Funerals, OR, Burying family should not be a hauling job

[Jorlem]

Burying family members, spouses, or bonded pets should not be a hauling job.  Instead, there should be a community event, similar to a wedding or a party, where the surviving family member (or bonded master of the pet) would bury or inter the body.  If a colonist has no family, then some other colonist could do it, but it should not be locked to only colonists.


The husband of one of my colonists died in a raid. (He was on the attacking side, annoyingly.)  Because he was the spouse of one of my colonists, instead of cremating him like the rest, I built him a sarcophagus.  However, when I tried to get the wife to bury her husband, I could not, as her childhood background (medical student) disabled hauling. (As a side note, why does this background disable hauling anyway? It makes no sense.)  I ended up having some random pawn who happened to nearby take the husband's body to the sarcophagus.

I would have very much preferred to have had the wife be able to bury her husband, even if she normally refuses to haul things.  A beloved husband (whose death gave her a -20 mood penalty) is very different then a random chunk of stone.

By creating a funeral "event", the family member could bury the deceased, bypassing the restriction on hauling, in the same way a hunter that cannot haul can still carry back the corpses of the animals he or she hunted and and killed.  Additionally, holding a funeral could potentially create a positive mood modifier that would partially offset the modifier from the death of the family member.

(Heck, if the spouse cremates the body, it could create a floor item, an urn with the character's ashes.)

[Vaporisor]

You know?  I think it would add flavour to the game immensely.  Perhaps even have a short mood boost for honoring dead, or minimum negate the negative.

The trick will be trigger event for it.  In the character tree could have a "funeral" checkbox for any creature.  If they go to a creamtorium/grave/sacrophagus, it triggers a "party" event before completion.  It would also disable butchering for that corpse if cannibalism is part of your colony, or like my current one, human meat is for kibble <.<

The more connection a person had to the character, the more positive effect it has.  The tradeoff is that people stop working for that short period of time.  Psychopaths who have no mood bonuses so...


Yeah, from a programming point of view that probably would be the easiest way.  Make it enable so disposal=party flag and the object of disposal is the party site.  Cremation creates an art object urn like a sarcophagus but the urns would require a metal or something similar to make sarcophagus' of value.

[Mathenaut]

This is actually a bit easier than you think. Having a flag for lovers/married people that can trigger an event.

"XXXX wants to have a funeral for their spouse. You will need to make a crypt to inter the body."

Then it will function like a party/marriage event sometime after it is built. The buff could be enough to offset that horrible mood penalty that lasts forever.

[b0rsuk]

You're solving the wrong problem. The problem is that about 50% of colonists can't haul.

[cultist]

While we're on the topic, do colonists still visit any grave? Because I wish they would differentiate between the graves of enemies/random people and friends.

[Mathenaut]

You're solving the wrong problem. The problem is that about 50% of colonists can't haul.

That has alot to do with the bin of traits having so many undesirable attributes. It's hard to roll a colonist that doesn't have that disabled. You'll see it frequently on raiders and other randoms that join your colony.

[firescythe]

Maybe the solution is somewhere between.

Dragging/hauling a full abled body is tiresome, so wouldn't enable it just by being bonded... but it is not mandatory to do it by the bonded partner! The respect is still payed if he/she just participates in the process even if just observing.
Of course there might be the issue of not having anyone capable of hauling. What about digging a grave next to the body (if on ground) and roll the body in it? Sound be closer to reality.


Mood bonus? Sorry to say, but I do not feel it realistic. I do not get happy if my relative gets buried. On the contrary, it helps on preventing bad mood, much more a bad mood negating/lowering. It will not be in the scene to look at. Somewhat close to what is in the live system, observing a stranger's death might impact negatively the settlers, seeing the bonded partner as dead should implicate mourning, counterable if buried the corpse.

[cultist]

Additionally, holding a funeral could potentially create a positive mood modifier that would partially offset the modifier from the death of the family member.

Burying in a tomb used to give a positive modifier to everyone. However, consider how this ties into the social system. Some people (rivals) actually get a substantial mood bonus if their rival dies. Lovers/family get a big mood loss. Throwing modifiers into the mix ( whether positive or negative) messes with this balance. Friends and family should be sad, rivals should be happy.

[Vaporisor]

Burying in a tomb used to give a positive modifier to everyone. However, consider how this ties into the social system. Some people (rivals) actually get a substantial mood bonus if their rival dies. Lovers/family get a big mood loss. Throwing modifiers into the mix ( whether positive or negative) messes with this balance. Friends and family should be sad, rivals should be happy.

That is why funerals exist in reality.  Somebody dies and leave them, the rivals won't care after initial death unless really hated the person.  In game, having a funeral system means that people stop working for a bit and you also had to invest into making a funerary area in the first place.  Top that off with stopping by graves.  It isn't so much inverting the consequences of a death, but investing to limit the penalties?

[Mathenaut]

The entire point of death ceremonies is to grant closure/catharsis, explicitly to mitigate the emotional trauma of loss. That is the point. That is why we have funerals. You don't bury people because it looks pretty.

[Vaporisor]

The entire point of death ceremonies is to grant closure/catharsis, explicitly to mitigate the emotional trauma of loss. That is the point. That is why we have funerals. You don't bury people because it looks pretty.

And from a story/roleplay perspective, I think it just would be engaging.  Having a raid and losing a few people, or some sickness, starvation etc.  Really would add a bit of depth to it.  The good colony vs psychopaths.  Those that do not care about death, so psychopath won't go because it is what it is.  Not sure top of my head if there are others that wouldn't care.