Job System and What could be expanded on.

[Fishirboy]

Here is a more easy to read link : https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wPJdG2tR71qwiHOG-CJMC3Vh9OhrfIBmkrfw-patwH4/edit?usp=sharing


The Ability to do a Job
   
   Playing this game is great fun, I enjoy my time playing to the fullest yet there seems to be a few things that kind of tick me off. Of course each person is entitled to there own opinion and I hope for a fun little debate on this topic.

I also come from a Dwarf Fortress background so not having z levels ticks me of the most but this is more important.

   When I play this game I usually look at this problem of the job system. This system in which the characters in this game flat out refuses to do a particular job. Through out my play I am constantly frustrated by this mechanic but I see the pro’s and con’s of each opposing view point.


Pro’s and Con’s

Pros of having this mechanic:

   -The player must prioritise each person and actually kind value a person on how they can operate in the community. Then task each person to do there roal for the colony to survive.

   -It adds more of a challenge (kind of what I said already) were as you need to keep individuals healthing and it makes the game flow and attach to you.

   -It makes the game more realistic, in real life people will not do certain tasks or will work at a slower rate if given these tasks. This mechanic only makes it half way there but will go over that latter.

   -Each person will become more valuable over time and will become a higher rank at the few tasks given to them. These on rails task manager helps to push the player into a kind of quality over quantity based game play.

Cons of having this mechanic:

   -(Opinion) Me and probably other people think of this mechanic bull*hit.

   -Forces the play to have to value a person over another. In a game where the game becomes ridiculously hard (does not stop getting more waves) the player must be willing to put everything on the line to win against these conditions. Weather it means suicidal charges or other things that are high risks of death (God damn AI cores).

   -It’s not fully realistic. (I know that the game is not done) Why is it that I can't have some slaves that are able to do everything besides I guess carry a weapon? or why can’t everyone hule stuff. The game restrains the player and makes it unfair when it comes down to it.
   
   -Time: If time was more abundantly or people did not go hungry so quickly I would understand this mechanic. But the lack of time makes this game unfair at that point. (opinion) There either needs to be a lift on some restrictions or the time and starvation metter need to become slower while the units are able to move around at the same speed.


Improvements
(Opinion)

   I have slaved over the ideas of how to fix this and make it still a compleat challenge for the player while having the idea stay intact. Here are some ideas that are completely opinion based and could help shape it for a more fair game in the future.

   -Make it so the player can see what jobs a character can do. In the loading screen I will just look for people who can do everything based on how many points are in the character. If I start the game and notice one of the 3 can't do something I just restart until I get what I get what I wanted. The ability to show the player there making the choice to buy a slave or recruiting a prisoner to their group while being able to see what the person can do fulfils one of the most important churches in gaming : Making the player know it was their decision/fault not the game randomly dropping a AI core on your building destroying your golden rooms that you just spent 5 hours trying to mine the resources for.

   -having more classes open to other skills. It is some times to limited in what an individual can do. There should be a more acceptance of jobs and les restrictions.

   -Have more jobs! Having more jobs or cutting it down more so lets say cleaning has the list of allowing the player to have more control over what each person is doing in that job.

   -When talking to a slave ship you should be able to do something I learned in dwarf fortress, be able to ask for certain types of things/people who are good at a job. It will be more expensive to buy the person but it is all about how willing you are.

        -Allow all jobs to just be able to be learned but the person trying it out for first time will take a massive amount of time to understand, or they could be naturally gifted at the task and take no time at all.


Conclusion


   Having said this, I hope that I did not mess up any were. The main point that I am trying to make change is to give the player more control over what a colonist can do. The player needs that sense of being in control while playing to make them happy. Thank you for reading this mouth full, if I missed anything about this topic please comment.


I kind of just hate having to leave some mechanics behind in DF like the trade system and the way you could set up jobs and patrolling etc… Having less of stuff i.e. z-levels, makes me feel like this has some much more that could be added and fixed.

[Cimanyd]

   -Time: If time was more abundantly or people did not go hungry so quickly I would understand this mechanic. But the lack of time makes this game unfair at that point. (opinion) There either needs to be a lift on some restrictions or the time and starvation metter need to become slower while the units are able to move around at the same speed.


   -Make it so the player can see what jobs a character can do. In the loading screen I will just look for people who can do everything based on how many points are in the character. If I start the game and notice one of the 3 can't do something I just restart until I get what I get what I wanted. The ability to show the player there making the choice to buy a slave or recruiting a prisoner to their group while being able to see what the person can do fulfils one of the most important churches in gaming : Making the player know it was their decision/fault not the game randomly dropping a AI core on your building destroying your golden rooms that you just spent 5 hours trying to mine the resources for.

You can easily see if someone can't do everything, in the "Incapable of" section, under the Character tab of a colonist or prisoner, and it can be seen when picking the first three colonists, and if you click on the info "i" on a slave. If you want to know exactly what work is disabled (and why), you can mouse over the backstories.

For example, an Oaf (medieval farm oaf adult backstory) is very good at growing, and somewhat good at mining, but cannot research at all. You can see this by mousing over the adult backstory (and the backstory itself will explain why; she's a medieval farmer that knows a lot about growing but nothing about technology), but you'll see "Intellectual" under the incapable-of section. People like this are fine to have around. You don't need every single one of your colonists to be able to research, or heal, or recruit prisoners, just some of them.

The ones that can't haul are the most annoying, definitely. Few people are like that, though, and they usually make up for it by having a high social skill or something. For example, a Noble (medieval lord adult backstory) can't do much at all. Incapable of dumb labor and skilled labor. Mouse over, you see that means cleaning, hauling, plant cutting (those three are dumb labor), crafting, mining, growing, repairing, constructing, and cooking are disabled. That means he might be idle all the time, with no work (skilled labor) or hauling/cleaning (dumb labor). However, nobles are great at social, and pretty good at combat (shooting, melee). If you get one, he can be quite useful for recruiting prisoners and trading, and won't be useless in a fight. They are still capable of researching and doctoring, though the backstory doesn't give any bonuses to those, so if you have a research bench free and research to do he can research instead of just idling most of the time. You probably don't need more than one or two high social people, so avoiding these is fine if you want (or already have one), I'm just saying they are useful.

If you don't want a certain person as a colonist... maybe you don't want someone that can't haul, maybe it has a bad trait like psychically hypersensitive or abrasive, maybe it's some idiotic combination of backstories like vatgrown soldier child (can't heal) and some type of doctor adult... you can always harvest its organs, sell it to slavers, whatever. You don't have to have colonists you don't want.

In A7, killing by euthanizing or organ harvesting doesn't cause any morale problems. I hope in the future (when it will, in A8) there's some actual way to release prisoners (and/or send a colonist away), but in the meantime, if you want to get rid of someone without killing them, you can deconstruct a space in the prison wall and let them "escape." If they're already a colonist, you can draft someone and arrest them to turn them into a prisoner, then do that.


I don't quite understand the food part. What problems have you had with food?

[Fishirboy]

Time and hunger go hand and hand I can make another topic on that later, right now it's about the jobs. I understand that there background defines them. I did not read into their backgrounds but I see your point. It would be nice though if you teach a person (no matter their background) to learn a common trait. Even if there was a major penalty at the beginning. But nobles must adapt, I can see why Oaf (medieval farm Oaf adult backstory) is un able to not do medical procedure and research, but should be able to everything else. The recruiting can be taught to almost anyone, but some may have almost no chance of helping. I guess the issue I have is that you have to read. Don't get me wrong I love reading, but it would be nice if instead they did not show that they have a level in a category that they can't learn.

[KingHamadryad]

Congratulations,Couldn't have done it without you! Hugs to you.