16-23 yr old pawns have no passions - but what if they could learn them?

[Mr Bandit]

(Michael in support said i should post my idea here)

I have noticed that pawns that are only 16 or 21 or so in age have little skill and and few passions, this makes sense because they are young and haven't learned anything, but on the other hand they stay useless an without passions for the rest of their lives - which doesn't make sense.

I would suggest a mechanic or trait that 'younger' pawns have a chance to gain new passions, and upgrade passions to burning passions. The chances would be higher with younger age and fewer passions (and burning passions), so as new passions are gained the chances of getting more new passions reduces. This would make younger pawns more interesting - instead of players saying 'useless' and rejecting them for lack of skill, having a trait that points out they will gain new passions makes them an interesting gamble because you might wind up with a great talent in a few years (or a total bum! ).

Perhaps a 'still young' trait that expires sometime between 25-30 years of age highlighting the ability to learn new skills? could also give a small speed bonus (similar to 'jogger' trait, but weaker) that increases movement speed a little because they are 'still young'? (until they reach 30 and slow down ) 

(any sharp people who give a pawn a youth serum to make them young would gain the 'still young' trait, but because gaining new passion is based on the number of passions the pawn already has if someone did take an amazing 60 yr old and made them 16 again, their ability to gain new passions would still be limited by the number of passions they already have. if they have 5 burning passions and you give them a youth serum so they can be 'still young', they would technically have the ability to gain new passions, but the probability would be at or near zero because they still have too many passions already. so while the youth serum should give the 'still young' trait and it's increased move speed, in effect it would not give the opportunity to exploit for a ridiculously OP pawn)

Hopefully you like my idea

[cultist]

I personally see it as a trade-off.
Young pawns are less skilled and less likely to gain very high skill levels, but they don't develop natural health issues and are more likely to survive infections and diseases. They're great for basic jobs like hauling, cleaning and stonecutting (because these jobs only depend on health, not skills) as well as a natural choice for soldiers (spray weapons basically ignore shooting skill anyway), as they're more likely to survive being badly damaged.

[Mr Bandit]

true, but what happens 10 yrs later when the benefits of youth are gone? you have a pawn with no skills or passions and no immunity benefits, i guess you'd just have to expel them and take on another young pawn to do the sames tasks?

this game isn't static, pawns dont stay young forever, otherwise i would totally agree with you.

[Whifflepits]

I personally see it as a trade-off.
Young pawns are less skilled and less likely to gain very high skill levels, but they don't develop natural health issues and are more likely to survive infections and diseases. They're great for basic jobs like hauling, cleaning and stonecutting (because these jobs only depend on health, not skills) as well as a natural choice for soldiers (spray weapons basically ignore shooting skill anyway), as they're more likely to survive being badly damaged.

But it's not really a trade-off, you just encourage players like me to min-max and only accept colonists between the ages of 25 and 40. All of them can max 2 or 3 skills easily before there's any chance of them developing health issues, and when you've reached the point that you're maxing skills you can just ride that gravy train and slap in a bunch of bionics so that health never becomes an issue. With the DLC there are so many new implants that you can basically make immortal colonists.

[Breadbox]

Something along the line would be very nice indeed, at least give a physical related bonus or something instead of knowledge based skill.