... I am going to stop playing Experimental versions so I can build up a colony for a full month... I know there is content I've not exercised, but my eagerness to be on the cutting edge stops my from using my sedate play style to experiment with everything...
You really think you have the willpower to skip experimentals? There's no way I could do that. I mean, what if we get conduits and major cult changes this round? Could you put off STEAM KNIGHTS?
With the eldritch stuff mentioned for this experimental phase, plus the farm reinvention slated for the next experimental build, I'd be extremely surprised if they introduced conduits into this revision cycle as well. I'd say this phase is a good a time as any to focus on stable to get a solid playthrough, as after the next experimental it's going to be very much about figuring out life after static pre-boxed farms and things will be all over the smegging place.
I don't know, we'll see. They've apparently finished a lot of backend work for conduits, they were originally stated for January, and Nicholas has talked about them being on his plate after the building rewrite. Plus I have the power to make something I want happen through sheer force of will. It works about 25% of the time, and I like those odds.
In reality, as long as I don't rely on autosaves to track my progress, I can switch between mainline and experimental and just maintain separate games. My point is that the level of content is getting to where longer sessions are enjoyable.
I usually hit a wall around 50 colonists, knowing expansion from there usually won't amount to much, and building almost everything just leads to production of things I don't need. I have to create goals for myself, like in the last game where I had to make 20 ingots of steel to "win". What I really enjoy is when I get major simultaneous attack events my military can barely handle. It's entertaining, and the challenge then becomes how to rebuild. You're right though, longer sessions can be enjoyable, but I'm definitely ready to see some major late-middle to late game content trickle in.
Personally my wall in a session is always foreign nation invasion. At a certain point it always seems to trigger and then it's pretty much over and sod all that can be done about it. Almost like a enforced lose event to make sure people don't have colonies that last too long so they can't just maintain one single colony beyond a certain point and then get bored.
No, it's a "did you do diplomacy" check. It should take you 4 missions to move from hostile to neutral***. Did you have your Foreign Office get the one (it's always one) hostile nation to neutral? Actually I know you didn't because otherwise it wouldn't trigger. Furthermore, that's intended since the bug where you make them neutral after invasion warning (but they still show up and still fight you) is slated to be fixed in next version. They're not supposed to be able to fight you. ***I do recommend using 1 overseer+1 worker and having 2 Foreign Offices built with 2 Standing Desks each (move your pair between them if one office has 20/20 points and no good missions to do)
Like I said to you in another thread, I consider the Foreign office little more than a unbalanced exploit at present. If there only option is "Gotta do Diplomacy and rush disable that part of the game", then it's a broken mechanic, and I'm not about to start just exploiting what's the latest partially balanced system and call it "working".
Well bandits were deliberately made to not "follow the rules" so since nations are supposed to "follow the rules", doing what is appropriate is hardly "exploiting". Besides, who is rushing? When did you get owned by the invaders? How long did you have to accumulate points and run the 4 missions needed? Yeah if they invaded on day 15 you probably wouldn't be able to do much of anything (diplomacy or otherwise). But since you say in the long-run... it's not a big rush or labor drain if you had time.
Yep, there should be a way for factions to change the standings themselves, so even if you're completely friendly with someone they can stab you in the back for some reason. Of course, it has to be logical... maybe they want your resources, maybe they're unhappy with your cult tendandies, etc.
If anything there is probably going to be an "in between" (like with the bandits) and various options. I doubt the final product will just be "hey, Sudden Military Strength Check, 10 guys with Carbines, go!" But if you want to play that way, then sure. I remember you did the same thing with Bandits, do you still do that (100% fighting no matter what) now that there's the ""in between"?
If the only options are: "Diplomacy to disable entire aspects of the game" and "Lose if you didn't disable those aspects". Then it's broken. Rather than just abuse it being broken and then tell the devs "Hey it's all great here! No problems as long as everyone does what I say you need to to get around everything!", I'd much rather go "Hey, this is absolutely broken, and there's no actual practical solution that isn't just partially balanced hacky-mechanic abuse". Even if the foreign office does get balanced to not be such a exploitable feature, there needs to be other options open to invasions other than "Just turn them off". Which is what is absolutely missing at the moment. You suggesting it's a properly working "Did you do diplomacy check" and again encouraging linear "You gotta do this. Or you lose. But that's fine because you just do it, so it's working" as indications of working mechanics is rather concerning however.
In case you missed it: It's all up to you. I'm pretty sure the advanced faction events are already in the works (actually there's parts already there but not enabled) so you're good if you want to bet it'll eventually happen. Until then, it's as it always was, it's up to you. But you don't really need to continuously get hit with the 10carbine check to make the point every single version update. I mean there's something to be said for repeatedly "confirming" that something which hasn't been changed hasn't been changed (but usually seeing the pretty complete changelogs would confirm that). Like the whole "your NCO controls their soldiers like a Zerg Overmind and when they die...." Well I still haven't built my massive complexes either, imagine if I had to make a new colony more than once per version because I was too stubborn to accept that the fact had already been documented. Sigh, my massive complexes... some day...
