Revamp skilled/dumb labor

[Kermack]

Humble suggestion.

Make dumb labor into just manual labor and allow all colonists to perform hauling and cleaning etc.  For a related incapability trait you could use something to the effect of "efficient labor"(it's difficult to word this well because of the negative denotation).  This could hinder the pawn's performance, completing the task efficiently or timely.  So hauling would take that pawn a bit longer or they would have a slight chance to drop what they are carrying and lose some of it or cause damage.  The pawn could also clean but perhaps they take longer in doing the job.  On to skilled labor.

Make skilled labor into tradecraft(old word but fits).  Same scheme here.  The incapability could be "skilled trade", so the pawn can still cook but they might start a fire or burn the food.  The pawn can still craft and mine and so on but they will never be very good at it and there might be some slight danger depending on job.

I think this points the needle a little closer to realistic, giving all pawns the ability to perform these tasks in situations where there is no one else available but not without some risk.  This also let's those absolute worst pawns serve a purpose in at least being able to clean even if they aren't good at it, considering they can't do anything else useful as well.   

My wording feels really awkward and clumsy in the examples I gave, perhaps someone could come up with something better.  Perhaps this has been suggested before, admittedly I didn't spend much time searching past page 1 of the results.

Thanks for reading.

[cultist]

What if "Incapable of dumb labor" could haul single items but not stacks of anything? That would make them useless as pack mules, but they would still be able to help retrieve weapons, clothing and similar items.

[Limdood]

this is like the 1000th time this has been asked for in suggestions...

I don't terribly mind incapable of hauling, but there sure seem to be a lot of those backgrounds.

[Perq]

Well, it has been suggested a dozens of times because it doesn't feel right, nor makes the game any more interesting. It is mostly frustrating, at most.

I recall Tynan saying that this is fun, because there are people who are completely useless. While true, you should still be given option for them to try and do something. They may be slow, they may fail and even destroy something, but straight up ban seems artificial and boring.
I mean, RimWorld is great at writing interesting (and dramatic) stories. What story does come someone not doing something? Well, no story there.
What comes from someone carrying a mortal shell, dropping it on the ground (because they are terrible at carrying things) and blowing a hole in a wall (along with themselves), right before a raid comes in?
Yup, I'd go with option 2 any day.

[Rimrue]

I think perhaps it's being suggested more often lately due to the changes to A17. It just seems more pawns than not now have some incapability. And it is frustrating rather than fun to have half your colony incapable of doing some task or other. :/

My personal suggestion is a revamp of the trait system to make hauling or caring or cleaning or whatever a trait some pawns hate (similar to the brawler trait) and it will give them a really bad mood to do them. -30 for cleaning? -50 for caring? Guess we'll assign someone else those jobs! Lol Because in reality, unless they are physically missing arms or legs, there is no reason they can't perform those tasks when absolutely necessary.

Plus think of the stories. Bob the medieval lord goes berserk because he had to clean his room. Jane the novelist has a sad wander over hauling a sack of potatoes. Or maybe Dan the male model saves the day by doctoring his friends, despite his major aversion to blood and nearly having a mental break several times while sewing up gunshot wounds.

So they'd remain useless most of the time, unless you really, really needed them. Like maybe your base is burning down after a raid and only the guy who loathes firefighting is still able to walk. Unless they have a mental break of course. But at least you could try! Lol

[Limdood]

I can think of LOADS of books/movies/stories where there was a character (or, rarely, multiple characters) who were so proud, they REFUSED to do menial labor - occasionally even at risk of death.

In fact, if you look at it from a "refuse" rather than "can't" point of view, then arguably what makes a good and compelling story is character flaws, and hubris is a VERY common flaw for storytelling.

The Luddite rebel who distrusts technical innovation and refuses to research.
The farm oaf who just never was much good at learning things and can't do skilled labor
The Medeival Lord who views honor and position above all and would rather die than dirty his hands cleaning or hauling items around just to make life easier for others.
The empath who can't bring herself to harm others
The sociopath who doesn't care if another person lives or dies who won't treat wounds

....all walk into a bar, and NOW we've got a story!

[cultist]

I think the biggest issue is the fact that childhood/adulthood backgrounds are completely random. The game doesn't give a damn that it assigns all the adulthood skill points in skills that are disabled by the childhood background, or that two bad backgrounds can end up disabling several skills. That's probably one of the most frustrating things for me personally. The illusion of an actual person is broken when you realize the story of their life is literally impossible (i.e. loses ability to cook as a child, becomes a master chef with cooking disabled) because it's all decided by a virtual dice roll.

[Perq]

In order to fix that, stories would need a list of other stories they cannot roll anymore. Case by case, sadly. That would also mean that adding new stories would require to check whenever they work with everything else.

[Perq]

There is a point in which funny turns into annoying. :S With this one, I'm far beyond annoying.

Bonus points: The only pawn that does hauling job is 72 years old woman. There is one who is 20 and three of them are around ~40.
I mean, seriously, what the fuck.

[JimmyAgnt007]

What if "Incapable of dumb labor" could haul single items but not stacks of anything? That would make them useless as pack mules, but they would still be able to help retrieve weapons, clothing and similar items.

I think this is the best suggestion on the topic that ive seen.

[Jorlem]

In order to fix that, stories would need a list of other stories they cannot roll anymore. Case by case, sadly. That would also mean that adding new stories would require to check whenever they work with everything else.

No it wouldn't.  It would just require an extra step after rolling the adult background, checking if any of the modifiers applied by that background are for a skill that is disabled by the childhood background.  If one is, then the adult background would be discarded and rerolled.

[cultist]

What if "Incapable of dumb labor" could haul single items but not stacks of anything? That would make them useless as pack mules, but they would still be able to help retrieve weapons, clothing and similar items.

I think this is the best suggestion on the topic that ive seen.

It's what makes the most sense to me. I can imagine someone being asked to haul the maximum amount a human can comfortably carry and complaining about a bad back or "it's beneath me" or something, but refusing to carry a single item of neglible weight is just being a dick.

It would also amuse me to see nobles and other non-haulers occasionally pick up a single piece of wood and haul it - "See, I'm helping! Phew, this physical labour sure is exhausting."

[Modo44]

I think it should be a simple efficiency debuff, not a clean "can't do it". Similar to a bad back or cut off limb lowering carrying capacity etc., a person who "can't" do dumb labour would perform those tasks slower than other work (plus any other effects, of course).

In a similar fashion, all colonists should be able to do everything, but all "incapable of" traits would put a permanent efficiency debuff on those kinds of work.

[Rimrue]

So based on the suggestions in this thread (and others like it), I've created a mod that revamps the traits and backstories and removes incapabilities. It's still a WIP but would love some feedback on it.

https://ludeon.com/forums/index.php?topic=33112.0

Thanks!

[Indoril120]

The title says it all. I think colonists with backstories that currently prevent them from doing 'dumb labor' ought to be able to haul and clean, but they would just recieve a major mood debuff. To me that not only makes sense, but would be really nice for the game. Sometimes I find myself really wishing I could get everyone to run out and grab some goodies from a pod drop or just speed up the cleanup process after a fight to prevent deterioration, but there are always those elite few who would not deign to participate in such menial work. I mean, sure, in their old life it makes sense that they might refuse to do physical labor, but on a rimworld, out in the wild, I think even the most reluctant to do grunt work would eventually break down and do it (or become really unpopular really fast). If there was just a penalty for forcing people to do that kind of work - just like brawlers with guns or night owls up at noon - it'd be better IMO. I mean, frankly I don't really care if you were a "taster" or an "explosives expert" and would rather not get your hands dirty. This is Rimworld, and I am your benevolent master!! If I tell you to pick crap up, you dang well better oblige!