After looking around the forum for roughly an hour, I've noticed several people suggest similar ideas, and I've decided to add my own two-cents. I had intended to put this into the cheap ideas thread, but as I wrote I kept going deeper, and deeper.
Seeing as how we already have a day/night cycle, and a 24 hour clock to dictate it; I'd love to see a system in which I can dictate when people work, relax, sleep, and eat. Perhaps even at some point decide what jobs someone should do at what specific time and within what "area."
For instance:
(If task is accomplished, or doesn't need to be done, colonists would move on to the next "hour" of work, or at least the next most pressing matter.)
00:00 - 06:00 - Sleep
06:00 - 07:00 - Prioritize eating, feeding patients/prisoners.
07:00 - 12:00 - Prioritize major tasks, like repairing, building, farming, etc...
12:00 - 13:00 - Prioritize eating, feeding patients/prisoners.
13:00 - 18:00 - Prioritize major tasks, like repairing, building, farming, etc...
18:00 - 19:00 - Prioritize eating, feeding patients/prisoners.
19:00 - 22:00 - Relax, socialize, etc...
22:00-24:00 - Sleep
We could also define certain tasks (if they weren't a colonists primary job already) to be maintained constantly like cleaning and hauling so as long as boredom, hunger, and tiredness were in check.
The issue I could foresee with this is drafting. Sometimes my soldiers have to fight for several hours on end at varying points in the day. Once they were ordered to stand down they could go and eat, sleep, entertain, work, etc depending on their needs. Additionally, if a colonist's loyalty is low enough, they could decide to abandon their post.
So I'd propose that colonists should prioritize their needs and react accordingly, say a colonists has an overactive metabolism and needs to eat more often, or someone who is lazy might want to spend more time relaxing. Thus making the "agenda" more of a guideline rather than a strict and rigid "I'm starving but I need to work for four more hours first."
Colonists could have a "favorite" activity based on their traits, backgrounds, etc. that would increase their happiness:
A loner might want to go off and enjoy the peace and quiet.
The hunter might want to go out and hunt just for fun.
An engineer could mess around with his ideas and produce a temporary boost to a given job, or a temporary negative. ("Who knew that these potato seeds would burn? -potato's grow slower for three days.)
Colonists could play games, read books, perform music, talk, etc. Thus opening the door to more furniture, items, and events.
To offset the happiness boost given by relaxation, we could increase the negatives gained by various things, like seeing a corpse, witnessing the death of an ally, or an ugly environment. Additionally colonists could get bored without proper entertainment, thus increasing unhappiness.
I saw a post by Vas regarding having colonists only do work in a set area, and I'd also love to see that as well. Defining an area to work in, unless told otherwise, would make the agenda more relevant so that a colonist doesn't spend several hours walking somewhere to do something for 30 minutes, only to miss dinner time all together. That way you could also have a doctor who only patrols the infirmary, or a cook who sticks to his kitchen, or a guard that patrols his beat, be it with prisoners, or on the perimeter.
I sometimes watch my colonists move about like ants, working, eating, and sleeping. I feel that defining when and where a colonist can do something could add immense depth to the game, and make the colony feel more alive. Of course this is just a broad idea and that the actual implementation could be difficult.
Seeing as how we already have a day/night cycle, and a 24 hour clock to dictate it; I'd love to see a system in which I can dictate when people work, relax, sleep, and eat. Perhaps even at some point decide what jobs someone should do at what specific time and within what "area."
For instance:
(If task is accomplished, or doesn't need to be done, colonists would move on to the next "hour" of work, or at least the next most pressing matter.)
00:00 - 06:00 - Sleep
06:00 - 07:00 - Prioritize eating, feeding patients/prisoners.
07:00 - 12:00 - Prioritize major tasks, like repairing, building, farming, etc...
12:00 - 13:00 - Prioritize eating, feeding patients/prisoners.
13:00 - 18:00 - Prioritize major tasks, like repairing, building, farming, etc...
18:00 - 19:00 - Prioritize eating, feeding patients/prisoners.
19:00 - 22:00 - Relax, socialize, etc...
22:00-24:00 - Sleep
We could also define certain tasks (if they weren't a colonists primary job already) to be maintained constantly like cleaning and hauling so as long as boredom, hunger, and tiredness were in check.
The issue I could foresee with this is drafting. Sometimes my soldiers have to fight for several hours on end at varying points in the day. Once they were ordered to stand down they could go and eat, sleep, entertain, work, etc depending on their needs. Additionally, if a colonist's loyalty is low enough, they could decide to abandon their post.
So I'd propose that colonists should prioritize their needs and react accordingly, say a colonists has an overactive metabolism and needs to eat more often, or someone who is lazy might want to spend more time relaxing. Thus making the "agenda" more of a guideline rather than a strict and rigid "I'm starving but I need to work for four more hours first."
Colonists could have a "favorite" activity based on their traits, backgrounds, etc. that would increase their happiness:
A loner might want to go off and enjoy the peace and quiet.
The hunter might want to go out and hunt just for fun.
An engineer could mess around with his ideas and produce a temporary boost to a given job, or a temporary negative. ("Who knew that these potato seeds would burn? -potato's grow slower for three days.)
Colonists could play games, read books, perform music, talk, etc. Thus opening the door to more furniture, items, and events.
To offset the happiness boost given by relaxation, we could increase the negatives gained by various things, like seeing a corpse, witnessing the death of an ally, or an ugly environment. Additionally colonists could get bored without proper entertainment, thus increasing unhappiness.
I saw a post by Vas regarding having colonists only do work in a set area, and I'd also love to see that as well. Defining an area to work in, unless told otherwise, would make the agenda more relevant so that a colonist doesn't spend several hours walking somewhere to do something for 30 minutes, only to miss dinner time all together. That way you could also have a doctor who only patrols the infirmary, or a cook who sticks to his kitchen, or a guard that patrols his beat, be it with prisoners, or on the perimeter.
I sometimes watch my colonists move about like ants, working, eating, and sleeping. I feel that defining when and where a colonist can do something could add immense depth to the game, and make the colony feel more alive. Of course this is just a broad idea and that the actual implementation could be difficult.