Write an event!

[Listy]

It occurred to me that Events are what makes this game, and at the moment there's actually a small number of them. Now that's no way the Dev's fault, he is after all busy squishing bugs and adding drinkies for my bored colonists.
He's also just one man, and no one can be that creative, as events need inspiration, and we all have our own experiences and thought processes.

However with all of us here, we've got a much larger brain. So a brain storm of ideas for events within game.

Its simple, just think of an event that you'd like to see in game. However to reduce work load I'd strongly suggest using existing mechanics and assets.
If you want some inspiration, have a look at the Dev Console.

Some starters:

Gale force winds:
Freak strong winds strike without warning. All Wind turbines take damage.
The later part could change from some destroyed to a % taking damage, as balance is requires.

Space Weevils:
Space Weevils/Parasites get into you food supply, destroying X of your prepared meals.
(A variant on this could be some % of your meals become contaminated and poisoned, using the new game mechanic for the next patch)

Sentient AI:
A Scyther from a near by Mechanoid hive has gained independent thought and is now fleeing, and wishes to join the Colony. Might not want to give it a Charge lance though.

Earthquake:
A sudden earthquake trembles through the area. Walls take X damage.
(A Variant of this as giving a boost is to open up a new steam geyser, with random placement.)

So what ideas do you have? Don't be shy stick it up!

[Bodog999]

"You hear something unknown near your place, when you investigate further you see a weird small creature. But its not like any creature you've previously seen. For now it seems harmless, but keep an eye on it."

The creature you've spotted seems blobby, it will slowly grow over the coming few days, due to it's cell structure it has a high damage resistance, but it also moves very slowly. While moving it will destroy anything in its path. Trees, bushes and grass will be consumed, man made structures will take a lot of damage and other creatures will slowly be eaten by the blob if they are unlucky enough to get consumed.

[milon]

^ Sounds like a Tiberian creature to me. 

I'd love to see some Fey Mood events (resulting in either Awful or Legendary works of art), drunken parties, sieging pirates who brought alcohol, visiting neighbors who get incap'd from their food going bad (poison mechanic), and trade merchants (another visiting-neighbor event, but with trading!).

[REMworlder]

A spacer appears on the map and runs to your base. Tribals appear shortly after and follow. A popup message says the spacer is being chased by tribals for stealing a valuable item.

The message states the player can:
A. Do nothing. The tribals will eventually catch up to the spacer. If the spacer survives being pincushioned he can be captured.
-(unstated random chance) Some spacer drop pod in and throw down with the tribals.
-(unstated random chance) The spacer drops a valuable object. The tribals will still chase him.
B. Attack the tribals. The tribals will attack your colony and the spacer will drop something valuable as thanks before leaving the map.
C. Kill the spacer. (unstated option) The tribals will be thankful and your relations will increase.



A cloud of ash blankets the map, dropping solar panel efficiency and halving cooler effectiveness. Darkness and storm effects debuff ranged accuracy. Most common in mountain regions.

[mumblemumble]

Parasite takeover : chance for colonist to become hostile (or just uncooperative) due to parasite control. Can be cured by surgery to extract parasite (somewhat like resident evil 4)

Stray artillery volley : A volley of lasers (or missles) has traveled through space and happened to hit the planet. Randomly does explosions in a set area of the map. Lasers could just heat up a random spot to an insane level for several seconds, combusting the area.

Gun jam (for with the new gun qualities they will have) : Guns of low quality have a chance to jam (applies to ALL factions however, not just you, takes 5 "reload" cycles to unjam)

Migrating animals : A large swarm of X animals are passing through to adapt for winter / summer. They wont be around long, so hunt them if you can.

Crossed wires starting fire : Chance to have fire start when any electronic / conduit lined wall is shot, due to wires getting knocked around and igniting an electrical fire.

Miraculous healing : For whatever strange reason, your colonist heals from a normally irreversible injury ( brain damage, cataracts, other things besides amputations) has healed with no detectable cause. you feel blessed.

Turret programming corruption: One of your turrets AI has gone haywire, and it now shoots anything that moves. (this may not be a big deal now, but seeing as how colonists must manually turn things off next update...yeah.)

Breaker failure: Your breaker fails and all (or most) equipment gets shut off. (might synergize well with the new power system.

pass out : A colonist who is sleep deprived has a chance to fall over on the spot and fall asleep.

[Listy]

A spacer appears on the map and runs to your base. Tribals appear shortly after and follow. A popup message says the spacer is being chased by tribals for stealing a valuable item.

The message states the player can:
A. Do nothing. The tribals will eventually catch up to the spacer. If the spacer survives being pincushioned he can be captured.
-(unstated random chance) Some spacer drop pod in and throw down with the tribals.
-(unstated random chance) The spacer drops a valuable object. The tribals will still chase him.
B. Attack the tribals. The tribals will attack your colony and the spacer will drop something valuable as thanks before leaving the map.
C. Kill the spacer. (unstated option) The tribals will be thankful and your relations will increase.



A cloud of ash blankets the map, dropping solar panel efficiency and halving cooler effectiveness. Darkness and storm effects debuff ranged accuracy. Most common in mountain regions.

That's nice, its one of the ones to get you out of the base. Dunno if its programmable though.

Lots of good ideas so far, so keep it up!

[EscapeZeppelin]

The Madman: One of your colonists, if the right conditions are met, will incap a fellow colonist and perform unnecessary surgeries on them.

It's terrifying, you might not notice for a while, where did this pile of organs come from, and where's George?

[Tankh]

A lot of great ideas here imo. Would definitely like to see them in game.

btw, where can you read all the latest changes/additions to coming alpha version? People talk about alcohol and manual activations etc. but where do you get this info?

[milon]

^ See the changelog thread.  Tynan linked it to his google doc:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_rCdGYp3nbSUXFG4Ky96RZW1cJGt9g_6ANZZPOHyNsg/pub

Lots of great ideas in here!

[Listy]

Got some more!

While digging out the foundations for your floor you find an old deactivated Scyther. With no idea how it got here, or how it was so battered. Only the Charge lance is functional, but even so its been degraded by however long its spent buried.
Gain 1x Poor Quality Charge lance.

[BoogieMan]

Not exactly events, but instead of just different biomes, different world types.

Events/Environments based on various world types and each one could have a combination or just one effect selected randomly:

Erratic Orbit: This world does not have a circular orbit, and instead has a highly eccentric orbit. For a period of time in between both perihelion and aphelion (closest/farthest point in orbit to parent star) it will be temperate and comfortable. However, at the aphelion it is very far from the star and it will get extremely cold for months. Plants die, temperatures plummet, and solar power generation is diminished. At perihelion, it gets close to the star and things get very hot. Some plants and animals die, brighter days and nights, increased solar generation. So the world will probably spend most of the time cold, temperate, and the least hot. I would make weather go crazy during the hot part of the year.

Slow/Fast Rotation: This planet rotates slowly, resulting in long days and nights. Or the opposite, it rotates quickly and has short days and nights.

Low/Extreme Axial Tilt: Low tilt, lack of profound seasonal changes. Extreme tilt, wild seasonal changes.

Rogue Planet: This planet is drifting through interstellar space. It has no star. No solar generation. Always dark. Maybe populate it with a lot of hostile animals.

Non breathable environment: Would require making suits or masks for breathing. Colonists have limited time outdoors, and oxygen levels have to be carefully maintained.

Doomed planet: This planet is going to be destroyed in X years. Megaquake, super volcanoe, black hole, planetary collision, nanotech disaster, whatever. Make a ship and escape before it's too late!

Contested World: Planet is in a contested region of space: High chance of getting caught in the crossfire of two warring worlds. Stray artillery rounds, skirmishes, and perhaps you might join one side and make the other your enemy?

Apocalypse World: This world has been ravaged by a disaster of cataclysmic proportions. Radioactive fallout, cannibal invasions, zombie invasions, sentient machine invasions..

Primitive World: World is inhabited by large numbers of fanatic tribal people, who view you as invaders and want nothing more than your destruction.

Primeval World: (could be combined with the previous) populated with large aggressive animals.

That's it for those, I'll have to scale it back and just think about some events and make another post tomorrow.

[milon]

^ Yes!!!

[Listy]

^ Yes!!!

I always wondered why we don't have a ruined city Biome, I mean structure generation is in game.

[Captain Crash]

Poison gas caves: Digging into a mountain and creating a fortress is fun, but can make it easy.  Sometimes digging into an area of poison gas knocking out/potentially killing people will add some risk. Maybe even pools/pits in the open world where its difficult to get close to an area without certain apparatus (gas masks ect)


Chaos Events: Some late game terrible disaster is about to happen, making use of the cryopods, you have to get you colonists in them to survive. Upon wake up the world your on has changed.  This isn't an easy one to do, but will add some variety and means the game can change biomes radically without starting a new game.

[REMworlder]

Primeval World: (could be combined with the previous) populated with large aggressive animals.

Reminds me of the Redfields character's backstory, which I really like. A recurring spooky/bloody Redfields event on the last day of October could be a cool twist.