Death of a Save Scummer

I've admitted it before, but I will admit it again...I am a shameless save scummer.  My general attitude about saves is "why have them if you're not going to use them!"  And use them I do.  Anytime things get a little hairy there's always that handy quicksave and quickload button.  Go ahead and admit that you do it too, it's alright.  I didn't really think it was anything to be ashamed of until I started researching Iron Mode runs in XCOM:  Enemy Unknown (not for the weak!).  There was so much negativity around saving and re-loading that I realized that I should work towards weaning myself off of the satisfying drug of non-failure thanks to saves.  Now the time to put that into action has come!  And it sucks.  Massively.

What game would be better for testing out my newfound resolve than RimWorld!.  I had managed to successfully rescue two different bands of survivors (on regular difficulty with some scumming) and was feeling pretty good.  So I started up another scenario and opted for "permadeath" mode which only allows you to save when you exit.  Then the failures started to stack up.  I had initially ramped up the difficulty to "rough" only to find out that they ain't a lyin' about it being rough.  My colony would survive for awhile but always seemed to be at least one technological step behind every enemy.  The enemy would be sporting some flashy personal shields and my poor colonists would be trying to club them.  It was a disaster, so I decided to swallow my pride and turn the difficulty down to the "some challenge" mode.

In "some challenge" I lasted longer, but that was about it.  There would always be some crisis that would turn into a "game over" moment.  One time a pyromaniac colonist started setting fires while the rest of the settlers were carting stuff from a downed cargo pod across the map.  By the time they got back the entire structure was engulfed (probably should've made multiple buildings).  The icing on the cake was when the AI decided to throw a raid into the mix.  I could only watch as my colonists got injured and there was no medicine, no beds, and no way to recover.

This is the way the world ended...once.

The subsequent attempts resulted in similar results with only one getting close to completion.  It also seemed like the AI was throwing some real curveballs my way--once I got a horrible random event involving toxic fallout.  Radioactive fallout settled on the map and only those indoors were protected.  Settlers could venture outside, but only for short periods.  Everything on the map besides my settlement was completely wiped out.  Fortunately I had enough food stocks to make it to the end of the disaster--only to watch as my colonists were wiped out by an enemy siege.  In a different playthrough I landed the volcanic winter event (which I think is an intentional way to counter those wussy people like myself who set up in a tropical rainforest zone for year-round growing).  Volcanic winter means that the sun is partially blocked--solar panels generate less electricity and crops and plants grow slower.  While not as catastrophic as the toxic fallout event, it still was a real zinger....and my colony still ended up failing.

My last attempt was the deal breaker.  I had managed to make it to the point where the ship was almost completed--I was just waiting for the coveted AI core event to happen.  Then the sieges started happening.  Sieges have been my downfall because I still haven't fully figured out how to counter them.  If you attack early and have a little luck, you can take them out before they have time to set up.  That strategy worked well until my colonists couldn't hit the broadside of a barn and got picked off one by one.  I was so close!  Just one stinking ship piece (although to be fair, probably not that close because the AI core event was still quite a ways off).

For now I'm taking a bit of a break to let the frustration wear off.  Even though I have failed over and over I feel like I am learning more about the mechanics of the game than I would if I had continued to save and reload.  I'm thinking that personal shields and artillery stations are probably the best plan for countering sieges--I need to step up my defensive game!  Failure isn't always a bad thing--even if it does feel frustrating.

Some day.....some day I will save a colony.