Dev Diary 5 - It's a Mystery! By Boian Spasov from Haemimont Games

[Smikewolf]

According to the screen shots that would be "The Power of Three."

Yep, spotted that thank you. Was reading the dev diary on my phone so couldn’t read it.
I’m also mildly ashamed that I didn’t get it from the name (x to “the power of three”, or cubed!)

 

[Tavior]

Look like I guessed that they were partially disaster correctly yesterday!

I think it would be cool if you could also choose Random but just for a difficulty setting, i.e. Random (easy), Random (medium) or Random (hard). Especially for the first playthrough when I may want to just go for Random (easy).

My +1 isn't enough!!!

I loved setting like this in AI War and few other game. It is a shame that option like this aren't more common.

 

[agustinalarcon]

Thoses black box remind me of the Doxtor Who episode "the year of the slow invasion", very good!

Imagine, you make a base called "Bowie One" and have this mystery? Great stuff incoming.

According to the screen shots that would be "The Power of Three."

Yep, spotted that thank you. Was reading the dev diary on my phone so couldn’t read it.
I’m also mildly ashamed that I didn’t get it from the name (x to “the power of three”, or cubed!)

I think the title of the episode is precisely "The power of three" and not "The year of the slow invasion" (see the redirection on Wikipedia) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Power_of_Three_(Doctor_Who) so it all makes sense.

I hadn't realised the pun wit the power of three (cubed), I only thought it was because of Doctor + Amy + Rory, the three of them. Nice
That's what happens when you're not a native english speaker I guess

 

[Enoch Gao]

11

 

[Georgus]

"The Power of Three." Does that mean we will see a crazy guy with a blue box?

 

[Ursul]

Very paradox-y. I like it!

 

[Penguin Zero]

How hard will it be for modders to add in their own Mysteries? Will it be relatively simple, like creating an event chain in CK2 or Stellaris, or will there be more complexities involved?

 

[Bryartuck]

I was watching Angry Tom's play through of the cubes mystery on you tube. At some point he questioned if the cubes were possibly bombs or something. I thought to myself that it was not likely that they would do anything really bad, as this was one of the 'easy' mysteries. It has occurred to me that we really don't know what the different ratings on the mysteries represent. Are the 'hard' ones more likely to do something to harm the colony?

@candyalien @Boyan_Haemimont

Can you elaborate on this a little? What exactly do the different ratings (easy/normal/hard) represent? (Obviously without giving away too much).

 

[Blizzard_Haemimont]

I was watching Angry Tom's play through of the cubes mystery on you tube. At some point he questioned if the cubes were possibly bombs or something. I thought to myself that it was not likely that they would do anything really bad, as this was one of the 'easy' mysteries. It has occurred to me that we really don't know what the different ratings on the mysteries represent. Are the 'hard' ones more likely to do something to harm the colony?

@candyalien @Boyan_Haemimont

Can you elaborate on this a little? What exactly do the different ratings (easy/normal/hard) represent? (Obviously without giving away too much).

The difficulty ratings represent two factors:

- How difficult it is to reach a positive ending for the particular mystery
- How threatening the mystery can be for the colony

Keep in mind that all this can depend on playstyle and additional factors, so for a particular map and colony a mystery may be harder or easier than its rating suggests. For example, if you play on a map with lots of meteor strikes a hypothetical mystery that threatens the colony with additional meteor strikes may be easier, since you are more likely to be prepared for the threat.

 

[Blizzard_Haemimont]

Thoses black box remind me of the Doxtor Who episode "the year of the slow invasion", very good!

Imagine, you make a base called "Bowie One" and have this mystery? Great stuff incoming.

Good catch! Doctor Who episode "The Power of Three" was in fact the inspiration behind this mystery, just as "Inner Light" was inspired by Star Trek.

 

[Valfoutre]

Good catch! Doctor Who episode "The Power of Three" was in fact the inspiration behind this mystery, just as "Inner Light" was inspired by Star Trek.

Oups, yea... That's the good name, I just didn't rememberd the name and translate the title in my langue back in english. Fail miserably.

 

[Smikewolf]

Good catch! Doctor Who episode "The Power of Three" was in fact the inspiration behind this mystery, just as "Inner Light" was inspired by Star Trek.

Well that would explain why I was drawn towards the Inner Light mystery!

 

[Blizzard_Haemimont]

Are you sure?

Would you compare these to the event chains in Tropico like Penultimo and the asylum or the fish people, and the narrative chains in Stellaris?

As a part of the team that designed both games, I can easily make a comparison with the missions in Tropico. The mysteries in Suriving Mars take quite longer to be finished than any Tropico mission (talking about Tropico 4 and 5 here). They also start after several hours of gameplay. They are not necessarily more text-content intensive and are certainly not as humorous, but they feature more surprises and unique gameplay elements.

That being said, I have no doubt that the hardcore players will experience the various endings of the mysteries, it is just that many gamers play more casually and are not inclined to dedicate many hours to a single playthrough in a city builder game.

 

[adil3tr]

As a part of the team that designed both games, I can easily make a comparison with the missions in Tropico. The mysteries in Suriving Mars take quite longer to be finished than any Tropico mission (talking about Tropico 4 and 5 here). They also start after several hours of gameplay. They are not necessarily more text-content intensive and are certainly not as humorous, but they feature more surprises and unique gameplay elements.

That being said, I have no doubt that the hardcore players will experience the various endings of the mysteries, it is just that many gamers play more casually and are not inclined to dedicate many hours to a single playthrough in a city builder game.

That inspires a lot of confidence, I remember feeling like a lot of city builders don't reward long playthroughs as much as they could, although many enjoy the fresh start and quick growth of a new city the most. You make it sound really intriguing and if it pays off as much as you say this game should be a real landmark in the genre. I hope Tropico 6 has this as well, and focuses less on the timelines that made 5 feel somewhat linear and repetitive.

 

[Blizzard_Haemimont]

That inspires a lot of confidence, I remember feeling like a lot of city builders don't reward long playthroughs as much as they could, although many enjoy the fresh start and quick growth of a new city the most. You make it sound really intriguing and if it pays off as much as you say this game should be a real landmark in the genre. I hope Tropico 6 has this as well, and focuses less on the timelines that made 5 feel like of linear and repetitive.

I am quite eager to see what Tropico 6 will do as well. Since it is being made by a new developer company I can enjoy it purely as a fan for a first time since Tropico 1 and 2.

 

[TheDarkMaster]

Here are my guesses on the sci-fi tropes that each mystery covers:

1) Power of three: Exotic materials.
2) Inner Light: Psionics and post-humans.
3) Beyond Earth: First contact / alien traders.
4) Artificial Intelligence: Self explanatory, your AI develops self awareness and eventually sapience.
5) Spheres: Living matter, I think? It's hard to say much about the floating balls of water we've seen so far. All we really know is that it's Nicky's favorite mystery.
6) The Dredgers: Underground aliens.
7) Marsgate: Wormholes.
8) The Last War: Colonial Independence War. Actually a historical trope, not a sci-fi one. However, it is one that does come up in sci-fi stories many times.
9) Wildfire: No idea, actually.

EDIT:

I realized that The Last War could also be the apocalypse on Earth, leaving the player on their own from that point forwards and possibly also letting them re-colonize Earth afterwards.

Smikewolf pointed out that Wildfire could be an alien weapon activating and destroying parts of the colony or a disease that spreads like wildfire among the colony.

 

[Pagan Pants]

I'm really excited for this game! I have always fostered a fascination with Mars, and as of late, games on colonization have been minimal in short supply. This game looks very thorough with its detail and level of involvement, and I can't wait.

 

[Smikewolf]

Here are my guesses on the sci-fi tropes that each mystery covers:

1) Power of three: Exotic materials.
2) Inner Light: Psionics and post-humans.
3) Beyond Earth: First contact / alien traders.
4) Artificial Intelligence: Self explanatory, your AI develops self awareness and eventually sapience.
5) Spheres: Living matter, I think? It's hard to say much about the floating balls of water we've seen so far. All we really know is that it's Nicky's favorite mystery.
6) The Dredgers: Underground aliens.
7) Marsgate: Wormholes.
8) The Last War: Colonial Independence War. Actually a historical trope, not a sci-fi one. However, it is one that does come up in sci-fi stories many times.
9) Wildfire: No idea, actually.

I agree with most of these,
7) Marsgate - Made me think of DOOM, so like wormholes. But then I realised that someone did mention about interrupting/disrupting communications with Earth, so I thought this might be a reference to "Watergate". I disregarded this later theory as watching the lets-plays there's been an anomaly near the top of the map in the unexplored area since about #3.

9) Wildfire - sounds a little "Scorched Earth" to me, so maybe some alien tech that causes a cascade of catastrophic failures across the colony? OR, this could be an alien disease that spreads through the colony like wildfire and threatens to decimate your population...

Who knows, can't wait to play and find out.

 

[TheDarkMaster]

8) The Last War: Colonial Independence War. Actually a historical trope, not a sci-fi one. However, it is one that does come up in sci-fi stories many times.

I realized this one could also be the apocalypse on Earth as well, in the form of a global nuclear exchange. The effect of cutting the player off from Earth would be the same as an independence war, but would fit the name 'Last' better and would save the trouble of having to create a system for building a military to fight off expeditionary forces.

That said, I think both would be really cool mysteries to play eventually. One where Mars has to secure their independence against an Earth that is levying increasingly untenable taxes on them. The other where Mars has to survive for several years on their own, then start sending settlers back home to rebuild (which would interestingly, be a heck of a lot easier than colonizing Mars was in the first place).

 

[SpaceMan1]

Good catch! Doctor Who episode "The Power of Three" was in fact the inspiration behind this mystery, just as "Inner Light" was inspired by Star Trek.

So pre much it’s a Easter egg in its self to Doctor Who I do hope there’s more who Easter eggs idk a cool statue that moves and disappears randomly when ur not on that area of the map i can see people getting spooked out with that one haha