Colonists Automatically Upgrade Gear.

[Redrabbitromp]

I wish that as my shortbow wielding naked colonist walks by a power armored corps with an ultra death rifle, that my colonist would take the armor and rifle from that corps automatically. 

[Xerberus86]

sorry but no, i don't want my colonists picking up gear on their own, i am the one to decide what they get and who gets it.

adding those mechanic would mean more hazzle than use i am afraid.

[Redrabbitromp]

Well I don't have much hope for this one as I think it would be difficult to code and intensive to run.  You won't convince me it wouldn't be useful though. 

[Xerberus86]

Well I don't have much hope for this one as I think it would be difficult to code and intensive to run.  You won't convince me it wouldn't be useful though.

well a colonist upgrading their crossbow to a rifle is an improvement without a doubt, but what is if your shooting skill 3 guy takes automatically up the best weapon and armor and you have to manually de-equip him with hit. oh and of course if they automatically pick up those things then he should pick it up again as soon as you let him drop it. you don't want to manually equip your colonists with weapons, well i don't want to manually re-equip them because the colonist with the best shooting skill didn't pick up the best weapon because the cook took it.

what could be useful (and i suggested already) is that we have an equipment overview screen and there we can select our colonist and via a list (from all items in our stocks) we can equip them, no endlessly finding the weapon which is lying somewhere in your stockpile.

but automatically equipping colonists without giving them certain presets beforehand and a way to make sure this  won't turn into even more hazzle i don't think is a good idea.

Edit: also i don't have to convince you, it is your idea and if you don't see the potential trouble with it then its not my business. the idea per se isn't bad, just the way you described it (without any predefined settings) would be bad.

[ChrisW]

I think we can re-invent this idea.

Since we do get visitors from other places.

How about these visits - provided the visitors are technically more advanced - can, through being talked to and treated fairly good - gift you a bit of research points in the form of blueprints?
Because looking at all that shiny armor and stuff all day should give your colonists ideas.

[Ykara]

I think it would be funny if tribal people would take the power armor of dead raiders. Like "What is this? Looks cool, lets take it and look if it's edible!"

[Redrabbitromp]

well a colonist upgrading their crossbow to a rifle is an improvement without a doubt, but what is if your shooting skill 3 guy takes automatically up the best weapon and armor and you have to manually de-equip him with hit. oh and of course if they automatically pick up those things then he should pick it up again as soon as you let him drop it. you don't want to manually equip your colonists with weapons, well i don't want to manually re-equip them because the colonist with the best shooting skill didn't pick up the best weapon because the cook took it.

Xerber I think that the micro burden of rearranging weapons would be less than the burden of trying to locate all the best weapons and gear scattered across the entire map.  Also I equip my best shooters with weapons that I purchase early so I am confident that they have something adequate.  It's the new guy that just got recruited and has no gear that this is most aimed at.

[SSS]

I think it would be funny if tribal people would take the power armor of dead raiders. Like "What is this? Looks cool, lets take it and look if it's edible!"

What if they actually wore it?

"Guys! The tribals are back and they have all of the equipment from the pirates we've left laying in the fields!"

That would be epic.

[Redrabbitromp]

I think it would be funny if tribal people would take the power armor of dead raiders. Like "What is this? Looks cool, lets take it and look if it's edible!"

Ykara that would be hilarious.  I would be so dead all the time though. 

[Xerberus86]

well a colonist upgrading their crossbow to a rifle is an improvement without a doubt, but what is if your shooting skill 3 guy takes automatically up the best weapon and armor and you have to manually de-equip him with hit. oh and of course if they automatically pick up those things then he should pick it up again as soon as you let him drop it. you don't want to manually equip your colonists with weapons, well i don't want to manually re-equip them because the colonist with the best shooting skill didn't pick up the best weapon because the cook took it.

Xerber I think that the micro burden of rearranging weapons would be less than the burden of trying to locate all the best weapons and gear scattered across the entire map.  Also I equip my best shooters with weapons that I purchase early so I am confident that they have something adequate.  It's the new guy that just got recruited and has no gear that this is most aimed at.

i made the suggestion that we get an equipment overview screen where we can see our colonists, their current gear and equip / re-equip them from this menue by clicking on the equipment slot and chosing from a list of available weapons & armor to equip that colonist.

another idea would be that we do it like dwarf fortress and design "uniforms" and assign those uniform (equipment schematics) to the various colonists. of course we would need to differentiate between guns / shotguns / rifles / snipers / etc. and we should also be able to prioritize the various colonists in terms of who gets to chose their equipment first (to avoid the worst shooter picking up the best weapon).

the idea of tibes-people picking up better weapons on their way sounds cool BUT if you think longer about it then its kinda imbalanced and counters the design of tribes-people. they are supposed to be that huge mass of invaders with low tech equipment, making them able to equip high tier gear would totally throw off their balance. also i would imagine that a tribal warrior would rather throw a rifle against your head instead of pulling the trigger (they are primitive tribesman after all)!

[BetaSpectre]

If enemy Pawns picked up items that's be ok with me as long as those items aren't in my homezone/structures.

[Xerberus86]

If enemy Pawns picked up items that's be ok with me as long as those items aren't in my homezone/structures.

of course, but stealing items in general could be a neat improvements for raiders actually "raiding" something and a better reason to make stockpiles of valuable things indoors. as it is right now you could stock your gems, silver and other valuable things right outside the gate and no pirate would ever touch a thing.

[Somz]

I agree, my colonists will not, (ever, EVER!!!) go around picking up things on their own.
Currently I have my team of 7 or 8 "tanks" able to take some hits in power armor, with 2-3 with minis the rest with m-16s, I have my most skilled of 3 in dusters (because it's cool and doesn't slow them down much) with m-24s, and I have any other non-skilled colonist equipped with pistols and other easy-to-use, fast weapons.

The moment they start picking up stuff on their own will be the moment I'll have a seizure, having to de-equip the current then re-equip the old items.
Because every single one of them with M-24s would be a MAJOR problem, so is having to pay attention to each of them.
Besides, let's say it's done and I re-equipped every single one of them to my liking.
What's stopping them from doing it on their own again and again?!
Either way, HELLNO.

They are free to haul thing to a stockpile, but they won't equip anything without me knowing or I'll start executing them.

PS.: Equipment screen sounds useful. That would solve the "cannot see it on the map" problem *some people have* (because I sure don't...).

[Matthiasagreen]

I don't think an "equip when available" menu would be that bad. It would let you choose the ideal weapons and armor for each colonist, along with a priority. the higher the priority, the sooner they will get it compared to the other colonists. Once they get it, they won't unequip. If they get incapped and lose their weapon, they will auto pick it up when they are healed. It's feasible.

[ApexPredator]

sorry but no, i don't want my colonists picking up gear on their own, i am the one to decide what they get and who gets it.

adding those mechanic would mean more hazzle than use i am afraid.

This, I wouldn't mind an auto strip by colonists that are about to burn a body with power armor but no gearing up without my say.