It's out! Get it while it's hot!
I'll be using this app to push out updates about the development of Wool, and my other experiments. Since I plan on doing more Rust related experiments, I've called the app Experimental Island.Please download it, watch the simulation, and tell me what you think!
What's next?
I'll update Experimental Islandand make it playable -- you'll be able to run around as Garry!
This week I coded and packaged WOOL into an iOS application that anyone can download.
But it's awaiting review from Apple, stay tuned for its public release (hopefully) early next week.
It will be available on iOS 8 for the iPhone and iPad. Download Here
This week I'll make it playable.
So you'll be able to run around as one of the guys in this simulation. It will be pretty cool. I want people to send me the replays of their games so that I can analyze the data and figure out the best values for resources and crafts.
The developers of Rust agreed, and raiding is now possible at all base tiers.
On Monday this week, the state of raiding changed. It's now possible to mine your way into player's bases, no matter what tier base you have. I love it. This is what I've been pining for. This system is getting closer to how Wool works. Specifically, in Wool, players can build tools inside their base, then spend them on an opponent's base of equal or lesser tier. In Rust, tools are used in exactly the same way. But, Wool is still significantly different than Rust. The two main differences between Wool and Rust are tools and the blueprints system.
Blueprints
Blueprints are fun. It's thrilling to find blueprints hidden randomly in barrels. It's fun to scour the landscape looking for them. It's even more fun to compete with someone for a barrel you both are barreling for. But, there are some things that aren't great about blueprints; it can be very difficult to find a particular blueprint you are looking for -- so difficult that unlucky players may never find what they're looking for. An especially unlucky player could spend unreasonable amounts of time searching, and make zero progress. It's for this reason that Wool gives you some of the blueprints you need at each tier. At tier 1, {the wood base}, you can build wood stuff {like a wood hammer, a wood spear, maybe some bark armor}. Similarly for tier 2 and 3. Not only are you be able to progress consistently, but Wool's system has better style -- you won't see players with a wood shack crafting guns like you will in Rust.
Tools
In Rust, it costs 100 wood and 50 metal to build a hatchet, then about a minute to hack down someone's tier 2 {wood board} base. Building that base cost the owner somewhere in the neighbourhood of 3000 wood (cupboard and all). Metal is fairly easy to come by, about as hard as collecting 500 wood, so the cost of a hatchet to break someones base is roughly 600 wood {when you finally have a furnace}. Thus, it costs about 20% of a new base cost to break into someone's base. In Wool, it costs 50% of someones base in resources to break into it. I'm not sure if this is better or not, but I feel like it's too cheap to raid tiers 1 and 2, and too easy to build tiers 1 and 2.
Tier 3 {stone walls} is more interesting. I haven't had time to do a full investigation into the details / most efficient way to raid tier 3, but I would roughly equate tier 3 in Rust to tier 1 in Wool.
This week's work on Wool was dedicated to AI conciousness.
Newmans are now aware of other newmans, they will chase and flee appropriately. It's pretty cool to watch, and it looks like newmans survive a lot longer now. Unfortunately, you might notice a couple bugs in the AI code due to these upgrades. I'll do my best to see to them before next week is through.
Enjoy the time lapse video, and a short real time video!
Consciousness In Action
Time Lapse
Download Wool for iOS
Not yet, but next week. Since I'm not sure what values are the best for raiding, I'm going to let everyone play the simulator and tell me what they think about the difficulty of raiding. I'm going to put together a version of Wool that lets you be one of the players over this weekend {if I'm not too busy killing you in Rust, I play on Facepunch - Seattle under the name "Dude"}. It should be on the App Store by Friday next week if all goes well. If you'd like to get an email about it when it goes live, send me an email at thompson.codes@gmail.com with the subject "Wool", I'd love to hear from you.
PS: Life is hectic, I'm moving, and I didn't have time to work on Wool last week, and even missed my weekly post. Sorry, I'll make it up to you.
It's out! Get it while it's hot!
