Idea how rimkids would work.

[Tatte]

So a big factor people say that makes it so rimworld cant have kids is the aging process because it would take so long to get a working colonist.

My idea however (albeit) unrealistic is to have it like the sims. When they are born they are either just food eating machines that sit in a crib for a year or two and then they would be a teenager, and then another season or two and they would be adults.

Just my idea, would love to see kids in rimworld, would really add to my no-raid farming colonies!

[Travinsky]

I did have a small thought for accelerating the process. We know that humans can be vatgrown from various backstories. So perhaps you could research something that you can stick the lil' brat into and over say, a year, its growth will be accelerated through the use of various hormones or something.

You could run the risk of damaging the colonist/survivor by accelerating its growth or leaving it hopelessly unskilled compared to raising the child yourself which would be intensely time consuming. Just an idea.

[Element4ry]

I would slightly lower the time needed until the kids become teenagers. So it's after 2 years in game they just become able to do simple tasks like hauling or cleaning. After another year or two they are capable of doing all the stuff. It's little against realism to have 5 years old "adults", but well... this is rimworld

[christhekiller]

Meh, I don't really care too much about the length of time it takes. So long as they provide like a mood buff for nearby colonist ("Look at the fragile innocence, I remember when I was so young and hopeful +5") and a bigger boost to ma' and pa'

And of course they could always age per season, at least when they're kids. We don't know how long a Rimworld season is compared to the time on Earth

[Tatte]

Meh, I don't really care too much about the length of time it takes. So long as they provide like a mood buff for nearby colonist ("Look at the fragile innocence, I remember when I was so young and hopeful +5") and a bigger boost to ma' and pa'

And of course they could always age per season, at least when they're kids. We don't know how long a Rimworld season is compared to the time on Earth

With all the cannibal colonies, I cant wait for child cannibal colonies to happen.

[keylocke]

i don't mind playing a single colony for decades just to see kids grow up. i also don't mind if they have accelerated growth. (maybe a special cryptopod/vat or something like a neurotrainer that allows growth acceleration)

i also think this is closely tied to the way population and threats are "balanced" in this game. coz this is the biggest opposition people seem to have against these kinds of ideas.

but i think the concept of population culling is appropriately tied to population explosion.

culling does not necessarily mean "death by raiders".. it can just be events like widespread plague, and other series of unfortunate events on overdrive, whose purpose is to naturally curb the population explosion rather than superficially imposing a population cap.  (coz superficially lowering recruitment or pregnancy probability is/would be kinda frustrating)

anyways, i digress.

----

rimworld babies makes creation of real families and villages.. bloodlines of inherited skills, traits, and passions. maybe even one day have specialized "professions" possible.

imagine being able to have your own eugenics playground.. lel.

that's probably one of the many possible long-term goals to keep players occupied throughout the late-game.

[Klitri]

All these ideas are good but don't really line up well with the current lore. Humans in game age as they do on our planet just with a different way of measuring the date.

I like the idea of a vat-grower, it would let people choose to either have a natural colony with no vat-grown kids, or grow children quickly while damaging them a little because of their rushed childhood.

The best way to make kids useful would be to have them require to be raised for around four years, and then they can start hauling and cleaning until they are in their teens, and then they can start working.

This would stretch the game a little, but chances are you wouldn't really notice children much and they wouldn't have as much of an impact on food and resources as normal adult colonists do. Perhaps children can be taught by the adults if the adults have 10> in a skill, thus you could raise a child to be specialized in one field or many fields instead of having to wait until it's an adult to teach it skills.

Children would not be that horrible of an impact on the colony as many people think. Dwarf Fortress is a good example of how children should be added.

[Shabazza]

Those colonists try to get away from that planet. Not to build themselves a new permanent home.
So I'd say, having children would be strange in that situation.
Also, every children or adult in the colony who can't use a gun is a burden to the colony, because
they make raids harder without directly contributing to defence measures.
So another reason not to have childrens.
Also, those helpless childs that are dependent on adults weaken the colony further between raids,
because they keep colonists busy to some degree with having them satisfying their needs.
So in my eyes, childrens on the Rimworld are nothing to aim for.
And I doubt that a child would survive for years before it can hold a gun. Even most adult colonists don't grow old...

[Boston]

Those colonists try to get away from that planet. Not to build themselves a new permanent home.
So I'd say, having children would be strange in that situation.
Also, every children or adult in the colony who can't use a gun is a burden to the colony, because
they make raids harder without directly contributing to defence measures.
So another reason not to have childrens.
Also, those helpless childs that are dependent on adults weaken the colony further between raids,
because they keep colonists busy to some degree with having them satisfying their needs.
So in my eyes, childrens on the Rimworld are nothing to aim for.
And I doubt that a child would survive for years before it can hold a gun. Even most adult colonists don't grow old...

1) Your colonists are trying to get away from the planet. Mine are perfectly happy where they are. In fact, "building the ship" is commonly viewed as a weird cop-out by many people on this forum.
2) Having children isn't all that weird. There are no contraceptives in Rimworld, and it is already demonstrated that the colonists can have sexual intercourse. In fact, one of my couples has so much sex (almost every night!), that it would be really strange if she didn't get pregnant at least once.
3) One of the beauties of firearms, and one of the reasons firearms became so widely adopted, is because almost anyone can use one, women and children included. Unlike bows or melee weapons, they aren't dependent on physical strength. So long as you can lift the firearm and work the mechanism, you can use a gun.

In Colonial America, children often learned how to use firearms at a very young age, due to the need for hunting and protection.

4) Contrary to popular opinion, children aren't useless until the hit a certain age. One of the reasons rural (and colonial) families would have so many children is so they could have help around the farm. Even very young children can be given chores ( sweep the floor, chop/gather firewood, help bring in crops, etc), and older juveniles/teenagers are functionally adults in all but name.

5) The best part of children is the capability to learn (not that adults can't learn, but what-have-you). Basically, they would start out as a "blank slate", and as they grow older, you could basically mold them into the colonist you need them to be through  training and education. Want a good crafter? Apprentice that kid to your colonies carpenter. blacksmith, weaver, etc. Want a good hunter? Have them follow your hunter around to get some pointers. Want an all-rounded colonist? Actually use those pawns with "teacher" backgrounds, and build a schoolhouse to get an average spread in all skills.

Children, even if they do take years to age, have the potential to add A LOT to the Rimworld experience. Remember, Rimworld is all about telling a story, not how efficient you can make your colony.

For those wondering about how the game will treat kids with regards to slavery, death, etc, just think about the real world, and what you can already do to colonists. Skin them and make clothing from their hides? Why is it OK to do it to adults, but not children? (speaking metaphorically here, I don't find it all that acceptable).Sell them into slavery?

Worse things happened in real-world colonization efforts.

Plus, you know, years pass by pretty fast, now. 4 seasons of 15 days, and each day is only slightly longer than they were in previous Alphas? 60 day years vs 120 day years. Not that long at all. I've played for a couple of hours to notice that a year and a half has blown by.

[harpyeagle]

Eh, I don't care if they take so long to age that they aren't "useful."  Just make having kids a rare thing and/or provide happiness/social interaction benefits.

I can easily imagine kids (having them, raising them) as a source of storyline and social interaction events for your colony and not just a resource to be exploited, you horrible people

[Negocromn]

I'd bet children will never be added to the game, it's probably not worth the trouble.

Hope someone makes a mod.

[keylocke]

i think back in the older alphas there were plenty of people saying that relationships will never be added...

hello A13. 

the thing with people that says "NOPE you can't have nice things.." is that it's a dead end argument. there's no progress with that. it tastes like games like banished or towns. it feels like aborted evolution.

it's like they just want tynan to finish putting this to steam and move on to something else. which is sad really coz this game still has so much more potential.

this game could exceed games like DF or minecraft. instead of just one of the countless simulation games out there, it could be THE classic simulation game, like the ones your kids would still play decades from now.

so whenever i see suggestions that i think adds more intriguing features, i don't go NOPE that won't work. i usually go.. hmm.. interesting, let's discuss how it could possibly work and hope tynan's listening.. 

[Captain Sho]

I feel like kids would sort of ruin the point of the game which is to get of the planet so i can't see it being part of the vanilla game but i can totally see it as a mod for those who like to push the game length out.

[Vagabond]

Old old post I made. The main gripe people had with it was my proposed "abstract" timescale. However, it is getting more and more apparent that we are already using abstract timescales - a counter argument I never thought to make before. Timescales have always been far to short to belong to a planet that is life-sustaining. The only difference between my proposed timescale and the one the game uses, is that the game tries to hide that is abstract, while mine admits it.

Another idea I was tossing around timescale-wise was a random number of days passing at the end of each day. The idea came while I was watching TV and realized that TV shows, like ones with actual continuous plots, don't worry about playing out the events of each and every moment. Instead of an AI storyteller, they have a screenplay writer who strives to keep things interesting. In good shows you can tell how much time has passed, roughly - sometimes exactly. What does this mean? At the end of the day 1-X amount of days pass, an unobtrusive center screen message pops up showing the date and days passed and fades. Special days (birthdays, anniversaries, memorial days for important events/battles) automatically get selected if the game RNG'd past it. Haven't hammered it all out yet - but there is an alternative to the proposed one below.

This suggestion was from before we had work schedules, or families, ect.

Code Select Expand

Reproduction is something I've felt could enrich the game considerably. Vat growing children is certainly an option, however I'd like to point out another option that could work concurrently.

##Time and Aging##

Time: Each day could abstractly represent three months, given real life times on construction and production. The length of a day might need adjusting. A 24 hour clock could have somewhere around 30 seconds to a minute being the length of a game hour. Leasure time would fit in here, basically the way it worked in diggles was when you clicked on a dwarf it had a little clock in the corner with two moveable hands. The hands would be manipulated to decide what hour they start work and what hour they end work. During the time they were off the clock, they would build relationships, eat, sleep, and do little fun things.

Aging: Basically there would be eight age categories, each with interesting aspects. The base time is the standard length of time they are in that age group, the extra day is a "late development" factor. For example: Crawlers have a base time of one day. So they will always be in that stage for at least one day. After that day, the game will "roll" with a 25% chance at a second day. If they get that second day, the third day will be rolled with a 15% chance of them getting it; alternatively it could simply be an RNG, where it will just pick a number from one to three.

Aging could look like this:

Infant
-Infants are unable to do anything; they simply stay swaddled on their mother, which precludes the mother from certain activities.
-Base time, two days. One extra day possible at: 25% chance (Alternative: RNG, 1-2)

Crawler
-Crawlers do nothing but get under other colonist's feet.  X% chance of a dwarf tripping over a crawler when passing.
-Base time, one day. Two extra days possible at: 25/15% chances. (Alternative: RNG, 1-3)

Walker
-Walkers tend to wander off from the home-zone, possibly endangering themselves.
-25% chance to do a light hauling task.
-Base time, five days. Four extra days possible at: 25/20/15/10% chances. (Alternative: RNG 5-9)

Talker
-Talkers talk. A lot. X% chance to distract another Colonist from their task.
-50% chance to do a light hauling task.
-Base time, twelve days. Four extra days possible at: 25/20/15/10% chances. (Alternative: RNG, 12-16)

Helper
-Helpers try to emulate the adults. They can do simple tasks like fetching pails of water.
-Can do a light hauling task, and 25% chance to do a medium hauling task.
-Base time, twenty days. Eight extra days possible at: 50/45/40/35/30/25/20/15% chances. (Alternative: RNG, 20-28)

Worker
-Workers start really helping the colony.
-Can do light/medium hauling tasks, and 50% chance to do a heavy hauling task.
-Leave their parent's home.
-Base time, twenty days. Twelve extra day possible at: 75/70/65/60/55/50/45/40/35/30/25/20% Chances. (Alternative: RNG, 20-32)

Breeder
-Able to marry; Each colonist requires a piece of jewelry. There must be an available Private Quarters with a double bed.
-Married Breeders can have children. Pregnancy lasts 3 days.
-Can do light/medium/heavy hauling tasks.
-Become Elders at two hundred days old.

Elder
-No longer work themselves, but instead "Mentor" other colonists, it increases that colonists skill gain and increases production speed. It is much more effective than the "Aid" feature, which allows two colonists to work on a single task to help a less skilled person benefit from a more skilled worker.
-Has a 75%/50%/25% chance to do a light/medium/heavy hauling task.
-After they are 240 days old, they have an acumulative 5% chance per day to pass away.

[Nictis]

Maybe your colonists wouldn't want to have kids on such a horrifying planet, but that doesn't mean they wouldn't take (or save in their eyes) any in. Say a slaver comes in and happens to have a kid from one of the local tribes, or an abrasive little brat that an outlander town gave up on... Or say that a couple from a nearby non-hostile faction come in and tell you that they are likely about to die (Sickness, 'old' age, they were told to pack their shit and go raid another colony you made...) and they don't want their kid to suffer so they give them to your (Wealthy obviously, so that they know you can take care of the little leech) colony. So for whatever reason, you just adopted a kid! +15 morality for a season or two!

As for how the kid works, there is already a changing bodysize from teen to adult, makes them less likely to get shot (if we don't just have raiders always kidnap them instead) and can carry less. Give them a trait (Child, -30 global work speed or something) and have it change into a random trait when they turn 14-15. Basic interest in all skills, skill cap somewhere around 8-10. Have the passions change with the Child trait. If we want to shoot for the moon here, they could have a separate social tab, all current colonist +20 Caretaker, and only update the Social effects for other children?

The only question then is if we include them in Fights. If we disable violence for them, we could have raiders not attack them, or it could be a truely awful event if we gave them a gun and they died defending their home... Have them friendly with everyone so they all get the "A friend died" debuff?

I just kinda left a little rant here, but I hope someone likes the idea in the thought.