Can the Storyteller temporarily increase accuracy to kill off specific pawns?

[downthedrain]

So fairly recently, early on in a Cassandra run one of my Colonists died after taking two shotgun bursts to the chest. I wouldn't bat an eye if not for the fact that the attacker A. had a shooting skill of 4, B. had a shotgun of ductape tier Quality, C. Missed every shot after killing the colonist, and D. the colonist in question was behind sandbags some distance away. Was this just chance or does the Story Teller have the ability to magically do stuff like this to "Create drama"?

[TwoTonGamer]

The storyteller won't make magic bullets to kill you, as far as I know.

RimWorld combat is just dangerous. Even in Marine Armor against a pea shooter. Once bullets start flying there aren't any guarantees that someone won't get hurt. It's tough.

[M.K.]

Downthedrain, meet Random Chance. Welcome to the party.
Random Chance, this is Downthedrain. You killed him recently. I'd ask you not to do this again, but I know you just do your own thing at your own time.

Don't mind Malice standing there in the corner. He makes noises of complaint but we don't let him into the conversation, he has no place here.

There. Introductions done.

[TwoTonGamer]

Originally posted by M.K.:

Downthedrain, meet Random Chance. Welcome to the party.
Random Chance, this is Downthedrain. You killed him recently. I'd ask you not to do this again, but I know you just do your own thing at your own time.

Don't mind Malice standing there in the corner. He makes noises of complaint but we don't let him into the conversation, he has no place here.

There. Introductions done.

Haha! Oh, my, I love it.

M.K., I have to admit to sometimes being put off by your sarcasm and, sometimes, a slightly, little bit, too harsh/demeaning attitude.

But, you have consistently good advice (and clever!) if you look past the delivery!

[downthedrain]

Originally posted by M.K.:

Downthedrain, meet Random Chance. Welcome to the party.
Random Chance, this is Downthedrain. You killed him recently. I'd ask you not to do this again, but I know you just do your own thing at your own time.

Don't mind Malice standing there in the corner. He makes noises of complaint but we don't let him into the conversation, he has no place here.

There. Introductions done.

I'm going to be honest, I'd be a lot more tolerant of your remark if it weren't for the fact that A., a glance at my profile would tell you that I've been playing for literal years now, including well before the steam release, and B, your question answers almost nothing, and to be blunt if I were a new player I could've figured out that the game had dice rolls from the Steam Page's description, and in about half the time too. I apologize for trying to make a question about the storyteller AI into an argument for my hOnOuR bEiNg SlIgHted but for ♥♥♥♥♥ sake if you're going to try and insult my intelligence at least do it properly instead of trying to use pretentious ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ because you assumed you're some sort of Rimworld senior. Regardless, the reason I asked the aforementioned question was because I had done a bit of reading on the Storyteller AI, and learned about some of the little protocols it has in play for creating the story, and how tightly dedicated to a narrative the storytellers actually are (Even Randy Random's fairly linear), which, combined with the aforementioned death, lead me to wonder if the Storytellers are capable of Voodoo ♥♥♥♥ like this.

[Astasia]

Storytellers have no "narrative" and aren't "trying" to do anything. They throw dice to generate some of the random events, that's it. They don't even control disease. The different storytellers throw different event dice at different intervals, that's all that separates them.

[Morkonan]

Originally posted by downthedrain:

... Was this just chance or does the Story Teller have the ability to magically do stuff like this to "Create drama"?

This is simply a case of evolving dynamic situations presenting you with "new things."

What's purposeful in Rimworld is to allow for this sort of thing, not to actually "create" it. They just happen, but they happen because the mechanics are in the game.

What is "made to happen" are Events. Getting shot in the chest by a shotgun is not an "Event" though the Raid that allowed such a thing to eventually take place is an Event.

You experienced exactly what the game mechanics and gameplay design intended to happen - An Event combined with the current game state and a bunch of changing variables produced a unique and interesting outcome. Considering the risk involved here, the outcome was very "dramatic." Fortunately so for you, the player, but a bit unfortunate for your little electronic Colonist. (Only slightly, though - They got a clean death. Other colonists may not be so lucky...)

[Hedgie]

If you've been playing this for years this was bound to happen eventually

[Morkonan]

Originally posted by Hedgie:

...this was bound to happen eventually

Can be used as a response to a report of the most nonsensical disaster in Rimworld. :)

[M.K.]

Originally posted by downthedrain:

I'm going to be honest, I'd be a lot more tolerant of your remark if it weren't for the fact that A., a glance at my profile would tell you that I've been playing for literal years now, including well before the steam release, and B, your question answers almost nothing, and to be blunt if I were a new player I could've figured out that the game had dice rolls from the Steam Page's description, and in about half the time too. I apologize for trying to make a question about the storyteller AI into an argument for my hOnOuR bEiNg SlIgHted but for ♥♥♥♥♥ sake if you're going to try and insult my intelligence at least do it properly instead of trying to use pretentious ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ because you assumed you're some sort of Rimworld senior. Regardless, the reason I asked the aforementioned question was because I had done a bit of reading on the Storyteller AI, and learned about some of the little protocols it has in play for creating the story, and how tightly dedicated to a narrative the storytellers actually are (Even Randy Random's fairly linear), which, combined with the aforementioned death, lead me to wonder if the Storytellers are capable of Voodoo ♥♥♥♥ like this.

Ok, let me rephrase my answer:
NO, the storyteller does not do that.
It is all in your mind, and both your making such a very paranoid assumption, as well as the ***extreme*** psycho rant you just spouted, makes me worry about your mental health.
Please get the opinion of a professional, before you hurt someone.

[LIMP BISQUICK]

Combat system is whack.

One of the last times I played I had a caravan that got ambushed. Pawn 1 with 14+ shooting is aiming at a raider at maximum distance. SO the bullet strays to the animal that was in very close range of pawn 1 off to the side. Nowhere near raider. Of course it aggros so I load up pawn 2 in a pod for backup. Pawn 1 kills animal and fights raider. Pawn 2 is flying on the way, pawn 1 gets downed - game wipes that caravan right before pawn 2 lands. Could've been easily saved & honestly shouldn't even have been downed in the first place.. Yay, Everyone gets a banished colonists mood. Sure, great story, but don't forget the part where the player quits or reloads due to the amount of bs that happens. Not like I didn't see that kind of situation happen before in that current game.

I actually encourage these off the wall chances to happen every once in a while, to keep things somewhat unpredictable. But.. the frequency of it is a joke. It loses that "OMG that just happened" moment to "Of course... again."

[Morkonan]

Originally posted by Jibbles:

Combat system is whack.

One of the last times I played I had a caravan that got ambushed. Pawn 1 with 14+ shooting is aiming at a raider at maximum distance.... Pawn 2 is flying on the way, pawn 1 gets downed - game wipes that caravan right before pawn 2 lands. Could've been easily saved & honestly shouldn't even have been downed in the first place.. Yay, Everyone gets a banished colonists mood.

I get it. Things like that can leave a sour taste, for sure.

But...

Caravans are likely to be the biggest voluntary risk you ever take with your pawns. And, you should never, ever, send out just one pawn. Nor, should you send out a caravan that can't survive a bit of a tussle... Sure, they could be injured and forced to lay over in a dangerous place for awhile, but they're still alive.

Sure, great story, but don't forget the part where the player quits or reloads due to the amount of bs that happens.

I completely understand that. Not long ago I played a game in which a great deal of what could happen that could be "bad" was left up to what was basically RNG and "bugs." And, the consequences for that? Always "catastrophic." Always. Five steps forward, confidently, enthusiastically, then four steps back. One step away from nothing at all... That was a terribly punishing and unfun experience with very little options available to the player to avoid such things. In some cases, none at all.

But... :)

Rimworld isn't like that. It's true! :)

Sure, if an inexperienced player gets in above their head, they're liable to get some pretty fatal consequences. But, there's always reloading a save, right? And, when you're experienced? You don't fall to the simple, unexciting, things. You've actually prepared in advance for the "Bad Things" that could happen. Well, at least as much as you can. And, guess what? Your preparations pay off and you conquer The Thing... or whatever.

Rimworld gives you the tools to prevail. Mostly. ;)

...But.. the frequency of it is a joke. It loses that "OMG that just happened" moment to "Of course... again."

It depends on what it is.

And, it's "known." The Events are listed. The difficulty levels and narrator attributes are listed. (Well, reasonably well enough.) That's not to say the game can't have its surprises, it's just to say that an experienced player knows what the most dangerous ones are and has prepared for them. And... they get rewarded. Either they're rewarded with victory over "impossible odds" or... they watch their colony crumble due to a manhunting squirrel.

There's several tools for any one job in Rimworld. Most of them actually work!

I'm pretty confident that any properly described situation would get some really good advice here on the forums. Lacking that, there's Reddit, Ludeon's forums, teh interwebz in general, etc.

PS - A shooting skill of 14+ doesn't mean the pawn can't get killed by an enemy with a shooting skill of 1. Or a ticked off muffalo... or squirrel.. or a falling ceiling.. caused by another pawn shooting at a squirrel with a rocket launcher. (The pawn having the rocket launcher, of course. Probably. ;))

[downthedrain]

Originally posted by M.K.:

Originally posted by downthedrain:

Ok, let me rephrase my answer:
NO, the storyteller does not do that.
It is all in your mind, and both your making such a very paranoid assumption, as well as the ***extreme*** psycho rant you just spouted, makes me worry about your mental health.
Please get the opinion of a professional, before you hurt someone.

Word of the wise, if your best counter argument is to accuse someone of being a deranged sociopath, you probably no longer have a point to begin with. I'm frankly impressed at the mental gymnastics required to link wondering if AI from a videogame can alter dice rolls with bullets with being delusional. Regardless, you actually managed to deign yourself to answer the question in your second post, and good on you for it. Like I said from the very beginning, a weird event got me thinking about what the storytellers were actually capable of, and, as according to you, they aren't capable of what I originally queried. Like I said, Rimworld Storyteller's are a lot less Random than their ingame descriptions hint at, and I was simply curious if being able to effect weapon accuracy was that much of a stretch.

[LIMP BISQUICK]

Rimworld gives you the tools to prevail. Mostly

It's true, there's even a resurrector serum for when things spiral out. I think I was just salty about the "caravan lost" back then. It was indeed learning the hard way. I believe you were able to rescue them at some point before if they were simply downed in previous versions. It's pretty rare for me to lose a caravan so idk for sure.

PS - A shooting skill of 14+ doesn't mean the pawn can't get killed by an enemy with a shooting skill of 1

hehe I'm well aware of this. I think what gets me is the kind of shot my pawn made with a bolt rifle. It looked awkward slinging off to the side nowhere near my target & I've seen those often. So it does look forced, the same way how your pawns will eat each others bullets if not placed properly but here you can't avoid it. Makes it seem as tho my skilled shooter hasn't progress with shots like that. The truth is that level 8, level 15 they're not all that much different to me due to how much rng plays a role. I didn't get one-shot btw, that bastard had to be nimble or something lol

[M.K.]

Originally posted by Jibbles:

... It looked awkward slinging off to the side nowhere near my target & I've seen those often. So it does look forced,...

Classic example of a Critical Fumble.
We do it in Real Life(tm) too, you know.
Here's a classic example

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3kJ6SU3ycs

[Morkonan]

Originally posted by Jibbles:

... I think I was just salty about the "caravan lost" back then. It was indeed learning the hard way. I believe you were able to rescue them at some point before if they were simply downed in previous versions. It's pretty rare for me to lose a caravan so idk for sure.

I hear you. I, too, remember losing "that one caravan" that I felt was an unjustifiable loss. But... Oh well, that's why I only do "mandatory" caravan runs unless I'm sure I've got everything it takes to reduce the risk level to "negligible." (Had a group of three get ambushed, spent several hours reloading saves, trying different strategies, before I realized that no matter what I tried I was going to lose the pawn I didn't want to lose... If I didn't want to lose 'em, I shouldn't have sent 'em. :))

...So it does look forced, the same way how your pawns will eat each others bullets if not placed properly but here you can't avoid it. Makes it seem as tho my skilled shooter hasn't progress with shots like that. The truth is that level 8, level 15 they're not all that much different to me due to how much rng plays a role. I didn't get one-shot btw, that bastard had to be nimble or something lol

AFAIK, there is no way for a Narrator to insert itself into simple "Work/Job/Drafted" actions to do anything. "Results" where there's a dice-roll? Maybe. But, the variables the Narrators effect are "known" and even if they were off a bit, the intent of having Narrators effect those things is obvious - The intent is to scale certain Events to present different levels of difficulty.

https://rimworldwiki.com/wiki/Randy_Random

Those variables don't reach into jobs/actions/etc. The present the player with certain things that may have their "volume" knob turned up or down, but that's basically it. (Though, the "ceilings" on those knobs can be changed, too.)

A good explanation I think: https://www.reddit.com/r/RimWorld/comments/96ebpa/story_teller_information/

Note: There have been some changes, especially concerning colonist population and, perhaps, a few other things. I don't remember exactly what they are, but they're not really of much consequence in this context.

Events: AFAIK, these are "incidents" too: https://rimworldwiki.com/wiki/Events

Now, let's say that your shooter missed their target and then you got a message that an animal has gone "Manhunter." THAT would be the Narrator. But, it didn't go "Manhunter" right? It was simply "aggro'd" by being hit and showed "Animal Revenge," which is a natural reaction by animals when they're damaged by anyone.

https://rimworldwiki.com/wiki/Events#.28Animal.29_Revenge

Now, that is, AFAIK, affected by a multiplier due to difficulty. IOW, it's easier for animals to get Animal Revenge based upon your (higher) difficulty level. But, that requires you to do damage to them, first.

That damage? That was all... you. :) That was a missed shot hitting a wild animal and then all the difficulty multipliers kicked in at that point and not before. ;)

PS - I don't know that Rand counts this towards his tallied number of incidents per day average. Probably not... but maybe. :)