Are Older Pawns more Skillful?

[ArguedPiano]

Something I've noticed is that older pawns seem to be much more skillful than younger ones. They generally have better overall stats and usually a Burning Passion to go with it. They also seem more likely to have worse overall health.

Has anyone else noticed this or am I crazy? It would be a cool if this were intentional.

[Tynan]

The passions are the same, but yes, with more years, people develop more skills of course

[b0rsuk]

People used to avoid old colonist like a plague, and that was the remedy.

[Listy]

People used to avoid old colonist like a plague, and that was the remedy.

Still do I'm afraid.
Anyone over 60 is too much of a risk due to dementia and Bad back and old wounds. I can train skill points, but I can't fix those. Not even with Glitterworld meds. which I still think should be a Cure EVERYTHING one shot use for one person. Of course on their next birthday those problems might re-appear.

[Noobshock]

I can train skill points, but I can't fix those.

Same reason I still avoid old colonists like the plague on start.

[Shurp]

As long as they don't have cataracts or other severe conditions I'm happy to recruit an old guy at the start.  But I have to check over his health first closely.  And I certainly won't accept the radio transmission recruit event with an unexamined old guy.  Odds are he'll be too slow to outrun the pirates chasing him.

[sadpickle]

Old colonists are ok, but you need to check that health tab. Bad back and frail are probably the absolute worst traits to have on a starting colonists. Cataracts can be managed, as long as you don't use them to shoot. I play with a bionics mod that provides a fix for bad back so old colonists are ultimately a long-term investment for me.

Do colonists ever die of old age? I know they randomly get a birthday event that impacts their health.

[Shurp]

Frail is awful.  Bad back isn't too terrible.  Of course both combined is useless, best to kill them and feed the into the nutrient vat hopper.

Hmmm, since everything that comes out of the nutrient vat recycler is unrecognizable tasteless paste, colonists shouldn't get penalized for cannibalism if dead humans are fed into it.

[Listy]

Do colonists ever die of old age? I know they randomly get a birthday event that impacts their health.

I've seen animals die of heart attacks, but despite playing long games (10+ years) I've never had it happen to a colonist, of course the fact one never takes a old colonist might contribute to it.

As I said earlier I think Glitterworld meds are the key to fixing the ageist players, and the utter uselessness of Glitterworld meds. Make them rarer and cost a hell of a lot more.
One use cures all health defects with the colonist, including maybe being able to re-grow toes and noses. Including shattered bones, and scratches.
But this is a one use job, and provides no immunity. That way on the colonists next birthday the conditions might well come flooding back.

It actually fits the background as well, as far as I can see.

[cultist]

Frail is awful.  Bad back isn't too terrible.

Bad back is tolerable depending on that pawn's job. I think Frail needs a rebalancing, it's probably one of the most severe debuffs in the game and it shows up a lot, both on its own and in tandem with other age-related debuffs.

In general, I don't think the skill bonuses make up for the problems related to age. The core issue is that old people waste time. As long as they don't have cataracts (and they often do), they can make good researchers. But give them any other job and they will slow things down to the point where the potential skill bonus doesn't matter. Time is generally much more important than skill, and the major downside of the elderly is that they work and move slower. Making them a bottleneck in the one area where you can't afford to have one.

[b0rsuk]

Bad Back mostly affects Manipulation stat.

I'm not sure what exactly, but some stats don't affect the quality of work done. For example skill and mood are important when making sculptures and crafting. I don't know if Manipulation and Consciousness are relevant at all. Other than work speed naturally.

If not, then implanting a joywire (+20 mood) may be worth the consciousness penalty for artists and crafters.

Animals skill doesn't use Manipulation or Sight at all. Mostly Talking. If you're in a biome with plenty of animals, an old guy may be a very good trainer.

[Admiral Obvious]

I made the mistake of bringing in a 113 year old guy into my colony on start.

Sure, he died almost immediately in terms of your average Rimworld game (because dementia would up dazing him into an angry grizzly). They still wound up recruiting quite a few younger colonists, since this one had a good social skill.