Rimworld Mod Rundown - Vanilla Factions Expanded Insectoids 2

[@LionOfTawhid]

This is perchance the fastest mod release to rundown so far

[@MysteriousFawx]

@LionOfTawhid It's also got the most post-production corrections too, haha. So much content in this mod man, it's nuts.

[@Drout83]

@@MysteriousFawx Thanks, I installed this yesterday but wanted to wait for your (extremely detailed) rundown.

[@loklan1]

you can't just say perchance

[@emmyturner7385]

@@loklan1thank you, i came here to say this.

[@Horesmi]

VFE: Insectoids 2 Megaspider: "What is my purpose?" VFE: Mechanoids automated meatgrinder: *brrr* Megaspider: "This means I bring the hunted animals to you, right?" Meatgrinder: *brrrrrr* Megaspider: "Right????"

[@mantisynth2186]

this is a huge improvement over the previous mod imo. not only does it focus on the actual insects more, but does so in a much more interesting way imo. the different genelines are really cool

[@Hasbeans334]

Was just thinking about this mod. Thanks for the rundown!

[@maximilienpellerin3797]

The helldiver start was pretty funny my first time xD two of my guys dropped at the same place 1 space apart, but they arrived at the same time so they were fine ! Until my 3rd guy dropped 1 second later RIGHT ON THEM and they both just died xD

[@darknightcry1333]

Time to get the martial artist superpower , a shield belt and a beer bottle to dive in a insect hive 😂

[@paternusowen2106]

Make sure it's a Sorne insect hive, you don't want to dive onto a Nuchadus hive dressed with only that

[@Homiloko2]

I've had this mod installed since launch and didn't even know what it did lol, thanks

[@Necroskull388]

VFE Insectoids was my favorite VE mod, and Insectoids 2 has been REALLY fun. Little bit murder on the TPS, but very fun to play with, particularly if you're going for a bit of a low-tech solution for hauling, mining, and especially fighting. Only a few techs to research for the entire mod, no crafting, just getting your jelly production going and fighting for pherocores.

[@Horesmi]

TPS issues? The bugs are laggy?

[@Necroskull388]

@@Horesmi It's a bunch of extra creatures on the map, so yeah, same as any other situation where you have a bunch of animals or colonists or whatever. More pawns = less TPS.

[@Horesmi]

@@Necroskull388 So I can manage the lag by just not making many insects in the first place?

[@MysteriousFawx]

@Horesmi Quality Bugs > Quantity of Bugs if you want ticks to still be reasonable. Move up to using a Sorne hive for stronger workers like Spelopedes, then use something like a Xanides for a melee wall and let your colonists handle the ranged combat. As fun as it is to throw 40 megaspiders at enemy raids, the speed around the base during downtime is pretty painful.

[@Horesmi]

@@MysteriousFawx I see the whole expansiom as a source of food. I'm leaning towards just regularly slaughtering all the bugs for meat and maybe keeping the Xandes workers. I'm annoyed that my mechanoid lifters constantly die in crossfires, as they have fuck all in armor.

[@Vaprous]

The Thornpod strikes me as the sort of defense you build specifically to soften up drop pod raids and infestations; because if you know their mechanics, those things have some pretty predictable places they spawn, so you can just *fill* those areas with these things, and it basically guarantees someone will get hit.

[@seraphonica]

around 40:00 - could possibly be used for prison breaks - only lightly maims the prisoners, who you presumably want to recover alive, but slows them down enough that you don't need your whole guard if, say, they break out in the middle of a raid.

[@FairyNya]

omg i have been waiting for this one ever since they announced it nice

[@RagnaFireLord]

Ура новое видео, мод недавно вышел а ты уже сделал разбор круто 😊

[@oSantanas]

As always masterfully written showcase. Great stuff

[@megumin6456]

I love the starcraft background music while talking about creep spread

[@k96man]

The riot gear has been moved to armor expanded fyi

[@weiss4855]

It's alot easier to get your hands on the pherocores without thumpers if you've got the silver, since they've been showing up in Exotic Goods traders since the last update.

[@MysteriousFawx]

@weiss4855 Totally forgot to update the script with that since the update dropped mid production of the video. Definitely the way to go if you want an army of vilelobber towers without the hassle of defeating armies of Kemia insects.

[@Kasel.B]

I really hope ancients gets as much love as this did, I feel like the super powers have been powercrept hard.

[@kropela]

Thank you, helped my run immensely :)

[@Roggenschrotdosenbrot]

You've been really putting out lately, huh? Great stuff

[@FelipeGames-py4gr]

R.I.P. Royal Megaspider

[@cloner-st5vd]

3:50 Randy Random with PMS is SOO funny XD

[@pendantblade6361]

Now I wanna run this mod with the new Ancient Urban Ruins! Im sure you've 100 mods to cover but a new one like this I feel would mesh very well.

[@k.silverpoint]

Noooo, my genomes... How am I going to build my Gregor Samsa now?!

[@the-letter_s]

i like how the acid geneline just outright includes a Pokemon.

[@knukls928]

Thornpod hits about EVERYTHING in its aoe. Useful for leaving your defenders unattended since the hit will wake up any sleeping insects.

[@MysteriousFawx]

@knukls928 But you can draft defenders, why hit them with an injury when you could just select them and press R to get them up and fighting?

[@knukls928]

@@MysteriousFawx I was past the snowball point so it was laziness and sheer numbers: I had a hive node surrounded by Royal jelly walls inside the entrance to my mountain, which maintained a bunch of the armorbug, acidbug and classicbug hives with Thornworm support and and some Vilelobbers in a room sticking out of the mountain. I only drafted for special tactic raids like sieges, clusters, and chanters. Plus it was more fun to play out a horror scene where it was one raider making a misstep that wakes up the hive than doing it myself.

[@JsbyekzbhiwEbeujsdje]

I have a bug, i unlock the insect genes with the insector, now all my saves have this unlock. Why this happen?

[@darkequation]

So a checkerboard wall of normal and jelly wall is somewhat sturdier I guess?

[@nightlockraven3587]

I got 2 queens it’s a great thing to have word of animals and 230% psy sensitivity

[@fuchsmichael93]

The Royal Jelly Injector Gene you get from the Sornecore, progresses the Incubation of a Bossbug. About 5% each Time and doesnt seem to have a Cooldown

[@AFOKHAOS]

"THE ONLY GOOD BUG'S A DEAD BUG!"

[@gustavomedrano2027]

always up to date, like for that

[@jackserverman882]

THANK GOD IT FINALLY DROPPED

[@nightlockraven3587]

Also I cheesed the silverfish boss by using the instant kill ability from alpha animals Ravager psycast, felt like an absolute meme.

[@nightmareraven3045]

Once again Insectors come in with mediocare positive gene, with crippling downsides.

[@Ichorizor]

Dont knock the Staticpod! Insect Jelly is easier to acquire and occurs passively, no batteries means no Zzzt! events to burn down your flammable creep, and no maintenance means that in the long run, youll be saving time and resources compared to the Solar Panel's component maintenance. It's also pretty easy to run a low-power colony when focusing on insects, as the Glow Spire removes one of the biggest power-draws of any colony: Sun Lamps (and Hydroponics, but I'd still use those).

[@MysteriousFawx]

You can still have batteries with no bzzt if you only use hidden conduits ;)

[@Ichorizor]

I always forget that! I'm too used to never using batteries already, thanks to Chemfuel Expanded.

[@MysteriousFawx]

@@Ichorizor as soon as tox generators entered the game my logic was 'why store power when I could just make more? Put another one over there by the deer with 7 legs'

[@LionOfTawhid]

Insectoids 2 definitely makes more sense than the first one, I never ever interacted or used the first mod meanwhile I've had 2 for a while now and it's the primary threat I've encountered, similar to VFE Mechanoids ship landings

[@gratuitouslurking8610]

I got a few of the larger insectoid raids and a megalocus migration using VFE:I 1 so it was THERE but yeah, compared to 2 there's not much world interaction and the genetic stuff was just so specific that I didn't really touch it.

[@PureArchon]

Common MysteriousFawx W.

[@mrpilkington9710]

Rimworld is basically a tower defence game with farming

[@jwb_666]

can't believe they got rid of my favourite weapons I hope it comes back as a VE Plasma Weapons

[@mirceazaharia2094]

They're getting rolled into another weapons mod, or their own mod. I'm just happy that my bug wars will be even more savage and difficult now.

[@megumin6456]

Yey! I was waiting for this

[@Irimu_]

Not sure if I missed it or not but is there a way to stop your insects from eating the jelly? I just started so if there is an obvious solution I'd like to know what it is. Also is it just intended for your colonists to find the colony ugly?

[@MysteriousFawx]

@Irimu_ Have colonists haul the jelly produced from hives outside of the insects allowed zones if you want to stop them eating it, otherwise you'll need to dramatically *overproduce* jelly to make a decent stockpile of it in any kind of reasonable time. And totally intended that your colonists find the bug hives godawful to be around, it's very hard to live inside or nearby a hive, if you can separate the two with a solid wall of some form it really helps.

[@youtubecommenter4213]

wonder if coilguns punch through the 'hyper armor' of the xanides bugs. might make them actually worth using if so, they're generally a gun type i never pick up in fear of killing all my colonists by accident.

[@cyndertamarack5188]

Really wish this had Alpha Animals compatibility for some kind of major black hive geneline

[@marcosmartinezmuelas319]

Somebody made a mod to add a black hive and space geneline from SOS2

[@chicotheworld9763]

4:58 u can save seed and everything before landing? How? Can i also save my squad setup including the left behind characters so i dont gotta start it all over again when looking at seeds?

[@MysteriousFawx]

@chicotheworld9763 you can always make a note of your seed and world settings, having them the same will generate an identical planet. You can obviously save your ideology too but starting colonists are always going to be somewhat random.

[@chris_ssj2]

Awesome rundown as always Commenting for the algo :)

[@skaianDestiny]

Given the glow up I'd love for the VE team to do a VFE Mechanoids 2. Hopefully they rework the automated stuff and expand on their original mechanoid mechanics to better integrate with Biotech's mechanics.

[@AtemVandetta23]

Not anytime soon, from the looks of it. I asked Oskar on patreon about that. He doesnt think it needs rework, since he is satisfied as is, plus following current roadmap. Maybe in like 2-3 years from whate he said.

[@YukonHexsun]

I clicked this so quick, because Insectoids 2 has been my favorite VE mod. I was actually using it pre-nerf, and oh god it needed it. Drafting an army of passively reproducing lil melee guys with a Medieval era research was crazy good. But worse than that, they are disgustingly good at mining. You did not need a dedicated miner after you got bugs. With these nerfs, it might give me the kick in the rear I need to fight the Empress. I do think it's worth noting, you can change how fast creep spreads in the config. I'm not sure how to gauge the balance of that speed, because the default is freaking glacially slow. On the other hand once you have ample creep and start throwing down jelly farms, you quickly get tons and tons of jelly... and that's not necessarily a good thing. Jelly is very valuable despite not providing *that* much food for what it is. I start getting some rough raids because I've got over 1000 of the stuff jacking my wealth up. Send regular trading caravans to offload it. I need it since I'm exclusively running Insectors nowadays but, yeesh. I'm not using it as the main food source. Maybe late game I will, nothing but slime and tendril moss. Other than that uh... yeah, thanks for the rapid release, and I completely agree on the doors. I want my fleshy door. I'd go full-on bug hive base if I could. Add some Geiger for that classic Zerg aesthetic.

[@MysteriousFawx]

@YukonHexsun It's one where I didn't go too deeply into the settings around the mod as it's still being balanced early days via patches, like how the jelly spawn on basic hives has been nerfed. And a lot of those tweaks come down to personal preference rather than turning things on/off, like the Total War mechanic in Mechanoids for example.

[@YukonHexsun]

@@MysteriousFawx Very fair. On initial release the jelly production on hives didn't seem to work quite right either, hives kept spawning dormant and you needed to use the widget in dev mode to turn em on. I can imagine it's hard to decide when to release a rundown in light of that kind of thing.

[@t_gabiuel6058]

Great rundown as always, Fawx. Just wondering if you ever plan to cover Combat Extended in the future.

[@MysteriousFawx]

@t_gabiuel6058 In the stage of learning it/breaking down the script into sections before I dig too deeply into it. It's such a massive nightmare to cover that I'm having to approach it differently to the standard rundown formula, otherwise it'd be a 3 hour video that just *numbers numbers numbers numbers*

[@deadass5148]

"The bugs are back"

[@blook88]

hi MysteriousFawx. i really like your videos. i wanted to ask something: do you plan to also cover whole modpacks? e.g. a fallout or a medieval modpack

[@MysteriousFawx]

@blook88 current list of planned/requested coverage can be found here. www.patreon.com/posts/planned-coverage-111068959

[@TheMugwump1]

6:24 That movie is on my top 10 list.

[@heinzaballoo3278]

What's it called?

[@MysteriousFawx]

@heinzaballoo3278 Tremors, released in 1990

[@heinzaballoo3278]

Awesome, well done!

[@bardkuzniadram6193]

Amazing job! 👏

[@Felsune.original]

Strangely enough, after downloading the mod, I do not get the new starting scenario as a choice.

[@danielpetrico8347]

could you consider doing a rundown on the Hellsing ARMS Ultimate mod?

[@burak6415]

as someone who plays with the insectoids faction turned off i have one word to say WHAT

[@darthceasar3690]

is there infestation defend to replace sonic repelled? it seem really unnecessary harsh to remove the repelled make it so infestation can happen anywhere and add bug that can shoot flame so even if you manage to bottle neck them, your pawn going to get burn.

[@MysteriousFawx]

@darthceasar3690 No way to repel infestations any more. At a guess I'd say it's because it caused issues with the infestation tile mechanics that let hives spawn anywhere on the map. As long as you don't settle in infested areas, it's really not that much of an issue. It's no different to vanilla.

[@thekey1175]

I don't even know what that guy was arrested for. Eating a delicious Chinese meal?

[@gr_egg]

Great video as always, I'm just confused about the devs approach to "upgrading" outdated mods... they just deleted half of the coolest things that were there lol. Like yeah there's new stuff but why take away the old stuff that was good?

[@MysteriousFawx]

@gr_egg By the sound of things the bits that are missing, Plasma, Insect Genes etc, are likely to make a re-appearance in a more suitable/thematic mod that actually fits with their inclusion, as well as giving them a chance to be overhauled too. It'll hopefully get around some issues people have with some of the older faction mods that you want for mechanic A/B but need to download C/D/E/F/G etc alongside it.

[@chasefox-n9k]

Juat because the stuff is cool doesnt mean it fits well. The old insectoids mod was cool but had a lot of weird fluff to it. I really like that this new version is much more thought through with the additions just making overall more sense.

[@walterwhite5764]

So the vanilla races expanded insectoid xenotype would that ironically be very impractical for a colony cause like it would make sense to have insect colonists and insectoid army but since that race needs to eat a lot of insect jelly to avoid getting weakened which would in turn cause less insect jelly to be available for your insectoid make it not viable together?

[@MysteriousFawx]

@walterwhite5764 mmmm... not necessarily. As your Insectors can evolve as many times as required, it makes it really easy to swap your starting colony of them over to jelly sacks, building up a larger stockpile than they're consuming so you've got materials to build a hive. When the hive is up and running with jelly farms, your bugs handle the maintenance and food whilst your Insectors swap back over to a more combat oriented role. It's an interesting colony to run, a lot more adaptation heavy than others.

[@walterwhite5764]

@@MysteriousFawx ahh I see thanks for the insight

[@Alvaro-lc1qq]

there is a bug that does not let me use the command spawn thing,someone knows how can i fix it???

[@h.m.stanley]

Are the Empress and Queen the only spawn that will drop (produce) Royal Jelly? My 1 year old Gigamite does not and I thought all bosses somehow had the ability to produce Royal Jelly?

[@MysteriousFawx]

@h.m.stanley aye it's a sorne geneline vibe. Everything with royal jelly is linked to them and their pherocore

[@wafidhappy1353]

hiii do u perhaps know how long exactly before an implanted sorne pherocore reaches maturity i cant tell if im having errors but its been like 30 rimworld days since i implanted one and its still not done maybe its normal idk

[@MysteriousFawx]

@wafidhappy1353 Gestation is an extremely long process. If you want to speed it up, make them eat Royal Insect Jelly, each bit adds 3% to progress. It can be administered on the medical tab.

[@dyhlanvillegas5544]

the creeper is bugged

[@Morlair]

Nice. Heres hoping they do a mechanoid 2. redo the factories and better incorporate the droids.

[@sadontafiir2955]

Here we go

[@zacfor4454]

How do you get royal jelly? The mod page just seems straight up wrong about the empress producing it and it doesn't say how to get the queen that supposedly makes it and the jelly morpher requires royal jelly to begin with. So how are you supposed to get it?

[@MysteriousFawx]

@zacfor4454 The Empress and Queen produced it just fine for me during recording. They just passively drop it over a period of days, which does mean it's really easy for other insects to consume it before it gets hauled to storage. Outside of that you can find it on traders, typically Exotic goods. Once you've got enough to build a single Morpher you're set.

[@SargBjornson]

So how do you feel about a whole bunch of new content added to it? ;)

[@MysteriousFawx]

@SargBjornson *insert PTSD cupcake dog gif here*

[@gratuitouslurking8610]

I won't complain as long as plasma weapons are among them~

[@Puggernuts]

So no more giant spider queens? 😢

[@7.9313]

i literally checked on you 1 hr ago

[@yes.elevens3688]

Well, for Super-Rim?

[@breadlord6479]

How do you actually destroy a hive faction base though? Destroy all the insectoids and the hives or every last structure on the map?

[@MysteriousFawx]

@breadlord6479 For most factions, taking down static defences and removing enough defenders to make them flee would be enough. You need to destroy a lot more buildings against the hive because so many of their structures will be spawning more enemies, plus pretty much the only loot you'll get by raiding them is dropped from destroyed buildings, so you're incentivised to do it before leaving.

[@colecook834]

I cannot draft the megascarabs anymore after a infestation. I even destroyed all my basic hives and rebuilt them Also if you have all of vanilla expanded tier three research is hidden below the screen

[@averageviewer8511]

They've patched it out since killing bosses with the swarm was too ez

[@colecook834]

@@averageviewer8511 ... then how do you fight with them

[@averageviewer8511]

@@colecook834 You're not supposed to have them proactively fight, but I noticed that they took an AI change so that they automatically attack enemies near your hives, meaning they're a lot more defensive and can gang on bosses there

[@colecook834]

@@averageviewer8511 so then they need to be spread out... that freezer is going to need to be a lot bigger to maintain corpses

[@jake1082]

This has support from alpha animals too, we can have black insectoids, nice

[@zwinnytygrys9865]

I'm kinda sad. I can't now farm insectoids.

[@wyattswag3718]

Deadmans switch, Vanilla expanded vehicles or liberators pleaseeeeeeeee

[@redomer91]

The walls in this mod are ridiculously bad. I fully support the idea of allowing hive wall to be converted over. That way it actually becomes viable for anything but the early game.

[@evanboland1220]

Bro the insect genomez are gone? ☹️

[@naiwhy4989]

Are colony insectoids able to do caravanning and raiding?

[@MysteriousFawx]

@naiwhy4989 They're linked to the hive. So you can either take Boss insects with you, or destroy a hive after it has spawned some and retrain the insects to work like normal colony animals.

[@N00b4qu1]

Ancient Urban Ruins mod rundown please?

[@MysteriousFawx]

@N00b4qu1 I won't be covering that anytime soon, Kingallhobos has a video up on it though :)

[@koboldranger1852]

hive mechanics remind me of the zerg

[@IOSAGifts]

MysteriousFawx, great content keep it up dude

[@wafidhappy1353]

can megascarabs maintain any hive or just the basic hive

[@MysteriousFawx]

@wafidhappy1353 all workers maintain anything that needs it. So megascarabs are the most accessible ones. They just die to practically everything.

[@wafidhappy1353]

​@@MysteriousFawx thank youu

[@stefanlog1]

Yoooo thanks for doing this mod showcase

[@Ajax645]

How do you produce enough jelly to really get the ball rolling?

[@MysteriousFawx]

@Ajax645 If you're starting from absolutely nothing, taking a hive quest will get you a good amount as it drops from their buildings, otherwise keep an eye out for exotic traders as they usually have some. Once you've got enough jelly to build a basic hive, it'll start producing more than the insects it houses consume, so keep colonists on top of grabbing it and stash it away to build more artificial hives or jelly farms, then you're set.

[@Ajax645]

@MysteriousFawx thanks, I've got the ball rolling. Now how do I got about producing enough royal jelly? Is it only by gestating an Empress and waiting for it to produce enough for a jelly morpher?

[@MysteriousFawx]

@Ajax645 Aye, either save what an Empress produces or grab some from a trader and get that Jelly Morpher made. It's output is crazy efficient so a single 1 will make enough for the entire colony, easily.

[@Ajax645]

@@MysteriousFawx appreciated

[@falsinar]

Oooh another beefy one

[@michaelrichards5340]

Well (2) things, I usually turn off insects, if I don't, I know their mechanics well enough to play around them so they almost nvr appear.. unless I'm deep drilling, can't really avoid those guys. Secondly, liking to play fully ranged, kitting and kill boxing makes insects annoying when they pop up in my well built dining area, it would just piss me off to a point of turning the game off. Tho this fear I have of these bugs is from running the old version of this mod along with CE when I was a noob that didn't even know shit about Vanilla mechanics, like melee blockers 😂 Brah setting up my own hive? My hearts just gonna fail every time I scroll pass them and assume they're enemy bugs 😂😂 also, mechs under our control can become hostile under the right conditions, you're telling me, these demons are always your lil buddies? Maaaannn..... That tile movement debuff... I do love the worker, defender Hunter mechanic tho, would have to watch the video, I didn't catch what defenders do. I have a potato so it was nice to see that building that does maintenance, but with unofficial steam workshop mods like Performance Fish and my crap ton of optimisation mods, it's actually a bit possible to run a base with them at a flat 300tps but say shamblers show up. 😂 Esp on Losing in fun 300% which is my default lately... TANKED tps.. esp because this mod would spike wealth widely. STILL GONNA TRY IT THO BECAUSE OF YOUR RUNDOWN. HIVE UP BOYS 😂😂😂

[@skaianDestiny]

You can change your insects' colors to keep them differentiated from the regular ones! I made mine all blue.

[@Xternzz]

Is it me or does he sounds like he is sick in the audio?

[@MysteriousFawx]

@Xternzz Side effects of meds, gives me cotton mouth. You can tell if I'm having a good/bad week based on my voice, haha.

[@Xternzz]

@@MysteriousFawx Oh man, i'm very sorry to hear that

[@MysteriousFawx]

@@Xternzz it's nothing bad dude, don't sweat it. I wouldn't have said if I wasn't comfortable sharing. If I was better organised I'd do all of my voice over when I was speaking clearly!