Game News RimWorld Alpha 8 released

[Whisky]

Tags: Kickstarter; Rimworld



RimWorld has had a new backer alpha release, this time adding mostly winter and temperature-based gameplay features.

Temperature and seasons

• Certain clothing can protect against temperature discomfort/harm.
• Temperature changes daily and on a yearly cycle according to where you are on the planet. There are distinct seasons.
• There are special heat wave/cold snap events.
• Added heater and cooler buildings.
• Food spoils. This can be slowed or prevented with refrigeration.
• Snow falls and accumulates over winter. It slows down movement.
• Snow can be cleared manually, and will melt if heated.
• New apparel: Parka and tuque.
• Added new biomes: boreal forest and tundra.
• A new temperature system tracks temperatures indoors and outdoors.
• Characters can get hypothermia, frostbite, heatstroke, or burns from being in extreme-temperature areas.

Art and crafting

• Sculptures and melee weapons have a quality. Quality is influenced by crafter skill and affects beauty and damage.
• Apparel crafting now allows crafting any kind of apparel.
• Can now craft any kind of melee weapon from appropriate materials.
• Created 'unfinished thing' step to crafting. Crafting can now take several days per item (as in the case of advanced weapons or art).
• Added art trading.
• Sculptor's table added. Colonists can create abstract sculptures.

New content

• New plants: pine tree, birch tree, moss, xerigium
• Xerigium plants can be farmed and refined into herbal medicine.
• New power plant: wind turbine.
• New weapons: triple rocket launcher, doomsday rocket launcher.
• New items: Glitterworld medicine, herbal medicine.
• Alphabeaver event creates alphabeavers who will consume trees until stopped.
• Ancient cryptosleep shrines now generate on the map. Open the cryptosleep caskets if you dare - the occupants may not be friendly.
• Economy and trader stock generation reworked and rebalanced from the ground up.Stats inspector allows inspecting more things in more places, and provides more, clearer info.
• Several new songs from Alistair Lindsay.
• You can now release prisoners. This gains you goodwill from their faction.
• You can now configure your keyboard hotkeys.
• Dozens of other fixes and improvements.
• New animals: elk, hare

 

[Hellraiser]

 

[Haba]

Looks gud. Will buy once feature complete

 

[thesheeep]

Wow, how comes I have never heard of this before?
It looks really good.

 

[Sranchammer]

More like rjmjobworld

 

[thesheeep]

More like rjmjobworld

Someone had to do it, right?

 

[Burning Bridges]

It was just too obvious.

 

[Hellraiser]

This video convinced me to spend jewgold on this. I am addicted, or at least impressed enough to keep wanting more and watching the hours fly. Apart from the resource system that needs to be overhauled (as it is very simplistic, though less so than in Space DF-9 which is best left forgotten) this is a damn good DF clone.

I mean honestly, this game allows me to build my very own stronghold in the desert mountain, enslave the passing by natives or travelers and sell them off, use the acquired cash to buy grenade launchers. Or I can kidnap and brainwash travelers into joining my settlement. Random events are great, between solar eclipses, psychic AI emanating a madness aura, solar storms, lightning strikes, fires, disease, electrical installation failures and ridiculous pirate raids.

Tactical combat is nice, slow paced, drawn out firefights. Shit exploding and causing fires, friendly fire, varied weapons (from clubs and bows to rifles, pistols, shotguns, grenade launchers, molotovs and mortars). Great music as well.

Main flaws I noticed so far are a simplistic resource industrial chain (seriously, mining steel directly out of a mountain? making sandbags or solar panels out of steel?), no Z-levels, not a whole lot of professions or skills, lack of job order queuing and various minor interface flaws.

Clockwork Empires may have a solid competitor for the "worthy successor to Dwarf Fortress" title, though of course skepticism is advised as with all in development titles.

 

[Whisky]

The best part about RimWorld is thanks to my donation, you could be torturing a Codex admin at any time.

I thing my name rolls as a Janitor everytime time too. Fitting.

 

[Agesilaus]

This is a fantastic game, back it now.

Alpha 8 was a big update, too; temperature, apparel crafting, rocket launchers, top stuff. Keep up the good work.

 

[Emily]

Hellraiser
Did you heard about a game called gnomoria?
Try it if you like DF clones.

 

[Hellraiser]

Hellraiser
Did you heard about a game called gnomoria?
Try it if you like DF clones.

I bought it for about the price of a sack of potato way back. Gnomoria's main problem is simple, it lacks FUN and simulation. The guy is adding automatons and mechanical limbs, calling it a beta, when gnomes behave like soulless automatons. Eat, sleep, work. No moods, no spontaneous rampages, no lazy procrastination, no memories, preferences or idle chit-chat.

At the same time there is not much happening between digging and building. Either golems spawn or goblins attack. Occasionally you get a bear or lizard wondering about. And mants. Mants are nice, because you need to watch out for scouts.

Also it has no biomes, or weather, or actual seasons. No world map and embarkation picking. The environment and game world is a bit dull overall.

 

[Emily]

Hmm interesting it seems you have same problems with Gnomoria as I. Basically no fun in it.
So would you say that RimWorld is a better game at this point then Gnomoria?

 

[Hellraiser]

Hmm interesting it seems you have same problems with Gnomoria as I. Basically no fun in it.
So would you say that RimWorld is a better game at this point then Gnomoria?

From a perspective of capturing what made DF fun and Fun (for me), which would be randomness and deep simulation, yes. The main flaws of Rimworld, which I already wrote down elsewhere, are no Z-Levels and a simplistic resource system and industrial chain. Also it needs more content.

In gnomoria you fail because goblins/ogres/mants murder too many of your gnomes. Or occasionally a golem does that.

In rimworld you fail because potato blight killed your crops, your main farmer went on a rampage from dark and cramped environment of your settlement, the second farmer was sick in bed due to an infection from a gunshot wound inflicted by friendly fire, while the medic was busy fending off raiders or mechanoids only to end up in shock lying on the ground, bleeding to death. And the guy sent to rescue the medic got killed by a headshot from a charged rifle or m-24. Also the raiders shot your solar panels to pieces or blew up a turret and a vital power line connected to it. You have no power, it is the middle of winter, -20 outside and your heating is out, so everybody inside starts getting hypothermia.

 

[Thane Solus]

pretty good game, lots of potential, cant wait for the release version.