Welcome to Hell!

A harsh overhaul of the classic scenarios, with a focus on unpredictability.

If you’ve played the same scenario a few times, you’ve probably noticed that there’s not that much variation between runs. That’s because each scenario has at most two possible event timelines (that determines things like the start and end of winter, resource shortages, etc), and only a handful of map layouts. It sort of trivializes the game once you know exactly what you need to plan for.

Well, no longer! Keep your radio at hand, because this mod makes each run effectively unique, by adding literally hundreds of procedurally generated timelines and maps, ranging from mild variations on vanilla situations to the utterly unique.

While random, you’ll find the runs not completely haphazard – the model prefers to chain together events that make narrative sense (for example, poverty is more likely after a food shortage, which in turn leads to looting and crime), and balance out particularly harsh periods with patches of favourable events, and vice versa.

1. This mod is only designed for the classic scenarios, disable it if you’re playing Story Mode / Forget Celebrations / Custom Run.
2. When starting a new game, leave the "Force Final Cut Content" and "Anniversary Edition Mode" checkboxes unset.

The full list of changes relative to vanilla (a little too long now to fit in the workshop description) is found here.

All languages supported by the game are supported, but languages other than English use machine translations, so will definitely contain mistakes. Happy to integrate any suggested corrections.

There are no specific DLC requirements, but the scenarios that begin with children in the shelter are gated behind The Little Ones DLC (as per vanilla).

Pairs great with Music and Disable Paint Effect (I play with these). Most likely incompatible with any mod that has gameplay changes.

If you want just the bug fixes and not the gameplay/balance overhaul, you might check out my other mod, Bug Fixes.

All feedback welcome, the more specific the better.

I’ve added a "magic" radio station all the way to the left hand side of the dial that will display the ID of the timeline you’re currently in (effectively its seed). If you can, please mention this ID when giving feedback (especially if you ran into an issue), it would really help.

There’s a Known Bugs discussion thread you can check/comment on if you think you’ve found a bug.

@toomanynights for their excellent guide, and code borrowed from AAO.