I think we all have our view of memes. This is how I see Memes and Precepts.
Animal Personhood/RancherThese unfortunately have one huge penalty - they can not use pemmican.
Pemmican requires plants and meat. And it is the only long lasting food that tribals without refridgerators can get.
Some replacements food product - preserved food/vegetation? - would go a long way to fix that issue.
Specific issues:
Animal Personhood seems to suffer from a Vegan/Vegetarian mixup.
While ranchers inability to even grow human food crops should lock out stuff like Fungus, which has a lot of uses besides
Pain is virtue/Pain IdealizedThis basically has no downside. Comfort will not be a thing you can afford early game and flipping the pain effect is downright broken.
TunnelerAt first I thought it was powerfull, but I quickly realized the Indoors bar is way to sensitive. We will spend a lot of time outdoors, farming or hunting.
I actually need a specific hex to even have a chance to meet the requirements.
It takes forever to mine into the mountain or even do stonecutting, at the same time we only have to do it rarely:
The mining specialist is only rarely usefull - namely when digging somewhere new. The rest of the time he is realy just someone that lost most crafting type skills.
Maybe you could rework it to a "Stoneformer", that also gains some bonus to Stonecutting job? Or reduce the lockouts a bit, to account for it not being usefull a lot of the time?
Tree connectionAside from the implementation issue with
not having my pawns cut trees automagically, there is a lot of substantial issues with that:
- the lack of wood for burning can be somewhat offset by Fibrecorn. But the lack of wood building material is a huge issue. You do not get any skill in stonecutting or construction to offset it.
- the tree clearing might be the worst issue. A single tree does not block 1 tile - it blocks a 3x3 area for many things. Especially farming and roofs
- there is no way to only cut grasses, but leaving the trees alone.
Suggestions:
- give us Pen level cutting controls for all fields. Ideally with a master/default setting.
- a much increased Fibrecorn yield would be very helpfull. Remember that FC is the only reliable source of wood for Tree Conneciton. And they should like wood as building material.
- maybe Tree connection could get to ignore the tree clearing for most purposes? They could plant diectly around the tree with no side effect, for example.
- maybe a work intensive way to move trees? That way a poorly placed tree can be relocated safely to where it does not hurt.
- instead of giving them more wood production, how about another way to build instead? Dwarf Fortress has the "grown" wood, which is shaped to grow into useable form and then be shed. Effectively making "Kosher Wood".
Humanity is
already mastering a non-magic/sci-fi version of this. In a time of psionic trees and animals we can milk for rocket fuel, it would be childs play. Game wise we would plant the walls using a Grower. And then they would grow into full walls after a few days.
NudismMy main issue is that most headgear for some reason is classed as "nudists hate it". This should be drastically reduced, especially for items unlocked by another meme.
Of course the biggest issue after that is the total lack of armor and thermal protection. There should be some way to ease this. Maybe some sort of mago-technical paste they can apply to increase their temperature resistance and give themself some armor? Humans got a lot of skin and nudists should have realy good skincare products.
BlindnessThe bonuses are only useable for Psionics. While the penalties affect everyone.
And I am not sure what the Blindfold does.
Cannibal/Canibal: Don't careWhy would I ever set my colony below "Don't care" on the Cannibalism setting? It unlocks a whole additiona food source for no penalty.
However the Cannibal feast is too hard to pull off, with the price for Cannibal Platers. 200 Human meat is a lot in the early game, especially if you also need to eat meat regulary. Meanwhile it becomes trivial later.
Maybe you could add smaler platers and have them work like Ritual Seats? One plater is required, but more aid the Quality.
Flesh PurityNot being able to use Cybernetics at all is a huge penalty. But they add Biosculpting, Drug use and even Scarrification to the list.
You basically have to run it with "Pain is Virtue" or the inevitable scars will cripple your colony. Nevermind limb loss!
And it does not offer any bonuses for it that I can see.
PreceptsThe following precepts are non-brainers, as they lack any visible downside and do not need any meme to pick:
- Execution: Don't Care
- Slavery, Organ Use, Cannibalism: Acceptable
- Insect Meat: Loved
- Skullspike: Desired (to easy to get skulls)
RolesThe incentive to pick items is very low. The possible upside is a mood buff. The guaranteed downside is a mood penalty if you wear anything else, especially armor.
I just intentionally empty the clothing requirements. I see no reason for it.
RitualsI see no reason to ever pick a Fixed Date Ritual and we can always swap between the two.
I think the fixed date ones should get a buff:
- Stronger Additional Rewards
- Flat increased success chance, as people can prepare for it (or manage their expectations based on the year thus far) - thus resulting in a better perceived festival
- maybe 1-2 fixed date ones could be required? While I would prefer a incentive, that could also aid them being useable.