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March 28, 2024, 10:14:34 PM

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Rimworld 1.0 is out!

Started by Noonling, October 17, 2018, 06:48:20 PM

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Noonling

I'm pretty surprised there hasn't been a proper thread on this before.

Anyway, its FINALLY out of Early Access and while I haven't played it for a while I plan on jumping right back into it.

Its a detailed sci-fi colony sim somewhat comparable to Dwarf Fortress but a much easier learning curve and better UI and graphics. Unlike Dwarf Fortress you can also travel across the world if you want, and there's technically two win conditions (though few see it as the point of the game). It has a truly fantastic array of mods too - though it may take a couple of days for them all to update to v1.0. The flexibility of it in general is great - different difficulty settings (Base Builder to Extreme), various scenarios (wanna make your starting colonist all alcoholic nudists?), different regions make for drastically different games (hard not to turn to cannibalism when you're on an ice sheet), and so on.






Replies From View

Remember to just use the teleporter.

Noonling

If no one else gives a damn, I suppose I shall start a CaBWorld. To minimise favoritism I'll do 3 from each letter, starting with B for Barry Admin, and to minimise insulting people I'll only have the first trait be relevant. Everything else I'll do randomly or just do for game convenience. I thought I'd start with three characters. I won't be able to change the traits or anything of the characters that come later, only the names I believe.

Character Setup



First up we have Barry Admin, who...is kind. I know, it sounds like a trash trait for "kind" losers, but it seemed most apt. He is kind goddammit! The game generated beautiful and chemical interest...No comment.

I need a shooty hunter person, and since he's a bit like the sheriff of the forum I figure that goes well with his backstory. Since he FUCKING LOVES CATS why not have him be the animal handler as well?



Next up: Buelligan. I figure living without a roof counts as asceticism. The game generated pyromaniac (damn it...) and fast learner. I need someone strong who'll get things done, so she's an outdoors type who mines and farms, can construct and support any shooting that needs to be done.



Lastly Biggytitbo. He's psychically hypersensitive (don't hate me)... In the game the characters can sometimes hear mysterious psychic drones in the background, often negatively affecting people's moods, but sometimes affecting them positively too (its one of the random events, along with visitors or enemies or weird weather effects). The game doesn't have tinfoil hats, but I imagine if it did that would be the way to prevent such things. Apparently Biggytitbo is also a jogger and a masochist.

I need a researcher and a cook, and it seems like a decent mix. Due to a randomised backstory as an inventor he also gets a few skill points in crafting, so I figure I'd also make that one of his interests.

Crashlanding

The crew have been in stasis for god knows how many years, fleeing their home worlds in search of a new life. Maybe on one of those fancy glitterworlds where life is but a dream...

Mmm nah. The ship malfunctioned, broke apart, and they plummeted to a rimworld - so called not because of anal licking aliens (a mere coincidence they do that), but because its on the outer "rim" of colonised space. Our three intrepid adventurers have woken up confused and starving in the middle of nowhere. The strange orange squares they are all holding up to their face is in fact a packaged survival meal. There aren't many of them left though - they will have to figure out how to feed themselves on this strange planet.



I quickly realise that not only do I have very little recollection of how to play well, but I've also given Buelligan the bulk of the work, while Barry Admin just runs around shooting squirrels and Biggytitbo cuts a few stone blocks and ponders how to improve their lives. Buelligan has to mine out their living space, grow plants and erect the walls and furniture, all of which is time consuming... Being a fast learner will help though - she'll gain skill levels quicker and thus some actions she'll be able to do faster (mining, constructing and planting in her case), produce better rewards (planting) and she'll fail less (constructing). She is the best one to be overworked really. As long as she doesn't get stressed and end up setting fire to everything...



There is already an abandoned building with four walls (the dormitory in the pic above) so that will save some construction time. Buelligan carves out a bit more space, chops down trees, builds the beds, builds a stonecutting workshop, puts in doors and affixes a roof while the other two... haul some goods indoor. I think Barry killed a squirrel, and then lay back cloudwatching. Biggytitbo went for a wander.

I end up setting Barry to mining as well, even though he has next to no skill in it - hunting and taming the wildlife can only take up so much of his time, and there are no visitors to socialise and seduce yet. Biggytitbo starts on some research - namely batteries. The weird machine at the bottom is a wind turbine - it can power lights and workshops, but only while there is wind. Batteries will allow me to store up unused power so I'm not waiting for a breeze to let Biggy fry up squirrel meat.

Meanwhile the characters have a little natter about...oh, this and that, you know:



Five days in and everyone is pretty chipper - Buelligan has been doing a fantastic job sowing some corn and rice and doing all the building, Barry has been shooting animals for food and taming a couple of nearby alpacas, while Biggy does the important, if spiritually unrewarding, job of cutting stone into blocks, hauling stuff and butchering the animal corpses. Then, only five days in, [Adam Curtis voice]Something unexpected happened[/]



Huh. I expected some romance, but not so quick. I should point out here I have some mods - including one called "Psychology". This I believe makes the social interaction more varied by giving characters deeper personalities, as well as giving them a Kinsey scale rating (I believe the base game just has a trait called "Gay", which is imperfect). I hadn't fiddled with any of their psychology, but it turns out Barry is particularly upbeat, "cool", friendly and passionate, while Buelligan is very passionate and romantic. In game they make a sensible match I suppose. This does mean I ought to give the pair their own room, rather than sharing a dormitory (which gives the colonists negative thoughts, especially if its as ugly as it currently is).



Being in a relationship cheers them both up, though as Buelligan has "very low expectations" in general its hardly a winning assessment of Barry.

Life trundles on. As I havent played in a while I set the difficulty to only "medium", so I'm not expecting much trouble right now. Buelligan, basically being the boss now, suggests the little colony gives itself a name:



In the end, the only event in Spring (other than a "psychic soothe", which I didn't bother taking a screenshot for) is a boar going mad. I stop Barry from wooing an alpaca and send him to shot the boar dead.



Damn, Barry does it in one shot. He can also clearly go switch like that, considering he was gently humming to an alpaca only moments before.



Thus ends the first spring. Nice and quiet. No visitors, no injuries, no one going insane. I hope in summer we at least get another colonist.

Noonling

#3
Summertime and the living is...Easy?

Summer comes, and with it storms. Lightning strikes the ground, and fire springs up not far from the farm:



Biggy and Barry run around trying to put it out. Buelligan? Doesn't give a toss. Being a pyromaniac she is incapable of putting out fires. She just won't do it. See the bars behind their icons at the top? It indicate's mood. Buelligan's is gleeful as she merrily harvests while everything around her burns. I bet even if she saw Barry on fire she'd just stand by and laugh, that's how much of a hardcore pyromaniac she is. Well, she isn't a psychopath, she'd probably have a breakdown if her lover Barry died, but she wouldn't have done anything to prevent it.

In the end they are all fine though, no one gets burnt. Soon enough rain comes and puts out the fires anyway, and thankfully they weren't too close to home.

The same day another boar goes insane, but Barry takes it down with ease, much like the single raider armed only with a steel knife and "dog leather T-shirt (awful)". But then: guests!



Guests come from one of the local factions, and keeping them entertained and happy improves your relations with the faction. Hostile factions will attack you, neutral ones will trade with you, and allied one, in addition to trading, may send you assistance and gifts. The other bonus of having guests around is that you can sweet talk someone away from their faction and into your colony. This means you suffer a slight loss of relationship, but its generally worth it to have an extra colonist, especially now as I only have three.

One of the colonists catch my eye. Alright traits and decent skills:



I set Barry to the task of recruiting her, while still being polite to the others. Buelligan meanwhile is making sure beds are prepared for our guests (the now purple-coloured beds to the right mean they are for guests instead of colonists). Barry is a marvel, and half a day later (and a name change later) we have a new colonist!



At this point I'll show off the priorities tab. Its not aestethicially pleasing, but it is easy to use and understand, and more intuitive than Dwarf Fortress. Colonists will prioritise different jobs depending on how you number them: all the 1s will be checked first (from left to right), then 2s then 3s then 4s. You'll have a whole bunch of tasks that you just set up (mine this, build that), and anyone who has that skill available and is free will hop to it. You can also get them to do a certain task immediately if you wish (e.g. put out fires, tend to wounded, or just make a sculpture).

Canadagoose is awesome at crafting (which includes smithing and tailoring) so I set those as a priority for her. This means biggy can now focus more on research. You can see below the fruits of his labor: the weird yellow bar thing next to Canadagoose is the battery Buelligan just built, thanks to Biggy's focused research. Now people can use the cooking and tailoring workbenches at any time.



Everything is running smootly! Buelligan builds a new bedroom for Canadagoose, Biggy starts researching solar panels and Barry is whispering sweet nothings to the local alpacas. Seriously, he's constantly humming a little ditty to them, or sitting by patiently while talking to himself about fate or philosophy. Then I get a little notification:



Canadagoose is being a moody loser, boooo! Minor breaks aren't really much to worry about - they result in the colonist binge eating, going on an insulting spree or just wandering outdoors moodily. It mostly just means they'll ignore work. It's major and extreme breaks you have to watch out for - this can result in corpse obsession (digging up corpses and plopping them on the dinner table...), sadistic rage against any of your prisoners, catatonia, and hard drug binges.

So, why is Canadagoose being a moodygoose? Well firstly she's a night owl, but awake during the day (I quickly switch her sleeping patterns) and secondly she's in pain. Huh.

Turns out she has an old gunshot wound in her left leg that's left her in permanent slight pain and with reduced movement. Clearly her past experience as a {checks job} "weaver" was very dangerous. I guess she was in one of the hardcore weaver gangs back in an urbworld, the kind that fight over the webs left behind by inter-dimensional spiders.

Not a lot I can do about the pain - I believe hard drugs might relieve her for a bit or else I could chop off the leg entirely and replace it with a bionic one - but I have neither the resources nor the inclination to do either. So the best I can do right now is change her feelings about her bedroom.

Biggy to the rescue! His artistic skills are sure to result in a beautiful sculpture that Canadagoose will place in her room and treasure forever...Right?



...Did Canadagoose whisper to him about her love of mules? Or her love of ash? Or her love of Barry Admin's hometown? At least its a technically good sculpture. I plonk it down in her room and hope it cheers her up a bit.

Next, we get a pop up to tell us about one of the win conditions. I've never actually tried it, but I might give it a go in a while. It requires travelling a long, loooong way across the world to get to a starship in hibernation. The colonists can start it up and get off the planet, BUT not only does it require travel, but also defending themselves against hordes of raiders who also want to jump in the starship. The blue house in the middle is where they are now, the flag is the starship:



Life goes on. A heatwave arrives and canadagoose is moody again (though doesn't break down), then some useless guests with crap to trade, the kitchen gets set on fire due to my own stupidity (animals called "Boomalope" will explode when killed...I forgot and tried to butcher it. Barry got set on fire.), Barry gets infected, another lightning-related fire, sweet little snippets between friends:



Then a stranger crash landed nearby. Since she's from an enemy faction, if I want to recruit her I'll have to imprison her first.



She seems like a decent sort though, so I set Barry Admin to go rescue her (and imprison her), and as he carries her I check on her wounds. Oh crap. GO GO GO! RUN BARRY RUN!



Barry patches her up while she's unconscious, but she remains in severe pain for a long time.

The very next day a refugee runs into camp:



Pluviophile, so he'll enjoy all the rain we get round these parts, and chemical interest, so he'll have lots to chat about with Barry... A single guard is easy to dispatch. I'm nervous that the man chasing him is armed with a gun though. Things can go wrong fast - If one of my shooters gets downed I may want to get someone to drag them back to safety, and the rescuer can get shot in the process.



It's tense. The refugee is cowering inside without a weapon. The only sound is the gunshots firing out, and... and...



NOW IS NOT THE TIME! HERE'S A PREDICTION FOR YOU: KEEP CHATTING ABOUT FUCKING TAROT CARDS AND YOU'LL BOTH BE SHOT IN THE HEAD!

Christ. Canadagoose does get shot - in the same leg as her old gunshot wound. Luckily our new refugee is an awesome veterinarian, and humans are...basically the same. Meet the fifth member of the Cookd and Bombd colony:



He patches up Canadagoose excellently, and she is back to her sprightly self in no time.

Thus ends summer. A couple of extra bedrooms have been built, there's a nice refrigerator for the colonists meals, and Barry Admin has been slowly grinding down the resistance of our prisoner. Wait, that sound's like he's torturing her or something. No. This is Barry, he's far too kind for that. His methods are not at all cruel, though they are a little...unusual.



This is the colony at the end of summer. Still an ugly mess, but a little more homely:






chveik

#4
This game looks fantastic, I'll wait for the winter sales on steam to get it.
I really enjoy your posts too, keep them coming!

kittens

i played an early version of this years ago and really enjoyed it. this lovely thread has made me want to get it again.

Noonling

Note about gender
Since there aren't that many female Cabbers, and since I've decided to add in anyone who replies to the thread, I'll be ignoring gender from now on. The only effects of gender (that I'm aware of) is with sexuality and the occasional events "psychic drone" and "psychic soothe", which affect only one gender at a time.

Note about difficulty
Earlier I jumped straight into it without going over game setup. Firstly you have the standard difficulty modes ranging from peaceful to extreme. These not only affect the threats from events, but also the colonists mood, your selling multiplier for trading, crop yield and disease interval.

Secondly you have the "Storytellers". Its a lovely addition which can change up the flow of games:
Cassandra Classic - Will send threats at regular intervals (every few days) which slowly ramp up - i.e. one raider with a knife, then five raiders with guns, then ten raiders with awesome weapons. In the past I've found her most difficult, but I imagine once you get more familiar with the pace it becomes easier
Phoebe Chillax - Will have long gaps of peace between threats. I haven't really played this, but it allows for a focus on base building more of the time, then a sudden rush to defend.
Randy Random - This is what I've set this game on, and what I usually play. Threats come at random. You could have a solar flare (stops all electrical items working for a while) immediately followed by a raid, and then get a bunch of tree-eating beavers the next day. You could have nothing for a season. You still won't get the most brutal events early on (at least I haven't), but you can fail quite quickly and unexpectedly.

A third variation on difficulty you have is through Scenarios. I've selected the default one, with three starter colonists and middling tech, but you can create your own scenarios. Some examples - you can have a team of five alcoholics with hangovers who bring nothing but booze with them. You can have a single naked cannibal with no research unlocked. You can have a permanent toxic fallout on your map. You can disable a certain "building" (furniture) - good luck keeping your colonists happy without bed.

Lastly, different biomes change your priorities, especially early game. Again, I started on the safest, middling one for this game - fertile soil, trees, animals, and middling temperature.
You can instead start on an ice sheet, meaning zero trees and almost no wildlife - traits like cannibal and psychopath become very useful here, and a decent tailor means you can keep your colonists warm. The only upside of this is (at least in past versions) the enemies will get freezing cold as well, so if they are dressed poorly they'll suffer from frostbite and be easier to defeat.
You can start at the opposite end of the spectrum - deserts. It has little arable land and sparse wildlife. You'll end up prioritising power early to ensure you can build coolers. In hot weather sometimes colonists will just linger inside a cool room to recover from heatstroke before returning to work.
You can start in a tropical rainforest - lots of wildlife and decend land, but a higher chance of disease and some diseases unique to the biome. Or a tropical swamp - chock full of trees and vegetation, making it hard to build on.

Autumn Days when the something, something...

Straight off the bat, love is...perhaps no longer in the air.





Maybe Buelligan shouldn't get so attached to a man that promises "intimacy" to a prisoner and reckons that will win them round. Buelligan is going to be pissed about this for a LONG time. Each season is 15 days, although feelings can expire sooner if resolved (i.e. if they do get married).

Another easy raid, and we've got one of the enemies struck down but not dead, giving us a second prisoner to brainwash:



Our colonist count goes up quickly from there. A guest (Chveik) gets persuaded by Barry to join (Barry just gossips about the other colonists, telling them GOD KNOWS WHAT), who in turn persuades the first prisoner (Kittens):









Despite Kitten's background as a "joywire artist" (joywires are brain implants that give pleasure but reduce brain function, thus equivalent to drugs to my mind), they are a teetotaler. They also, unfortunately, don't give a toss about hauling or cleaning up after themselves. This gets frustrating in the season to come - Kittens ends up going for walks, cloudwatching and throwing horseshoes when there's muck and BLOOD EVERYWHERE, and the other colonists have to waste their time cleaning up.

A couple of opportunities crop up, firstly an "ancient danger" that is already on the map:



These can be left undisturbed without consequences, but inside usually lies some tasty artifacts and humans in stasis, alongside some dangerous enemies. I don't feel my colonists are up to it right now, but I might try in winter.

Also, an opportunity in the wider world:



I've barerly played around with missions in the wider world, or travelling. I do know that if I send my shooters off to rescue this guy I'll inevitably get a raid that the weaklings I've left behind won't be able to handle. I feel I've got enough colonists as it is, so I don't want to risk it.

With autumn comes an increased chance of cold snaps. Now I've got a decent amount of power I start putting heaters in the moodiest colonists bedrooms (Canadagoose and Kittens at this point), and I've had the excellent tailor Canadagoose whip up some parkas.



Barry is such a charmer I basically don't let anyone else do any persuading, and soon enough the second prisoner we caught has joined:





Arse. Another one who will refuse to do dumb labor because their oh-so-important past job as an architect makes them think they are too good for that shit. Get over yourself Delete, you ain't special. Well ok, I admit your construction skills are very much appreciated, as Buelligan finally gets one of her tasks off her hands. They are also a friendly, chatty person:



At this point I do a bunch of jiggery pokery to maximise each person's skill sets. Mining is Chveik's main priority and Buelligan's least important, Canadagoose is the only one that will tailor, and Delete's priority is construction above all else. Biggy's main priority is cooking, which he, uh...

Well okay he gives everyone food poisoning. Including himself. Then he vomits all over the kitchen counter, and gives everyone more food poisoning. That slows him down, and soon everyone is eating raw corn and grumbling amongst themselves because Biggy can't keep up. He (well ok, I) forgets to feed the animals, and they start starving. He makes kibble, but that means the colonists run out of meals again, and grumble again. After some fights with animals (Barry with a lynx, Canadagoose with an alpaca), another small raid and the tattered clothing of our reformed ex-prisoners, everyone is a little on edge. We get our first breakdown:





Nothing too terrible, they can all handle it.

I'm not even sure how we got our next colonist. Possibly visiting guests? Either way, Barry charmed the pants off them. Kinda literally - when they joined they had tattered pants and Canadagoose had to craft them some new ones:





Then two things happen in quick succession. I suspect Buelligan has a very novel method of trying to get her own way:





After all that activity (and various little things I didn't screenshot), it's quiet for a bit. I make some more bedrooms, set Kittens to do some artwork (poorly), and have Biggy constantly butchering animals and churning out meals. I'm not sure I've ever had this many colonists so early in the game before, and poor Biggy has no time to do anything but cook and sleep. I fiddle about with the stockpile settings (much smoother than Dwarf Fortress by comparison) so that he has to move as little as possible.

Just before autumn frosts over into winter, we have a pack of manhunting foxes. You can deal with manhunter packs just by ensuring everyone stays inside for a day or two, but...foxes? Come on, my lot can handle that, easy.





My lot Everyone but Delete can handle that, easy. I have to admit, I almost forget about him and let him bleed to death, but thankfully Cuellar has doctoring prioritised and sorts it out himself.

End of Autumn

NINE colonists already! Barry Admin, Buelligan, Biggy, Canadagoose, Cuellar, Chveik, Kittens, Delete and Dex Sawash.



Not a great layout, I've just let it evolve organically. The top right will turn into a hospital, as I'm finding that I get two injured colonists at the same time sometimes, and its easier for doctor Cuellar to have all the patients and resources in the same place. Most rooms have heaters, and work areas have electric lights. I set up a second research bench (where Kittens is) because I don't want them to get cramped and moody in the dining room.

I've ended up with a heckton of animals somehow. I know I tamed the alpacas and muffalos, but I believe the rest of the animals became "self-tamed". The empty blue patch by the bottom muffalo (big white wooly thing) is a stockpile for their kibble - Biggy is finding it hard to keep up. Despite the wave of minor inconveniences in the middle of the season, most things are back to normal now.

My main concern is the food really - Not sure whether to get a second chef set up or not. Hopefully my reworked stockpile will help Biggy speed up, and I've made him an excellent bed so he'll spend ever so slightly less time sleeping and will hopefully

Speaking of quality, I'll add one last thing: There's a lot of detail to various objects if you want to be super efficient. The screen below is an example of Biggy's bed: Comfort and beauty will improve his mood, and rest effectiveness will...make his rest more effective. These screens can also be completely ignored - it isn't vital you pour through every number in the game, at least if you're playing on medium difficulty. It's just a bonus if you're interested.



For work-based things you can also see what other stats affect things - e.g. as Dex has an old gunshot wound in their arm their manipulation is weaker - this affects a whole load of things to varying degrees - slower construction, less butchery yield etc. In his case its quite minor - he works at 96% efficiency with anything involving his arms. Still, its tempting to start on prostethics and see if I can give him an AWESOME arm. I can't remember if its part of a mod or not, but I remember in a previous game I made most characters bionic superhumans, and their efficiency in some things could go over 100%. WIth surgical mishaps this did mean characters sometimes just got stabbed or infected though...

MojoJojo

Thanks for this - I played a bit of Dwarf Fortress back in the day, but even then before kids I think I enjoyed reading about other people playing more than actually playing. Now with kids I don't think I could commit to such a time sink.

So I'll enjoy it vicariously.

Noonling

Quote from: MojoJojo on October 19, 2018, 02:44:34 PM
Thanks for this - I played a bit of Dwarf Fortress back in the day, but even then before kids I think I enjoyed reading about other people playing more than actually playing. Now with kids I don't think I could commit to such a time sink.

So I'll enjoy it vicariously.

I have to admit I don't really understand people who prefer to watch/read than play. I'll sometimes read a playthrough to grasp mechanics or to decide whether or not to buy it, but not randomly. Glad some people like it though!

I've never done this sort of thing before - any thoughts (from anyone) on how to make it more engaging? At the moment I feel I'm just showing off the mechanics, not making it interesting to read.

Also...Should I up the difficulty? I can't remember whether in my previous playthroughs things should be falling apart by now or not. I think its usually the second year where deaths start occuring.

Noonling

Winter Wonderland

As a chill sweeps the land, the first event does not bode well:



Muffalos can get heart attacks! I knew they could bleed to death, and even have scars, but heart attacks, golly. I think he was injured in the same fight as Delete, and Cuellar was focused on healing humans first.

Despite that, everything is actually going wonderfully. There is peace in the land. Although Chveik does get rebuffed, most people are chatting away and no fights break out.





Other than a mad rat the ONLY fight the colonists face is against a single mechanoid. Mechanoids are AI robots and can be dangerous, but due to several days of peace I've been able to up my defenses. I accidentally screenshotted this with the text in, but behind the text is my first mini-turret, thanks to the diligent research of Kittens, Cuellar and Delete. The yellowish sacks are sand bags that the colonist can hide behind. No need though - the mechanoid didn't even get close to my colonists, although it did hit one of my alpacas.



I also had an opportunity for another colonist:



A depressed woman who can't cook, is crap at socialising even with animals, and basically won't do any hard work. Oh, and she's sensitive to psychic drones. And being chased by six grenadiers. Maybe I'm just not enough of a risk taker, but...She can just go ahead and die. I'm surprised the pirates are even bothering to try to kill/enslave her. I don't even care for the harvested organs and human leather she could provide.

The rest of my winter is spent fixing up the place. I build a proper wall around the compound, as well as a hospital and guest dormitory. Due to my addition of a smelter, smithy and other things my power is going through the roof, so a few more solar panels are added. Since I want to make the dining room a hospitable, pleasant place to be I commission Kittens to sculpt me something magnificent. He has an interesting artistic style:



Thanks Kittens. Thittens.

I get a lot of research done, so now I can plant trees as well as "devilstrand", a plant that provides decent cloth. I've just researched hydroponics, so there are a couple of hydroponic basins in the bottom room:



And...that's it. It really is a very quiet winter. Just as it slips into spring a few guests arrive (the blue names in the screenshot above), and I hope to recruit one of them and have a nice round ten colonists. Then...Then I think I might see how dangerous the "ancient danger" is.

PlanktonSideburns

Yea I'm finding this thrilling for some reason! Thanks for doing it

kittens

downloading this as soon as i get home i reckon. good fun game. love the thread. one day i hope i do get to explain my feelings on regret to biggytitbo.

Replies From View

Really enjoying this thread a lot.  Keep it going please!

Noonling

I admit, I did try to open up the "ancient danger". Then I couldn't help but Alt+F4.

You were all going to die. I watched as one by one you were downed, doctors first (Cuellar and Barry Admin), poor kittens with his level 5 medicine tried to heal everyone, Chveik was downed while rescuing the downed Dex, Buelligan died, everyone was bleeding to death but kittens...

IT WAS ALL A DREAM.

Springtime again!

That's not to say the reality was all peaches and cream. In springtime of the second year one of the Verbwhore's lives was changed forever.

First though, an opportunity pops up:



A bed made out of uranium? How can I say no! A bionic hand could come in useful eventually too. The tribe will thank me for it, and two enemies should be easy to deal with. I send Barry and Canadagoose, as they are my best shooters - others are good enough to defend the colony if it gets attacked in the three days they are away.

The camp is hilariously easy to defeat. Just two plebs wielding crappy maces and not a turret in sight. Once the first one is shot down from the treeline, the other makes a run for it - but Canadagoose catches up, drags him to the camp, and chains him to...his own bed.



The camp itself is unremarkable, though the pair grab the jade that is lying around before returning to the base.

Good news everybody! Biggy is now a good enough cook that he's stopped poisoning himself and vomiting all over the kitchen counter. Despite the decent meals he's making, Dex inexplicably decides to try out the animal kibble:



He's also moody because "prisoner banished to death"? What? Oh. Ohhhhhhhhh. Yeah, I left that prisoner chained to his own bed with no food or water and still riddled with bullets. Oh well.

With the crops growing again and trees blooming and so on and so on, the fertile loins of Delete and Cuellar are awoken:



Then we get our first proper raid - six bastards who ignore my carefully laid trap at the south (with perfectly positioned turrets), and bash the door in into the dining room instead. Kittens is downed, but five out of the six raiders are stabbed and shot to death in the kitchen. Four of the colonists chase after the last one who stole some steel, but she gets away:





After a hard night's fight every single Cabber looks at the corpses and thinks "...Nah." They leave the bodies to rot in the kitchen while they have a good night's sleep. Even the nightowl Canadagoose gives a suspcious yawn and retires to bed.  At 6am Biggy wakes mulling over the night before. He is the only one to dig the graves and bury the fallen.

After he's stripped the bodies of all their clothes, obviously. Don't want anything going to waste.





I send Barry Admin and Canadagoose off to scout out a nearby hostile camp, but when I see nine enemies with guns and three turrets I have them skedaddle. On the trip back Canadagoose has clearly decided to try some dodgy berries and ends up with muscle parasites:



I'm pretty worried for her. There's still a day left of travel and while you do rest while travelling I doubt its as good as sleeping in a quality bed. When Canadagoose gets back she's in a very bad mood...





Once she's eaten some breakfast chocolate and in bed she's less moody, but I'm still worried about the parasites. Then a different worry takes over: Dex has been trying to tame a megasloth, and the megasloth has retaliated by mauling him. He's downed. Cuellar hauls him to the hospital while Buelligan and the turrets deal with the megasloth. Biggy tries to get in the fight too, but just gets hurt. Dex is at death's door...





Cuellar, that genius doctor who I will never tire of praising, saves them both, though that hand is permanently bitten off. Wait...Why is Dex's mood still so high?



Oh yes, he's a masochist! Dex, mate, if you're in heaven from all that animal mauling, wait til you find out your left arm ends in a stump - you'll jizz all over the hospital walls.

Biggy is also a masochist, but unfortunately he acquires an infection in his leg. Scratches all over from a megasloth = sexy, internal anguish = unsexy. Cuellar tends to him, then Cuellar (that delightful genius) realises something.

That reward. That tribe only a few days ago that we helped - they sent us a hand. A bionic hand, not just any old hand replacement. Dex's maiming is a blessing in disguise, with a bionic hand he will be even better than before! I just hope Cuellar can pull it off - in previous versions of the game surgery could go horribly, stupidly wrong. Trying to attach a peg leg could end with a patient being stabbed in the eye.

Thankfully that doesn't happen here.





Barry also visits Biggy while he's in hospital to cheer him up:



Then we have two unfortunate events on the same day:







The world is covered in horrible toxic dust and even the animals could get sick. I move the animal area indoors, and restrict everyone to indoors as well. Not that everyone pays attention... Delete and Buelligan decide now is the perfect time to go outside for a chit chat.



Goddamnit.

So: A toxic fallout has descended. A heatwave means its 46C outside. Dex has just recovered from surgery, Biggy is recovering from an infection, Canadagoose still has muscle parasites and food is running low.

What better time to GET MARRIED!

Everyone gathers round to witness the joining of Barry Admin and Buelligan.







It's a beautiful moment and everyone is over the moon. Maybe everything will be alright in the end!

Chatting...Still chatting...Everything is going well... Oh. Oh maybe everything won't be alright in the end.



Since Delete was outside earlier, he's just all kinds of wrong:



Thus ends spring. Everyone at Cookd and Bombd is over the moon even though everything is terrible. Three colonists have malaria, Canadagoose STILL has muscle parasites, and many people have permanent scars from their fights with wildlife and raiders. It's not safe for anyone to go out, but if they stay cooped up inside they will also get miserable. It's also still horribly hot, and Summer is just around the corner.

The colony so far:



Alas I haven't really been able to recruit anyone new. There have been oppotunities to persuade uncaring misogynists and staggeringly ugly idiots, but that just means another mouth to feed. I'm mostly interested in having more skilled shooters, and maybe a backup chef or grower. I do have an opportunity outstanding... It could get pretty dangerous though, and while there's stilll toxic fallout I can't risk it:


Dex Sawash

A CaB Rimworld really should include the board's biggest rimming afficianado, Kane Jones.

Noonling


Summer #2: Violent Boogaloo

Everyone has been stuck indoors due to the fallout, and trouble inevitably breaks out.





So Cuellar BITES DEX IN THE HEAD and Dex goes off to rest in the hospital. Who is his doctor? Why it's Cuellar of course! Cuellar dutifully patches him up without saying a word.

The toxic fallout ends up lasting for five days. I get pretty concerned about food levels, and I let someone out to hunt. Somehow they aggravate a megasloth, who comes rampaging through the rooms and tears Delete's right ear clean off.



The sad thing is, since the megasloth has extreme toxic buildup, it can't be eaten anyway - it rots instantly. Delete lost his ear for nothing. Doubly so in fact, because only after the fallout stops do I realise that we had loads of food all along, I had just fiddled with the settings for cooking a meal! A simple meal can be made out of any edible stuff, but I had set it to only be created from meat. I forgot about the 700 bags of rice that were lying around.

Ultimately no harm done. Except to Delete's ear, but I don't really care about that. Hearing is mostly just used in social interactions and Delete is a quiet fellow anyway.

We have a few days of quiet, and then two big things happen almost simultaneously (thanks Randy Random).

First a normal raid. Two raiders are down pretty much instantly, and we take two prisoners.



Literally as the Cabbers are dragging the prisoners away, pirates from the same group are setting up mortars to attack us:



It doesn't look good. The colony is outnumbered and most of the enemy carry guns. Barry and the others manage to rush towards the enemy before they manage to build any mortar cannons, but not without some serious damage to pretty much everyone:





Buelligan is the worst hit - her eye is torn out, her left leg is shredded, and by the time she's laid down in the hospital she only has two hours left before she bleeds to death. Chveik and Delete are also downed, and all but Dex are injured. Not actually sure what happened with Dex, one moment he was with everyone else, next he decided to go mining on the opposite side of the map... Kittens manages to pick up a prisoner, but all other enemies are killed.

Barry prioritises those heavily injured, while Cuellar gets straight to work on Buelligan. A little note: the colour of the bandage sign on injuries shows how well someone was patched up; muddy brown means it was pretty awful, glistening white means it's magnificent. I'm just saying this to show how brilliant Cuellar is, and how he's basically my fave:



I do have one criticism of him though, and that's regarding his bedside manner. After being on the brink of death Buelligan eventually comes round and Cuellar is there beside her. His first topic of conversation?



Not what Buelligan wants to hear about right now, mate.

Due to pretty much everyone getting injured I have to turn the guest room into a second hospital, and since half of the colonists can't walk and the others think they are too good for cleaning, the whole place looks like a bloodbath:





Kittens does not get the hint about CLEANLINESS. He is pretty much the first to get out of bed, and all he does is hobble to the storeroom to wear a helmet. His head was in fact the only place not to get hit. He then wanders through the bloodstained corridors, pushes open the bloodstained door, crosses the bloodstained hospital and...gets back into bed.

It takes several days for everyone to recover. Buelligan gets an infection and Delete gets the plague. Of the three prisoners that we captured, only one looks appealing to recruit - another one I set free and the third I keep to see if he recovers well. Barry manages to recruit one prisoner:





Once MojoJojo is on our side, (s)he is PISSED. He watched five of his comrades die around him, was on the brink of death himself, had Barry patch him up with "herbal medicine", was kept in the dark for two days and has been surrounded by filth. I'm surprised he believed Barry's promise of "grace" considering the squalor he was subjected to.

Once he gets fed and plays horseshoes he is no longer on the brink of a breakdown, but I have to keep an eye on him. Meanwhile, despite Delete still having the plague he keeps getting out of bed to fix things up around the place. At one point he collapses on the ground and has to be put back to bed by Cuellar, and then as soon as he is able to walk again, he goes back out to put up walls. What a darling.

Thankfully during the recovery period nothing bad happens. In fact, Barry gets invited to a peace talk with a rival faction and its a grand success. An orbital trader comes into range with (almost) exactly what I was hoping for:



Buelligan will be able to see better! This raises her vision from 75% to 90%, which is pretty crucial - unlike hearing, sight is used for pretty much everything. I'm hoping eventually I'll be able to make or buy a bionic eye and she'll be even better than before, but this will have to do for now.

By the way, the grey desk in the messy workshop room is the comms console - this allows the colony to trade with ships in orbit nearby as well as ask nearby factions to visit. For ships in orbit we can beam up any good near our orbital trade beacon, and they will send down goods to us.

...Sometimes unusual goods. A pirate ship passes by, and we are given a chance to buy and sell slaves. One in particular catches my eye:





Ok, so Plankton is an abrasive insomniac, BUT he's very enthusiastic about shooting, and unlike half the other loser Verbwhores he doesn't mind cleaning up after himself. He has presumably been broken down by the pirates in the most unimaginable ways possible...which means that he won't rebel and will stick with us.

I sold the third prisoner we had lying around to pay for Plankton, even though I knew that selling a prisoner would dampen people's moods. What I didn't realise until later was it actually affects everyone's attitude towards Barry, who performed the trade. It's Barry though. Kind, beautiful Barry. He's still everyone's friend - even when Barry is selling people to slavers, he can do no wrong.

As a group of visitors drop by I decide to recruit the third Verbwhore of the season:



Another shooter, and at this point basically another meatshield for the colonists I like more. I hand him a gun and a bedroom and he relaxes in.

Perhaps Buelligan isn't able to vocalise her disappointment in Barry for selling a prisoner, but her feelings come out anyway as she sets fire to their marriage bed:



To end the season, some good news: Ambrosia bushes have randomly sprouted up. Ambrosia is a very mild drug that will make people happy



When summer ends I feel quite pleased that everyone has survived. If just one more person got downed in the siege, or if Cuellar had got badly injured, I'd probably have had a death on my hands. I was also pretty damn lucky to find an eye replacement for Buelligan, even if it wasn't perfect. If you're curious, the current permanent health conditions of each Verbwhore is:
Barry - Perfect health
Buelligan - Right eye is replaced with a light receptor, and she has a shredded scar on her left leg, giving minor pain and slowing her down slightly. That's from a grenade during the siege.
Biggy - Perfect health
Canadagoose - Old gunshot in her leg from her life before, and a bite scar on her torso...Noticed that a while ago, but not sure what it's from. I think one of the animal attacks last year. She also only JUST recovered from muscle parasites at the end of the summer, jesus.
Kittens - Eleventh rib was shatted by the megasloth attack this season. Despite that it gives him no pain or restricted movement.
Cuellar - Perfect health
Dex - Gunshot in right arm (from his life before I think) and left hand replaced by a bionic hand
Chveik - Perfect health
Delete - Right ear torn off by megasloth, and a scratch scar on the left leg, also by the megasloth I think
Mojo - Perfect health
Replies - Perfect health
Plankton - Old gunshot in left leg from his life before.

Since everyone is suffering slightly from pain and a few people have weakened movement I'm tempted to start on drug production to kick everything up a notch. Ambrosia will be a nice mood boost when I can harvest it, but harder drugs like Go-Juice or Yayo can speed them up or reduce their need for sleep. Since Barry and Cuellar both have a "chemical interest" this could easily mean addiction though, and I don't want my star medic to turn into a junkie House.

Not much has changed in the colony:



The red room is where I've moved the orbital trade beacon and the tradeable goods, just to make the workshop less messy. The gun turret towards the bottom right is an autocannon, which has barely been used but should be great in upcoming fights. The weird red thing next to it is a pod launcher.

A pod launcher can basically fling people and things up to 66 tiles away, which could take many, many days if travelling normally overland. I can't actually find out if its instant or takes a couple of hours or what, but it can be useful for trade or for setting up a second colony, or moving a colony altogether.

I am a bit tempted to start moving the colony towards the hibernating ship - partly because I've never played about with travel much, and partly because I'm annoyed by the current layout of the colony. It's inefficient! It's ugly! The walled area is too small!

BUT I don't have all the resources I'd need to launch all the colonists and goods right now. And of course I haven't officially tried to open up the ancient danger...

canadagoose

I'm finding this very entertaining, not just because it's got me in it. Congratulations to Barry Admin and Buelligan on their wedding. I think we all knew it would happen one day.

Replies From View

Quote from: Noonling on October 21, 2018, 03:58:53 PM
Another shooter, and at this point basically another meatshield for the colonists I like more.

Oof - harsh.  Harsh, but presumably fair.

kittens

been playing this all night. christ almighty it sucks your time up doesn't it. not even sure if i was having fun. but i made a base and got a pet turkey.

Noonling

Completely forgot about this. Think I'm in a Rimworld mood, might run this game again.

PlanktonSideburns


hedgehog90

There were a few weekends back in November where I did nothing but play this, morning till night, and spent the rest of the week thinking about it.
Really, one of the most addictive games I've ever played. I can never go back though, it's a danger to my health.
As long as you don't cane it like me, Noonling, by all means return, because this thread was indeed ace.

Mister Six

Only just found this thread, and I love it. I always preferred reading about people's Dwarf Fortress adventures to playing the game itself, but this sounds a bit more accessible so I might give it a crack. Do please keep up with it though!

Mister Six

Only gorn and bought this now, 'in I? Probably won't post massive stories on here though - can't compete with Noonling.