These Mood Breaks - Don't They Go On Too Long?

[pdxsean]

In another threat, Tynan said he had seen no suggestions regarding mood issues, so I wanted to raise this one. Mental breaks really go on for a long time, and it makes things pretty difficult, especially in the very early game when there's not a lot you can do to prevent them. 

It feels like most mental breaks go on for 24 hours or so, which means a pawn will drain most/all food, rest, and joy needs. Then they will come out of the break with a catharsis, which is nice, but they will still have a number of strong negatives that they can't just clear away quickly. If they have food on them, great, they can eat and then sleep immediately. Otherwise there is a race between the pawn and exhaustion to get some food in before bed time. Anyway there's usually another 24 hours after the mental break spent trying to normalize the mood and eliminate the many additional negatives accumulated during the break.

This is one of the few areas I feel has declined in the last few alphas. Perhaps it's because I'm on Extreme difficulty, maybe the mental breaks scale. If that is the case I am a little more sympathetic but I have not seen anything to indicate that. Other than the just lower mood thresholds.

So I guess my suggestion is make mental breaks a bit shorter? Something so they don't end in exhaustion/starvation or both.