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Comment by outworlder | Hacker News Reader

> I love Rimworld but this game's idea of "fun" is perpetually moody colonists doing stupid shit the moment one of their myriad needs aren't met.

Not exactly. They don't go crazy immediately. I think the 'eating without table' debuff is too harsh, but other than that... You can get away with ignoring basic pawn needs for quite a while. I want to see _you_ survive in an environment with tattered clothes, saying a friend (or pet) dying, and yes, eating raw meat without a table.

It's similar to Dwarf Fortress where tantrum spirals are a feature. Except in Dwarf Fortress things are way more deadly.

You can control the storyteller. Go with Chillax if you want more time (although that one could _still_ spawn mechanoids). Don't open ancient vaults, or go digging inside mountains if you don't want bugs.

Finishing the game is a bonus. Also now you can pack up and leave the map if it's too bad, we didn't have that option for a while.

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It might be a feature but it shouldn't be. I can't believe the amount of people that are ok for seemingly perpetual firefighting. Maybe they've never worked a job where they had to do that (figuratively or literally), because it is fucking tiresome. (This is my same complaint with the new X-COMs, stop presenting me with shit sandwich choices all the time!)

> or go digging inside mountains if you don't want bugs.

The alternative here is to get constantly shelled by invaders because all your shit is outside. I hope you have some reinforced barrels handy!

> I want to see _you_ survive in an environment with tattered clothes, saying a friend (or pet) dying, and yes, eating raw meat without a table.

Evidently none of the colonists were ever involved in scouting... everyone knows that losing your shit is the fastest way to die in a survival situation. Much as there is a "Low expectations" buff that blunts these effects at the beginning, there needs to be "I've Learned To Live With It" or "Shrugs Shoulders" buff that takes over as the game gets going on.

Also if the dude really hates raw meat that much, he should go build himself a campfire... nothing outs useless fatalism faster than not being able to do basic things for oneself. Someone teach these offworlders some fuckin self-care!

>Evidently none of the colonists were ever involved in scouting... everyone knows that losing your shit is the fastest way to die in a survival situation.

I guess it depends on the character back stories but at least in the default scenario you're shipwrecked when the FTL starship you're on breaks up (or whatever its fate was, been a while since I played rimworld)... which implies that they're used to the comforts an interstellar civilisation can provide.

I too would be somewhat irate if I went from glitterworld comforts to scrabbling around in the mud

> The alternative here is to get constantly shelled by invaders because all your shit is outside. I hope you have some reinforced barrels handy!

My go-to siege defense was to send a couple pawns with rifles to intercept the enemies the moment they appeared on the map, picking them off at range and from behind cover. By the time the raiders' supplies and artillery were ready, they would have no good defenders left, so my pawns could clean up pretty quickly. This approach required micromanagement, but consistently kept my base from taking much damage.

Once upon a time, tricking the attackers into using the wrong mortars was also possible, although I never tried it and haven't played in a year or two, so that might have changed.

> Also if the dude really hates raw meat that much, he should go build himself a campfire... nothing outs useless fatalism faster than not being able to do basic things for oneself. Someone teach these offworlders some fuckin self-care!

Ok, this is where we see eye to eye.

If a colonist just hates something and has the means to avoid it, it should just do so. But then we run into how campfires and the cooking skill are balanced, but in general I agree.

> Finishing the game is a bonus.

I have put 600 hours into the game. I have never completed it without cheating, and then only to see what the end looked like - which did not inspire me to change my approach to the game.

The joy of Rimworld is in the failure, or in succeeding for a time against the odds. Maybe the author could provide options to make the game easier, to attract another segment of the game market, but the way it currently works is much more attractive to myself.

> I want to see _you_ survive in an environment with tattered clothes, saying a friend (or pet) dying, and yes, eating raw meat without a table

I mean, I wouldn't but...I'm also not literally designed to populate a world sold to people for entertainment purposes. At least, not that I'm aware of, and if I was, they did not do a very good job.

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