Stress in the early game is not very prevalent

[lunazone]

I feel like the new systems in place make it pretty hard to make a duplicant stressed in the early game, I believe actions, like making a mess and being sopping wet, and popped ear-drums should have a more dramatic effect on stress. The only times I see a duplicant go above 30% is usually when an astronaut isn't getting pepper bread.

[RonEmpire]

Popped Ear drums and Sloppy Wet.

[CannedSmeef]

I mean that's what the extra difficulty stuff in custom games is for, to make it a challenge to deal with them.  I believe they're the way they are so new players won't just quit when their base is non-stop stressing out.  If it were any higher that might be too steep of a learning curve in an already complex game.

[chemie]

Job promotions entirely eliminate stress as a mechanic if managed properly

[lunazone]

16 minutes ago, CannedSmeef said:

I mean that's what the extra difficulty stuff in custom games is for, to make it a challenge to deal with them.  I believe they're the way they are so new players won't just quit when their base is non-stop stressing out.  If it were any higher that might be too steep of a learning curve in an already complex game.

That's a very good point

However, I think that it still should be a prevalent threat, perhaps not as powerful as it used to be on default though

[EnderCN]

33 minutes ago, CannedSmeef said:

I mean that's what the extra difficulty stuff in custom games is for, to make it a challenge to deal with them.  I believe they're the way they are so new players won't just quit when their base is non-stop stressing out.  If it were any higher that might be too steep of a learning curve in an already complex game.

It doesn't make it a challenge, you can turn stress all the way up and safely completely ignore it.  The system needs to be overhauled as does morale and disease.  The game's basic challenge level is just way too low.  Turning food all the way up is a huge impact, Morale can be somewhat noticeable, disease and stress are just jokes even fully turned up.

[Gurgel]

We should just introduce random stress. Say, Stinky does not greet Bubbles, immediate +20% stress. The loo is not perfect 36-38C? +40% stress every time the use it. They have to kill a critter? Immediate stress-reaction! Obviously all this is far too easy as it is now.

[Dosephshih]

How about doing a task not interested, +5%, so it will accumulate, and need to play TV game, dance, and drink coffee, or alcohol to reduce.

[Kangaax]

2 hours ago, Squeegee said:

I feel like the new systems in place make it pretty hard to make a duplicant stressed in the early game, I believe actions, like making a mess and being sopping wet, and popped ear-drums should have a more dramatic effect on stress. The only times I see a duplicant go above 30% is usually when an astronaut isn't getting pepper bread.

I feel like stress in this game was mostly intended to countereffect making overskilled dupes, which can technically still happen if you rank up a bunch of things after a +5 meal and go back to -1, but i agree it's not very hard. That being said, a difficulty setting should solve the issue, either as a multiplier on the sources or by making it trigger additional stress induced events, and still allow the people that want the game to be easy mode to be easy mode.

I remember when decor was a mandatory requirement to get dupes happy, right now decor is entirely useless except for the great hall, it's pretty silly..

[Nebbie]

20 minutes ago, Kangaax said:

I feel like stress in this game was mostly intended to countereffect making overskilled dupes, which can technically still happen if you rank up a bunch of things after a +5 meal and go back to -1, but i agree it's not very hard. That being said, a difficulty setting should solve the issue, either as a multiplier on the sources or by making it trigger additional stress induced events, and still allow the people that want the game to be easy mode to be easy mode.

I remember when decor was a mandatory requirement to get dupes happy, right now decor is entirely useless except for the great hall, it's pretty silly..

Stress predates the skill system entirely, and was clearly meant as a mechanic to make you improve the base as things went on by making dupes that are in terrible conditions create extra problems. Once upon a time, bases had massage tables and fine art strewn about and it was kinda silly.

Nowadays, bases are much more spartan because dupes just want certain rooms and exotic food.

[Glassyfo]

37 minutes ago, Kangaax said:

I feel like stress in this game was mostly intended to countereffect making overskilled dupes, which can technically still happen if you rank up a bunch of things after a +5 meal and go back to -1, but i agree it's not very hard. That being said, a difficulty setting should solve the issue, either as a multiplier on the sources or by making it trigger additional stress induced events, and still allow the people that want the game to be easy mode to be easy mode.

I remember when decor was a mandatory requirement to get dupes happy, right now decor is entirely useless except for the great hall, it's pretty silly..

There's an aesthetic quality to decor, which makes sense.

[pacovf]

It used to be that the morale requirements depended on the highest attribute of the dupe. Since attributes keep increasing as dupes work, this meant you were basically on a morale treadmill, where you had to keep improving decor and food.

It made for a very different experience, let me tell you that. Massage tables were *required*, and were used very often. There was also less content back then, so it was less bad to lose a colony to stress after a few hours, because you had likely already seen most of what the game offered. It was also a time before geysers were a thing. The question was only “how long can you last?”, while now it’s more “how efficient can you make your base?”

[Gurgel]

4 minutes ago, pacovf said:

It used to be that the morale requirements depended on the highest attribute of the dupe. Since attributes keep increasing as dupes work, this meant you were basically on a morale treadmill, where you had to keep improving decor and food.

It made for a very different experience, let me tell you that. Massage tables were *required*, and were used very often. There was also less content back then, so it was less bad to lose a colony to stress after a few hours, because you had likely already seen most of what the game offered. It was also a time before geysers were a thing. The question was only “how long can you last?”, while now it’s more “how efficient can you make your base?”

I liked that mechanism way back. It was a bit like food and oxygen are still, but much more complex. I also liked that sickness would take that dupe out of the workforce and could actually kill. Until you got to somewhere mid-game, you actually had to monitor everything and be really careful. 

 

[Guest]

Max difficulty setting. Introduce a life-span mechanism. Dupes can live 200 cycles. All stress experienced is cumulative and shortens the dupes life-span. Moral requirements based on total skill points earned instead of skill points spent.

[jmf35]

23 minutes ago, nonoxyl said:

Max difficulty setting. Introduce a life-span mechanism. Dupes can live 200 cycles. All stress experienced is cumulative and shortens the dupes life-span. Moral requirements based on total skill points earned instead of skill points spent.

Custom games should definitely allow for Dup lifespans: 100, 150, 200, 250, Immortal.