#DwarfFortress #Rimworld

Tbh, my main issue with Rimworld is that most of the visible community - i.e. people who post on reddit, youtube, etc. - seem to be focused on optimizing the heck out of everything, treating it like a 4X game or an RTS.

The Dwarf Fortress community seems a lot more open to the story-generator aspect of the game, letting the game lead them in all the weird and wonderful directions it decides to take.

@digital_carver I really need to find time to try it out.

@digital_carver These games are best in my opinion when things go horrifically wrong in them.

My favorite game of Rimworld involved one of my colonists getting killed by a bear. And another colonist went and hunted down the bear and killed them, but lost a leg in the process and eventually bled out and died.

These games are a lot more memorable than if you try to optimize them as you said.

@digital_carver : I've had issues running #Rimworld lately, but before that I had found a great way of exploring the story part of it (and also the building, I love to design bases !). My secret was to keep using the same set of starting characters. Seeing how each time their interactions would differ based on the same personalities was fantastic :)

@ladyteruki
That's an interesting idea, I'll definitely try it out especially for the building part of it. The bases I build always feel somewhat slapdash and unsatisfying to me. Having the set of characters be fixed will let me actually focus on the building side of things and figure out what feels right.

@digital_carver : when setting up a new game, I probably spend a solid hour doing some planification of the base alone :P But then of course it never goes as planned because Randy happens.
Oh yeah, by the way, I almost exclusively play with Randy.

@digital_carver I think this stems, at least in part, from the lack of direct agency the player has in #dwarffortress. There are very few ways you you to force the dwarves to do something, whereas in #rimworld it's almost the opposite.

The autonomy makes the dwarves and the colony as a whole feel more than a collection of stats and traits, and it leaves you as a player in a more of spectator role.

@digital_carver in fairness to rimworld, Tynan has always pushed for the game to be a story generator over a simulator or strategy game. Certainly that's how I've always played, I let the colonists be affected by events. I don't think I've ever even built a kill box or tried to break the game over my knee with minmaxing.

I realize I'm uncommon in this, though, but eh, it's a single player game, people can play any way they want :)

@digital_carver Mods are great, btw. From UX quality of life improvements to total conversions, they definitely explain the games longevity.

@wolfechu

Yeah, even one of the in-game dialogues mentions that the story generated is the important part of the game, and so to not try to make the perfect characters. I guess people are just used to minmaxing in games, and it's hard to switch to this mode of thinking.

I think of it like Dungeons and Dragons - munchkining is fun in short bursts, but when you let the characters feel the story as it happens, and respond in at least believably realistic ways, you get a more complete and satisfying experience.

#Rimworld #DnD

@digital_carver Rimworld addons do make the micromanaging and noise disappear and then it’s more story, less toil. Darn thing is so hard to beat, which is probably why there’s that focus on optimization.

@digital_carver Mods are good. Mods are life.