Vanilla Quests Expanded - Deadlife - Ancient Silos, Zombie Hordes and New Quests for RimWorld

Vanilla Quests Expanded - Deadlife is a RimWorld mod that introduces a new story-driven questline centered around abandoned military silos, undead shamblers, and the dark secrets of a long-forgotten government project. Players must explore dangerous underground facilities, recover valuable resources, and uncover the truth behind Operation: Deadlife, an ancient initiative that attempted to secure humanity's future through forbidden archotech technology.

The modification adds 2 new quests, underground exploration, dangerous encounters with shambler hordes, and a storyline involving experimental weapons and intercontinental ballistic missiles.

Operation: Deadlife - Secrets of an Ancient Government

Long before the events of the game, a powerful government launched Operation: Deadlife, a secret project intended to preserve civilization or potentially bring about its destruction.

Across the planet, this government constructed reinforced underground silos containing resources intended for rebuilding society after a catastrophe.

These ancient facilities contain valuable supplies, including:

• Steel and plasteel.
• Medicine and medical resources.
• Books and other useful supplies.
• Weapons and military equipment.

However, the silos have long since been abandoned, and their surroundings are now infested with dangerous shamblers.

Recovering these resources requires careful preparation, combat readiness, and exploration of hazardous underground environments.

Shambler Hordes and Underground Silo Exploration

Every ancient silo is surrounded by a roaming horde of shamblers.

These creatures generally remain near their assigned facility, but they can pursue nearby caravans if provoked. Approaching a silo therefore requires careful planning and movement.

Exploring an ancient silo involves several challenges:

1. Reach the facility while avoiding or confronting the surrounding shambler horde.
2. Break through the massive reinforced entrance.
3. Descend the staircase into the dark underground complex.
4. Navigate narrow corridors filled with wandering shamblers.
5. Restore electricity using ancient burnout generators scattered throughout the facility.
6. Explore storage chambers and recover valuable resources.

The underground interiors contain dozens of enemies, making every expedition a dangerous undertaking.

Restoring power is particularly important because the silo's corridors and rooms are initially plunged into darkness.

Ancient Map Tables and the Command Center Silo

While investigating the underground facilities, players can discover ancient map tables containing information about the secret military network.

Studying these tables gradually reveals the location of the Command Center Silo, the central facility of Operation: Deadlife.

The story eventually uncovers the government's discovery of a mysterious archotech gateway that was releasing an unusual substance known as deadlife particles.

Rather than simply studying this phenomenon, the government attempted to transform it into a weapon.

The result was a network of missile silos containing intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) equipped with warheads infused with deadlife dust.

The final stage of the storyline concerns the fate of these missiles, including their potential launch or prevention.

Special Characters and Continuing Silo Expeditions

The questline introduces unique characters connected to Operation: Deadlife.

One of them is the General, who can potentially be recruited into the player's colony if captured alive.

However, special quest characters are unique and cannot be obtained again if permanently lost.

The underground silo system also remains accessible after the main storyline concludes.

Silo quests continue even after the final mission, regardless of whether the missiles were launched or their launch was prevented.

This allows players to keep exploring sealed facilities and recovering resources.

Quest Generation and Developer Tools

Vanilla Quests Expanded - Deadlife uses a separate quest generation system that operates independently of the standard RimWorld storyteller.

Quest mechanics include:

• Two additional quests with their own activation conditions.
• Quest activation based on internal timers and required conditions.
• No reduction in normal storyteller-generated quests.
• The first quest is expected to appear within 60 in-game days of starting the game.
• Quest locations appear within 50 world map tiles of the player's colony.

The developer menu also includes View Quest Chains, allowing players to inspect quest chains, manually trigger quests, automatically complete them, and check when subsequent quests are scheduled to appear.

Compatibility and Important Limitations

Vanilla Quests Expanded - Deadlife supports existing RimWorld saves, allowing the additional storyline to be introduced during an ongoing playthrough.

Important details:

• Existing saves: Supported.
• Combat Extended: Compatibility has not been confirmed.
• Ancient structures: Most structures inside the facilities cannot be uninstalled or transported back to the colony.
• Exceptions: The kino and projector can be uninstalled.
• Unique characters: Permanently lost special characters cannot be obtained again.
• Silo expeditions: Remain available after the final storyline outcome.

Authors

• Oskar Potocki - Graphics and visual design.
• Sarg Bjornson - Programming.
• Taranchuk - Programming.
• vitalii - Storyteller artwork.