User:Hordes/Events

Events are driven by the currently selected AI storyteller.

Most events that occur create a Letter, an envelope icon on the right side of the screen. Other events will pause the game and pop up a window where the player must make a choice. Usually, the color of the envelope will suggest the severity of the event; blue envelopes are good events, grey is neutral, yellow is bad, and red denotes direct threats.

All event title portions in parentheses below are variable. They can mention location, pawn and faction names, specific buffs or debuffs, or even have countdowns for the time variable events.

Major Threats

Major threats can appear from Base Builder difficulty onwards. They mostly consist of direct attacks to your colony. Their size depends on the raid points mechanic; generally increasing with wealth, colonist count, and difficulty.

Enemy attack

Commonly known as a raid, this event comes in several types. It is possible for multiple raids to happen at the same time, even of opposing factions.

Arrival methods

Tribal-level factions can't use drop pods, so are limited to assaults.

• Assaults: Arrive at the edge of the map, either by walking or by drop pod. They may assault the colony immediately, or stage for a time before launching their attack, giving you time to prepare.
• Center drop: Raiders arrive via drop pod, centered on of one of your colonists. 40% to drop on an unroofed orbital trade beacon if one is present. Drop pods can go through constructed and thin rock roofs, but not overhead mountain.
• Scatter drop': Raiders arrive via drop pod, which have gone "hay-wire" and will disperse throughout the map.

Types

• Unusually clever: Will try and avoid traps and turrets.
• Sappers: Sappers will try and mine or break walls to create the shortest route to a colonist's bedroom.
• Breachers: Appears with breach-type raiders, such as tribals with breach axes or termite mechanoids. Breachers will attack walls indiscriminately, as opposed to sappers having a target. The rest of the raid acts as normal.

• 

  Assault

• 

  Raided by (relationship) mom!

• 

  Drop pod sappers

• 

  Sappers

Siege

Sieges are a special type of raid. They arrive in drop pods, along with supplies. They will construct sandbags and mortars, and will continously be supplied with food and mortar shells. They will fire at colonists, colony structures, and other pawns they are hostile to. Sieges will directly assault the colony after a long time (a few days), if their mortars are destroyed or unbuildable, or after sufficient casualties.

It is possible to steal a critical material (like components) and prevent them from completing construction. This is largely possible with psycaster using both Invisibility and Skip, with enough heat capacity to cast both 2-3 times in a row.

Strategies to force sieges to attack include the sniper rifle (watch out for other snipers), a psychic animal pulser, or your own mortars.

Infestation

Main article: Infestation

Infestations come with hives and insectoids. Hives will produce insect jelly, but will rapidly create insects, too. If you don't want it to infest the whole area, muster your forces and destroy it. But beware - the bugs will defend their hive.

In order for a regular infestation to spawn, there must be an open area with the overhead mountain roof, within 30 tiles of a colony structure, and a temperature above -17 °C (1.4 °F). Light, and temperatures below -8 °C (17.6 °F) reduce the chance of infestations.

Too Deep: Infestation

Alternatively, insectoid infestations can spawn when actively digging from a deep drill. Insectoids, but not hives, will pop out around the drill's area. These do not have the overhead mountain requirement like regular infestations. However, they are often smaller in number, and are unable to reproduce due to the lack of hive.

Manhunter pack

For the mental state that makes these animals hostile, see Manhunter.

A pack of scaria-infested animals have arrived, hunting for human flesh. A manhunter pack has 40% more points (i.e. 40% more "raiders") than a regular raid. When killed, scaria has a chance to instantly rot a corpse, which makes them inedible and creates rot stink. A single animal can arrive and the event will still be called a "pack".

Manhunters will roam the region, attacking any human they can path to. The animals can't enter doors, but if they see a colonist run behind a door, they will attempt to beat down the door. If left alive, they will congregate around your base for anywhere from 24 to 54 in-game hours before they all leave.

Psychic Wave

Immediately drives local wildlife insane, becoming manhunter. Unlike a manhunter pack, these animals were already on the map, so won't instantly rot like with scaria.

Crashed ship part

For the help guide, see Defense_structures#Crashed_ships.

For information on the ship parts themselves, see Crashed ship parts.

A large piece of an ancient ship crashes nearby, along with a pack of mechanoids. The mechs will generate dormant, but will awaken when they or the ship part are attacked. While the ship part is still active, they will activate an intensifying negative effect on the map.

Defoliator ship

A crashed defoliator ship kills all wild or domesticated plants in an expanding circle, up to a radius of 100 tiles. The poison kills crops randomly, including plants grown in hydroponics basins. Crops will end up nearly impossible to grow.

Psychic ship

A ship part projects a psychic drone which negatively affects the mood of a specific gender. It begins low and grows progressively stronger the longer it stays. Psychic sensitivity increases or decreases the drone's effect.

The ship's is also capable of emitting psychic pulses that can drive a colonist to an immediate mental break, or nearby animals to madness.

Drone intensifies

If left alone long enough, the drone emitted from a crashed psychic ship will get worse as time goes on. Every 2.5 days the drone gets stronger, from -12 mood at the beginning up to -48 after 7.5 days.

• 

  Defoliator ship

• 

  ''Psychic ship

Mech Cluster

Main article: Mech cluster

Mech clusters are similar to crashed ship parts that with more advanced structuse, with buildings like walls, turrets, and unstable power cells. They also spawn dormant, but can come with activators, able to wake up from proximity or over time.

Extreme weather

The following events can appear from Base Builder difficulty onwards.

Flashstorm

A localized, intense lightning storm within a radius between 45 and 60 tiles. Active lightning will strike between every 320 ticks (5.33 secs) to 800 ticks (13.33 secs). Once it finishes, no rain can fall until 30,000 ticks (8.33 mins) has passed. This can create big fires. It lasts between 0.075 and 0.1 days, and will not reoccur for 15 days. Clicking the envelope icon offers the option to jump to the center point.

This can also be caused by the Flashstorm Psycast , but will not show up as a notification.

Toxic fallout

"A distant chemical fire has released a plume of poison over this entire region that will slowly settle out of the atmosphere. It will last for anywhere from a few days to an entire season."

Toxic fallout is a dangerous event which causes toxic buildup to any pawn not under a roof. It lasts between 2.5 and 10.5 days, will not occur before Day 60 of the colony, and will not reoccur for 90 days.

For humans, a moderate buildup - 40% severity, or 2.5 days left outside - is enough to potentially cause permanent damage, from either dementia or carcinoma. Death happens at 100% severity. Animals have 50% Toxic Resistance, so buildup increases at half the rate, but exposed animals will eventually die. When animals die with toxic buildup, there is a chance, scaling with severity, for their corpse to immediately rot. All plants, including trees, will wither during the fallout. Crops can be protected under a roof, but without a sun lamp, they'll rot anyways. Insectoids and mechanoids are fully immune.

In Biotech, several new objects give Toxic Resistance, which counter the effects of the fallout. These include the face mask, gas mask, detoxifier kidney and detoxifier Lung. Genes can make humans completely immune to toxins.

• 

  Toxic fallout

• 

  Colonist acquired Dementia at 80% extreme level

Volcanic winter

"A distant supervolcano has erupted and begun spewing millions of cubic kilometers of ash into the atmosphere. Ash in the atmosphere will obscure the sun. Temperatures will drop and plants will suffer for lack of sunlight. It could pass in a few weeks, or it might last many months."

Volcanic winter lowers the temperature and natural light, which in turn weakens solar generators and slows plant growth. They also appear to significantly reduce the inflow of wildlife (observed in a Temperate Forest, 300x300, very few animals came in during Spring-Summer when there would normally be many). This can easily lead to meat shortage and famine if you do not have sufficiently large farms for your colony. Volcanic winters will last between 7.5 and 40 days, will not occur before Day 60 of the colony, and will not reoccur for 140 days.

Random

Bad

Beavers!

A group of ravenous wood-munching alphabeavers appears at the edge of the map. This only occurs in the arid shrubland and tundra,and only when outdoor temperature is above the alphabeaver's minimum comfortable temperature of -40 °C (-40 °F). It will not reoccur for 30 days.

Beavers will act like any other animal. But due to their hunger, beavers will continually eat trees and Saguaro cacti they can reach, including any you're farming. They will continue until there's no wood left, unless you eradicate them first.

Birthday

Character gains an age-related illness, such as bad back or cataracts. They may be cured by using the healer mech serum, luciferium, a biosculpter pod, or the Scarless gene. Some may be 'cured' by replacing the affected parts with bionics.

Due to age or a pre-existing health condition, they can also have a heart attack.

Blight

Main article: Blight

Blighted crops with an indicator above them.

Blight is a disease that infects domesticated plants with a growing period shorter than 15 days. Blighted crops will not grow or yield anything when harvested, and the blight will spread to other nearby plants within 3 tiles. These plants must be cut in order to avoid further spread. Trees, wild, decorative plants, and devilstrand mushrooms are immune to blight.

Blight starts on one of your crops, at 10% severity, affecting 20% of your plants (40% initial plants affected has been witnessed in December 2020). It will progress slowly once plants are infected, and once it reaches 28% it can spread to nearby plants within a 4-tile radius.

It will not reoccur for 30 days.

Disease

Colonists (including prisoners and slaves) or animals will gain a random disease. Biome influences both the amount of disease and its selection. Multiple pawns can get a disease, but 1 event can only affect colonists or animals.

Sickly pawns will get sick with a MTB of 30 days, independently of the rest of your colonists.

Eclipse

A moon has moved in front of the sun, causing an eclipse. Without light, solar generators won't function, and outdoor crops stop growing. It lasts between 0.75 and 1.25 days.

If reliant on solar power, make sure to have batteries for times like these, or an eclipse raid can be extra threatening.

Heat wave

A heat wave sweeps the colony, driving outdoor temperatures unusually high for 1.5 and 3.5 days. There is also a chance for a fire to randomly appear on the map, which can quickly spread. It only occurs when the map's summer temperature is at least 20 °C (68 °F), and will not reoccur for 30 days.

The major risks are coolers failing to freeze food, and heat stroke to your colonists and animals. Summer clothing like cowboy hats and tribalwear can mitigate the heat, and passive coolers can help make indoor temperatures bearable.

Psychic drone

For the moodlet, see Mood#Exotic.

'Drone' in this case does not refer to "Unmanned Aerial Vehicle" but instead "To produce a low-pitched hum or buzz." A psychic drone affects all colonists of a randomly chosen gender, giving a strong negative moodlet. The drone can vary in severity, from low (-12 mood) to extreme (-40 mood). Psychic Sensitivity will multiply the effect on the drone. It lasts between 0.75 and 1.75 days and will not reoccur for 15 days.

Colonists have no choice but to endure it, as the point of origin is off-map. Psychic foil helmets, drugs, and other mood-enhancers can help deal with the effects. Animals are not affected.

Solar flare

Solar flares cause all electrical devices to stop working for its duration, from 0.15 to 0.5 days. Wood-fired generators and chemfuel generators will still burn fuel during this time.

• Colonies that rely on turrets for defense will become vulnerable to raids.
• Heaters and coolers will stop working. In extreme temperatures, crops will die and colonists can be at risk of heatsroke or hypothermia. Campfires and passive coolers are low-tech options that work even in a solar flare.
• Crops in a hydroponics basin will rapidly degrade, regardless of the temperature. It's recommended to quickly harvest any crops that can't be saved before they die.
• Occasionally an orbital trade ship may arrive during the event, so it is wise to check out the Comms Console as soon as the event ends or risk getting the ''<trader> has left comms range" notification while unaware of their presence. If a ship leaves during a solar flare, you will be notified that the trader has left, although this is only a minor message in the upper right of the screen.

Due to its length, most of the adverse effects are manageable.

Zzztt...

This event can occur anytime a power conduit has energy flowing through it. The conduit may suffer a fault, causing a short circuit. They may also occur if certain objects are left unroofed and are exposed to rain or snow. Short-circuits outside of rain/snow will not reoccur for 8 days.

This short circuit will either result in a fire, or, if any batteries are connected to the circuit and contains at least 20Wd, a firey explosion centered on the tile, that increases with energy stored. The explosion deals 10 Flame damage and setting objects on fire. If the explosion radius is greated than 3.5 tiles, a second explosion of 30% radius deals 50 Bomb damage, which can extinguish fires. The fault will also discharge all stored power in batteries in the process.

The explosion radius is controlled by the following equation:

Explosion Radius = clamp( sqrt(Sum of all stored power) * 0.05, 1.5, 14.9)

Or in other words, the radius will be at least 1.5 tiles, and at most 14.9 tiles, with a bomb explosion of 4.5 tiles. This occurs when a total of 90,000 Wd is stored.

Unconnected batteries, such as through an open switch or on separate power network, will not be affected. Power networks which contain only batteries and no conduits will not experience this event. Power networks which contain only conduits will only have a single tile on fire, as there's no stored power to be discharged.

Incidential

These events aren't triggered by the storyteller. Instead, they come from various other game mechanics.

Bad

Animal revenge

An animal that was harmed will go mad and become manhunter. When you select an animal to be hunted, the game will notify you if it has a chance for revenge and what the percentage is. Occasionally, all nearby pack members of that animal's species may start attacking their attacker.

Death

One of your pawns has died unintentionally. Slaughtering an animal or euthanizing a colonist or prisoner will not produce this event.

Drug addiction

A colonist has taken too much of a drug and is now addicted. They will now need to regularly take that drug or suffer the withdrawal effects. See here for advice on fighting addictions.

Heart attack

A character or tamed animal suffers a heart attack. Characters will seek out a medical bed or their assigned bed for treatment. Animals will return to the nearest empty animal bed or sleeping spot. Doctors will then proceed to attempt to resuscitate the victim, using medicine if allowed and available.

During a heart attack, people or animals can fall unconscious or even die if not treated in time.

• 

  Heart attack notification

• 

  Health tab

Hostile faction

Badwill: Friendly traders face a mechanoid raid, loses members and turns against the player.

You've done something to anger another faction bad enough that they are now hostile to yours. This can happen if you arrest a faction member of theirs, rob one of their caravans or if they take too much friendly fire from your colonists, among other reasons. Rough factions that are neutral/allied will naturally decay goodwill, until they become hostile again.

Overdose

One of your colonists or animals has overdosed. There is a risk of overdose when taking any hard drug, as well as taking too many drugs. This can cause permanent damage or even death.

Predator hunting

A wild, hungry predator has targeted one of your colonists or animals for killing and eating. Unlike the majority of threats in the game, predators will not stop attacking once a pawn is downed.

You may want to get this colonist or animal to safety. Drafted colonists will defend themselves. To defend your animals, if there is enough distance, zone them to safety. Otherwise, move a drafted colonist to fire on the predator.

Prison break

Prison break

Prisoners have staged a breakout! They are able to open doors and attempt to escape. They are more likely to attempt breakout when they are unhappy, healthy and numerous*, and when their prison has more doors. It's not clear if the number of prisoners in a room actually increases the chance of any single prisoner breaking out, or if the combined individual chances of all present create that greater likelihood.^{[Detail Needed]}

Using low damage weapons is advised when containing a prison break to avoid a risk of killing them. Since prisoners are technically part of an enemy faction, any friendlies on the map will engage them. This is helpful if you need to contain a larger break, though the use of higher-powered weapons means they have a higher chance of outright killing the prisoner. Recapturing escaped prisoners from factions that have turned friendly since that prisoner was originally captured will not affect relations with that faction.

Roof collapsed

This event only happens if something is crushed by the falling roof. Otherwise, it's only a notification.

All roofs must be supported by a constructed or rock wall within 6 spaces with contiguous roof sections in between itself and that wall. If either of these conditions changes such as via mining, an explosion or demolition, then the roof will collapse. Damage is dealt to the head and shoulders. Note that falling roofs underneath a mountain will instantly kill any pawn unfortunate enough to be crushed.

If demolishing a building, it's recommended to use the Remove Roof tool to remove the roof first before deconstructing the walls.

Trauma savant

This event only has a 12% chance to trigger upon one of your colonists receiving a brain injury.

A colonist has suffered a brain injury and has gained great abilities from it at the cost of others, gaining 50% extra manipulation while losing the ability to speak, hear, and have any social relationships. It also restores the brain to full functioning despite the injury.