in a real world scenario.

Thieving Raid: The purpose of this would be to grab as much silver, food, resource, or livestock (if implemented) as they can reasonably, and jet. Thieves would try not to get into fire-fights, avoid colonists in general, and try to preserve their own lives.

Kidnapping: Based on their observation, the raiders want a colonist for their own. They will target that on colonist, pin down the others, and try to make off with him/her. The victim could stumble back later, with a bomb surgically implanted in them, or carrying a plague of some sort.

Bomb and Mine planting: A small surgical strike, to secretly plant a bomb for later use in a base (hidden from the player) or to lay mines at a chokepoint (also hidden). Devious and dangerous.

Arson: Tribespeople already do this to an extent, but on a large scale, from the edge of the map, the pawns could light wildfires and take off. "Get off our planet!"

Salt the Earth: An attack of food production, the raiders would target fields, and maybe bomb them with salt charges? Something that could turn the dirt into non-producing gravel.

Poison the Wells: Water implementation is necessary for this, of course. A raid to target drinking water, and somehow make it unpotable.

False Diplomatic Conference: A diplomacy system would first need implementation, but this could be a set up meeting, that the AI has no intention of leaving peacefully. Once they are in position at the table, all H&@# breaks loose!

Diplomatic Assassination: A colony leader(hierarchy must be established) is targeted for assassination. Long range high powered rifles, persistent targeting, and ruthlessness.

DNA Theft: A raid to collect DNA of some form. Once obtained, raiders would leave. Later in the game, replacements appear and try to supplant your colonists. CLONES!

Revenge: Raids as they are now, just an all-out attack because we exist or did something to them.

[kingtyris]

I like these, a lot of really good ideas. +10

[SuperCaffeineDude]

Lots of good ideas, my favourite suggestions are

Naturally Aggressive Fauna: I do think this should should be a priority in order to balance the game, we need dangerous things that don't drop insane loot.
Burrowers: Unlike Dwarf-Fortress there's no Z level to worry about messing up, so prison-architect style tunnels into your base would be great. Basically I'd rather they go under/over(climbing) things than through them.
Sandstorms: Really would like this, make deserts the hardcore mode.
Cave-ins: Yeh there's lots of cool stories that could emerge from this, maybe when the mountain is hit (motors, earthquake or whatever) there could be a small chance of a cave in.

[StorymasterQ]

Sandstorms: Really would like this, make deserts the hardcore mode.

I like this one, too. Especially 'da rude' ones :p

[Reolos]

Naturally Aggressive Fauna: I do think this should should be a priority in order to balance the game, we need dangerous things that don't drop insane loot.

You inspire me! Why stop at Fauna, when we could also have: Naturally Aggressive Flora! I've watched a lot of Kirk's Star Trek, and plants that attack were always a consistent feature of away missions.

Poison Berries Instead of "raspberry bushes", there could just be "berry" bushes everywhere. Some cause nausea, some cause fatigue, some are safe. You won't know until you research the local flora, or, you could just "enjoy" trial and error. After you know the difference, maybe you could use the nasty ones in some devious way? Same could work with leafies like agave or whatever else Tynan comes up with.

Creeper Vines Vines that tangle and grab your colonists and livestock, maybe even to the point of strangulation if not rescued. Fire and machetes are the weapons of choice here. Once researched and perhaps domesticated, maybe they could be used in a defensive way?

Some other small suggestions are Man-sized venus fly traps, Huge man-eating pits (think Return of the Jedi), Noxious gas emitting plants...

Admittedly, these are rather EARLY game threats, rather than late. But, they do add flavor, no? A system could also be implemented that created flora "blooms" when too much farming was done (think Sid Meiers Alpha Centauri) or fields that would go barren, if they weren't allowed a fallow cycle. These would definitely be late-game flavor.

[Kinakin]

I think there is need for a noticible change in challange as the game progresses beyond just tossing more of the same at you

However what that should be I feel should be tied to what we can do to avoid or prepare for it.

So at the current stage I feel its to early to think of very spesific end game challanges. But Im sure it will become easier as we see what direction the game takes and what features are available.

[Reolos]

However what that should be I feel should be tied to what we can do to avoid or prepare for it.

So at the current stage I feel its to early to think of very spesific end game challanges.

Hmmm. Solutions in life will only present themselves to surmount a problem, otherwise, they wouldn't be solutions.

I started this thread because it is clear that Ludeon and Tynan care deeply about what the community wishes. That is not to say that they are designing this game at the fan's whimsy, but they do take into account what people are asking for, and if it seems to fit with their design scheme, they include it. If you read the "cheapest ideas" thread, and then the changelog, I am sure you would agree.

A challenge without a solution in a game, is a game-ender. None of my, or I hope anyone else's, suggestions are listed because we want to frustrate or end other player's gameplay. They are here simply as a brainstorm, an opportunity to express what you feel might be cool or add flavor, with the hope that if the devs have similar ideas, we might see them in the future.

[ITypedThis]

An excellent thread full of excellent ideas.

However, I don't think it would be practical for Tynan to devote time to implement anything for quite a long time.

Nevertheless, I'd love to see some of your ideas implemented!

[Reolos]

Colony Strife from Within:

Fractionalization: What if, once a hierarchy system was included, there were political subgroups. One "faction" could be for leaving the planet, another, for staying and wiping the other settlements off the map, another for planetary unification. There could be any number of subgroups, depending on end-game options. This could, depending on the player's choice, lead too...

...Civil War: Inter-faction warfare with the goal of pushing their own end-game agenda.

Secret Agendas: What if psychotic, or any other evil traits that end up being developed, characters performed actions linked to secret agendas, depending on occupation. A cook or doctor with said trait, for example, would have a small chance of poisoning, or implanting a bomb, or performing some other nefarious action against other colonists?

[A_Soft_Machine_Man]

Awesome ideas!

+10 to all of this.

[FridayBiology]

What about if raider groups gathered to take you out after # number of failured attempts.
Strength in numbers and all that.

[Halinder]

Colony Strife from Within:

Fractionalization: What if, once a hierarchy system was included, there were political subgroups. One "faction" could be for leaving the planet, another, for staying and wiping the other settlements off the map, another for planetary unification. There could be any number of subgroups, depending on end-game options. This could, depending on the player's choice, lead too...

...Civil War: Inter-faction warfare with the goal of pushing their own end-game agenda.

Secret Agendas: What if psychotic, or any other evil traits that end up being developed, characters performed actions linked to secret agendas, depending on occupation. A cook or doctor with said trait, for example, would have a small chance of poisoning, or implanting a bomb, or performing some other nefarious action against other colonists?

For this to happen, you'd need lots of colonists. Maybe add something to increase population?