Enough variety?

[GrubbyGroo]

I've played the demo and really enjoyed it but I was wondering if there was enough variety to keep runs exciting and different? Or does each run end up following the same pattern? Are there different starting options for biome, etc to keep things fresh?

[glass zebra]

If the runs keep evolving in a different way largely depends on the player I'd say. You can go for a different stat focus, different food focus, different goal (there are winning conditions), different society structure, make a run without taxing etc. But if you do the same tactic every time, the runs are probably mostly different in early game and then get more samey the longer you play.

There are some differences with the terrain and not everything can be relocated (some plants or spawners), but different starting biomes are not supported yet. In the game creation there is an option for that, but it says that it is not yet implemented. So far you start in the default forest and what can have a big influence is the biome directly under your start.

They are also still adding content to the game and already said they are aiming for modding support for 1.0, so even if the game would not offer enough variety for you and only a solid base, you could probably get a lot more if mods come.


I was frankly in a similar position than you and bought the game to test further (back then you could continue your demo save, but I've read that is sadly not possible right now, since the demo is an older version) and frankly refunded in within the 2h window. I tested more though and decided to go buy it again and have not regretted it since. I have played over a hundred hours, with 4 finished games and a started one which felt rather different (but mostly from my idea after early/mid game). The devs communicate a lot what they plan and why and how they do things and usually answer to feedback and bug reports quickly, usually more than a canned response.

Edit: They also gave diplomacy/trade options much more variety in the last patch, but I have not played around with that enough to say how much that contributes in the long run (update is 1 day old). Going for raiding really early on to get some less common resources (and extra gold, which you'd otherwise have to mint or trade forr) seem like a pretty neat option, especially if you want to try to build a soldier city.

[GrubbyGroo]

Originally posted by glass zebra:

If the runs keep evolving in a different way largely depends on the player I'd say. You can go for a different stat focus, different food focus, different goal (there are winning conditions), different society structure, make a run without taxing etc. But if you do the same tactic every time, the runs are probably mostly different in early game and then get more samey the longer you play.

There are some differences with the terrain and not everything can be relocated (some plants or spawners), but different starting biomes are not supported yet. In the game creation there is an option for that, but it says that it is not yet implemented. So far you start in the default forest and what can have a big influence is the biome directly under your start.

They are also still adding content to the game and already said they are aiming for modding support for 1.0, so even if the game would not offer enough variety for you and only a solid base, you could probably get a lot more if mods come.


I was frankly in a similar position than you and bought the game to test further (back then you could continue your demo save, but I've read that is sadly not possible right now, since the demo is an older version) and frankly refunded in within the 2h window. I tested more though and decided to go buy it again and have not regretted it since. I have played over a hundred hours, with 4 finished games and a started one which felt rather different (but mostly from my idea after early/mid game). The devs communicate a lot what they plan and why and how they do things and usually answer to feedback and bug reports quickly, usually more than a canned response.

Edit: They also gave diplomacy/trade options much more variety in the last patch, but I have not played around with that enough to say how much that contributes in the long run (update is 1 day old). Going for raiding really early on to get some less common resources (and extra gold, which you'd otherwise have to mint or trade forr) seem like a pretty neat option, especially if you want to try to build a soldier city.

Thank you for the detailed response, this is super helpful!

[temeraire683]

I've been playing since November last year. I'll admit, sometimes I get a bit bored but then I created 'challenges' for myself to add some variety. Some things I've tried is

having to accept a rat each time there are new ones available
having to accept floorers each time they show up
having to accept negative traits (you can pick one trait and every time it shows up you must pick up)
starting the game with 20 rats and having to keep them alive (using custom difficulty)
use custom difficulty to make different aspects challenging, like setting low resources, etc

After doing a few of those, there's usually a new update which adds some new things and then when I start getting bored again I got back to some challenges.

so in a nutshell, yes it does have the potential to get boring after a while, but each world is different and there are ways to make things more interesting :)

[The Grand Mugwump]

Originally posted by temeraire683:

I've been playing since November last year. I'll admit, sometimes I get a bit bored but then I created 'challenges' for myself to add some variety. Some things I've tried is

having to accept a rat each time there are new ones available
having to accept floorers each time they show up
having to accept negative traits (you can pick one trait and every time it shows up you must pick up)
starting the game with 20 rats and having to keep them alive (using custom difficulty)
use custom difficulty to make different aspects challenging, like setting low resources, etc

After doing a few of those, there's usually a new update which adds some new things and then when I start getting bored again I got back to some challenges.

so in a nutshell, yes it does have the potential to get boring after a while, but each world is different and there are ways to make things more interesting :)

I think this is an essential mindset to have if one wants to get the most time out of a sandbox game. It is very easy to optimize the fun out of this game, but deliberately stopping oneself and trying less efficient methods and paths will help keep it fresher longer.