Rim World

Yeah I was gonna say, if only you guys could just tough it out with Dwarf Fortress until it clicks. It’s so much of what you love about Rimworld but soooo much more :)

She played it for a long time until her son was born. Then she tried to go back and said she couldn’t remember if the green M was a vampire or not… and never went back. Her toddlers keeps her too busy, and I just don’t want to work that hard to have my fun when fun is so limited in time.

This reminds me of @funkula 's first line in his post a few years back, that pretty much summed it up about DF’s main issue:

Yet for all its opaqueness, DF is still a thing and sadly Gnomoria is not.

I was happy with but not bowled over by Gnomoria. Steam shows me with 182 hours in Gnomoria and 302 in Rimworld. I definitely consider Rimworld to be the superior game.

I sent Toady $50 after playing DF for probably 60+ hours about 6-8 years ago but I’m not sure I could go back to it. I like the fact that I can mod and configure Rimworld so that it plays the way I want to play more than I like vampire salmon or whatever. :)

RPS did an article on how Dwarf Fortress has the worst interface at all time, and how often it seems like the dev’s don’t seem motivated to make simple changes to make it more manageable.

So at my job there’s this ancient DOS based inventory/time tracking system I sometimes have to deal with. It’s outdated, difficult to use, user unfriendly in every way possible, but over the course of 3 years at my job I’ve gotten really quick at using it. I don’t like it, but it’s not going to change and I need it to do my job. DF is exactly the same thing. But at least in the case of DF, it’s worth the effort because there’s a really cool game underneath. You aren’t going to learn it in an hour. But if you be patient and keep plugging away at it you’re going to get a little more familiar with it for every hour you put in. And then a couple weeks or months down the road you suddenly find yourself flipping through all the screens and barely having to think about it, and then you’ll never have to worry about it ever again. It’s just like any other obtuse thing in life. It’s not insurmountable. It just takes time.

Time however is at the core of the issue. What amount of time I’ve got to spend on gaming isn’t likely ever going to be spent learning DF or wading into CK2, etc.

That’s just me, I realize this is a choice like anything, so I’m certainly not suggesting it’s not a fine idea to spend the extra time getting into games that afford greater depth and reward the extra time spent delving into them.

However, as the years go by and I’m now on the back half of this journey rather than the front half, I’m no longer willing to make such commitments.

If it was discovered that upgrading the DOS system to say, Windows 10 were increase your company’s revenue by a factor of about 100 or 1000, it would be a different tale. RW and even Gnomoria are examples of the complete unrealized financial loss that that has been experienced by DF.

One can say “money isn’t everything”, but seeing the DF guy’s monthly’s, it did himself and his ability to work a great disservice.

The difference here is that Toady can do whatever he wants. All his revenue is from donations. If he threw DF up on steam, he’d have to complete the UI and other “unfun” stuff - something he has said he doesn’t want to bother with until all his ‘features’ are in (and he has what, a 20-year timeline of things to add?).

DF is currently at version 0.43. His versions are literal - he feels he has implemented 43% of the features on his roadmap. He couldn’t get away with a 20-year early access.

Yeah, I don’t buy that. 12 million dollars also allows you to do what you want. One could easily contract out the gui, an interface for the game and then tell someone else to keep up with it as it changes.

Way to miss the point. :/

Toady sounds like a very unique guy…he’s written some things about his life and he sounds like a guy who is probably not super well suited to a 9-5 job or a traditional arrangement. I definitely prefer Rimworld and think 95% of people would have more fun with it than they would with DF, but DF is frankly one of a kind. I doubt there will ever be anything like it again. I think that’s worth something. There’s plenty of other people making “commercial” games with good UIs. :)

Yep, yep, and yep :) I’m in no way talking bad about Rimworld. I’ve got plenty of hours in it and I think it’s a nice game in its own way. But it’s DF lite, and that’s putting it lightly. It’s just, I’ve been playing Dwarf Fortress since before it was 3D. Like, ten years ago or something now. There’s such a cool game in there that is so unlike anything else in so many ways. It does stuff I’ve never seen anywhere else and to a depth that is just boggling. It’s like the promised land in there. It’s just that getting the door open to get inside is a total pain in the ass. I wish I could give people a glimpse in there so they’d be more inclined to stick with the door until they got it open :)

There’s a DF map archive. I submitted this map in July of 2009: Dyecats - 214 Mid Autumn by DrJonez

I still remember this fort like it was a place I actually lived in real life, almost. When you put in hours and hours on a fort, and get to know your dwarves, and are so intimately involved with planning and designing and carving out and finishing and furnishing every last nook and cranny of a big fort like that, it’s like reading a good book or something. You grow attached to the characters, the setting, etc. It’s like this perfect mix of insane levels of detail being there if you want it, but the ASCII keeps things obscure enough that your imagination can fill in some of the gaps too.

Sorry if I’m going on and on about something you guys already know, but it’s just such an awesome experience and again unlike anything else I’ve ever had in gaming. So worth the investment! :)

Used a different palette for this one that looked cool: Fortuneboot - 259 Early Spring by DrJonez

Probably the most easily readable as it uses a tileset. This is the most advanced fort I’ve got online anywhere. Be sure to check out the points of interest on the left to take a little guided tour: Growldagger - 264 Mid Spring by DrJonez (Bonus points if you can find the Count wandering around :D)

Annnnnd I’ll shut up now and let you all get back to Rimworld. Thank you! :)

I would like to re-iterate this statement.

Seriously, Dwarf Fortress is like a fantasy version of Rimworld that has been updated for 15 years. I love Rimworld, but it just makes me want to play more DF.

If you love Rimworld, it really does behoove you to stick it out and try Dwarf Fortress, there are a lot of graphical conversion mods that tone down the ASCII quite a bit. The gulf of depth between the two games is staggering, and RImworld is great.

15 years of DF and I’m talking about Rimworld in a Rimworld topic… for a reason. DF fans, all the power to you, but I’ve had 15 years of rejecting that game already, and that’s not going to change because a great game like Rimworld is now available.

Now back to Rimworld. So the only way to save someone from an escape pod and have a chance to have them join your colony is… capture them? As in pick up the guy or gal who crashed landed near your colony and throw them in prison?

Pretty sure I rescued/healed one before and had them join, but I believe the chances are much lower because there is no ‘recruiting’ phase.

I think that’s correct Nesrie. I’ve found some interesting tricks. I used to get mad when I’d see someone I really wanted with a 99% chance of rejecting an offer to join you. Now however, I’ve found as social goes up along with the beauty and size of the room they’re in, that chance skyrockets. I’ve had 8 “no chance in hell” people join me over the past 3 years of my colony LOL.

edit Daagar may be right. I’d like to know

I’ve tried to up my jail in terms of beauty to get these damn pirates, and that has mostly worked. I’m not sure why i went from 97 hostility to 100 with the pirates though or if that even matters, but for the escape pod, I swear the first person I saved joined me but this time around… they just left. I guess that leaves me a little confused.

Same thing happened to my sister with her escape pod rescue, them just leaving.

They can join after you help them as well, it’s just less likely. It happens a lot more/at all, since the last update.