Morale, Stress, Massage Tables, and Showers oh my!

[Shiztastic]

With the Expressive Update in full effect I have enjoyed our new overlord, Morale. Making sure that we stick to our Dupe’s expectations has become more important than ever before. Stress makes large and quick impacts when Morale is ignored, and while I enjoy Stress being a threat again, the new system has unfortunately made Massage Tables fall by the wayside as they effectively have no use. Sending a Dupe to the Table only delays an inevitable Stress response if the root of the problem, Morale, is not fixed. Here we arrive at something I didn’t expect, but once a Dupe’s Morale has been met, their Stress plummets just as quickly as it came.

My suggestion is that positive Moral reduces Stress by a small amount, let’s say -5% per cycle. This could allow Massage Tables to have a real purpose again, to trade time and power for a large reduction in Stress. I would like Showers to have a purpose as well. Right now a fully bathed Dupe has no effect as debuffs like Grimy/Sopping Wet have so little impact, especially considering the massive Stress reduction currently provided by a positive Morale. Perhaps in addition to Showers removing those debuffs, they could also apply a positive buff like “Recently Showered” that applies -5% Stress per cycle or something of that nature, maybe even adding in a new room type featuring Showers to apply such a buff on top of removing dirty debuffs.

I thoroughly enjoy everything this game already is, as well as what it is shaping up to be. A big thank you to Klei for your time and efforts.