Does this game have a decent tutorial?

[Archon]

Just got done playing quite a bit of rimworld the past 2 weeks. Probably watched 10+ hours of youtube videos while playing trying to hone my colony survival skills as rimworlds tutorial is almost nonexistant.

[Xilo The Odd]

it has a couple tutorial vids for getting you started, the rest is trial and error for mid game and late game mechanics and such. but when you start a new file it'll come up with plenty of tool tips to read through.

[Hedning]

You definitely never need to tab your game down to check some third party source while learning this game. The amount of in-game info you get pushed on you might even feel overwhelming, but it is a good idea to read all of it. Especially the info boxes that pop up whenever you click something, including all of the tabs, and the info box popping up whenever you click on something in the construct menu.

Of course like in anything watching an expert will probably make you better faster than learning just from textbooks. However imo that's less fun, at least when it comes to video games.

[Kaisha]

Sadly success in this game is more about learning weird bugs than utilizing the systems as presented. So the in game text is pretty much useless. All sorts of weird nonsense, from SPOMs (must be built vertically not horizontally to prevent hydrogen deletion), to pip planting, to steam turbines (they are seriously fcked up) and everything in between...

Not only will you constantly be tabbing out to the wiki/oni database, you'll be forced to search through pages of obscure forum posts or hours of Brothgar's rambling just to find out why something happens and whether its a bug or supposed to happen, or.. who knows.

This is ONI... in the end I don't think even the devs know why anything does what it does at this point.

[Hedning]

Originally posted by Kaisha:

Sadly success in this game is more about learning weird bugs than utilizing the systems as presented.

That depends on what you define as "sucess". Can learning every detail of how the game engine works help you utilize exploits that make the game easier? Sure. Is it required to beat the game? Absolutely not.

To even know what a spom is you have to visit the forums. If you just build oxygen production naturally you will get what you expect from the in-game info. I know because I never tabbed down when I first learned this game.

Sounds like you are of the mindset that if there exists an exploit you must use it, and to find all the exploits you need to visit third party sources. While it is true that you probably must visit third party sources to find the exploits you do not have to use them. It is entirely up to you if you want to. There is no established meta where everyone are expected to use exploits. In fact many people who know about them still choose not to use them. For example I have never in any of my games ever used the infinite storage exploit although I have known about it for a very long time.

[Kaisha]

This game is a giant noob trap because the vast majority of the devices in the game do not work as presented in the game text.

SPOMs for example need far more space horizontally than vertically due to hydrogen deletion, so you can spend all the time you want running numbers and trying to balance the thing, it'll never work. Set it up vertically and it'll work like a charm nearly every time.

Mushers should never be used.

Carbon scrubbers are crappy for actually scrubbing carbon (automated doors work far better) and instead are primarily used for polluted water creation.

The list goes on and on of devices near useless for their presented purpose and yet highly effective for something completely unrelated. The in game text is at best misleading, and in many cases outright deceptive. There's a large difference between the game having a few small exploits, as opposed to the vast majority of late game being entirely about abusing exploits.

Ever actually try to harness a volcano without looking online? How would someone know without the forums (or 1000+ hours spent in sandbox mode) that without a drip system massive heat deletion would occur? That air flow tiles that would melt near instantly, make a perfect insulator in a vacuum? That bridges make better insulators than insulated pipes? That the best form of heat transfer is not liquid or gases but conveyor lines?? All of these (and countless other) pieces of information are essential for proper volcano usage, but presented no where in the game.

I could write pages on the nonsensical hoops you have to jump through just to get basic systems running. On any given day I spend more time looking up info in the ONI database than I do the N4713 when programming...

[Monoxide]

Originally posted by Kaisha:

the devices in the game do not work as presented in the game text.

Im not the greatest at the game, for sure, but I feel like your emphasizing a lot of things that most people dont know about, nor care about.

I had to look up "SPOM" as I didnt know what that was. Seems to be just a grouping of items to make power and oxygen. All those things individually seem to work just fine.

I have used musher for emergency food, which when you are first starting seems fine until you know how to manage other food forms.

Carbon scrubbers do their job from my point of view. Are they more efficient than using doors? I dont know, because I have no clue what you are talking about.

I have learned pretty much everything from trial and error or asking questions. I do alright for myself. Am I MLG pro? No. Do I have fun? Yea. For a post where the OP is asking how good the tutorial is, I feel your crapping on anything that isnt the most efficient thing possible is pretty misleading.

[Hedning]

Originally posted by Kaisha:

proper

Proper according to you. I can benefit from volcanos without using any exploits. I use carbon skimmers to remove carbon. I find them well balanced for this purpose, costing as much power per kg destroyed as a pump pumping it into space. Yes using door deletion exploit can remove it for free, but again, just because you can use an exploit to do something doesn't mean you should or want to. The game is not balanced in such a way that you have to use exploits. There are no hoops to run through.

You seem to not like exploits. Then don't use them. It's easy. I remember an exploit in Skyrim that allowed you to make swords with infinite damage. Toll roads in cities skylines could give you infinite cash with no population. In fallout 4 you can duplicate items and climb walls by jumping off debris that you are holding below you. In portal you can clip through walls instead of solving the puzzle. There are going to be exploits that makes games easier. You don't have to use them if you don't like them. In none of these games are the exploits "essential", and the are not in oni neither.

[Tux]

Originally posted by darthbored:

Just got done playing quite a bit of rimworld the past 2 weeks. Probably watched 10+ hours of youtube videos while playing trying to hone my colony survival skills as rimworlds tutorial is almost nonexistant.

there is no way in hell I would play this game without watching youtube how to videos...not a chance would I tackle that.

[Xilo The Odd]

Originally posted by Hedning:

You definitely never need to tab your game down to check some third party source while learning this game. The amount of in-game info you get pushed on you might even feel overwhelming, but it is a good idea to read all of it. Especially the info boxes that pop up whenever you click something, including all of the tabs, and the info box popping up whenever you click on something in the construct menu.

Of course like in anything watching an expert will probably make you better faster than learning just from textbooks. However imo that's less fun, at least when it comes to video games.

i do hope they'll go through and put more encyclopedia entries in and update some outdated ones. its only minor things here and there but i still have to poke the wiki for the info i need from time to time.

[Kaisha]

Originally posted by Hedning:

I can benefit from volcanos without using any exploits.

Show an image then of your build, I'm certain that without knowing any of the 'exploits' it'll fail/stall within 100 cycles. You'll be lucky to get 1/10th the amount of power available to you without 'exploits'.

The game is not balanced in such a way that you have to use exploits.

The game is not balanced at all, period.

You seem to not like exploits. Then don't use them. It's easy.

Not true... in order to use most of the things on the map effectively (volcanoe, gysers, etc...) you have to know obscure erratta, glitches, and the underlying mechanics of the physics simulation, none of which are available in game.

The heat transfer formulas (for example) are completely unintuitive, but there's no way you'll tame a metal volcano without knowing them.

Just because you managed to fumble your way into space does not mean the game is balanced, well designed, or intuitive. The games a mess, they badly need a balance pass, they need to fix a ton of bugs, and they need to update the in-game text.

[Hedning]

Originally posted by Kaisha:

The heat transfer formulas (for example) are completely unintuitive, but there's no way you'll tame a metal volcano without knowing them.

https://i.imgur.com/uvqJoWQ.png
https://i.imgur.com/MAXJ9NO.png

Nothing here is original of course, but also how I built it without seeing anything online first. Point something out and I'll explain the reasoning I used to come up with it.

Originally posted by Kaisha:

Just because you managed to fumble your way into space does not mean the game is balanced, well designed, or intuitive.

I think this says more about your intuition than the game.

[Hedning]

Originally posted by Xilo The Odd:

i do hope they'll go through and put more encyclopedia entries in and update some outdated ones. its only minor things here and there but i still have to poke the wiki for the info i need from time to time.

I'm not denying that there is missing info or bugs that needs fixing, but this Kaisha guy is so off the track that it's almost comical.

[Xilo The Odd]

Originally posted by Hedning:

Originally posted by Xilo The Odd:

i do hope they'll go through and put more encyclopedia entries in and update some outdated ones. its only minor things here and there but i still have to poke the wiki for the info i need from time to time.

I'm not denying that there is missing info or bugs that needs fixing, but this Kaisha guy is so off the track that it's almost comical.

lol i know this was my own statement of hope for the future.

hmm. is there maybe a mod that fixes the entries out there? or maybe adds more of its own?

[Clonefarmer]

Originally posted by Kaisha:

Originally posted by Hedning:

I can benefit from volcanos without using any exploits.

Show an image then of your build, I'm certain that without knowing any of the 'exploits' it'll fail/stall within 100 cycles. You'll be lucky to get 1/10th the amount of power available to you without 'exploits'.

The game is not balanced in such a way that you have to use exploits.

The game is not balanced at all, period.

You seem to not like exploits. Then don't use them. It's easy.

Not true... in order to use most of the things on the map effectively (volcanoe, gysers, etc...) you have to know obscure erratta, glitches, and the underlying mechanics of the physics simulation, none of which are available in game.

The heat transfer formulas (for example) are completely unintuitive, but there's no way you'll tame a metal volcano without knowing them.

Just because you managed to fumble your way into space does not mean the game is balanced, well designed, or intuitive. The games a mess, they badly need a balance pass, they need to fix a ton of bugs, and they need to update the in-game text.

You don't need to use exploits or glitches at all. I can't stand using exploits and have no problem launching a rocket or lasting 1000+ cycles. Just because you can't figure out how doesn't make it impossible. If you dislike the game so much why are you hanging around the ONI forum? Just quit and move on. Try Factorio It's a pretty fun game similar to ONI.

[Kaisha]

Originally posted by Clonefarmer:

You don't need to use exploits or glitches at all. I can't stand using exploits and have no problem launching a rocket or lasting 1000+ cycles. Just because you can't figure out how doesn't make it impossible. If you dislike the game so much why are you hanging around the ONI forum? Just quit and move on. Try Factorio It's a pretty fun game similar to ONI.

Again with this strawman argument. Seriously you people need to stop projecting. I've 'beaten' the game (if you can call it that) on oasis. Getting to space is not hard.

This is a sandbox game, once you've gotten O2, food, and on some asteroids heat, handled, you can coast 1000+ cycles because there's no real 'loss' condition. The point of sandbox games is to play with all the toys, and the problem with ONI is most of those toys are broken.


As far as your metal volcanos Hedning, stick a layer of petroleum on the bottom to MASSIVELY speed up cooling of the metal, just make sure its enough to not vaporize (200 - 500kg/tile is usually sufficient). Steam has a terrible thermal transfer coefficient of 0.18 as opposed to petroleum at 2.0. You'll get more power and the metal out faster. There's still a bug that causes the metal to get stuck that will slow heat transfer out of the copper, but AFAIK there's no automated workaround (though a few manual ones) that doesn't involve a complicated drip system.