Hey all, just curious to see what you pick for your starting colonists now that there are more skills which are good to have. I had always looked for mining, growing, social and research, but now I feel I need an artist and a crafter as well in order to improve moods and make good clothes. What do you guys prefer to start with and what do you put on the back burner?
Second, I have found that starting out is harder and you really need to lock in a good food supply quickly. What are your preferences when it comes to build orders? Do you prefer to do coffin bedrooms or just a barracks? I hear barracks can work well if you have enough art, but there is also the sleep disturbance debuff.
I'm curious to hear your thoughts on all of this as I feel that a lot was rebalanced in a12 and it would be good to have an update on people's points of view.
Quote from: Draxis on September 28, 2015, 05:17:26 PM
Hey all, just curious to see what you pick for your starting colonists now that there are more skills which are good to have. I had always looked for mining, growing, social and research, but now I feel I need an artist and a crafter as well in order to improve moods and make good clothes. What do you guys prefer to start with and what do you put on the back burner?
Second, I have found that starting out is harder and you really need to lock in a good food supply quickly. What are your preferences when it comes to build orders? Do you prefer to do coffin bedrooms or just a barracks? I hear barracks can work well if you have enough art, but there is also the sleep disturbance debuff.
I'm curious to hear your thoughts on all of this as I feel that a lot was rebalanced in a12 and it would be good to have an update on people's points of view.
Nothing below 10 animal, i usually look for people with at least 3 in construction and mining, and a dude with at least burning passion and a 5+ on growing, research is optional, and i never take those people with the psychically sensitive ( +80% ) debuff.
Also, i start by finding a corner, set up basic stockpiles, a 2 sun lamps's worth of potato crops and queue up the fridge and the barracks ( i do not give them separate rooms, not worth it )
I try to get as many skills covered as possible. Even if they start low, you can train some skills quickly if the colonist has passion for them.
I prioritize social, art, crafting and medicine, because these are slow-to-train skills that you might not get (high enough) on later colonists. I would also never play without someone who is decent at research, because getting geothermal power quickly is so important.
Quote from: cultist on September 28, 2015, 05:59:58 PM
I try to get as many skills covered as possible. Even if they start low, you can train some skills quickly if the colonist has passion for them.
I prioritize social, art, crafting and medicine, because these are slow-to-train skills that you might not get (high enough) on later colonists. I would also never play without someone who is decent at research, because getting geothermal power quickly is so important.
That is interesting, care to explain why you think getting geo power quickly is important ?
I ( try ) to start with 1 derp that has burning passion in medicine + research. 1 with burning passion for construction + mining or crafting. And 1 with social + growing preferably. Either way, everyone grows, and I just plant rice for the first while followed by corn once I've got a decent amount of food built up. I once did a test to see what produced more per year under controlled circumstances between rice, corn, taters, and berries. I can't remember the numbers any more ( it was in A11 ) but it came out corn, rice, taters, and berries in order of highest yield. Unless they've changed balances drastically then it should be roughly the same. That being said there wasn't a massive difference between the first 3, just the berries lagged behind.
I always have at least one grower, one constructor/miner and one hunter. The rest of the skills are just a nice bonus for my starters. I also try to roll at least one person with the psychopath trait to be my cook, that way they dont get a mood debuff for cutting people up. I never get people with Abrasive, Too Smart or Brawler traits and I try to avoid getting colonists that are too old.
My priority is finding a spot to set up a quick building with one large (10x10 usually) field of rice, a smaller (5x5 or 6x6) of Xerigum and sometimes a small crop of cotton.
I always start with a communal bedroom, which doubles as an EVERYTHING ELSE room. 2-3 solar generators and 2 batteries are enough to power a stove and freezer. Then I move to pod like rooms of 2x3 with a Royal Bed. They dont need huge bedrooms because you dont get the cramped environment while asleep.
Its bad practice but research is pretty much always a side thought. I usually dont even have a research bench until a good 4-6 months in :/
Defensive perimeters are second priority behind food
I accept the first three random colonist the game gives me, and start... more interesting that way, forcing me to adapt to the skills they have.
Quote from: TLHeart on September 28, 2015, 07:21:23 PM
I accept the first three random colonist the game gives me, and start... more interesting that way, forcing me to adapt to the skills they have.
What if you get the medieval lord one :D ?
Quote from: MultiDavid on September 28, 2015, 07:29:16 PM
Quote from: TLHeart on September 28, 2015, 07:21:23 PM
I accept the first three random colonist the game gives me, and start... more interesting that way, forcing me to adapt to the skills they have.
What if you get the medieval lord one :D ?
I have medieval lords so seldom I can't even remember what they can do. Are they like assassins? Just shooting, melee,and art?
Yeah, Nobles might be capable in art if you're lucky.
The biggest factor for me is no old age. Almost every colonist about 50 has at least cataracts. Some in their 40s have bad backs.
After that I make sure I have at least two colonists capable (not good, just capable) of medical help. It sucks having your colony wither because the only colonist capable of medical care gets injured, and because he can't put a bandaid on himself the papercut becomes infected and he dies before a capable colonist joins. Especially bad in frostbite regions.
The skills I look for are art and crafting, and social. A good artist or crafter is really hard to get relative to most other skills.
Social ensures the colony can recruit and grow, though since the last patch practically buries you in new colonists (even on super extreme hard) compared to previous versions, social is less necessary for recruitment.
Quote from: MultiDavid on September 28, 2015, 07:29:16 PM
Quote from: TLHeart on September 28, 2015, 07:21:23 PM
I accept the first three random colonist the game gives me, and start... more interesting that way, forcing me to adapt to the skills they have.
What if you get the medieval lord one :D ?
Then I deal with it, and their other back story changes what is good. They can be excellent research, and social, and medicine. And they can still participate in combat. It is all about adapting to what the 3 combined can accomplish.
Quote from: TLHeart on September 28, 2015, 08:22:01 PM
Quote from: MultiDavid on September 28, 2015, 07:29:16 PM
Quote from: TLHeart on September 28, 2015, 07:21:23 PM
I accept the first three random colonist the game gives me, and start... more interesting that way, forcing me to adapt to the skills they have.
What if you get the medieval lord one :D ?
Then I deal with it, and their other back story changes what is good. They can be excellent research, and social, and medicine. And they can still participate in combat. It is all about adapting to what the 3 combined can accomplish.
All for one, and one for all :D
I prefer to have pawns that at least have 8+ skills in these areas:
Shooting/Melee - Because RR extreme is not nice.
Medicine - Grave injuries are guaranteed early on against tribal hordes. Also infection is a very big deal early game.
Growing - Food is usually scarce in places I land on.
Construction - The faster I can solidify my defenses, the better.
my starting tips:
- don't care about how high level the skills are. but passion is important to me. rest will level up easy
- i try to specialize as soon as possible. having a guy good with a lot of stuff is no good, he'll never get past his first few jobs
- 1 guy hunter: shooter, tamer, constructor. maybe miner
- 2nd guy herbalist cook: doesn't leave base. cook, plant, medical
- 3rd guy joker support: can do a bit of everything and switch his priorities to what's most needed. most of the times have him focus on research until i have what i need
i never care about crafting or art. not for my starter guys. i'll capture a crafter/art later
bonus tip: colonists like to use your good medicine for stupid bruises. select the medicine, press "F" and don't allow them to use medicine unless it is to cure a real disease.
Shooting, Mining, Medicine, Maybe Growing for one. And everyone can Haul. I sometimes run with 1 guy who can shoot, sometimes all 3. As long as they can do anything, I'm generally cool with it. No lords or Assassins xD! Hauling is rather important to me.
Shooting and Mining are usually my biggies.
You can get a cave dwelling with a bit of wood and a mine shaft.
Forage or hunt for food if you get a butcher table up.
Then finding power to get a paste dispenser. I generally plant berries before the dispenser, and because you don't lose happiness with berries.
I generally don't cook food for a long time, I prefer spending more time gathering wood, mining mountains.
I pick randoms, then wait until landing to decide whether the colony is hopeless. I guess around 10% (I haven't really measured it) are really too bad to have a chance given that I tend to play in hostile biomes (Ice Sheet, etc), though sometimes I play it through regardless. In my experience the starting skills of the first 3 become steadily less important as the game progresses since there'll be often be losses and the later additions can make up for deficiencies, as long as you survive. Adversity is part of the adventure.
Probably the one that was the most laughably awful was 2 young nobles and an aged crone with Bad Back, Frail, Cataracts, and Dementia.
This is what I prefer :
1. Must be capable of hauling (and cleaning).
2. A passion (burning is even better) for 1 for Mining, 1 for growing and 1 researcher.
3. having a second and even a third decent skill, even better (like doctor, craft, shooting, cooking, construction).
Art and Handling are not really required, that will come later. I consider these as nice to have.
later on, having 2 cooks and one of them is a night-owl, is rather nice.
My standards are generally as follows:
1. Good health
-Colonists with bad backs and cataracts are generally pretty worthless at almost anything they do, even with good skills. I avoid them if at all possible. The only exception is if I know I have enough cash to buy them two bionic eyes and at least one bionic leg... AND they have valuable skills AND they have valuable traits.
2. Not Abrasive
-Abrasive colonists have this distressing tendency to make the rest of the colony get spammed with mood debuffs. If I get a wanderer who is abrasive, I generally ensure they have the most dangerous jobs, far away from the colony, and go on the frontlines of comba/are harvested for parts.
3. Mental Break Neutral, or positive.
-Early on mood is generally an issue. Neurotic, Very Neurotic, Too Smart, and Depressive colonists generally need to be counterbalanced by Iron willed, Steadfast, Optimist, or Sanguine. At least they do early on before I can get individual rooms set up.
-Night Owls and Chemical fascinations/fixations are actually very good. The former only need to have their sleep schedules shifted by eight hours, and the latter will almost never berserk once you get any form of glutenous food/beer.
4. Avoid Psychic sensitivity
-While not a high priority, psych sensitive colonists tend to be a major liability with evil ships or psy pulses. I avoid them if I can.
Started another colony, without looking or changing the starting colonist.
Teer, a medieval lording, entrepreneur, 51 years old, cataracts and frail, high social and research skills. Can shot and melee.
Jono, hive child, microbiologist, 58 years old, cataracts and bad back, high skills in research, shooting(blind as a bat though), growing, medicine, construction.
and Bennett, a hooligan technician, 38 years old, good shot, good in construction, passion for mining.
Wanderer matt, a tunneler housemate joins is 47 years old, brawler, good mining, animals.
Offer safety, to a noble, cato, 58 years old, great social and animal skills, with burning passion for shooting, gave him a pistol, and set him to hunting, and training animals.
Got linn, the minstrel from the pursuing faction, another brawler, with high social and animal skills...
looks like I will be training lots of animals in the random starting location of flat arid shrub lands, with year round growing..
I go for:
A grower/cleaner (by the time my full crop us sown its time to clean up my first buildings with hauling and mining to fall back on
A Cook/doctor/trader who basically does the infrequent jobs as well
A security/builder to fend off mad animals and early raiders
Build order is a temporary barracks (beds, medical bed, power storage), followed by temporary prison (small room with a bed if they're lucky) , food storage/freezer, kitchen, then on to bedrooms, dining hall, proper prison (medical room/barracks, and two cells, which can easily be extended) and then workshop, storage area and trading beacon zone
At this stage, the first few real raids will be coming so I put up we tough outer walls with turrets watching the trap-laced passage Into my farmland. Usually have the main bulk of the base dug into a mountain with the living quarters separate, so pawns get to see the sky every morning and evening as they move to and from their rooms
Well, this thread is going nicely so thanks to everyone for your comment! General consensus is that you need the basic skills: Mining, Growing, Social, Research, and Medicine with Animals, Arts and Crafting being secondary.
What your thoughts on bedrooms now? I start with the bunk house and then move to coffin bedrooms. Do you do the same or move to individual bedrooms?
whaaat no cooks, oh those poor hungry buggers :P j/k.
I have 3 phases for this
First: They can bunk on the cozy leaves and grass outside, for that nice "I'm on vacation in the wilderness" feeling.
Second: Sleep where your coffin will be.
Third: Have a nice room (5x6) with stuffs in it, somewhere in that deep mountain, you dwarf!
Health is first priority, though minimal injuries are allowed.
Then, cold tolerance because I love ice sheets and they drop in synthread. Too smart is preferred, nothing else.
All should be able to mine and shoot.
Two out of three should be able to haul, clean, firefight and heal.
And at least one of each skills: construction, research, cooking, farming, crafting.
Quote from: MultiDavid on September 28, 2015, 06:05:43 PM
That is interesting, care to explain why you think getting geo power quickly is important ?
Geo power gives an enormous amount of power compared to other options, never fails except for solar flare and does not take up much space.
Power lets you build more turrets, light rooms, run sun lamps for growing etc. I admit the priority is higher on cold maps, because you might need lots of heaters early on, plus you need the power for growing most of the year.
Recently I have also tried to get at least a few starting colonists with very neurotic/too smart/depressive. Mental breaks are fun, but they can be somewhat rare on standard colonists. I love the mood system and the challenges it presents (clean everything, make nice rooms even if you are pressed for time etc.)
A strong defense does not need turrets at all. Efficient placement and clever use of cover/lighting is far more important. Plus turrets are stupidly energy-intensive to have on.
Geothermal is actually pretty poor on a steel-to-energy ratio. Two solar panels will match geothermal output, excepting eclipses, and two solar panels and a single wind turbine will far exceed it.
Really the biggest cost for energy should be your indoor farms. Sunlamps take roughly half of the output of a single geothermal generator (or a single solar panel spread throughout the day with a battery. Mind, plants only need to be lit during their active hours!) Hydroponics are also energy-intensive. If security is your biggest powernet draw you are shooting yourself in the foot by vastly increasing raid size with what are ultimately expendable units. Normal lights, autodoors (on your freezer) and temperature control in your dorms and freezer are the lightest draw, but arguably the most important.
Quote from: Jamini on September 30, 2015, 04:15:23 PM
Geothermal is actually pretty poor on a steel-to-energy ratio. Two solar panels will match geothermal output, excepting eclipses, and two solar panels and a single wind turbine will far exceed it.
You must be using mods or something. One solar panel can barely run one cooler and a cook stove. Two Geo generators can run an entire medium-sized base plus turrets.
So far I've been going for
Med 10>
Grow+Cook 5>
Firearms 8>
All must haul, no depressives and everyone under 40.
Haven't finished a game yet, keep wanting to improve my starting game and keep saying oh I never knew I could do that.
Quote from: Jamini on September 30, 2015, 04:15:23 PM
Geothermal is actually pretty poor on a steel-to-energy ratio. Two solar panels will match geothermal output, excepting eclipses, and two solar panels and a single wind turbine will far exceed it.
Geothermal is 3600W forever + free heat. Solar averages at 850W over the year (not counting eclipses), wind is random 0-3000W.
And then there are batteries and their 50% efficiency.
An example base with 3000W consumption only needs one geothermal and no batteries. Just for 250 steel.
Same base on solar power will need 2 solar generators to provide power during the day and like 3 more to charge the batteries for the night (because of 50% battery efficiency). That's 500 steel. And you will need even more solar gens in winter because days will be shorter. Plus the batteries, plus more batteries in case of eclipse.
Same base on wind power will need at least 4 wind turbines (400 steel) and quite a few batteries because wind is completely random.
Since I usually play in extremely cold icesheet biomes I usually prefer cannibals and psychopaths.
The consumption of longpig is usually the difference between life and death during the first year and everyone tends to be constantly on a really bad mood due to the difficulties of an icesheet colony. Bad thoughts from eating/cooking/butchering travelers or just seeing the fast amounts of corpses everywhere are really troublesome.
I always have at least one master scientist in every colony, for roleplay reasons. Unless you have Einstein/Feynman/Oppenheimer with you, how else are you going to build a spaceship out of scrap metal and escape to the stars?
At the start everyone gets repair and haul set to #1 with everyelse below that in priority
1) Cook (until 10 meals) then Construct
2) Grow (small 2x5 plots xeri berry rice)
3) Mine then Construct then Cut
after abit I add handling and hunting to all colonists at #2
with each colonist gaining grow #3 to help build additional plots
after abit more i allow tailor, craft, art to be added to separate colonists as needed for cloth production.
my 3 starters are usually like these :
-all of them are incapable of none
-none of them have negative mood attributes
-all of them have firefighting, doctoring, flicker, and repair set to 1
-all of them are below 40yrs old
-one is a careful shooter : he will cut/grow/hunt/ in that order (weapons : survival rifle/sniper rifle) gonna be all bionic, left hand is powerclaw
-one is trigger happy : he will craft/construct/mine in that order(weapons : any rapid fire weapon, usually miniguns or charge rifles) gonna be all bionic, left hand is powerclaw
-one is a brawler : he will cook/warden/handle in that order(weapons : melee, usually longsword and personal shields) gonna be all bionic.
note : any careful shooter newly recruited are automatically assigned to the hunting squad.
the rest i just let them do tasks that they are passionate about. i will also adjust these guy's workloads once i have enough people to cover all tasks.
note : my sniper squad has top priority for the best gear and bionics.
note : i use the careful shooter, trigger happy, brawler templates. so i rarely recruit people that don't have any of those 3 traits.
-grenadier : is basically just any new recruit that doesn't have any of the 3 combat traits. i only recruit these people if they are incapable of nothing and if they don't have any negative traits and they are below 40yrs. (weapon : frag grenades + personal shield + power claw) shields allow them to get close enough to throw grenades and melee the enemy.
1 Growing
2. Crafting
3 Social/building
Quote from: keylocke on October 02, 2015, 07:19:48 PM
all bionic
Be careful with bionics, they are a double-edged sword. Bionic limbs remove all the preexisting limb parts (fingers and toes) and cannot take damage themselves. This reduces the non-critical locations that body part can be hit in. This can drastically increase the chance that a bionic guy will get hit in a vital area (brain, heart, liver) and die instantly from a strong hit.
I really do not advise replacing limbs unless they are shot off or significantly impaired (Missing multiple fingers/toes/hands/feet)for that reason. Bionic-enhanced colonists are glass cannons in combat, and are far more likely to end up dead if anyone can close on them.
Keeping your morale high and focusing on getting skill high is more important than bionics. Morale has a far greater impact on global work speed than anything else!
Bionic eyes rock and every colony should stockpile them. btw. Painstoppers are pretty damn good too! Joywires are only so-so due to the consciousness loss, but can be useful if you get a Voilatile+Depressive asshole.
Quote from: Jamini on October 12, 2015, 04:39:32 PM
Quote from: keylocke on October 02, 2015, 07:19:48 PM
all bionic
Be careful with bionics, they are a double-edged sword.
in a long enough timeline, everyone is either dead/gone or full bionic.
sure, you can wait until a body part gets badly damaged or impaired. but if you're running your colony correctly, you'll probably have enough stockpile of spare parts just sitting there and plenty of silver to boot.
and aye, painstoppers are great. it makes my sniper squad all badasses.
Pretty typical stuff for me, decent starting points and passions for the following:
Glorious Leader - Shooting, Constructing, Mining
Cookey - Shooting, Growing, Cooking, Social
Scientist(ish) - Shooting, Crafting, Research
I ditch the default animals and plasteel knife, and give everyone pistols (and maybe a single survival rifle for the leader and/or extra rations (for ice-sheet) or medicine (for tropics)).
Preferably 'incapable' of none, other than when it doesn't affect primary roles.
I too never accept abrasive (pain in the ass mood modifier that can drag an entire colony down), nor lazy or depressive colonists.
Sanguine, industrious and jogger are the preferred traits.
And yes, those are the nicknames I set for them above. :P
I can't help but find it funny that your "Glorious Leader" isn't the social one! Now as a follow up, what do you guys tend to do for early defenses? I have been trying to move away from the kill box, but at the same time, I find that I lose a lot of colonists to what appear to be really lucky shots and it's frustrating at times.
I would like to play a game straight through without reloading saves, but I feel that I lose a ton of colonists for reasons which are beyond my control at times.
My preferences for start colonist:
1. One with high Social. Absolute #1. Goes a long way when buying/selling. Don't care if that person is a Medieval Lord (which can only fight, art, research and medic) as long as the capable stats are high (usually it is, because I never get any whose stats is less than 4)
2. One who is capable of all rough work came second: construct, grow, mine, etc.
3. One who is the same as #2, but is also capable of doctoring and particularly constructing and mining to cover up the Medieval Lord
I won't accept anyone too old or too young
For new colonist
1. One with lots of Research so the Lord can focus on art
2. One with Careful shooter or High combat stats
3. One that can do everything, particularly dirty jobs
Defense is with turrets and sandbags
Quote from: Jamini on September 29, 2015, 04:50:48 PM
Good health
-Colonists with bad backs and cataracts are generally pretty worthless at almost anything they do, even with good skills. I avoid them if at all possible. The only exception is if I know I have enough cash to buy them two bionic eyes and at least one bionic leg... AND they have valuable skills AND they have valuable traits.
Im surprised no one else mentioned this in the post. This is possibly the most important stat in the game. Someone with poor eyesight and 20 shoot will be a worse shooter vs someone with good eye sight and 7,8ish shooting. The same applies to every tasks.
Quote from: ssdg on October 17, 2015, 02:44:22 PM
Im surprised no one else mentioned this in the post. This is possibly the most important stat in the game. Someone with poor eyesight and 20 shoot will be a worse shooter vs someone with good eye sight and 7,8ish shooting. The same applies to every tasks.
same with if the colonist is missing toes or fingers and they can't haul/shoot straight or actually complete a meal within a few hours in game...