Overhauling Mood and Traits

[Azzarrel]

Foreword

I started to play RimWorld in one of its earliest alpha-stages and while I curiously watch every improvement, every patch, there is one annoyance, which should've been overhauled a long time ago: The current "Mood"-system.
As one of the core mechanics in the game 'Mood' is way too restricted to me and thus only a bad reflection of what it could've been.
Right now the mental state of every colonist is defined by his mood. If he is in good mood, everything will be fine, but if his mood bar falls below a certain threshold he is most likely to go on a rampage and punch everyone in range in the face. The reason for his 'bad mood' is completely neglected in why and how he reacts the way he reacts. It doesn't matter if the colonist is hungry, sleepy, has been shot or whatever might've happened to him.
I think that this way of handling mental breakdowns takes away a great part of the colonists` personality (even though the social aspect in a13 was a step in the right direction).
This is why I suggest a rework of the current mood- and traits-system in order to make every colonist way more individual instead of having everyone reacting (nearly) the same way if certain criteria have been met.

Traits

Part one of my suggestion is about traits. Traits are the best way to generate unique individuals with little effort (Lets take 2 identical soldiers. They got the same look, the same weapons and the same stats. They are identical in every single aspect but in one trait: Soldier A is kind, while soldier B is a psychopath. No matter if these traits have any effect in the game most people will change their playstyle to fit in the role. Like you are more likely to believe a scientific fact from someone in a lab coat, because your brain tells you he is smart – hell, he must be smart, why else would he wear a lab coat?) 
Yet RimWorld drastically limits itself by reducing the possibilities to 3 preset traits per character.
I would like to see a way more dynamic trait-system in the game (even though I recognize it would be a lot of work)
My first suggestion regarding this is that every character can have an unlimited amount of traits (sure, traits need to be balanced somehow in that case). Furthermore colonists should be able to gain/lose traits by what they are doing. If someone eats human flesh he should have a chance to gain the trait "cannibal". The chance increases every time he consumes flesh and decays naturally over time. A cannibal, who ate no other human being for some time might lose this trait.
In that case the player also needs to get the option to intervene, of course. I thought about 3 buttons for every trait to spread/keep/lose the trait. If a colonist is ordered to spread a trait, he will try to convince others to also gain this trait (increasing the chance) during social chats (which might also lead to social debates/fights, especially if two colonists with opposite traits try to convince each other). If a colonist is ordered to keep his trait he will neither spread nor try to lose his trait, but the decay will be lowered and he will be more resistant, if someone with an opposite traits tries to convince him. A colonist, who is ordered to lose his trait, will try to get rid of it (an alcoholic, who is ordered to get rid of his addiction will suffer from low joy and is easy to annoy, of course)

Mood

Part two of my suggested rework is about 'mood'.
I would suggest scrapping the current mood-system and overhauling it to something way more dynamic and expandable. The main problem with the current 'mood' is, that all stats are universalized into 'mood', which, as I think, isn't necessary. It would be way better if every need has its own bar, its own threshold and its own breakdown. Someone, who is hungry will react different to someone, who is sleepy. It would also be possible, that stats and traits depend and affect each other way more, than they ever could've before, if we build up on this concept. 
If someone, who suffers of insomnia for example, is engaged into a social chat with someone he dislikes, the conversation can take a different way, than it would have, if he was well-rested.
Think about how "The Sims" handles the needs and feeling of its characters. No matter about the rest of the game, but this aspect of the game gave me the feeling to play with 'real' human beings, even if the shitty AI (Yea I know you have to pee, just go to the toilet. Stop yelling and go to the toilet! I know you have to pee! No, why do you pee now, you already made it to the bathroom door. :/ ) destroyed most of this feeling again. This would also allow the game to get rid of the 'glitch', that allows you to boost some stats just high enough to neglect one (I once had a colonist who fell asleep every few steps due to his lack of sleep, but he didn't mind, because he was well fed and enjoyed a social chat some time before. Now I can tell you, if I haven't slept for one or two days, I would be way grumpier, than I am, if I am just a little sleepy, a little hungry and a little depressed (which would have a bigger impact on the mood).
Furthermore it allows the game to handle colonists' breakdowns way more subtle, than to make them punch everything.
Low basic needs can affect their social behavior and effectiveness, while experiencing no joy for a really long time could make someone try to suicide. Being hurt might force some weak or peaceful colonists to run home/away. Losing a loved one to raiders might lead to an unstoppable bloodlust, which can make a colonist shoot and pursue these bastards until they all fled or are dead.

I already thought about some needs and feelings for my new overhaul.

Hunger One of the current needs of the game. Hungry colonists will lose stamina and be less productive. Starving colonists prioritize food over everything else. They might also try to hunt/harvest food by themselves dependent on their other needs and traits. Cannibals and colonists with low morality might even murder their fellows, if they are starving for too long. A low hunger bar will also increase the chance of bad social chats or worse.

Sleep One of the current needs of the game. Tired colonists will lose stamina very fast. Needs like joy, beauty or similar will be harder to increase for tired colonists. If they have a critical sleep deficit, needs like joy will decrease way faster and they'll prioritize sleeping over everything else.
Colonists with a sleep deficit are way easier to annoy, so don't let them get in a chat with someone they don't like.

Joy One of the current needs of the game. Having a full joy bar will increase productivity and decrease the decay of other needs. Enjoying live makes colonists sociable and endurable. Having little joy will make them less productive, on the other hand. Having no joy can make them depressed. Depressed colonists tend to suicide or wound themselves.

Beauty One of the current needs of the game. A lot of beauty provides a significant boost to the joy of the colonists. A low beauty bar will decrease comfort and joy (an ugly place is uncomfortable). Colonists will try to avoid ugly places. A prompt decrease of beauty can force a colonist to vomit (e.g. if he walks into a room full of rotting corpses)   

Comfort One of the current needs of the game. Comfort makes it easier to endure pain, while having no comfort may even cause pain. Comfort decreases fast, if colonists have to do hard work (like mining or cutting grass (they have to crouch)) Low comfort might lead to lesser pain (a hurt back etc). Having no comfort will make stamina decrease faster.

Space One of the current needs of the game. Being huddled in a tight place is something nobody enjoys (decreases joy) and might lead to social fights. Claustrophobic colonists might also get a mental breakdown and try to escape the narrow place (with force if something is in their way).

Fear As far as I know, fear was in this game at an earlier stage. Having no fear will make colonists more careless and brave. Some might even try to run straight into the enemy's line of fire. Fearless colonists might also decide to leave, if they don't like the colony (they decide they are better off without it). Too much fear, on the other hand, will make them flee as soon as they hear gunfire. They are more likely to run away and sometimes refuse to leave the house (or their bed).

Stamina Many games use stamina, so why doesn't RimWorld, too. Stamina will refresh when a colonists idles, sits, eats or sleeps (refreshes fast while sleeping). Stamina has 5 Stages [(100-80%)(80-60%) (60-40%) (40-20%) (20-0%)] The more stamina, the faster a citizen works, walks and the more he can carry. But working faster will make stamina decrease faster in return. In stage 1 (100-80%) a colonist works and walks 1.5 times as fast as 'normal', but also loses 1.5% of his stamina bar instead of 1%. In stage 2, a citizen works and walks 1.25 times as fast as normal and loses 1.25% of his stamina. I guess you got the other stages by now. If a colonist's stamina reaches 0, he'll be unable to work or haul anything. If he doesn't find a place to rest, he will break down and need a while to recover.

Morality Are you also annoyed by the fact that your cannibals mood suffers because they see a dead body (their food)? Well, then this new status-bar might be something for you. If you are doing good things, your morality will rise, doing 'bad things' will make it decrease. A colony, which lives from capturing friendly traders and selling them and their organs, will soon reach a point, where they won't suffer negative effects from doing so. 'Good' people are way more social and try to hold the colony together. 'Bad' people mostly care for themselves. If someone decides, that these raiders have better chances than the colony, he'll not bother long and switch sides.

Mental State The mental state is an addition to the morality and indicates how a character will react to negative events. It reaches from numb to sensitive. The purpose of 'mental state' is to differ between 'being a bad person' and 'being a person doing bad things'. A trained soldier will kill a person, if he is ordered to; he will sell someone into slavery without hesitation, not because he is a bad person, but because he was trained to obey any order no matter what. Together with morality the mental state should be changing very slowly. Mentally numb colonists are not able to feel a lot of joy, but they will suffer less from negative effects either. Pain, love, social interaction and morality are things they only barely understand. A social chat with colonists like this is less interesting than one with a floor lamp, even if there might be a one-in-a-lifetime chance that someone in that mental state might tell a great joke. Sensitive colonists are easier to affect. Their morality changes faster, they can be pleased – but also angered – easier. 'Good' sensitive colonists should be experienced as caring and often troubled individuals, while 'bad' sensitive colonists are more likely to be furious and nervous.

Social Everyone needs a certain amount of social contact (which is defined by traits) if they feel lonely their joy might suffer. If someone has a lot of social contacts, his joy will increase rapidly each time the social bar hits the maximum. People without any social contacts might also get depressed.
Sociopaths will suffer from a lot of social interaction instead.

Pain Pain increases fear, and decreases stamina and joy, as it also makes comfort increase slower. The maximum stamina of colonists, who suffer from pain, is capped based on the value of the pain. People, who suffer from a dozen gunshots, might just be able to use 20% of their stamina.

Temperature Temperature is already in the game. There are cold-loving or heat-loving colonists, but there is no indicator to show which temperature is good/bad for a colonist. So I'd suggest just adding a bar in three colors blue-white-red. The white part shows the temperature the colonist is fine with, while blue stands for 'too cold' and red for 'too warm' both colors are fading to white.


I know there are in fact a few more mental breakdowns in the game than just 'rampage', but in over 200 hours in the game, I've seen them like 1 or 2 times yet.

[billycop32]

I love most of these, but i'm gonna recommend a tweek to your temperature system: it is not only based off of the person's species(pet, human, alien) but there will be a green bar inside the white on that indicates that person's ideal temperature.that temperature ideal should flux with the season. the rest of the bar will not change from one member of a species to another unless effective by a trait (example: colonist billy has the "vulnerable to heat" trait, his max safe temperature is reduced by 20 degrees, making the red bar take up more space.)

[Admiral Obvious]

In addition to the above.

I don't "get" how having comfort would be able to reduce pain. Emotional pain, for sure, for most people. However, I don't really see how this could actually work to alleviate actual "both my arms got crippled" kind of pain. That sort of thing goes away, usually only with time as the subject heals.
I do see how standing around for five days straight, or sleeping on a rock would actually be able to cause pain though.
I don't think "high comfort" should have a buff, only a malus, unless something is particularly comfortable (and even then, there should be diminishing returns of a "high quality" recliner is your usual chair), or the subject is swinging from absolutely uncomfortable, to very comfortable.

I'd think using a comfort item would be able to increase the rate of healing, like sleeping currently does, but at a slower rate as well.

[cultist]

My first suggestion regarding this is that every character can have an unlimited amount of traits (sure, traits need to be balanced somehow in that case). Furthermore colonists should be able to gain/lose traits by what they are doing. If someone eats human flesh he should have a chance to gain the trait "cannibal". The chance increases every time he consumes flesh and decays naturally over time. A cannibal, who ate no other human being for some time might lose this trait.
In that case the player also needs to get the option to intervene, of course. I thought about 3 buttons for every trait to spread/keep/lose the trait. If a colonist is ordered to spread a trait, he will try to convince others to also gain this trait (increasing the chance) during social chats (which might also lead to social debates/fights, especially if two colonists with opposite traits try to convince each other). If a colonist is ordered to keep his trait he will neither spread nor try to lose his trait, but the decay will be lowered and he will be more resistant, if someone with an opposite traits tries to convince him. A colonist, who is ordered to lose his trait, will try to get rid of it (an alcoholic, who is ordered to get rid of his addiction will suffer from low joy and is easy to annoy, of course)

I don't think giving the player control over a pawn's traits makes much sense. You want to expand the personalities of the pawns and make them more human-like right? Giving the player control over their personalities seems like the opposite of that. The less the player is allowed to interfere with this aspect of the game the better, IMO.

[Azzarrel]

In addition to the above.

I don't "get" how having comfort would be able to reduce pain. Emotional pain, for sure, for most people. However, I don't really see how this could actually work to alleviate actual "both my arms got crippled" kind of pain. That sort of thing goes away, usually only with time as the subject heals.
I do see how standing around for five days straight, or sleeping on a rock would actually be able to cause pain though.
I don't think "high comfort" should have a buff, only a malus, unless something is particularly comfortable (and even then, there should be diminishing returns of a "high quality" recliner is your usual chair), or the subject is swinging from absolutely uncomfortable, to very comfortable.

I'd think using a comfort item would be able to increase the rate of healing, like sleeping currently does, but at a slower rate as well.

I get your point.  I just think a hurt back (no matter if it is hurt because someone punches you or just because of hard labot) will hurt less, if you are able to relax in your soft, warm and beatiful 'massage-seat-3000', rathen then if you have to sit on an ordinary office chair (Not a rock or something really uncomfortable, but not a match to a massage seat, which feels like the touch of an angel on your tormented skin.)

I don't think giving the player control over a pawn's traits makes much sense. You want to expand the personalities of the pawns and make them more human-like right? Giving the player control over their personalities seems like the opposite of that. The less the player is allowed to interfere with this aspect of the game the better, IMO.

The player won't really have 'control' over a pawn's traits. He cannot change the outcome. He just changes the odds.
A cannibal colony shouldn't be able to develope a dislike in human flesh without the player being able to do anything against it, for example. With my method there is still a chance of this to happen, but the player can change the chance.
I guess it would be really frustrating to watch, if there is no possible counterplay to the spread of a 'bad'(unwanted) trait

[Aristocat]

The player won't really have 'control' over a pawn's traits. He cannot change the outcome. He just changes the odds.
A cannibal colony shouldn't be able to develope a dislike in human flesh without the player being able to do anything against it, for example. With my method there is still a chance of this to happen, but the player can change the chance.
I guess it would be really frustrating to watch, if there is no possible counterplay to the spread of a 'bad'(unwanted) trait

I think better/easier method would be adding force feed human meat into operation tab, the colonist will try to resist but we can just strap them down to bed and feed them until they like it or driven to insane.

[billycop32]

In addition to the above.

I don't "get" how having comfort would be able to reduce pain. Emotional pain, for sure, for most people. However, I don't really see how this could actually work to alleviate actual "both my arms got crippled" kind of pain. That sort of thing goes away, usually only with time as the subject heals.
I do see how standing around for five days straight, or sleeping on a rock would actually be able to cause pain though.
I don't think "high comfort" should have a buff, only a malus, unless something is particularly comfortable (and even then, there should be diminishing returns of a "high quality" recliner is your usual chair), or the subject is swinging from absolutely uncomfortable, to very comfortable.

I'd think using a comfort item would be able to increase the rate of healing, like sleeping currently does, but at a slower rate as well.

ahahahhahaahhahaha you have never slept in a good bed like a tempur pedic after a long hard day have you? I guarantee you comfort can help.

[Admiral Obvious]

ahahahhahaahhahaha you have never slept in a good bed like a tempur pedic after a long hard day have you? I guarantee you comfort can help.

No, I have a bed older than I am.

Also, sleeping, or trying to sleep in a bed doesn't make a shattered arm hurt any less.

It works for muscle fatuge, but not for major issues.

[billycop32]

*muscle fatigue, chronic pain, and minor to medium injuries like cuts,major cuts and bruises.