Front Office Football Central - View Single Post - The Fall of Paleal

Critch · 01-17-2024, 06:59 PM

When I was a kid I used to watch the original 1930s Flash Gordon cinema series on tv (they were reruns, I'm not quite old enough to have watched it first time around), they'd put any old rubbish on during the day during school holidays. Every episode would end with Flash facing certain death, then next episode something implausible would happen to save him. That's what's about to happen for Honey and Paleal. I remember once on Flash Gordon the episode ended with Flash being thrown off a tower by Ming, next episode started with him wrestling and escaping and not being thrown, that was cheating. Even as a kid I lost all respect for the series when it cheated like that.

Anyway, back on topic and at the end of the last thrilling episode we left Honey, the final Paleal survivor, lying unconscious and dying of hypothermia and/or malaria in the freezing night air. The fate of the settlement rested on her survival.

The Man in Black
If you ever get to the point where you have no colonists conscious there's a chance that an event will trigger sending a lone gunman to rush in and help you, a single Man in Black. He's pretty random but he'll always be able to shoot, he'll be dressed all in black and wearing a flak jacket, and he'll be armed with a six-shooter. He'll bring some food and medicine too normally. Whenever I've had a man in black turn up in other games it's always been too late to make any difference, just another dead body to add to the pile. This time though he turned up bang on time.

I'd pretty much given up on him showing up, if he's meant to turn up when things are hopeless he should have been here weeks ago, but moments after Honey hit the deck there he was, rushing towards the town with his revolver in hand. His name was Klein and he rushed into Paleal, headed straight to the downed insectoid and finished it off with a couple of shots (thereby ending the insectoid infestation), then rushed into the north of the camp and scooped up Honey in his obviously manly arms. Rather than take her back to her bed in the unheated cell block he rushed her down to the original refuge on the other side of the settlement, the one with heated bedrooms. He tucked her into bed in a room heated to 73 (Fahrenheit obviously, not centigrade), fed her, then strolled off to another heated bedroom to sleep the sleep of the just knowing he'd saved the day.

What a guy.

In an old game I had a Man in Black that turned up, ran into the town, saw the carnage and promptly dropped dead with a heart attack. Klein was much better than that guy.

Four Funerals and a Kidnapping - Part Two
A few days bed rest for Honey and her Malaria immunity had hit 100% and her hypothermia had cleared, she was out of trouble and just about back to normal. Klein was a gunman and pretty much nothing else, he was charming and kind (strange traits for a gunman, a killer with a heart) but not much use for every day tasks. He wasnt able to do skilled labor, he wouldnt haul things, he couldnt farm, he couldnt cook. There was a real separation of duties between them, Klein took care of anything that needed a gun (and a little bit of cleaning) and Honey took care of everything else. Together they started to get the settlement back on it's feet, Klein cleared the floor in the wreckage that used to be the freezer, Honey rebuilt the freezer walls, built a campfire for cooking, cooked corn and rice simple meals, harvested rice and corn, dug a couple of graves for Gumby and Takashi and buried Takashi (Funeral 3 - Burial). I'm not sure why but Gumby couldn't be buried, normally you right click a dug grave and select who to put in it but Gumby didn't show up on the list. It's always good to have a spare grave, I guess. Be prepared.

The "colonist left unburied" mood debuff still showed for Gumby's body but he couldn't be buried so Klein solved the issue by dragging him further away from the camp and setting him on fire with the incendiary grenade launcher. Hey presto, no Gumby (Funeral 4 - Explosive cremation). With that the body clean-up was complete, one thing crossed off the mood debuff list.

Things were starting to calm down with all the insectoids gone, the settlement was mainly wrecked but safe now, there were some crops in the fields although they were starting to die with the early winter drop in temperatures but survival seemed at least possible now. The main outstanding risk was what would happen at the first raid from an unfriendly tribe. Raid strength is based on the wealth of your colony, they'll throw more tribesman at you if they think there's a good reward waiting. Paleal may be wrecked but there's still a pile of silver lying in the undamaged storeroom. The colony's wealth was a third of what it was before the insectoids hit, but it's still a lot for only one guy with a gun to defend.

The First Raid
In early winter the first post-insectoid raid happened, an unfriendly Impid tribe nearby sent a squad to attack. And it didn't look to bad, just a one-man raid, a little red impid with horns and a bow and arrow, surely that wouldn't be too difficult for Klein to fight off? Klein waited in ambush for the impid to get close, he was armed with the camp shotgun now so would be out-ranged by a bow so had to get as close as possible. He fired first, and that's when I found out that impid's have a close range weapon, they can spit fire. All the non-human variants were added by the Biotech DLC so this was a first for me, I didn't know they could do that, last time they raided the colonists were packing rifles and killed them all at long range. Klein responded to having fire spat at him as anybody would. He caught fire and screamed, dropped his shotgun and then he ran outside and collapsed. The impid decided that kidnapping Klein would be a successful raid, he put out the flames and carried off the unconscious Fire-Damaged Man in Black. That's the kidnapping that ends Four Funerals and a Kidnapping (which was meant to be a Rimworld play on Four Wedding and a Funeral. Which is actually a surprisingly entertaining movie).

Maybe they'll ransom him back, maybe they'll sell him, maybe they'll eat him, no idea yet, there has been no ransom demand yet.

Another episode ends with Honey as the only colonist in Paleal. At least she's still alive.

01-17-2024, 06:59 PM	#6
Critch lolzcat Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Herndon, VA	When I was a kid I used to watch the original 1930s Flash Gordon cinema series on tv (they were reruns, I'm not quite old enough to have watched it first time around), they'd put any old rubbish on during the day during school holidays. Every episode would end with Flash facing certain death, then next episode something implausible would happen to save him. That's what's about to happen for Honey and Paleal. I remember once on Flash Gordon the episode ended with Flash being thrown off a tower by Ming, next episode started with him wrestling and escaping and not being thrown, that was cheating. Even as a kid I lost all respect for the series when it cheated like that. Anyway, back on topic and at the end of the last thrilling episode we left Honey, the final Paleal survivor, lying unconscious and dying of hypothermia and/or malaria in the freezing night air. The fate of the settlement rested on her survival. The Man in Black If you ever get to the point where you have no colonists conscious there's a chance that an event will trigger sending a lone gunman to rush in and help you, a single Man in Black. He's pretty random but he'll always be able to shoot, he'll be dressed all in black and wearing a flak jacket, and he'll be armed with a six-shooter. He'll bring some food and medicine too normally. Whenever I've had a man in black turn up in other games it's always been too late to make any difference, just another dead body to add to the pile. This time though he turned up bang on time. I'd pretty much given up on him showing up, if he's meant to turn up when things are hopeless he should have been here weeks ago, but moments after Honey hit the deck there he was, rushing towards the town with his revolver in hand. His name was Klein and he rushed into Paleal, headed straight to the downed insectoid and finished it off with a couple of shots (thereby ending the insectoid infestation), then rushed into the north of the camp and scooped up Honey in his obviously manly arms. Rather than take her back to her bed in the unheated cell block he rushed her down to the original refuge on the other side of the settlement, the one with heated bedrooms. He tucked her into bed in a room heated to 73 (Fahrenheit obviously, not centigrade), fed her, then strolled off to another heated bedroom to sleep the sleep of the just knowing he'd saved the day. What a guy. In an old game I had a Man in Black that turned up, ran into the town, saw the carnage and promptly dropped dead with a heart attack. Klein was much better than that guy. Four Funerals and a Kidnapping - Part Two A few days bed rest for Honey and her Malaria immunity had hit 100% and her hypothermia had cleared, she was out of trouble and just about back to normal. Klein was a gunman and pretty much nothing else, he was charming and kind (strange traits for a gunman, a killer with a heart) but not much use for every day tasks. He wasnt able to do skilled labor, he wouldnt haul things, he couldnt farm, he couldnt cook. There was a real separation of duties between them, Klein took care of anything that needed a gun (and a little bit of cleaning) and Honey took care of everything else. Together they started to get the settlement back on it's feet, Klein cleared the floor in the wreckage that used to be the freezer, Honey rebuilt the freezer walls, built a campfire for cooking, cooked corn and rice simple meals, harvested rice and corn, dug a couple of graves for Gumby and Takashi and buried Takashi (Funeral 3 - Burial). I'm not sure why but Gumby couldn't be buried, normally you right click a dug grave and select who to put in it but Gumby didn't show up on the list. It's always good to have a spare grave, I guess. Be prepared. The "colonist left unburied" mood debuff still showed for Gumby's body but he couldn't be buried so Klein solved the issue by dragging him further away from the camp and setting him on fire with the incendiary grenade launcher. Hey presto, no Gumby (Funeral 4 - Explosive cremation). With that the body clean-up was complete, one thing crossed off the mood debuff list. Things were starting to calm down with all the insectoids gone, the settlement was mainly wrecked but safe now, there were some crops in the fields although they were starting to die with the early winter drop in temperatures but survival seemed at least possible now. The main outstanding risk was what would happen at the first raid from an unfriendly tribe. Raid strength is based on the wealth of your colony, they'll throw more tribesman at you if they think there's a good reward waiting. Paleal may be wrecked but there's still a pile of silver lying in the undamaged storeroom. The colony's wealth was a third of what it was before the insectoids hit, but it's still a lot for only one guy with a gun to defend. The First Raid In early winter the first post-insectoid raid happened, an unfriendly Impid tribe nearby sent a squad to attack. And it didn't look to bad, just a one-man raid, a little red impid with horns and a bow and arrow, surely that wouldn't be too difficult for Klein to fight off? Klein waited in ambush for the impid to get close, he was armed with the camp shotgun now so would be out-ranged by a bow so had to get as close as possible. He fired first, and that's when I found out that impid's have a close range weapon, they can spit fire. All the non-human variants were added by the Biotech DLC so this was a first for me, I didn't know they could do that, last time they raided the colonists were packing rifles and killed them all at long range. Klein responded to having fire spat at him as anybody would. He caught fire and screamed, dropped his shotgun and then he ran outside and collapsed. The impid decided that kidnapping Klein would be a successful raid, he put out the flames and carried off the unconscious Fire-Damaged Man in Black. That's the kidnapping that ends Four Funerals and a Kidnapping (which was meant to be a Rimworld play on Four Wedding and a Funeral. Which is actually a surprisingly entertaining movie). Maybe they'll ransom him back, maybe they'll sell him, maybe they'll eat him, no idea yet, there has been no ransom demand yet. Another episode ends with Honey as the only colonist in Paleal. At least she's still alive.