Note about genderSince 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 difficultyEarlier 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 AutumnNINE 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...
