Old people

[Panzer]

Hello guys, do you use old people?

I never use/recruit old people, the skill bonuses are nice, but what use are they if you dont get any work done due to age related diseases (super slow, reduced manipulation/sight). I could imagine to use them lategame, like 20 hours of playtime, when I got the cash to afford lots of bionics, but starting out with them or recruiting them anywhere before mid/lategame is not viable for me.

[erdrik]

I had an older guy as a starting colonist.
Even with the age penalties, he still had 137% mining speed so was very useful.

[skullywag]

i had a 68 year old starter, bad back, cataracts, couple old wounds, kept her though, had passion in EVERYTHING. shes my jack of all trades literally. gonna bionic the old bird up once i get to that point.

[Panzer]

Yeah well I'm very picky about my colonists, and bionics are so rare nowadays, I just dont think it's worth it, I'd rather invest bionics in a healthy colonist to get enhanced manipulation/sight than getting the old guy up to a 100 percent.

[Silvador]

i had a 68 year old starter, bad back, cataracts, couple old wounds, kept her though, had passion in EVERYTHING. shes my jack of all trades literally. gonna bionic the old bird up once i get to that point.

Robo-Granny!

/electronic voice
Back in my day...

[Daemoneyes]

Robo grannys are awesome, mine was 76 biological at start and a prostophile sharpshooter.
She took sieges out completely solo, even 3 guys storming at her didnt break her a sweat.
Sadly i didnt know at that time that droids need to recharge or the explode.. but at least she did go out with a boom!

[TheSilencedScream]

I did in A8.
I usually do in A9, but health problems seem to be more prevalent now, so - if their movement speed is REALLY reduced - no.

[tommytom]

"Sometimes" only because I forget to look at the age. I have tunnel vision when scumming skills.

I ragequit one when I got a lvl 15 medicine with burning passion and come to find out he had bad back, frail, and two cataracts. Absolutely useless as a doctor without lategame bionics (at least 4).

[Kirid]

It might fall under "sometimes", but honestly it's not a factor for me. My vote would be "Doesn't matter". I tend to roll with the punches and roleplay, so I can't imagine running a colony full of elitists who deny people based on age.

[Coenmcj]

If they can haul their own weight, they get fed.
If they can't haul their own weight, they get fed to those who do.

Age matters not, If I can cure their condition, then they get to live.

[Aenir]

I don't keep anyone with cataracts, bad back, or frail.

[Vonholtz]

And what wrong with old people? Don't make me get my walker out and go kick you butt. LoL 

But I know what you mean. I am more looking at there skills then age or heath. I am more likely to take someone old with bad eyes and a bad back then a 20 year old that can not do dumb labor or fight at all..

Also I use a lot of mod and most troubles on your old pawns can be fix. With some mods every thing short of death can be fixed. But even in the vanilla game you can fix the worst of it like eye and such.

So in the end I will have to say sometimes. Or in other words I go by skills first.

[Gennadios]

My last game I got a frail/bad back one cataract eye character as my first prisoner/recruit. He wasn't great for anything involving travel, but I had him on research, growing and medicine duty. Took him off of medicine later on, way too many cut livers and torsos during prosthetic implanting.

Current game same deal, my first raider was a senior citizen. but I'm playing on a Taundra map, 3 other characters and 2 prisoners and I have a feeling I'll be cannibalizing shortly after I boot the save back up. Kind of regretting getting this guy, all he can really do is mine and warden.

[Vexare]

I think it depends on what they're really good in vs. their age-related limitations to be honest. An old colonist with super high research skill or crafting can just stand there doing that at the bench all day long and not have to hobble around so it won't matter if they've got a bad back or are frail and slow moving.

Unfortunately sometimes even that's not enough to make their skill level bonus worth it. I captured a very high level chef and was all excited because we'd been having the notorious food poisoning chain of death where they just keep eating more after they puke haha. But she had a bad back and was frail, AND she lost a leg to an infection from the injuries she sustained when we took her captive. I thought it would be ok to just station her at the cook stove all day long with a pile of veggies and meat at her feet...but she still hobbled back and forth to the freezer so slowly when the supply pile ran low that it caused too much lag in the production speed. The younger, faster cook (who poisoned everyone) could crank out twice as many meals in that time so I had to really weigh the benefits over the limitations of this particular senior citizen chef. I ended up giving her her own cooking station and at least some of the meals weren't poisoning everyone, haha!

[cultist]

For me, it really depends what sort of age-related problems they have, as well as what I want to use them for.
- Frail seems to be absolutely devastating, it cripples the colononist's ability do just about any sort of manual labor. I would suggest toning that  down a bit.
- Bad back is okay if they don't have to do any/much hauling.
- One cataract is okay, two are usually unacceptable because it makes them almost incapable of doing anything other than the simplest jobs like hauling.

I like how high starting skills/more passions is now a trade-off for physical problems, but it usually doesn't take more than a slight leg or arm injury to push that pawn into the realm of uselessness. As mentioned, the Frail health problem ATM is just a sign saying "put me out of my misery please".

So how do you do that? Well, personally I like to send them out on their final journey into the wilds. Draft, drop any useful items (including clothes), then off to the other end of the map to die a glorious death fighting random wildlife in melee. Hey, beats dying in your bed while raiders burn the colony down around you right?