Man in Black event seems OP

[RelaxItsJustAGame]

I think the "Man in black" event is OP. It was neat the first time I saw it, but it has popped up too frequently for me. It feels almost like cheating -- there's no downside to it, unlike other colonist join events that might be followed by a raid, or needing a rescue.

Maybe it's just I've played so many roguelites and games where death is common. I want my people to have a gloriously bad ending if they're close to dying.

Luckily I read how to turn off the event via scenario editing before I start.

I had thought of Rimworld as "brutal survival" game; the Man in Black event takes away from that.

[Henry of Skalitz]

It's just a guy with a revolver



Never came to aid me when I mostly needed him...

[Reverend Belial]

Yeah it's really not. More often than not the MiB sucks absolute balls and get immediately slaughtered by whatever just offed your colony, or is too slow to get to your downed guys in time to apply what miniscule amount of medical aid he's capable of providing.

[McFuzz]

He came to my aid when I'd been downed by ancient soldiers.

He had 1 in shooting.

He died.

[Myriad]

He came to my aid too. His downed body burned alongside the rest of my pawns right before, game over.

Really unless you luck out and he has a fantastic shooting skill, one pawn with a revolver isn't much when you're already doomed. He's kind of a last, slim, hope.

[Henry of Skalitz]

Man in black that is incapable of violence. Can it happen?

[=(e)= Lemonater47]

What's the trigger for this event?

Never had it tbh.

[grapplehoeker]

I find that theThe Man in Black is a great idea and addition to the game!
It offers a last chance to turn things around and avert a distastrous demise of a colony when it's most needed.
I do not think it is over powered either, because there's still no guarantee that he will have all of the necessary skills required to save a colony that is on the brink of failing.

For example, I've experienced this event and he had no medical skill and he could not haul or do manual labour. This meant he could not care for my ailing pawns who were suffering from various injuries, diseases and infections. So when they succumbed and died, he was alone and could not care for himself either. It was then a case of trying to make do for as long as possible in order to wait for an eventual wanderer or other type of addition to the colony.
So, while it can and does quite often mean you can recover thanks to the Man in Black, it doesn't mean it will always be the case. And this makes for interesting story telling ;)

More importantly though, if this event is 'popping up too frequently' for you, then something is seriously wrong with how well you're playing the game and that is something you really need to work on. Ideally, you should be playing so that things never get so bad that he ever makes an appearance.

[grapplehoeker]

Originally posted by =(e)= Lemonater47:

What's the trigger for this event?

Never had it tbh.

When most or all of your pawns are incapacitated.

[Percussigant]

It has popped once for me and at that stage those of my colonists who were not insect food for the infestation that destroyed half my colony were burned to a crisp by the massive fire who was raging through the other. It is fun, but certainly not overpowered imo.

[climbingeastofwinter]

It's not anymore OP than getting 300 meat from cargo pods when you start the game. An unarmoured dude with a revolver who only arrives after bad stuff has gone down isn't anything spectacular. It's a fun event though. Definately not OP though. I've yet to have him make a difference.

[Meat Man (Alfons)]

Originally posted by Frank McFuzz:

He came to my aid when I'd been downed by ancient soldiers.

He had 1 in shooting.

He died.

Confidence gets you far.

[Swirler]

You can probably disable the event in the game setup editor. Buried in a sub menu somewhere.

[p3st|cIdE]

Man in Black event is intended to help noobie players, is how I look at it. If you lose in the first year or two, he might be able to help. He certainly isn't OP enough to truly save any colony, and I think he may only trigger once per playthrough, so... just screw up twice and game over. I do not believe he's 100% chance of appearing, either, but I haven't died enough to be sure. They've never made a huge difference in my game length. Usually by time he shows up, everyone else is starving and upset and can't work enough to rescue the colony... and he's not able to run everything alone, or eventually goes mad himself.

[Reverend Belial]

Originally posted by Smelly Fish:

Man in black that is incapable of violence. Can it happen?

Yup, I've had it happen twice.

[Vintorez]

He's only useful if something goes wrong early on, there's no guarantee on his stats so he may not even be useful for combat.

Most of the time he's just a chance for a player to roleplay into a new scenario like 'Lone wanderer comes across the ruins of a recently destroyed settlement, can they rebuild?'