Admittedly, I've not given 40A more than one quick run last night... but given that the first building I tend to make is a kitchen, I am partial to the low or no food variants.
I went straight for the crowd variant; putting an "experimental" tag on it was asking for it to be chosen, really...
I've gone with the Dauntless Dare (the only commodity is a single pistol) in the Jungle. So far, surprisingly smooth. Just getting the resources for your first building is a task that occupies your entire colony.
I like to think the crate containing the pistol also contained a note that reads "Save the last bullet for yourself."
I feel like going for the crowd option is a pretty great way to start. Tons of work to do, and not much time to do it in. Having all those extra laborers really helps give you a little boost right from the start. The only negative is that you gotta get that food chain up and running in a jiffy, and that you've gotta wait a bit longer to get the more advanced buildings, since you have no pipes or sheets or anything, and it seems like the Empire no longer offers that nice little 'spend prestige - get stuff' button as often. Also foraging seems to be broken on my last couple maps, where I could only harvest a bush once a game, even after it'd grown berries again. Fun stuff
I chose SCIENCE! Researchers in the field have to build carefully at the start to afford both the equipment AND the building around it, We made do with a macroscope outhouse. We set about trying to communicate with the fishpeople and found almost immediately a pyramid relic but the mechafrench came and put an end to the expedition before any breakthroughs were made. Really I liked the sort of goal the loadout set: Do science to things!
i couldn't agree more! the 21 man start with no supplies is difficult AND full of stuff to do. I think until each colonist's personality/traits make a difference in behavior on frequent instances, I'd rather have 21 people to just try and manage a havoc-like race against starvation. Maybe when tons more (please make tons more) 'events' occur due to colonists' personality/traits I will stick with the 21 man start. To expand, I think it was also be soothing and epic to actually have incentive to look at each starting colonist's traits/dispositions. This would give me reason to start with one of the lower population loadouts. If anyone cares for or wants suggestions on specifics, let me know, but I won't bore anyone with it if not.
I think it'll be a great option until theres actual consequences and 'stuff that happens' when you get tons of people who disagree together. At the moment, theres really nothing too awful that happens as long as you're keeping everyone fed and flooded in booze. But that also means nothing 'cultish' either, which is a bit of a bummer. The cult stuff seems to only trigger (in a meaningful way) if people are really, really depressed and things are going to hell, which itself is no fun because by then, people are usually starving and dying and work has stopped. I enjoy seeing my little colony continually expanding. I think i've only had one game (quite a few revisions ago) where things were going great, and someone asked to build a little shrine to whatever.
Spot on again. Pretty much my feelings towards the events, especially the cults. Part of Lovecraft's world is cults are there and brooding whether all else with investigators is going good or not. In contrast, the presence of cult/cultist behavior when things are going bad just compounds the atmosphere of doom. I'd like some Dev input on this whole thing. It's hard to say where they are going with what features will be brought in. They say in the new patch notes that "they don't wanna spoil anything" and more "stuff will be coming", which is okay with me--but they can still let us know more about where the events are going and interactions are going in the broad context of Lovecraftian style.
I don't remember the last time I encountered a cult. It seems like you have to purposefully stave the colony now to get beyond mild grumbling - don't even bother with booze / chapels any more.
