Have you ever executed one of your colonists?

[Shurp]

But how do you manage mood and injuries when you treat pawns that way?  Say one of your militia men gets a leg blown off and can't keep up on the trip home from the quest?  Or he gets killed and all his squaddies are sad?

[Swarx]

But how do you manage mood and injuries when you treat pawns that way?  Say one of your militia men gets a leg blown off and can't keep up on the trip home from the quest?  Or he gets killed and all his squaddies are sad?

Injured/sick pawns can be carried by other caravan members, so I'd just do that if I cared about him enough. If one of them gets killed, it's not big of a deal, since the 'colonist died' thing isn't too much of a mood penalty.

I don't treat them ridiculously expendably- but I take more risks with them than I do my professional workers.

[Shurp]

Fair enough.  I try to avoid most mood penalties but my colonies are pretty miserable places to begin with.  You're probably managing that aspect better.

So what do your militia folk do when you're not being raided?  Can you find useful work for them?

[Limdood]

I "banish" my colonists instead of executing...avoids the mood buff.

This method has always worked...since I've been playing at least (A12):
1. unequip, surround and "capture" the offending pawn...surrounding him means if he resists, you can bludgeon him into submission.
2. while the pawn is being taken to the prison, set the prison door to "hold open"
3. Prisoner "escapes" off the map (releasing a prisoner makes them rejoin their old faction...in the case of a colonist, that faction is yours)

no mood penalty for colonists.  offending colonist is effectively gone.  Only risk is the initial arrest (for some reason I'm having trouble arresting a downed colonist...i only get the option to rescue them...even if the incapacitation was caused by them resisting an arrest)

[Swarx]

Fair enough.  I try to avoid most mood penalties but my colonies are pretty miserable places to begin with.  You're probably managing that aspect better.

So what do your militia folk do when you're not being raided?  Can you find useful work for them?

They still have civilian jobs, such as wardening, hauling and cleaning. Some are reasonably good craftsmen, socializers, etc., but I already have one or two pawns doing that job better. Still, tasks like cutting stone, cutting plants, laying floors, smoothing stone, mining and such always need to be done.

Technically, all of my pawns are part of the colony's defense, as everyone will pull their weight if a raid occurs. So I'll often give my farmers and other specialists armor and good weapons as well. But the militia is the only 'expeditionary' part of my colony.

[Shurp]

Oh, so you're talking about ordinary useful colonists without specialties... not Sheriffs and Nobles and such   Yeah, they're generally expendable, but I worry about them accumulating injuries and becoming liabilities before they die.

[SYDWAD]

Not usually, but i have euthanized colonists who's only job is researching and are basically incapable of anything else once they have nothing more to contribute.

[jamessimo]

Only one, was bed ridden and would only move for Yayo. Ended up giving him some Lufi and let nature do the rest.

[Travinsky]

I have, colonist went into a rage and managed to kill one of my other colonists. The one who went into a rage was, half-decent, couple of useful skills but she killed a super useful one. I was so annoyed and irritated that I had her arrested and executed pretty quickly.

Also, I normally build a cool crypt for my colonists when I progress far enough. In a cave or chapel, with like excellent+ stone crypts, but I just buried her in an unmarked grave, far away from the colony. I get annoyed enough when my colonists die in raids, let alone when one is killed because another colonists is throwing a tantrum.