So, I have 43 colonists and I'm making a ship..

[BoogieMan]

.... And most of them are going to get left behind. There is no way I'm going to get 21,500 steel (let alone the uranium) just for cryosleep caskets. I've mined my mountains clean, and traders are virtually non existent. Maybe I could get most of them by scrapping basically the entire colony, but I think everyone would starve or die from the massive raider attacks before a ship that big would be finished.

I am sure it's very uncommon to get a colony this big (I have a few people with very high social skill) but it got me thinking.. It would be interesting if the colonists knew that only some of them would be able to fit on the ship. In reality, I imagine people would be freaking out, killing each other and trying to do anything to ensure themselves a way out. I imagine the chances are good that more than half of those people that are going to get left behind would not so dutifully help build the ship that's going to abandon them.

Do you think it would be worth it to for the game to realize this and act on it in some fashion, or are colonies this big exceedingly rare that it's not worth it?

EDIT: Upon further investigation, it looks like this week long game I've been playing is going to be basically impossible to finish without cheating. I almost never see trade ships any more so I can't get enough uranium for more than 1 or 2 cryosleep caskets.

[OldVamp]

If it happened after the launch, they got a 'left behind' debuff that would be interesting.

I'm currently on a year 5, 25 person colony with 32k steel.
At least half of this steel i have gained by melting the weapons and landing pod slag from the raids.
The rest from mining and trading armor/clothes with the ships that pass by on occasion.
i have 2,300 survival meals stored, i could likely feed the colony for a very long time just by collecting them at this point.

[milon]

Uranium?  Don't you need Plasteel & Steel?

I'm guessing with a colony that big (FYI my biggest is no more than 15), it's also a few years old.  Traders get really rare after 2 or 3 years.

Also, you can always stick a colonist in the casket as soon as it's ready.  Less mouths to feed while you prep the rest of the caskets.  And you can always "promise" all your colonists there will be room for all of them.  And blast off whenever you like. 

[Geertje123]

Uranium?  Don't you need Plasteel & Steel?

I'm guessing with a colony that big (FYI my biggest is no more than 15), it's also a few years old.  Traders get really rare after 2 or 3 years.

Also, you can always stick a colonist in the casket as soon as it's ready.  Less mouths to feed while you prep the rest of the caskets.  And you can always "promise" all your colonists there will be room for all of them.  And blast off whenever you like. 

cryosleep caskets require 500 steel and 20 or 25 uranium iirc

[BoogieMan]

I mined up quite a bit of plasteel and steel so I was fairly well off that after clearing everything. Had I all the uranium I needed I could have escaped with well over half of those people, but, not enough for even 3.. Ugh. Feels like a kick in the balls after managing and feeding that many people for that long.

[Geertje123]

I mined up quite a bit of plasteel and steel so I was fairly well off that after clearing everything. Had I all the uranium I needed I could have escaped with well over half of those people, but, not enough for even 3.. Ugh.

If you really really really want to finish with all colonists on board, you can open the dev menu and use the 'replace all traders' option. It spawns 5 traders.
As you know this is a last resort though :p

[TheSilencedScream]

Go to your stockpile and delete the SINGLE sections that have silver in them (and disallow silver from your stockpile - don't let your colonists move the silver).

Voila, you'll begin getting traders again.
As it stands, for some odd reason, the more wealth you have in your stockpile, the less traders will come.

[BoogieMan]

Go to your stockpile and delete the SINGLE sections that have silver in them (and disallow silver from your stockpile - don't let your colonists move the silver).

Voila, you'll begin getting traders again.
As it stands, for some odd reason, the more wealth you have in your stockpile, the less traders will come.

I read about that the other day, and even when I got down to 4k, I just wasn't seeing them. And mostly bulk good which is good for buying, but at things point, not good for selling to.

As for plenty of steel, well, I've been slag refining like crazy and buying steel from traders. And I've mined a LOT out of the mountains. But I've had to upwards of 90-100 hydroponic basins to feed that many people and from a lot of power generators to power all the sunlamps. And heaters, it's well below freezing most of the year.

And turrets, many turrets spent defending from 30+ man raider waves. I thought I'd have more at this point, but I don't. But it's ultimeately irrelevant since the shortage is uranium.

[Outbreak]

a casket uses 5 uranium,
a SHIP CASKET uses only 500 steel, no uranium required.
so you're good. no man left behind!

[Wolfen Waffle]

I really don't like the 'win condition' of this game

and the ships look so retarded

Immagine you see this in space^^^

[Outbreak]

as i understood it the win condition was "escape or die", but some people are very good at manipulating the AI. If you're into it self-impose some difficulties. don't do a buried mountain base, higher difficulty, random start settlers, etc

[akiceabear]

Most seem to have skipped what was (to me) the main point of the thread - a very interesting suggestion for internal strife due to inevitable abandonment of most of the colony. A few thoughts:
- A pair of traits "home sick" and "pioneer" who respectively are over/under eager to go back to the stars.
- Colony somehow senses if the space program is on track - e.g. once a certain wealth level is reached they will expect a certain degree of progress relative to population
- If progress is not in line with expectations, some may foment rebellion.
- Pioneers may sabotage the escape plans.
- Home sickly may hijack the program after the first escape pod is complete - imagine the frustration!
- Remaining colony may become emotionally unstable after such an event.

[TheSilencedScream]

Most seem to have skipped what was (to me) the main point of the thread - a very interesting suggestion for internal strife due to inevitable abandonment of most of the colony. A few thoughts:
- A pair of traits "home sick" and "pioneer" who respectively are over/under eager to go back to the stars.
- Colony somehow senses if the space program is on track - e.g. once a certain wealth level is reached they will expect a certain degree of progress relative to population
- If progress is not in line with expectations, some may foment rebellion.
- Pioneers may sabotage the escape plans.
- Home sickly may hijack the program after the first escape pod is complete - imagine the frustration!
- Remaining colony may become emotionally unstable after such an event.

This would be fine... As long as it's optional. As it stands, I can complete a game with ease in six months, sometimes less - with no mods. I'm no longer interested in ending a game - I want continuous play, without being punished for pursuing it.

[OldVamp]

reminds me of space stations more than ships
http://www.astronautix.com/graphics/s/ssf89.jpg

I like to launch them off and wait for a random person to join the colony and restart it myself.
The non fixed ending is nice.

the stationary pods need uranium to power themselves for the centuries they may need to stand untouched.
The ship has a reactor so they dont need to power themselves

[attachment deleted due to age]

[Geertje123]

I got 93 colonists at the moment, and I basically forgot about the resources needed for building a ship. If I ever want to get away then I'd have to cheat by spawning traders.