"The people of your colony are uninspired" message?

[mikeprichard]

As seen in the playthrough video at https://youtu.be/3khm7hfJObg?t=704. What exactly causes this message (i.e. how are "missions" defined, how many must be completed, in which timeframe(s) must they be completed, does this affect lands outside the Haven lands, etc.), and what are the specific consequences as compared to a situation where your colony is "inspired"? The explanatory text may have been clarified in the recent updates, but I can't find any detailed explanations for this.

Edited December 7, 2019 by mikeprichard

[osnola]

The consequences of the uninspired messages are that the forts (in all lands) no longer collect any resources and any golds every two days.

 

Note:

- I have rarely seen this message, so I am not sure if it is related to some timeframe, the numbers of cleared zones compared to the number of rebuilt forts, or doing nothing in the last X days... In fact, I suspected that if you do not keep teleporting between far places just to collect resources, you will rarely see it:~

 

Edited December 8, 2019 by osnola

[mikeprichard]

Hmm, if it's in fact the case that no resources at all are collected in any of your forts, the message is very misleading/inaccurate - it indicates resources are in fact collected, but only enough to cover your forts' maintenance costs. I'm still confused!

[osnola]

Oops, sorry, definitely this message is more accurate than my message :-~ ; yes, minimal resources are collected to cover forts' maintenance costs(*). I see that as a method to freeze the resources/golds situation and to avoid cheating by teleporting/... until you have enough resources/golds to build all shops/buy all equipments...

 

(*) I do not know if this is still true if some of your resources are in deficit. For instance, if your shops use more woods than you can collect.

Edited December 8, 2019 by osnola

[mikeprichard]

Ah, OK - thanks for the info. It seems that what actually causes this message is still unclear (how are "missions" defined, how many must be completed, in which timeframe(s) must they be completed), though from what you said, it may somehow be related to the overuse of "teleporting"/fast travel (?). But on my last specific question (does this affect lands outside the Haven lands), you indicated it does affect non-Haven land forts in your experience. Can you please share a screenshot of what the message says in that case (I assume the "your colony" language is replaced by "vassal" or similar language)?

Edited December 8, 2019 by mikeprichard

[osnola]

Sorry, I remember seing this message in my first games (one time when I have already rebuild the first Vol's fort) and that my resources/golds were frozen but I have not done any screenshot. In my last games, this message no longer appears, probably because now, I rush the beginning:

 

Spoiler

without finishing the Chief Miranda's tutorial, I force the Vol gates (and if possible the Ukat Border) and rebuild my first fort(s). When I finish the Chief Miranda tutorial at day 4 or 5, I have enough resources and golds to upgrade Fort Haven (and sometimes another fort), then I do some easier quests to get more golds (to build new shops and finally upgrade my equipment), ...

 

Edited December 8, 2019 by osnola

[mikeprichard]

Interesting strategy! I get the feeling the only person who could shed more light on this would be Jeff, but I appreciate the input.

[Randomizer]

I'm guessing from something Jeff mentioned during testing that this message appears to players who aren't exploring new areas. For example repeatedly resting in bed to build up resources.

[mikeprichard]

OK, that would make sense. Still not sure what exactly constitutes "completing a mission" and how often such needs to be done to prevent this outcome, but Jeff does like to keep his game mechanics vague!

Edited December 8, 2019 by mikeprichard

[mikeprichard]

Jeff did kindly reply to an email I sent asking him for more info on this (as well as transmitting other issues) - I had to chuckle at his response, which I didn't find surprising. The man is endlessly patient with his fans!

"The message is pretty unambiguous and even the guy on the YouTube video says the right answer. If you just lay in bed for the week, the game won't hand you stuff. Finish missions to make your colony strong. I'm not going to dig up the actual algebra here. Just, you know, leave your quarters and play the game!"

[mikeprichard]

As I'm getting further into the game (I'm halfway through my first vassal state exploration in the Ukat), I'd really like to get a better sense of what exactly triggers this message and the resulting "freezing" of your resources and funds. One guess would be that if you don't "clear" a new dungeon after a period of X days, you get the message. However, this trigger would be grossly imbalanced, as it would disproportionately punish a player who quickly clears a series of dungeons in a few short days and then takes a rest of X days and finds his/her assets "frozen", vs. a player who exploits the system by only clearing each dungeon just often enough to maintain a steady stream of uninterrupted income. I hope this isn't how this works, as it would result in vastly smaller amounts of total resources available to players during the course of the game when they move through the game more decisively - the precise opposite of what should be intended by the mechanic in the first place - but I don't know if anyone has any evidence to support either this or another mechanic.
 

I have a feeling nobody really has any idea, but thought I'd make one more attempt at seeing if this can finally be clarified. Thanks again!

[Sade]

I tried loading one of my later saves to see how long it would take for resources to stop generating, and it turns out that my colony had become endlessly inspired at some point. Even after resting in bed for months, resources were still generating normally.

[EarthPhantomTS]

5 hours ago, Sade said:

I tried loading one of my later saves to see how long it would take for resources to stop generating, and it turns out that my colony had become endlessly inspired at some point. Even after resting in bed for months, resources were still generating normally.

 

Is it possible that doing *everything* in an area leads to that result?  Do you know if you completely finished everything in that area, by any chance, Sade?

 

Or could it be that just doing a certain number of things quickly enough get you this?  Or is it tied to doing one particular thing (like, it's a hidden reward of one of the major quests)?

 

Just trying to come up with ideas on how it works.

[Sade]

Your guess is as good as mine. It was a very late save file, so the game might simply be protecting me from losing resources when there are only a few quests/dungeons remaining.

 

All I know for certain is that I have never seen the uninspired message during normal gameplay.

[mikeprichard]

Now that I'm much nearer the endgame (I just completed all three vassal quests - yeah, I've been playing a LOT the past couple days), it turns out I only saw this message while still clearing the Haven colony region early in the game and for the first couple hours in the first vassal region. I have a very completionist playstyle such that I first clear every encounter on the world map in each region, then clear each interior zone (town/dungeon) one by one; I assume this is what frequently triggered these messages in the first few hours, as I hadn't yet had much more than one fort built and a couple dungeons cleared for some time. However, I never again saw that message after the initial few hours - probably around building the second fort - despite completing zones at the same pace as before, so it seems my fears of constantly feeling pressured to quickly rush through dungeons at a regular pace just to avoid crippling resource shortages later in the game were unfounded.

Apparently, once you've reached a "critical mass" of completed areas, you pass a threshold and no longer need to worry about the "uninspired" message again. At least, those were my practical findings as well. Thanks once more for the additional input!