Downed mechanoids

[twoski]

I find it really weird that downed mechanoids never die. You can leave them injured and twitching on the ground and they will remain that way indefinitely.

Since everything else in the game "deteriorates" if left outdoors, shouldn't that also happen to downed mechanoids? You can kind of cheat the system currently. If you kill a mechanoid then you have to haul it to a roofed stockpile or else it slowly deteriorates. However an unkilled one stays that way forever so you can effectively just wait until it's convenient to put it out of its misery with 1000000000 punches (which is also annoying but not the point of this post)

Since downed mechanoids don't have blood they don't bleed out, perhaps they could have some other way of "bleeding out" such as a low (like 10%) chance to fizzle out and die when it rains. Maybe they could even randomly just fizzle out and explode into a fireball if left alone too long, could give more incentive to encourage people to kill them

[Trylobyte]

You can Operate on them to shut them down if you like.

[Gohihioh]

As I understand this mechanic(cos we all know it's just balance thing but we all like lore/logic explanations) you can explain it this way - downed mechanoids are not dead - and as far as we know this creatures/things never die or live really really long life. Since they are just downed some fluids(or whatever you want to call it) runs in them maintaining them, it doesn't repair them but it doesn't let any other parts die or malfunction. When you completly kill it(shut it down or destroy it) the fluid stops flowing and the machine starts to detoriate.
I see it that way if you really try to find explanation. Other than that it's just balance thing cos all items detoriate(with few exceptions which i don't understand tbh)

[eadras]

If anything, they should self-repair over time if you neglect to finish them off.  A mechanoid civilization run by advanced AI would likely be maintained by embedded nanotech, which would be constantly at work to repair damage and get the mech back into service.

[SpaceDorf]

If anything, they should self-repair over time if you neglect to finish them off.  A mechanoid civilization run by advanced AI would likely be maintained by embedded nanotech, which would be constantly at work to repair damage and get the mech back into service.

This !

[BetaSpectre]

slow self repair makes sense.

[Limdood]

I'd hate to see self repair for one important reason.

Every now and again during a normal raid, or a crashed pod, I send a pawn out to capture the downed target and the pawn has "healed" JUST enough to get up.  Usually this leads to them wandering off the map, and precipitating a fight if i still try to go capture them...which tends to end up with them dead instead of incapacitated.

This would be far worse and UNBELIEVABLY frustrating, gameplay wise, if i'm marching out to shut down a scyther (rather than sit there and shoot a prine enemy for 7 in-game hours) and suddenly the scyther stands up, aims, and blows off an arm as i'm walking up to it.

The way that pain and incapacitation work, i think that self healing mechs would lead to a world of pissed off players.

[b0rsuk]

Alternatively, you could make them shortcircuit in the rain when they're downed. All their fragile electronic parts and wires are exposed.

I don't think I would enjoy having to finish mechanoids quickly. It's not hard to do (unless you make the timer very short), it would feel like an extra chore. The OP complained about micromanagement.

If you want to explore the self-repair theme, I'd do something different. A third mechanoid type: Ghoul. A perverted, inhuman sort of "medic", which - instead of fixing downed humanoids - scavenges them for spare parts and guns and becomes more powerful with each part absorbed. Those ghouls would hang back.
Alternatively, just a simpler kind of medic mechanoid which takes parts from one downed mechanoid and installs them in another downed one. The disadvantage is that the medic would need at least 2 downed mechanoids of the same type to work, so it would only really kick in in larger mech raids.

[erdrik]

I'd hate to see self repair for one important reason.

Every now and again during a normal raid, or a crashed pod, I send a pawn out to capture the downed target and the pawn has "healed" JUST enough to get up.  Usually this leads to them wandering off the map, and precipitating a fight if i still try to go capture them...which tends to end up with them dead instead of incapacitated.

This would be far worse and UNBELIEVABLY frustrating, gameplay wise, if i'm marching out to shut down a scyther (rather than sit there and shoot a prine enemy for 7 in-game hours) and suddenly the scyther stands up, aims, and blows off an arm as i'm walking up to it.

The way that pain and incapacitation work, i think that self healing mechs would lead to a world of pissed off players.

I disagree with this^, and agree with self healing downed robots.
I shoot downed mechinoids till they are dead already. It doesn't take 7 in game hours.
Especially if you get a group to do it.
The answer isn't:
"Getting surprised by a suddenly repaired Mechinoid, when I stupidly sent a lone colonist to finish it off without support, really pisses me off and it is the games fault."

The answer is:
"I know Mechinoids can self repair when downed, so Im going to dedicate the group that downed it in the first place to spending more time ensuring that it is shot cold and dead immediately after combat. That way I don't have to worry about it and don't put any of my colonists in unnecessary danger."

[JT]

Alternatively, you could make them shortcircuit in the rain when they're downed. All their fragile electronic parts and wires are exposed.

I don't think I would enjoy having to finish mechanoids quickly. It's not hard to do (unless you make the timer very short), it would feel like an extra chore. The OP complained about micromanagement.

If you want to explore the self-repair theme, I'd do something different. A third mechanoid type: Ghoul. A perverted, inhuman sort of "medic", which - instead of fixing downed humanoids - scavenges them for spare parts and guns and becomes more powerful with each part absorbed. Those ghouls would hang back.
Alternatively, just a simpler kind of medic mechanoid which takes parts from one downed mechanoid and installs them in another downed one. The disadvantage is that the medic would need at least 2 downed mechanoids of the same type to work, so it would only really kick in in larger mech raids.

I think I like b0rsuk's option over the self-repair option.  The whole point of them being incapacitated is that they have been rendered unfit for purpose -- their computers are still active and will remain so until their embedded fusion batteries run out in a few hundred years, but they aren't able to move or function and all of those internal components are just waiting to short circuit.

Technically we could have both, though: if a mechanoid is underground, it is safe from the elements and can gradually repair its damage (we're talking a couple seasons, though -- and their AI would compel them to retreat rather than resume being a nuisance).  If it is exposed to the sun, it is not safe from the elements and will gradually degrade if it has been downed, until its generator loses containment or its neural circuitry shorts out.

[b0rsuk]

A goal in my ideas was to make mechanoids distinct and inhuman. Plain healing is human-like, because many humans value human live -OR- it has a positive effect on morale that you know you'll be healed if you get shot. That sort of healing, even "auto-repair" can be added later for pirates or another unreleased high tech faction (like glitterworld exiles). You can explain it with nanobots, nanites, etc. Cannibalizing / utilitarian approaches only really fit to inhuman factions. It would be a missed opportunity to give mechanoids simple healing.

The answer isn't:
"Getting surprised by a suddenly repaired Mechinoid, when I stupidly sent a lone colonist to finish it off without support, really pisses me off and it is the games fault."

The answer is:
"I know Mechinoids can self repair when downed, so Im going to dedicate the group that downed it in the first place to spending more time ensuring that it is shot cold and dead immediately after combat. That way I don't have to worry about it and don't put any of my colonists in unnecessary danger."

And I think it would be marginally more exciting than drafting a bunch of colonists to take care of a pyromaniac. Like having to draft hunting colonists to hunt together and finish off downed animals. It would get repetitive and non-challenging FAST. It's a prime example of an idea that sounds cool on paper but would just be annoying.

[twoski]

self-healing mechanoids would get tedious fast, especially since you have no way of knowing when they are about to get up again.

it would be nice if they had some sort of interesting mechanism we haven't seen yet, like self destruction or something

[Aerial]

I wouldn't want self-healing mechanoids for the reasons already stated. 

I guess I'm not sure why there's really an issue here.  Anyone with construction skill can operate on the mech to shut it down so there's rarely a need to damage the thing to death once it's downed (the 1000000000 punches referenced by the OP) so other than the cheese factor of leaving it downed but not dead so it won't decay, I'm not sure what problem needs solving. 

[Gohihioh]

I would not like self-healing downed mechanoids too.
I don't see a problem like OP does. Shutting down mechanoids is easy, although I used sent pawns who need training in shooting to kill it - mechanoids used to give a ton more of xp, but I think it got changed(not sure, I still do it out of habit)

[twoski]

admittedly i've never used that shut down mechanoid thing because i wasn't even aware it got added.

it still is a bit cheesy that mechanoids can be downed forever though, and i have used it to my advantage a few times when i knocked out some mechs on the other side of the map and waited until i actually had time to send people down to finish them off.

there should be an element of risk to leaving a downed mechanoid alone. like they should use a distress beacon to call some sort of engineer mechanoid down to fix them, or activate a proximity mine on themselves after a period of time, or something