Two needs - Culture and Dignity

[sajberhippien]

So, this is something that's been on my mind for some time. I suggest two new needs, or one new need and a reworking of an existing one, that would cover a lot of what is currently mood buffs/debuffs and also I think provide a more dynamic and diverse gameplay.

Culture (or Comfort or Luxury)
The need for culture would cover those luxuries of life that are less about basic physical comfort and mental and physical health, and more about feeling civilized. Things in-game that would affect culture would be beauty, quality/condition of clothes, having tables to eat at, fine food, et cetera. Culture might be mergable with Comfort, taking a wider interpretation of Comfort than seating quality.
A dynamic need: The amount of Culture needed for various mood buffs/debuffs wouldn't be static, but rather depend on a few factors - most importantly base tech level, wealth, and time spent in the colony. While newly-crashed survivors won't complain about nutrient paste or shabby clothes, once they have a working industry they expect better. As such, the Culture need would replace the "x expectations" mood.
Effects: At high Culture, pawns get a buff to Mood and to creative endeavors (art, research). At low culture, a corresponding debuff applies.
Why I think this would be good:
- It would make the penalty for a single snack on the road much less noticable, but never getting to sit down for a meal proper would be a bigger issue than it is now. Likewise, wearing a tattered armor vest wouldn't matter short-term, but wearing rags for months on end would be worse than currently. I think this creates both a more believable and interesting gameplay dynamic.
- It would consolidate a lot of smallish mood effects, making for a more elegant gameplay and allowing the direct Mood effects to be things more *directly* affecting someone's mood (e.g. depression, marriage, death of a loved one).
- It would make balancing new content (whether modded or official) easier, as things can't stack as easily. Right now, modders have to be careful with mood bonuses so things don't get too easy, but worries about e.g. Comfort are much smaller because you can't really go above fully comfortable.

Dignity (or Humanity)
Dignity would cover pawn's sense of self-respect, moral pride, and to what degree they can empathize and demand empathy from others. Dignity would increase by saving others*, some kinds of positive social interactions, and doing certain jobs if they have a passion for it. It would be decreased by for example being taken prisoner, mistreating prisoners, butchering humans, and some kinds of negative social interactions. Some positive or negative effects might be colony-wide, such as slave trade or offering shelter for strangers. Psychopathy and certain other traits would treat dignity slightly differently.
Effects: At high dignity, pawns would receive a buff to social and creative endeavors and to the mental break threshold. At low dignity, a corresponding debuff is applied.
Why I think this would be good:
- This would complement well the current mood debuffs to certain ignoble actions, and could replace part of them, so that there's a more long-term consequence of the Human Hat factory. It should still be a viable approach, but would be more defining of the colony; if you go down that path, gameplay will be different as diplomacy gets harder and more infighting will occur. As such, it would benefit gameplay diversity.
- It would make the pawns feel more like, well, people. Most people *want* to do good, especially to those we meet face-to-face. This is already somewhat present in certain mood buffs/debuffs, but I think it'd be nice to have more long-term effects too; dehumanizing or being dehumanized tends to change who we are, as numerous examples of people in bad situations have shown.

*I originally thought "and being saved" but this would encourage you to fuck your pawns over just to save them, so...

Would love to hear your thoughts on these ideas.

[KozmoD]

I really like your idea. IMO Rimworld needs a rework/improvement with pawn's personality and humanity, and more complex interactions between humans instead of just shooting eachother and trading. With that the game would feel more real, like a civilazation.

[Tomasdav]

I would appriciate mental state called "broken" when you misstreat prisoner bad for a long period he is recruited as pawn but doesn´t interact, doesn´t care about condition he is in, walks slowly, work slowly, doesn´t like better food and most importantly cannot fall for new mental state

[Mechfried]

yes, that would be so great

[Jackalvin]

I think dignity would have many definitions depending on the culture. A tribal warrior may require a worthy opponent patched up, while a pirate would be happy to strip them, curb stomp them till death, and feed them to the wags.