Anomaly DLC misses the point

[Llama]

What does cosmic horrors have to do with running a colony?

Rimworld has always been about running a colony and all the imagined challenges and narratives that brings, the politics and intrigue that kind of stuff. This DLC feels like a over glorified side quest, not essential to the character of Rimworld.

A proper DLC would be something like "Underworld" (yes I made it up). A crime syndicate DLC that further develops all the relationships involved in this colony simulator. Introduce new mechanics like sneaking around, stealth, thievery, black markets, assassinations, drug running, arm dealings, mercenaries, etc.

So why Underworld and not Anomaly? UW adds to the politics and relationships involved in your colony. It's what you would expect if you run a small settlement it's the drama and challenges that come from running a settlement. Anomaly just seems to add content for the sake of content and not to deepen and enrich the core expectations of running a colony and managing relationships with pawns and the environment tied to the life of your colony. Anomaly is just a side quest.

[XelNigma]

What exactly does making one personal a nobal with psychic powers have to do with running a colony?

What exactly does having one person controlling a bunch of robots have to do with running a colony?

What exactly does having one person being a vampire have to do with running a colony?

What exactly does having an monolith thats driving all your people crazy have to do with, oh wait. Yah that one would affect your ability to run a colony.

[Smoodle Doodle]

I for one am hoping for a Warhammer 40k mod that unleashes chaos all over the map. damn eldar creating lustful demon gods. lol

[Sally smithson]

I am a lil wuss, i dont like scary things. I'll probably give anomaly one run and then never again. Yet i think there will be some content that will give a lil flavour to runs that dont peeve off the archotech

[Sally smithson]

But even if anomaly is utter trash. The QOL of 1.5 The search function is one of the best things, the vein mine makes things very nice. Such a relaxed experience.

[epicfloor]

Tynan will make whatever contents he and Ludeon Studio like, we buy whatever DLC we like. I can refuse to buy a DLC that doesn't fit my style, you can too. If cosmic horror doesn't fit you , leave it then. Still baffles me that no one complains Blizzard sell their skin at 20$ each while people like you complain Rimworld DLCs that offer much more contents for less price just because you don't like it.

[Sally smithson]

cant say i dont like it if i havent tried it. Plus i love rimworld to high heavens and back. So doing what is effectively a donation doesn't bother me in this specific case.
Perhaps its really not that terrifying after all

[Alex]

Originally posted by Sally smithson:

I am a lil wuss, i dont like scary things. I'll probably give anomaly one run and then never again. Yet i think there will be some content that will give a lil flavour to runs that dont peeve off the archotech

I honestly don't see how this is more scary than bots with knives for hands or giant maggot looking bots with rocket launchers, or groups of pig men who eat people.

[Quru]

I agree with Llama, the more interesting way to expand rimworld was the Diplomatic way.

With the factions, the holding prisonners quests, and the guests coming in the colony (Sometimes piglrims, for one of your relic), when the chief of a faction dies you have a message telling you which one is remplacing him, but you cant do anything with it,
you have members of your colonist's family coming on the map, or some guests who have nothing to trade, and they all have a "social" tab with nothing to do in it.
Same for the radio, allowing you to communicate with other factions.. but not for much.

Mercenary and hostage exchange, with some mecanics from the Hospitality mod (just like they integrate all the QoL mod mecanics in the 1.5) was a more logical and pleasant perspective for the game.

And i'm not against anomaly that much, i like it : its an alternative way of playing, brings interesting stuff like new science, new technologies, new ways to protect your colony, other than just bigger kill box.
So its a smart way to get some different challenges.. but still look 100 miles away from the ideology requierment, the stability needed for the biotech childs or the advantage you had from gene, or the space you need to get a throne room.


And ok "its tynan choice, he's the one choosing the dlc"

But i cant get out of my mind that his only explanation for choosing this kind of DLC over other possibilities was :

" I saw Cabin in the Woods
and I thought the monster lab was awesome."

I'm curious about Anomaly, but less interested than some more synergistic possibilities
cause making occult research gets you madness and stress ... and its going to be near impossible to explore other purpose from the 3 first dlc in the same time.
And like Llama i'm a bit worried about it.

I think anomaly is good for a new gameplay (thanks to the community all the "Call of Cthulhu " mods are already doing that very well), but its coming before more important things (that even Hospitality and the "Factions" mods have a hard time to sync with the game mecanics properly.)

[Sally smithson]

Originally posted by Alex:

Originally posted by Sally smithson:

I am a lil wuss, i dont like scary things. I'll probably give anomaly one run and then never again. Yet i think there will be some content that will give a lil flavour to runs that dont peeve off the archotech

I honestly don't see how this is more scary than bots with knives for hands or giant maggot looking bots with rocket launchers, or groups of pig men who eat people.

I am primarely scared of the horrific noises the creatures can make. If it is too much to bear ill just mod the noises out.

[Hones]

I can absolutely understand the frustration, if you are not a fan of any horror trope at all, then this DLC is probably a bust for you.
However all the people saying "Tynan should have done this, Tynan should have done that":
Ludeon is literally checking boxes from their kickstarter campaign about a dozen years back. And one of the still open spots was the whole "void gods" shtick. So that's what we are getting now. It is literally a person (Tynan) and a company (Ludeon) fulfilling promises they made 10+ years ago. Anyone criticizing that is - in my opinion - absolutely out of their mind. This is A+ developer integrity and behaviour.

Yes, I would love to see the world map and all the interactions there expanded: Diplomacy, factions, caravaning, settlements, quests, ocean stuff, etc etc.
And my guess is, that this is still on the table. They just had other priorities first:
Namely KEEPING THE PROMISES THEY MADE MORE THAN A DECADE AGO.

If that is not absolute peak developer quality, then I don't know what is.

[Hykal]

Well said. I can wait another 18 months for the next DLC.

[Llama]

Originally posted by XelNigma:

What exactly does making one personal a nobal with psychic powers have to do with running a colony?

What exactly does having one person controlling a bunch of robots have to do with running a colony?

What exactly does having one person being a vampire have to do with running a colony?

What exactly does having an monolith thats driving all your people crazy have to do with, oh wait. Yah that one would affect your ability to run a colony.

Royalty - Introduced a leadership mechanic which fits perfectly into running a Rimworld settlement. It also introduced a powerful faction (Empire) which fits well into the Rimworld Universe where you can either work with or against both for unique gameplay and rewards. The psytech stuff is fluff really and distracts from the core experience of Rimworld. It was good for adding depth into combat which was needed and welcomed but it could have easily been achieved using new weapons and equipments, you didn't need to go into space magic. Royalty made sense the content it added tied directly into the internal mechanics of running a Rimworld settlement and satisfied expectations of running a Rimworld settlement. It made thematic sense and had purpose.

Biotech - Mechs play a significant role in Rimworld, it's part of the soul of the game, it's theme. It was only right to introduce in a meaningful way the role and gameplay elements of what it would be like to run a settlement focusing on Mechs and all it's implications. This fits perfectly into the Rimworld Universe and most importantly this goes into the heart of running a settlement.. do you decide to embrace Mechs totally or in moderation or not at all and all have their gameplay ramifications. The vampire stuff in Biotech is like the Psy stuff in Royalty, a fluff piece distraction. I mean sure these things can be fun but it's kinda like flying a kite at night or having a bowl of cereal for dinner... like WTH?

Anomaly - And here is that bowl of cereal for dinner. Sure it can taste good and fun but it's not the fun you wanted or made any sense. I'm not saying there can't be any space monsters there can be whatever you want. This is where you need to draw lines and have borders and ask yourself what is Rimworld about? We need more settlement expansion stuff, things you expect to be in a game about frontier world settlement drama. I mean sure alien invasions can be one of those things but before we indulge in our imaginations give us the missing pieces of our Rimworld experience.

What is those missing pieces? Well pick and chose which ones is the most important to you, and each of us will have different opinions. I can tell you this though not many have thought... you know what Rimworld needs... inter dimensional flesh monsters.

What's next "Killer Clowns from Outerspace" DLC?

[Dr. Uncredible]

Everything needs inter-dimensional flesh monsters, sir.

[trashoras]

You can't make everyone happy - you do a horror dlc, people think that's it's not colony sim like enough to be in game. You do this, someone is happy, another one is disappointed. You do that, someone thinks it's obsolete or a copy of a mod (damn you lazy developer!).

Rimworld is a great game and we have to accept, that some content will not match everyones expectations. It's a game. Enjoy it like you want, buy the dlc or not. Or: write big passages of text to explain your very very important opinion to everyone.

[Carlucio]

I have yet to understand this dlc. It seems all it does is make the game harder. Good for those seeking more challenge, but right now I already feel like I can barelly send caravans into the world without being overrun by something.