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It would make sense to have two separate toggles then:

i) "Allow Firing" (Yes/No) as a way to force colonists to hold fire.

ii) "Automatic targeting/Manual targeting" - or "Automatic targeting" (Yes/No) - to switch between the two targeting types. Going from manual to automatic targeting would require clicking this toggle. Since going from automatic to manual requires having a manually-set target, trying to unclick the automatic targeting toggle would produce a notification such as "must select target". So to go from automatic to manual would require manually setting the target, whereupon the automatic target toggle would automatically change in accordance.

I have over forty animals now of various different biological Classes and Orders. These forty or so animals are divided into four different Allowed Areas according to their type and function (pets, hunting pets, farm animals, outdoor roaming animals).

Whenever the base is attacked, I send them all to a new "Animal Refuge" area for safety. This requires changing the allowed areas of 40+ animals. When the attack is over I have to change the 40+ animals back to each of their original Allowed Areas.

This could be simplified in one of two ways:

i) A way to group animals together in the Allowed Areas tab. So I could create a "Farm Animals" group and put all my turkeys, cows and so on into it and would only have to change one allowed area tab for all of them each time.

ii) Have a designated "Animal Refuge" area that all animals will go to with just a single click for use in times of emergency. When the emergency is over, one would be able to unclick it and all the animals would go back to their original allowed areas.

Sometimes one needs to get stuff from one stockpile to another fast. If one stockpile has higher priority than another, colonists will eventually move stuff between them. Unlike items that aren't in stockpiles, one cannot right-click to order a colonist to prioritize hauling items between stockpiles. Instead, one currently has to use the "Delete Zone" function to un-stockpile the square one wants to move stuff from in order to be able to prioritize hauling from it.

I've been testing it myself. It's all very muddled:

- If a drafted colonist is automatically firing at targets and the "Allow Firing" toggle is turned off, they will stop firing.

- If a drafted colonist has been ordered to shoot at a particular target and the "Allow Firing" toggle is turned off, they will continue to fire.

- If a drafted colonist has been ordered to shoot at a particular target and the "Allow Firing" toggle is turned off, they will continue to fire, but if they are subsequently moved even one square they will then stop firing.

Seems like what this button needs is a tool-tip change to "Automatically Fire" or "Auto Target" from "Allow Fire."

Well, there definitely needs to be a "stop firing" command or else the only ways to stop a colonist from firing would be to:

a) Move them somewhere out of range of a target or behind an obstacle to break the line of sight.
b) Keep the colonist in perpetual movement, as they don't fire while moving.
c) Force the colonist to drop their weapon.

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EDIT:

Seems like what this button needs is a tool-tip change to "Automatically Fire" or "Auto Target" from "Allow Fire."

There could potentially be a use for a second toggle along these lines. There is no current designated way, I think, to go from manual targeting to automatic "Watching for targets". I think the way to do this currently involves undrafting and redrafting the colonist.

So a second toggle could be for automatic/manual targeting. To go from manual targeting to automatic targeting, one would unclick this toggle. To go from automatic to manual, one would select a target to shoot at, as it is currently.

So to recap:

- colonists who are either automatically targeting or manually targeting should instantly stop firing when the "Allow Firing" is toggled to off (currently only automatic targeters follow this procedure)

- if a colonist has "Allow Firing" toggled off, and subsequently has it turned on, they will go to automatic targeting/"watching for targets" (as is currently)

- a colonist who has "Allow Firing" toggled off and is manually given a target to shoot at, will start firing and the "Allow Firing" toggle will automatically turn to the "on" position (as currently it stays in the "off" position).

One could do the same by toggling "Allow Firing" on first and then targeting, but why make the player do something in two clicks, when it can be done in one - by manually assigning a target to shoot at one has given assent for the colonist to fire. Plus, it could lead to instances of the player selecting a target to shoot at and then wondering why they're just standing there as the enemy rush in, only to realise that they forgot to turn the "Allow Firing" off before ordering the colonist shoot at a target.

How can it be intuitive if the player tells a colonist to stop firing and they continue to fire? That's the opposite of intuitive.

In combat, the colonists will be drafted, and often one will want to manually select a target, such as a raider with a weapon like a doomsday rocket launcher or one who is charging at the colonists. If for some reason one wanted to stop firing, such as a colonist getting in the way, it is logical to order the shooting colonist to hold fire by turning off the "Allow Firing" toggle. Except they don't stop firing.

Look at the example in the thread I linked to. A colonist has been ordered to fire at an incapacitated animal. Another colonist's task means her walking route takes her directly over the square with the wounded animal being targeted. So the logical action is to tell the shooter to hold fire by turning off the "Allow Firing" button. Yet the shooter continued to fire and only my intervention, by forcing the shooter to move, prevented a likely friendly fire incident (as pawns don't fire and move).

Indeed, the "Allow Firing" toggle is so useless that the way I've taken to be sure to stop colonists firing when I don't want them to is to force them to move, even if I don't want them to.

It's very simple - if a colonist has "Allow Firing" turned off, they should not be firing their weapons. That's emphatically the intuitive procedure.

Surely the most common sense outcomes are:

- A drafted colonist that has been manually "forced" to fire at a target will not cease fire once "Allow firing" has been disabled.

- Turning off "Allow Firing" overrides the previous order and they stop firing until given an order to do so again/"Allow Firing" is toggled back on.

- A drafted colonist that has been manually "forced" to fire at a target will still fire even if "Allow firing" was disabled already.

- This perhaps works okay, if the "Allow Firing" toggle adjusts accordingly - so if "Allow Firing" is toggled off and a colonist is manually ordered to fire at a target, they will do so and the "Allow Firing" toggle is automatically turned on again.

I have a pyromaniac in my colony. She's been useful and never much of a problem - just from time to time she needs someone to shadow her while on one of her sprees. She does have the Iron-Willed trait, though, so -18 Mental break threshold. I can see if someone was going on starting sprees a lot it could be undesirable, more for the annoyance factor than potential for danger.

I have several colonists with substance addictions and they go on binges from time to time. One of my long-time and best colonists was a system-class medic with chemical fascination. He was on a binge - beer I think - when a wild boar manhunter pack arrived. Everyone was confined to base and he was wandering the corridors in a daze. I didn't try and arrest him immediately, but was keeping an eye on him. Some other incident distracted me, before I realized he'd wandered outside, at which point he was gored to death.

I have a couple of non-haulers, who are a bit annoying. One of them refuses to do some other basic stuff too and can't shoot. He's good with animals, though, so I like to send him to try and tame bears and other dangerous animals. So it's a win-win, whether he succeeds or fails.

Skill Level after 5 only increases accuracy ever so slightly.
https://cityofthesky.com/RimworldAccuracyCalculator.html

Having lost my three best shooters yesterday to a doomsday rocket blast, I have even less firearm proficiency in my colony. So I've got to convert my melee artists into gunfighters. I'll give them "spray and pray"-types weapons, like Miniguns, LMGs, SMGs and Machine Pistols.

Maybe it could be a "Locker" and a locker could be assigned to a colonist to store their stuff (or left unassigned for general use). The locker would hide the ugliness of the things contained within it and so could be used in colonists' bedrooms. It would also be not immediately open-able to escaped prisoners or suchlike, but perhaps they could break into one after a duration of trying.

As shown by my examples, whatever the logic behind it is, it leads to some strange and nonsensical behaviour, and with potentially detrimental consequences in certain circumstances. I can't see any benefits to doing things the way it currently stands, if it's intended to be like that.

Set ownership of certain items, perhaps limited to apparel and weapons. So if you wanted your favourite colonist to always get to wear his Superb 100% Kevlar Helmet or Legendary Iguana Cowboy hat, and not have someone else take it during the automatic colonists' clothing change transitions, then one could do so. Other colonists could haul, but would be forbidden from equipping, these items.

Could also take it further and link it in with the equipment rack, or similar wardrobe/cupboard furniture item, so there are places where these items could be specified to be stored.

Okay. I'm trying to work out whether I'd need to create an indoor area for farm animals to stay in 24/7 in wintertime, or whether a heated sleeping area would be enough unless it got really cold. If temperature health problems builds up gradually then the first option might be possible, by keeping an eye on hypothermia levels. So if, for example, a chicken was outside during the day and incurred initial or minor hypothermia, but slept in the warmth, causing the hypothermia to dissipate would they have health problems? Or perhaps frostbite injuries are separate from hypothermia and they may be at risk from them during the day?

How do temperature-related "injuries" happen? Is it the average temperature experienced over a period of time, like a day, or the temperature at a particular moment? For example, if farm animals have a heated sleeping area, will they be able to stand colder temperatures during the day if outdoors?

Use the "Reconnect" button as an instant switch for workstations and other powered things! Have an extra piece of power conduit not connected to anything and then use the "Reconnect" button to instantly connect the workstation/electrical thing to the power network. No need for a pawn to flick the switch!

For colonists' recreation time. Artist's impression of how they might look:

A band of travelling huckster pugilists are passing by. They offer your colonists a challenge, for money, that their champion bruiser can defeat your colony's finest brawler in an impromptu boxing match (hand-to-hand, no weapons). Would work like social fighting.