Mutual exclusive choices

[NeedPants]

Hello there not starving community!

I was wondering if this game is going to contain mutual exclusive choices, as the title says. I mean things like: u can produce this building or this building, but not both, each giving unique bonusses and unique disadvantages, or possibly just different tech development paths.

It will keep multiple restarts interesting because one could try a different build. On the other hand, im not entirely sure don't starve is the game for this kind of stuff.

Pantsman

PS: It isnt really a suggestion so i posted it in the general forums, im only interested to find out if this is a possibility.

[Excess]

I don't see it happening with the current amount of buildable things, but it's certainly an interesting idea to keep in mind if we get more things with varied used to build in the future.

[dbernard456]

I think mutual exclusive choices should be based on general survival strategy

Here a suggestion choice player should do as their character evolve.

Magical versus technology

Magical strategy

allow players to use spells, ritual, wards and other supernatural means to protect himself and find food.

Technology strategy

The player push for rational and practical means of survival by researching science in the wild and inventing devices.

Ecobalance versus fast exploitation

Ecobalance stategy

The player want to live in harmony with nature and work to protect the ecological balance of the islands where he lives.

By doing so, he may gain useful allies in nature. However, he need to be extra careful to not upset the nature fragile balance. Cutting a tree without planting another or placing traps that harms animal may be costly for a nature dependant player.

Exploitation

The player exploit the environment extensively and don't care about hippies stuff such as ecology. But the player should be aware that nature has ways to strike back. The next tree he cut may be the last one.

Nomadism versus sedentism

Nomadism you are constenly on the move and seldom sleep many day at the same place. When needed you can pack your things and move to the next island in search of food and resources. When winter is coming, you travel to warmer places and return at spring to avoid the burning sun of summer.

sedentism

You build permanent structure at your camp and seldom sleep outside it. When winter comes, you have your hut to avoid freezing and when sprince comes, you can begin to plow and havest you fields. Sometime you need to wander outsite the safety of your camp to gathers ressources, but you always return at home.

I also think that no choice should be permanent and that player should be able to shift strategy ( at some cost in ressources and time )

[Ganonn360]

If I can trust the forums the pigs and monkeys will be a mutual exclusive choice right?

[Bogpad]

if we get a lot more craftable items, I could see that happen indeed, go a more magicianish way, or a more sciencyway, more melee or ranged, lots of possibilities. I would like to see a differentiation like this indeed, I think adding decisions like this would indeed increasy replayability by a huge part, and survival games with mutual decisions are better than survival games where everyone can do everything at the same time imo.

[OmegaJasam]

These kind of choices /very rarely/ work well. It's very difficult to make them perfectly balanced, and if you don't people tend to choose the optimal one.

And with only one save file and a desire to survive as long as possable, you'd be arbitaraly cutting out a large chunk of the content for each play through.

Much better to give access to more stuff over time then this.

If you want to see the /best/ example of games in this genre, play lost in blue 2/3. The latter even had multiple characters, (with strengths and weaknesses as NPCs). But mutual exlusivity was not something you encountered outside of the character you chose's bonus.

It is possbale to do these choices well, but they're generaly better handled at the character level then a tech tree. Tech trees in this enviroment tend to work better with specialities, aka, 'bonus to the rate you get magic tech'. It keeps the content available, but gives the early parts of the playthrough some variance.

[Toaster Fu]

If I can trust the forums the pigs and monkeys will be a mutual exclusive choice right?

That's just a rumor sadly.

[NeedPants]

Aaah lots of discussion i see, excellent *touches fingertips*.

I assume the meat effigy will remain a wilson only thing, and the other characters will get something else as a replacement. This shows mutual exclusivity in the character choice. I did however mean choices in the tech tree, that would open up one thing, but lock out something else.

Personally i dont really mind with or without atm. As long as replayability is not an issue, we could easily do without them, but considering the total lack of mid- and lategame, i assume we have yet to see MOST of our tech, and the selection of buildings we have now is just the tip of the iceberg.

Introducing mutually exclusive choices would ofc start the "build" scenarios: Hey im doing a wilson farming build strat and i wonder etcetc.. Compared to Hey im doing a wilson forager strat. As an example