Rimworld needs some QoL improvements

[Drakortha]

Recently returning to Rimworld, and I've noticed the game is still a little rough around the edges. For example, if your pawns have to build a wall that's wider than 2 blocks, they're not smart enough to complete the inner parts first before finishing the outer part, leaving patches inaccessible.

There's inconsistencies in object that you can install/uninstall. Deep Drills and Biosculptor Pods can be uninstalled, but Sarcophagus's and Cryptosleep caskets can't. It's very inconsistent.

We have food policies, apparel, drug, etc. But no work policies. And in general, we need more improvements in the UI to help with all the micromanagement. We need better medical and relationship panels, for example.

But these are only a few examples. If you want better examples look over at the steam workshop. As there's a lot of fixes being made to the game. As someone who doesn't use Mods, I would prefer some QoL be added to the vanilla game. I don't like having to rely on mods to be updated by modders..

[Ufthak]

What do you mean by work policies that isn't handled by the work tab or bill assignments? Just further subdivisions of work types that are available in some mods?

[Drakortha]

Originally posted by Ufthak:

What do you mean by work policies that isn't handled by the work tab or bill assignments? Just further subdivisions of work types that are available in some mods?

Such as a set of work priorities contained within a work policy that you can assign to a pawn from a drop down, without having to look at the spreadsheet in the work tab.

[Ufthak]

Ah, so you're just asking for a different view to engage with it basically. I guess it'd be easier to allow managing subtasks from that perspective, too. Warden > Recruit/Feed would be a lot easier to fit in drop downs.

[Wraith_Magus]

Originally posted by Drakortha:

Recently returning to Rimworld, and I've noticed the game is still a little rough around the edges. For example, if your pawns have to build a wall that's wider than 2 blocks, they're not smart enough to complete the inner parts first before finishing the outer part, leaving patches inaccessible.

This is a common issue in the genre. (It's a meme in Dwarf Fortress, even referenced by the dwarves in World of Warcraft, that dwarves will not just wall themselves out of access to inner walls, they'll wall themselves in and the player won't even be notified until they start to starve or have already died. In RimWorld, for its part, I've seen a pawn wall herself in then build a wall on top of herself and then get punted out of the wall because of some kind of sanity check for this sort of thing...) Having awareness of their surroundings in situations like this can have performance costs, because it's both complicated and if you have a "check to make sure you don't wall yourself off" chunk of code, it has to be run every time someone tries to build anything. In general, a better solution is just working on layers of wall at a time or manually prioritizing inner chunks of wall.

Originally posted by Drakortha:

There's inconsistencies in object that you can install/uninstall. Deep Drills and Biosculptor Pods can be uninstalled, but Sarcophagus's and Cryptosleep caskets can't. It's very inconsistent.

Deep drills make a lot of sense to be miniaturized because if you want anything other than stone chunks, you need to use scanners or long-range scanners, and then haul the drills to the locations you detected mineral deposits. It mentions that they're redeployable in their description for that reason, because it would be a real waste if you had to keep rebuilding them.

Otherwise, these are all just settings for individual objects. I can't quite say why biosculpter pods are minifiable while cryptosleep caskets are not other than "Tynan felt like doing it that way," but if it bothers you, there are mods to be able to set which things are and aren't minifiable:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=872762753
(Note: There are options in the mod to change what can be minified, and turning walls off might be a good idea, especially if you have mods that increase the chance of raiders stealing things that can be minified, because people have reported raiders coming to steal their walls before...)

Originally posted by Drakortha:

We have food policies, apparel, drug, etc. But no work policies. And in general, we need more improvements in the UI to help with all the micromanagement. We need better medical and relationship panels, for example.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1414302321

Originally posted by Drakortha:

But these are only a few examples. If you want better examples look over at the steam workshop. As there's a lot of fixes being made to the game. As someone who doesn't use Mods, I would prefer some QoL be added to the vanilla game. I don't like having to rely on mods to be updated by modders..

Tynan doesn't read these forums (and you can tell why if you just look at all the trolling and complaints about things people don't understand, like complaining that the game isn't 64 bit when it's been 64 bit for something like 6 years.) Tynan made the game moddable specifically so that players can handle minor issues like these with mods. Tynan might include some UI changes or the like, but you really shouldn't count on it. Mods are the way to fix these issues.

If you don't want to rely on other people updating their mods, then I suggest you update your own mods. There's a pretty robust community in RimWorld for continuing abandoned mods at this point.

[Astasia]

Originally posted by Drakortha:

Recently returning to Rimworld, and I've noticed the game is still a little rough around the edges. For example, if your pawns have to build a wall that's wider than 2 blocks, they're not smart enough to complete the inner parts first before finishing the outer part, leaving patches inaccessible.

I believe this has been addressed in the ways the dev wanted to address it, I don't think it's going to change much more. There have been changes to corner tile construction, and safeties to pop colonists out of tiles they build on. For the most part rather than adding complex AI to the build process which has a performance cost, the dev just expects players to build smarter on their end. Don't build in a way that a colonist can trap themselves or wall off parts of the construction.

Originally posted by Drakortha:

There's inconsistencies in object that you can install/uninstall. Deep Drills and Biosculptor Pods can be uninstalled, but Sarcophagus's and Cryptosleep caskets can't. It's very inconsistent.

That isn't QoL, that is game balance. Most buildings aren't meant to be reinstalled, that's one of the resource sinks in the game. Drills only recently became reinstallable after deep drilling income was reduced. Biosculpters can be reinstalled because if you deconstruct them you only get 1/4 resources instead of 1/2, this is a mechanic to prevent people from deconstructing and rebuilding the pods to bypass the tuning cooldown.

Originally posted by Drakortha:

We have food policies, apparel, drug, etc. But no work policies. And in general, we need more improvements in the UI to help with all the micromanagement. We need better medical and relationship panels, for example.

You can copy-paste work schedules. Typically a colonist does not dramatically change what they are doing very often because this is largely a game about specialization. If you get a new grower or researcher or whatever you can just copy-paste from an existing one.

The medical tab was just overhauled last update. UI updates and QoL are constant with every major update, expect to see another large batch in a few months with 1.6. It may not be the specific ones you want, it's what the dev chooses are worthwhile additions to the game, and it's usually substantial.

To be clear, I use the Smarter Construction mod, and Minify Everything. When it's clear the dev doesn't agree with your sense of balance or performance, that is what mods are for. Stop not using mods. Mods are great. The workshop is full of things that change the game, not to "fix problems" in it, but to tune things to your personal preference.

[Humpenstilzchen]

Originally posted by Drakortha:

For example, if your pawns have to build a wall that's wider than 2 blocks, they're not smart enough to complete the inner parts first before finishing the outer part, leaving patches inaccessible.

Use this mod, it fixes this issue.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2202185773

[Drakortha]

As I've stated in my original post, I am hoping for QoL improvements by the developer. Suggesting I use other peoples mods or do the work myself is not the solution I was after.

I know the game is 10 years old now. But War for the Overworld, another indie game on steam which is 10 years old just got a major patch to the game. It shows that the developers care about the state of their game and are willing to improve the vanilla experience for new and returning players.

Mods are great for adding bonus content and features that go beyond the developers intended vision. But relying on them to smooth out the edges isn't really acceptable in the long term. Sure, in the short term they are helpful. But a developer who sees certain QoL mods become popular should be taking notes for their next patch IMO.

[Wraith_Magus]

Originally posted by Drakortha:

As I've stated in my original post, I am hoping for QoL improvements by the developer. Suggesting I use other peoples mods or do the work myself is not the solution I was after.

And as I stated in my post, Tynan does not read this forum, so saying you want Tynan to do something here is like saying you want a million dollars - that's nice, but it's not happening. You only get us, and you only get mods.

Stop looking a perfectly functional solution in the mouth and complaining that you don't like who's providing it.

[Dr.Acula]

Hey Op, have you ever looked through the workshop? Almost every flaw in terms of QoL functionalities can be changed through mods. Some of the mod functionalities over the years even made their way into the main game (mining an entire ore node for example).

Still relevant mods have already been mentioned in this thread and they work well. So yes, Rimworld always had some rough edges but the cool thing about this game is that most of it can be changed and you have mods for almost anything available now.

[Drakortha]

Originally posted by Wraith_Magus:

Originally posted by Drakortha:

As I've stated in my original post, I am hoping for QoL improvements by the developer. Suggesting I use other peoples mods or do the work myself is not the solution I was after.

And as I stated in my post, Tynan does not read this forum, so saying you want Tynan to do something here is like saying you want a million dollars - that's nice, but it's not happening. You only get us, and you only get mods.

Stop looking a perfectly functional solution in the mouth and complaining that you don't like who's providing it.

And what about the console edition of the game? PS4, Xbox, and any other potential future version on devices like the Nintendo Switch 2?

Unless all versions of Rimworld have access to mods, new and returning players who want to play on those devices will not be looking at perfectly functional solutions in the mouth. They'll be stuck with the roughest version of the game because it was hamstrung by it's over-reliance on modders to make it into a smooth and enjoyable experience on the PC.

Like I said. Mods do have their place. But they shouldn't replace a game that is well polished and optimised by the developers themselves. Otherwise it's going to bite them in the arse later with future releases.

I'm not saying that Ludeon need to address every issue. There will always be specific fixes that they'll miss and that is where Mods will come in. But would it hurt to release some QoL updates from time to time? Especially in-between DLC releases. Small fixes and changes every few months would add up over time and make Rimworld a better game for everyone.

[Dr.Acula]

Originally posted by Drakortha:

And what about the console edition of the game? PS4, Xbox, and any other potential future version on devices like the Nintendo Switch 2?

Go and complain to Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo. Especially Sony and Nintendo have no interest in making mods available on their consoles and it's not the responsibility of a game developer to change that. If you want to have the full Rimworld experience then play it on PC.

[Astasia]

Originally posted by Drakortha:

And what about the console edition of the game? PS4, Xbox, and any other potential future version on devices like the Nintendo Switch 2?

Heh. The console editions were not made by Ludeon, and they are dead, it's highly unlikely any further editions will be made, they haven't even been patched in several years. Mods are the last thing those versions are worrying about, they are extremely outdated and missing the vast majority of the content the PC version has. The console version was a project Double Eleven requested, they did the bare minimum then bailed.

Even if Double Eleven decides to return to them at some point, it's a very different version of the game with a very different UI and very different "QoL" concerns. Anything Ludeon does with the PC version basically has no impact on what happens with the console version which is an entirely separate project.

[these people]

One QoL feature I would like are more complex conditions for storage zones. For example, to feed my harbinger trees I would like to be able to place any humanlike corpses as well as only rotten animal corpses. But with the way the storage conditions are I will have to either allow both rotten and fresh for both of those, or allow only rotten corpses.

What I have been doing is making a freezer stockpile zone that includes fresh animal corpses at a higher priority than this zone, but if anyone has any mods that work with the storage system I'd like to try them out.

[Wraith_Magus]

Originally posted by these people:

One QoL feature I would like are more complex conditions for storage zones. For example, to feed my harbinger trees I would like to be able to place any humanlike corpses as well as only rotten animal corpses. But with the way the storage conditions are I will have to either allow both rotten and fresh for both of those, or allow only rotten corpses.

What I have been doing is making a freezer stockpile zone that includes fresh animal corpses at a higher priority than this zone, but if anyone has any mods that work with the storage system I'd like to try them out.

The typical way to handle that is to just make two stockpiles, one for humanlikes, and one for rotten-only animals. If you get a real surge of dead humans, you're probably well aware of it, and can just shrink the animal stockpile and expand the human stockpile for a while.

The only thing that really comes to mind as helping is Neat Storage, which has options for containers that store more than one corpse in a single tile, thus at least meaning you don't need as massive a freezer.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3416243474

[Dr.Acula]

Originally posted by these people:

One QoL feature I would like are more complex conditions for storage zones. For example, to feed my harbinger trees I would like to be able to place any humanlike corpses as well as only rotten animal corpses. But with the way the storage conditions are I will have to either allow both rotten and fresh for both of those, or allow only rotten corpses.

What I have been doing is making a freezer stockpile zone that includes fresh animal corpses at a higher priority than this zone, but if anyone has any mods that work with the storage system I'd like to try them out.

What definitely helps with a more clean storage would be:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1617282896&searchtext=deep+storage

There are various types of storage items included (quite a few of them specialized) which you can then configure on what is allowed in them. Have been using this for a long time.