Debuffs on higher titles, in particular Count/Countess are too harsh

[biowpn]

One of my columnists, Martev, recently got promoted to Count and basically became useless. When he was Baron, he used to be my dedicated art guy and long-range scanner operator guy which compensates for building fancy throne room. Now he can't do anything. There's no need for warden because my base is quite full and I don't want to recruit anyone anymore. What's worse, he keeps giving Royal speeches which waste everyone's time. I regretted it so much and had to dev-mode him a title down.

It really got me thinking, what are the advantages of Count over Baron? Just two new psycast abilities which don't bring much new to the table (imo the most useful ones are in level 5). It costs a useful pawn and 22 royal favors that could have been used to summon multiple Royal aid. So clearly the costs outweigh the benefits.

I suggest the royal debuff be capped at the current Baron's. Or better, drop every title debuff by one title: Count's becomes Baron's, Baron's becomes Praetor 's, etc. This will make the Royal titles more attractive.

On the topic, the out-of-nowhere "Royal Expectation" mood debuff makes zero sense...I already got everything (fancy throne room, fancy bedroom) he needs and he still complains? The Count's -12 mood debuff is even worse. I think this should be dropped, or applied only when the title required bedroom/throne room is undignified.

[codyo]

I think the speeches last too long for sure. It would be good for balance if colonists promoted to royalty give more inspiring buffs to other pawns while losing access to normal labor. Small buffs to manipulation, consciousness, or walking after a speech. Or when in conversation if a noble gives a commoner a compliment, the commoner feels happy for a couple of days. Other pawns should be more inspired and/or properly directed by their leaders. Instead of only receiving a small mood buff.

[Boboid]

There's no need for warden because my base is quite full and I don't want to recruit anyone anymore.

Well that's a bit of personal preference going on there - Keep in mind that he can still be used to Trade so you really want his social skill to be as high as possible.
Worst case you might want to consider capturing prisoners and setting them to Reduce Resistance and then eventually releasing them simply to keep his social skill high.

What's worse, he keeps giving Royal speeches which waste everyone's time. I regretted it so much and had to dev-mode him a title down.

High social skill royals actually give quite large and long lasting mood bonuses for successful speeches. Much like parties they can be quite useful.

It really got me thinking, what are the advantages of Count over Baron? Just two new psycast abilities which don't bring much new to the table (imo the most useful ones are in level 5).

Well, Berserk Pulse is so strong that it's been repeatedly nerfed and may be totally irredeemable according to Tynan and may have to be removed from the game because it's so fundamentally overpowered and that's one of the two tier 6 psycast abilities.
So that's worth thinking about

On the topic, the out-of-nowhere "Royal Expectation" mood debuff makes zero sense...I already got everything (fancy throne room, fancy bedroom) he needs and he still complains? The Count's -12 mood debuff is even worse. I think this should be dropped, or applied only when the title required bedroom/throne room is undignified.

Strictly speaking the royal expectations "Debuff" is similar/identical to the standard expectations, the only difference being that it bottoms out at -12 rather than 0.
The fact that it's presented as an negative obviously affects perceptions of it though.

Keep in mind that royals have access to mood bonuses that are denied standard pawns - They get bonuses for impressive thronerooms, for fulfilled decrees, and for having high Authority. All of which can easily compensate for or actually overwhelm the measly -12.
Edit: Oh they also spend more time sitting on their comfortable throne so their average bonus from Comfort is also really high.
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As for the overall usefulness of Counts - I've found them to be fine overall but I can understand how you'd feel bushwhacked by the sudden loss of previous capabilities.
Though the restrictions to work are listed in the info box for each title they can be easy to miss.

Best case scenario you take someone who would otherwise be useless (Pop Idol background I'm looking at you) but has a high social skill + passion and turn them into your dedicated Count, slap a Joywire, Psychic harmonizer, and Psychic sensitizer into their brain, accumulate as much Psycast gear as you can, and enjoy the ~+20 mood bonus they project to everyone around them.

[Ser Kitteh]

I cant say I agree. The throneroom, expensive as is, gives a high enough buff to mitigate it.

The only thing I don't like is my royal pawn giving speeches randomly and I can't control it.

[biowpn]

Thank you Tynan! I can't tell you how glad I am when I read the updates today and saw some of the suggestions made into the game

Gotta go and play now