[PC Game] Halforums House: Rimworld - the story thread

GasBandit

Staff member
I mean, that is true, you can set up permanent camps with leapfrog pods. Assuming you're using that mod. Or just leapfrog pods by repeatedly launching all your steel and chemfuel and building new pods along the way until you run dry.
I tried to take a pod-based single-jump shortcut last playthrough with a measelly 20 colonists, just to get myself a 10 day headstart and it was a fucking nightmare. Loading the pods was a complete clusterfuck. And my experience with pods in a playthrough previous to that (where I tried to set up trade networks with multiple towns using leapfrog transport pod stations) basically establishes that "leapfrogging" pods becomes exponentially more expensive with each successive jump. Unfortunately, given the logistical limitations of the game, transport pods are basically "small load" solutions at best.

And even then, somebody still has to cross that damn desert and fight those damn pirates, because it's bigger than pod-range.

Have you considered utilizing pre-owned structures and resources along the way to the waiting ship for the 'tough' team? Could help with the the supply situation.
... are you suggesting we raid our way across the landscape? :p

But yes, my calculations included BUYING supplies at every town we pass along the way, because even now money is plentiful, and probably will be even moreso in 7 years.
 
I tried to take a pod-based single-jump shortcut last playthrough with a measelly 20 colonists, just to get myself a 10 day headstart and it was a fucking nightmare. Loading the pods was a complete clusterfuck. And my experience with pods in a playthrough previous to that basically establishes that "leapfrogging" pods becomes exponentially more expensive with each successive jump. Unfortunately, given the logistical limitations of the game, transport pods are basically "small load" solutions at best.

And even then, somebody still has to cross that damn desert and fight those damn pirates, because it's bigger than pod-range.


... are you suggesting we raid our way across the landscape? :p

But yes, my calculations included BUYING supplies at every town we pass along the way, because even now money is plentiful, and probably will be even moreso in 7 years.
Have one person with supplies pod jump across the entire route (max pod range each hop) and set up supply dumps with permanent camps.
 
I mean, that is true, you can set up permanent camps with leapfrog pods. Assuming you're using that mod. Or just leapfrog pods by repeatedly launching all your steel and chemfuel and building new pods along the way until you run dry.
Well, I don't own a copy of the game, nor have I ever played it, so I can't say exactly how the mechanics work. But I was thinking more along the lines that you have a dozen or two of your toughest guys, all equipped to the max. Why not work with that? Plot a course to the ship which stops by some settlements along the way where you 'persuade' the inhabitants that their best course of action is to be somewhere else, and to leave their food supplies for us to make use of.

'Raiding' is such a coarse term, perhaps one could consider it more along the lines of a 'spirited negotiation to the sound of charged rifle fire'?
 

Dave

Staff member
WHAT?!? You can make your own components out of steel?!? I've got steel everywhere but have run out of components several times. What the shit?
 

GasBandit

Staff member
A deeper explanation of how "leapfrogging" transport pods creates a huge ramping cost curve:

Every pod is single use and must be rebuilt and its launcher refueled after every launch. A pod takes 80 steel and 2 components to make. Assuming you're unable to source those requirements at each waystation (which is usually the case), it means the home base will have to ship replacement steel and components (along with chemfuel) along the same chain. One pod can carry a maximum of 300 steel (150kg weight limit). If you strip off their weapons and armor, you can usually squeeze two people into a pod.

So, you send one thing along a chain, of let's say 5 pod stations.

BASE -> S1 -> S2 -> S3 -> S4 -> S5 -> Destination

So, after the first payload reaches its destination, you have to rebuild the pods.

The base's pod is no problem, the materials are right there.

Each station requires 80 steel and 2 components, but for our purpses the components are of negligible weight, let's just focus on the steel.

To ship the 80 steel required to station 5 will mean that Station 4 now requires 160 steel (80 more to rebuild its own pod after it has launched station 5's required supplies).

To get 160 steel to station 4 means that station 3 will require 160 steel as well.

To get 320 steel to station 3 means station 2 will require 240 steel - since only 300 steel will fit in a single pod, sending the supplies to station 3 will require station 2 launch 2 pods.

That means sending 560 steel to station 2, which means station 1 will require 240 steel as well.

So, after sending one payload to its destination, Base will have to expend 240 steel of its own to send three pods with the 800 steel to station one, so it can then relay the rest of the steel needed to the stations further down the line. What costs 80 steel to send one hop now costs 1040 to send 6.

And that's not counting components and fuel, which also must be sent via pod.

All to get a single pod's cargo to the destination.[DOUBLEPOST=1502385069,1502384915][/DOUBLEPOST]
WHAT?!? You can make your own components out of steel?!? I've got steel everywhere but have run out of components several times. What the shit?
You have to research component assembly, which requires a high-tech research bench and a multi-analyzer (which itself requires its own research, plus gold and plasteel to build). That will allow you to construct a component assembly bench (which is a gigantic FIVE BY TWO structure) for 400 steel and 20 components.

Also you have to get the mod I have to make component assembly reasonable, otherwise machining a single component takes days.[DOUBLEPOST=1502385241][/DOUBLEPOST]
With a planet killer on the way, perhaps the time has come to be pragmatic about the situation.
It's unneccessary. Money is very light, and we've got enough to buy out the foodstores of all the other towns easily. I've got no moral compunctions about raiding pirate strongholds, however :p but that's not the issue.

The issue is the distance between towns and such, especially in the desert, may require more food than we can carry - especially given that there is no forage/grazing in the desert for the animals, which means they'll have to be fed meals.
 
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A deeper explanation of how "leapfrogging" transport pods creates a huge ramping cost curve:

Every pod is single use and must be rebuilt and its launcher refueled after every launch. A pod takes 80 steel and 2 components to make. Assuming you're unable to source those requirements at each waystation (which is usually the case), it means the home base will have to ship replacement steel and components (along with chemfuel) along the same chain. One pod can carry a maximum of 300 steel (150kg weight limit). If you strip off their weapons and armor, you can usually squeeze two people into a pod.

So, you send one thing along a chain, of let's say 5 pod stations.

BASE -> S1 -> S2 -> S3 -> S4 -> S5 -> Destination

So, after the first payload reaches its destination, you have to rebuild the pods.

The base's pod is no problem, the materials are right there.

Each station requires 80 steel and 2 components, but for our purpses the components are of negligible weight, let's just focus on the steel.

To ship the 80 steel required to station 5 will mean that Station 4 now requires 160 steel (80 more to rebuild its own pod after it has launched station 5's required supplies).

To get 160 steel to station 4 means that station 3 will require 160 steel as well.

To get 320 steel to station 3 means station 2 will require 240 steel - since only 300 steel will fit in a single pod, sending the supplies to station 3 will require station 2 launch 2 pods.

That means sending 560 steel to station 2, which means station 1 will require 240 steel as well.

So, after sending one payload to its destination, Base will have to expend 240 steel of its own to send three pods with the 800 steel to station one, so it can then relay the rest of the steel needed to the stations further down the line. What costs 80 steel to send one hop now costs 1040 to send 6.

And that's not counting components and fuel, which also must be sent via pod.

All to get a single pod's cargo to the destination.
This is also called "why rocketry is hard IRL." You have to bring fuel with you, which means you need fuel to lift THAT fuel... etc.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
Also... it just occurred to me, I've never built a ship with this many cryptosleep caskets on it before... am I going to need to build a second reactor? That'd put a serious dent in the uranium.
 
Is there any other way to train melee? Gym equipment? People with guns can hunt shit, but the equivalent number of fistfights to raise melee would probably be counter-productive to the general well-being of the colony.

I know I'm the only dunce with no firearms skill so it is low priority, but if it wouldn't be too taxing...
 

GasBandit

Staff member
Is there any other way to train melee? Gym equipment? People with guns can hunt shit, but the equivalent number of fistfights to raise melee would probably be counter-productive to the general well-being of the colony.

I know I'm the only dunce with no firearms skill so it is low priority, but if it wouldn't be too taxing...
The only available way would be for me to manually send people who want to train melee out to kill animals with their melee weapon.

Problem is, that'll guarantee some form of injury, which means downtime in the infirmary and using up medical supplies faster.

The fact of the matter is, most people's melee skill stays pretty much where it starts.

The other side of that coin is that means good melee skill is rare - so those who spent the points to start with high melee skill are generally guaranteed to outclass most any human opponent they go up against in close quarters combat.

I could give you a gun and add you to the "hunt" job roster, which would raise your shooting skill over time (and your melee skill would come into play when an animal fights back), but that means I'll have to take off your shield belt. Shield belts block both directions, in and out. Wearing one means you won't be able to use any sort of ranged weapon.

And that means in a raid, you might be caught without time to put on your shield belt.
 
I could give you a gun and add you to the "hunt" job roster, which would raise your shooting skill over time (and your melee skill would come into play when an animal fights back), but that means I'll have to take off your shield belt. Shield belts block both directions, in and out. Wearing one means you won't be able to use any sort of ranged weapon.

And that means in a raid, you might be caught without time to put on your shield belt.
Nah, I intentionally made a guy who stabs things all the time, so I'll stick with this. You've done a really good job making me useful. :)[DOUBLEPOST=1502396111,1502395973][/DOUBLEPOST]A sword, a power armor set, a shield belt and a Terrik-shaped mobile cover unit are all I need.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
I have to admit I had to chuckle a bit watching Terrik's pawn shake and convulse as that centipede hit him with EVERY SINGLE SHOT with its heavy pulse cannon. That NEVER happens. Heavy pulse cannons are almost as inaccurate as miniguns, they mostly just shower a 5x5 area at random. But no, when it's TERRIK charging in... Every. Single. Bolt. Hits. Good thing he was wearing power armor. I mean, even the shield belt, had it not decided to not work that time for some reason, would have only blocked 5 or 6 hits, and Terrik got hit like 15 times. I'm still amazed he didn't lose any limbs, eyes, ears, jaw, etc, or get brain damage from the headshot.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
HALFORUMS HOUSE:RIMWORLD - Year 5503, part 2: Summer

Jugust 2, 5503 - A psychic ship lands right smack inside the compound wall and needs to be dealt with. It is accomplished with comparatively little damage to the colonists, but Masahiro, Dodge's cat, is caught in the crossfire and killed. BErt took two charge lance hits to the chest... if it hadn't been for the new armor vests distributed to all the colonists, we'd be making him a sarcophagus right now.

Pictured: Gad dammit


Pictured: Alas, poor Masahiro


Jug 3 - A cargo pod with some precious rare hyperweave cloth crashes east of the wall. That's a big deal. Hyperweave can only be made on glitterworlds, and is needed to make synthetic internal organs and synthetic skin (for removing scars from body parts that can't be replaced with bionics, like the torso).

Jug 4 - Moffa is attacked by maddened boomrats while out hunting. He kills them, but is set on fire and drops his charge rifle... which also catches fire. Expensive goof, Moffa.

Pictured: Moffa aflame


Jug 5 - Film Fanatic and Bubble get in a fight in the gaming room. Terrik, SpecialKO, Gas, Charon and Moffa go check out a mineral cache via transport pod. Turns out, there's a pirate outpost there... manned by Wasabi's mom and Snuffles' dad. They also have turrets and an inciendiary mortar! This might be a tough nut to crack. GasBandit snipes turrets until the two pirates leave their entrenched area to attack. Terrik takes great pleasure in killing Mama Poptart with his sword. Pirate Upgaus tries to hit them with the mortar, but it's raining, and the rain shorts out the batteries and causes them to explode. Gasbandit snipes out the last turret defending the north side, and the party charges. Upagus is downed - but then his mortar explodes and kills him. It doesn't take long after that to take out the remaining turrets. Once the area is safe, Gas patches up the light wounds that were sustained, and Cheesy is sent in a pod with building materials for a temporary camp to exploit the resources of the region. Turns out, "Safe" might have been a generous appraisal. During the fighting, some of Upagus' mortars struck a nearby ancient crypt... which cause the cryptosleep caskets inside to eject their occupants. The psychotic men and women within managed to overcome the scythers inside the building by attrition, and the few that lived broke down the door to get out. Seeing the Halforumites, they attack. Gas and SpecialKO manage to take them out while the others are recovering/sleeping. A 35 year old female ninja named Mie is rescued from the crypt. The away team decides to use the now-vacant crypt as their shelter while they are on location.

Pictured: Film v. Bubble


Pictured: Upagus and Poptart, guarding the mineral cache


Pictured: Terrik feeds his bloodlust


Pictured: Upagus is downed, but... uh oh, that sparking mortar launcher can't be good news.


Pictured: The Crypt Spacers burst forth from their slumber



Jug 6 - Puppy, DarkAudit's bonded husky, has a brief, mild heart attack. The Polar Bear attacks and wounds Far while Far is trying to tame it. Far is treated in the infirmary, and the bear's door is locked until it calms down. Mie regains consciousness and mobility, but does not elect to join the group. She wanders, wounded and mostly naked, out into the wilderness. Mikerc makes a masterwork charge rifle and names it "SpecialKO's Cash."

Pictured: The Polar Bear tries to eat Far


Jug 8 - Krisken insults Frank, who knocks him right the fuck out. Bubble proposes to NoblHippy, who accepts. Wasabi's been smoking a lot of weed to deal with the death of her mother. Goes without saying she now hates Terrik with a burning passion.

Pictured: It was a short brawl.


Pictured: Tiptoe through the spectago with Bubble and NoblHippy


Jug 9 - Dave is out hunting wild muffalo, when the herd turns on him. There are so many they quickly stomp him into unconsciousness. The herd then goes charging at the colony itself, into the killbox. The colonists deal with them there, while Null's dog Bellboy goes and retrieves Dave, and drags him to safety. He is laid up for quite a while. Count and Romeo (Kags and Hylian's foxes) are caught in the crossfire and are wounded, but survive... though Count loses a leg.

Pictured: I hope Dave wore his brown pants today


Jug 10 - Jun installs an experimental animal-type bionic leg on Count, replacing the one that got shot off. A group of pirate sappers stage a surprise attack from the east. They have a doomsday rocket launcher! They fire it through the hole in the wall, causing widespread damage and injury. The pirates are driven off, Gryfter's grandfather is killed and Susy's father is captured. Many colonists sustain burns from trying to fight the massive fire in the east dormitory. Many beds are lost, but the building is saved. There's lots of bandaging and repairing done the rest of the day, and that night, a heat wave begins.

Pictured: Count - the cyborg fox


Pictured: Surprise sapper attack - this is the downside of building close to the edge of the map.


Pictured: KA-DOOOOOM


Jug 12 - Just barely getting back on our feet, a group of mechanoids moves in from the north. Despite explicit policy set to not leave the home area, Ravenpoe goes outside and finds a scyther has cut him off from returning to safety. A pig goes berserk and attacks, and Moffa gets caught in the crossfire of the killbox and is downed by the turrets. He sustains several hits to the head and suffers permanent brain damage. Squidley sustains some minor injuries in the firefight with the mechanoids once they arrive at the killbox, but aside from her and Moffa, everyone ends up ok.

Pictured: No rest for the weary


Pictured: The automatic defenses cut down Moffa, trying to shoot the pig attacking him


Jug 13 - The heat wave ends. Moffa, depressed over his reduced mental capacity after leading such an active, self-sufficient, and productive lifestyle previously, turns to smoking reefer. It overwhelms what brain he has left, and he blacks out and must be carried to bed. There is a procedure that can return Moffa's brain function to normal... but it would require 150 uranium to make the AI chip that would be implanted in his brain. That's a doozy of a decision. Jun successfully uses synthetic skin made from the hyperweave that dropped in a pod to erase the painful scar Zero had on his torso. Gruebeard gets a bionic eye to replace the one that was mangled by the doomsday rocket.

Jug 14 - Patrthom is installed with a bionic eye for the same reason as Grue.

Jug 15 - The ship now has 23 caskets. The polar bear is still not tame. There's 254 uranium in storage... do we fix Moffa's brain?

Pictured: The social standings at the end of Jugust, 5503
 
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Hey, as long as there's enough uranium left over for pods for me and my fiancee :D
We want to get off world so we can start a happy family :hump:
 
Do we still have 7 years? I'd chip him, we could possibly get more supplies.

Told you that polar bear was up to no good. He belongs at Halforums Academy, not the colony!

(Looking at that last screencap: helllloooooo, Officer! :unibrow:)
 
What?!?! Grampy was still alive all this time and running with pirates? Well, fuck that guy, he taught Dad all he knew and look how that turned out.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
Why does it require so much uranium in your head? Game-related reasons, such, but still... yikes!
The uranium doesn't actually go in his head, it is used in a process to "energize" components, which are then used to make the chip.

I forget what all else goes into making the AI chip... I think gold and plasteel, but got plenty of all that. The stumbling block is it needs 5 "energized components," and it takes 30 uranium a pop to energize a component.
 
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