To be or not to be, colonists?

[Galileus]

After reading up a bit on turrets discussions, I have something to say:

To be, or not to be, that is the question:
Whether 'tis Nobler in the base to suffer
The M4's and nades of outrageous Riders,
Or to take Arms against a party of troubles,
And by opposing end them: to die, to build
No more;

So, with this lecture in classic literature I approach thee, my fellow rock-dwellers, crash-landers and potato-harvesters with a question of life and death: do you prefer to suffer the torments of seeing yer brotherens in chains or buried under the cruellest of suns; or doest thou prefer to crush each rebellien that arises against thee with no loss of life nor satisfaction?

Of course we don't want to investigate the state of things as they are now: we simply lack measures to make a fully-mature approach of unforgiving and cruel, but fair game. Imagine the game is in it's later stage, with much more flushed out personalities and list of ways you can interact with your colonists and they can - in turn - with you. Would you prefer to see them all fine and life-loving, even through they face impossible odds every now and then? Or do you prefer to share their suffering, reminded time after time that they barely manage to put their minds at ease enough to function another day, seeing them in low hope of change and struggling to give them the peace of mind both you and they so struggle for? Do you want them to live, if you decide they should - or would you rather risk that your favourite comm-operator dies in a freaky comm-console accident? And if so, would you rather it be a random event, impossible to predict and wholly out of your hands, or maybe simply odds to be stacked against you in such a way, that each struggle would put a real risk of loss in your ranks?

I think answering that would not only let us see better what we expect this game to be, but also for our Generous Host to draw some inspiration from our expectations and hopes. I'll wait for a bit to see if the topic picks up and jump in if there is indeed a discussion to be!