Is "Incapable of Hauling" really necessary?

[KingKnee]

Just get like 30 bears. They'll haul for you.

[christhekiller]

The worst part is that they'll likely end up hauling stuff somewhere anyway. Building a wall? Gotta haul the materials. Cooking food? Gotta haul the materials.

If you wanna portray these snobby nobles or too smart scientists then just give them a mood debuff for doing dumb labor.

[Thyme]

[...]
incapabilities should do things, like for doctoring, always failing catastrophically; crafting, always getting awful quality; [...] with cooking they have a 100% chance to do a "hard food poisoning" which in a hour or two needs to be treated [...]

That makes such pawns practically useless and I would shoot them at the spot. It would solve the problem of incapable pawns though.

Anybody here afraid of spiders? Would you remove spider webs in the living room? Don't bother the other 4 people in the colony that have no problem with that. The point is, some incapabilities are not physical, but based on backstories like test subject. Fear is sometimes impossible to overcome.

PS: Fear is often decoupled from threat. I recommend to watch Chris Hadfields TED talk.

[Mikhail Reign]

The worst part is that they'll likely end up hauling stuff somewhere anyway. Building a wall? Gotta haul the materials. Cooking food? Gotta haul the materials.

If you wanna portray these snobby nobles or too smart scientists then just give them a mood debuff for doing dumb labor.

Yep again tho - I know a guy who is exactly this. And he would just haul it piece by piece, never thinking that he could just grab the lot. He'd argue that his way was better, and if proved wrong would continue to do it just to spite you. He once had a job, for a day, for 6 hours, manning a cash register and moving bags of clothes. He couldn't couldn't stop bitching bout how rough it was standing at a register. He got fired because he unloaded 2 bags from the truck in an hour and a half (like garbage bags at an op shop) and then fake complained about a bad back and went home.

[Thirite]

Like what others have said- they should get a work speed hit and a mood debuff. ie: "Dumb labor is beneath me -6" Outright having it impossible for them to do is just silly.

[ruddthree]

Pawns incapable of hauling can be frustrating, but are also useful if you have a lot of tasks to do (i.e. someone who can't haul can stonecut, and become a great crafter, despite not being able to haul anything.)

I had about 3-4 colonists not being able to haul, and I just set them to craft smokeleaf joints whenever I had a harvest, and it went surprisingly well. You can make someone who can't haul (a half-decent colonist), into one of your best pawns in a certain area.

[Mkok]

I hate this trait.
In my current game, I have only 2 colonists, and one of them is incapable of hauling. It doesnt even bother him that he literally wandered for 20 days just to haul some medicine to nearby town for sell, and them hauled purchased goods back to colony. At least for this game I have an excuse. He refuses to haul, because he literally spend 20 days on the road for basically no reason, and so he refuses to do it again, cause he is just a support character and feels exploited

[Sola]

Pawns incapable of hauling can be frustrating, but are also useful if you have a lot of tasks to do (i.e. someone who can't haul can stonecut, and become a great crafter, despite not being able to haul anything.)

I feel like a broken record, but why not.

My issue is not that "incapable of hauling" making the game too hard.  It does not.  My first successful game had two notable incapable of hauling pawns that were very noteworthy.  One had a burning passion for mining and cleared out an extensive cave network over 4,000 blocks large (to eventually find the materials required for a spaceship), and another existed solely to create art pieces to sell to traders or to beautify rooms.

I'm not asking for a way to make the game easier.  "train 9001 dogs" or "use this as an alternative" or "get good" are neither helpful, nor do they address the main concern of the topic.

The issue is that, despite Mikhail's story about his friend, anybody that is stranded on a desert planet is capable of transporting things from one place to another.  Sure, they're better at growing, cleaning, cooking, constructing, hunting, watching television,  or telling Aristocrats jokes, but they're still capable of moving things.

Did you lose your parents in a fire? -  Okay, incapable of firefighting makes sense.
Are you simply uncreative as a person? -  Okay, incapable of art/crafting makes sense.
Did loading a U-Haul truck cause you to pull a back muscle, instilling a perpetual fear of carrying anything anywhere? -  Fine.  Why are you carrying steel to that blueprint, then?

[Apex]

I fully agree with sola's view on this matter. I understand that the game is about overcoming the obstacles associated with a colony stranded on the rim. Unable to haul is both immersion breaking, and an unnecessary arbitrary mechanic when in fact every profession in the game "carries". You should also make that pawn a social pariah because in any situation he would be reviled and soon accidently killed.

[Thyme]

I like how you mention Mikhails friend and then move over it as if it wasn't there. Zhentar already made a very good point from the developing perspective. I personally think that such arguments always outweight gameplay arguments. Unless anybody (this includes Tynan) comes up with a suitable idea on how to tackle that discrepance, I'm sure it won't be changed.

PS: Another thread, covering the same topic, it's only four weeks older, using mostly the same arguments but less space.
#7 is new and interesing

[Bobylein]

Sola I fully agree with you.

For me it's too, that they'll haul tons of stuff at one time but can't do the same thing at other times.

For now it's just a death sentence for them, I don't want that immersion breaking, lazy, useless, leeching, snobby fucks around in my colony.

Now that might sound like I am from the "all those mood debuffs are bullshit, I would not break down when I see my two best friends being eaten by wargs in such a situation" crowd.

Nah, I like the general idea that some people don't like dump labour and I agree that incapable for most other jobs makes sense.
I would just like to see some consistency, hell make them completely unable to haul stuff, then they'll get what they deserve and die most of the time or give them a severe mood debuff.

[ruddthree]

Okay, now I get it. You're saying the very concept of being "incapable of hauling" is crazy. My mistake, I take back the statements in my previous post.

[Thirite]

The reason issues like this one are repeatedly brought up is due to them being unresolved. Making someone unhappy to do dumb labor makes sense- it gives the player an incentive to use them for other tasks, but still allows them to do it in case of emergencies. Having them mentally incapable doesn't make any sense from a gameplay or player expectation standpoint.

[cmitc1]

I am fine with it TBH, its really not that bad if you ovoid letting your starting colonist have the effect.

[Thirite]

That's not a very good argument. Avoiding or working around the problem doesn't fix it.