Starting duplicants

[David13]

I've been playing the game on and off for a long time now, usually coming back for each update, and one thing that has always frustrated me but I never really realized how to fix it was the initial 3 duplicant selection. I spent like 30 minutes shuffling through duplicants till I finally found an okay-ish starting set, at points I just kept clicking the shuffle button repeatedly until I saw one that had digging stat but then it had narcoleptic or something other undesirable trait that I really did not want a digger to have, so I kept shuffling then I accidentally clicked shuffle to high digging characters before I could read his other stats, then I got mad and kept clicking shuffle angrily...it's really really REALLY annoying.
 

One thing that was recently in my mind as well was Stellaris, and the way you make species there.

 

Basically you have a set number of points and a set number of trait picks and a pool of positive and negative traits. You can assemble a species with only a bit of good traits and no negatives or you can create one with lots of negatives but also lots of positives.

 

So I was wondering why is there no way to just create your own duplicants during the initial phase? Like, I get the random aspect later on but the initial phase there's no penalty other than frustration and time to select the absolutely optimal duplicant right now. Which is not something you want, the game should not be balanced around how long you will keep clicking shuffle to get a good duplicant. Just let us pick whatever duplicants we want during the starter phase, maybe include a randomize option so you dont HAVE to select your own, you can use the current system still if you want to. But PLEASE let us skip the endless clicking if we dont want to go full random.

[KittenIsAGeek]

My method to stop the endless clicking is to decide what traits I don't want to start off with and go from there.  I also decide on a couple of traits that I'd like to have.  For example, I don't want to start with the flatulent, mouth breather, or bottomless stomach flaws.  I also would prefer to not have any "Binge Eaters" at the start.  If possible, I'd also prefer a dupe that has any of the following positive traits: Diver's Lungs, Uncultured, Simple Tastes, or Buff.   I always shuffle if the dupe has a trait I don't want, and I stop shuffling if some of my dupes have the traits that I want.  I don't necessarily need to get the perfect dupe and three or four shuffles each does the trick most of the time.

Spoiler

Harold, Harold, Harold... *sigh* 

[Soulwind]

I've pretty much stopped looking at the starting attributes as they don't make much difference in the long run.

I now just focus on having an acceptable set of traits.  I can't take biohazardous dupes since I play on Miserable,

and I dislike dealing with narcoleptic or flatulent dupes, so I skip those.  Other than that, I can work with the others.

[KittenIsAGeek]

Yep, that's about it.  Pick what you can't start with and go from there.

[David13]

Yeah but its pretty important to have a high research to start out quicker or have a good digger in the team...plus now with the interests they generally dont line up with the actual skills a duplicant has except in like 1 out of 20 cases...sometimes you get that perfect duplicant with 5 digging and an interest in digging and no severe negative trait like narcoleptic or flatulent or whatever, other times you get a guy with +8 in cooking who has gastrophobia...I guess he has PTSD from the great cooking wars or something, and despite being the most skilled in cooking will never cook again, who knows...

[KittenIsAGeek]

21 minutes ago, David13 said:

I guess he has PTSD from the great cooking wars or something, and despite being the most skilled in cooking will never cook again, who knows...

"... after the Great Franchise wars, all restaurants are Taco Bell." -- Demolition Man

[Soulwind]

1 hour ago, David13 said:

Yeah but its pretty important to have a high research to start out quicker or have a good digger in the team...plus now with the interests they generally dont line up with the actual skills a duplicant has except in like 1 out of 20 cases...sometimes you get that perfect duplicant with 5 digging and an interest in digging and no severe negative trait like narcoleptic or flatulent or whatever, other times you get a guy with +8 in cooking who has gastrophobia...I guess he has PTSD from the great cooking wars or something, and despite being the most skilled in cooking will never cook again, who knows...

Not really.  Yes it makes a tiny difference in the first 20 cycles or so, but that's pretty much it.

I've found that, so long as you don't have a negative value in learning, anything from 1+ doesn't make

more than a few cycles difference overall.  Thing is, if you have a dedicated researcher, he'll gain learning FAST

and pretty quickly rip through the tech tree.  Although, if you don't specialize your dupes, that might be slowing things down too much.

[Zarquan]

2 hours ago, Soulwind said:

and I dislike dealing with narcoleptic or flatulent dupes, so I skip those.  Other than that, I can work with the others.

Narcoleptic dupes aren't actually a problem anymore in my mind.  Any time spent sleeping on the job is less time spent sleeping at sleep time.   I give all my dupes 1 hour sleep time.  They sleep to 100% stamina no matter what, so the narcoleptics wake up earlier.  I then give them 3 hours of "bath time" to cover the narcoleptics and non-narcoleptics.

Also, I would like to at least have a list of dupes to pick from.  Like, maybe 30 or 60 dupes.

32 minutes ago, Soulwind said:

Not really.  Yes it makes a tiny difference in the first 20 cycles or so, but that's pretty much it

I try to have brute force refinement, smart batteries, coal generators, art, farming, and mesh tiles by cycle 20, so I'm going to have a dupe with learning greater than 5.

[PhailRaptor]

Having 2 Dupes with both Digging and Construction at 3 or more is a really huge advantage in the early cycles.  Then after you have the Jobs Board they get another +2 from the Job.

[tove96]

5 hours ago, Zarquan said:

Narcoleptic dupes aren't actually a problem anymore in my mind.  Any time spent sleeping on the job is less time spent sleeping at sleep time.

I see that as a pretty big problem though, because their bedrooms are where I focus my decor ratings, so I want them to spend time in there, instead of, you know, falling asleep next to a heavi watt wire or outside the base with a suit on.

Personally, I shuffle for learning 5+, and I've also by accident shuffled away some good ones... I would appreciate the ability to tailor my first duplicants.

[jfc]

I just accept anything with diver lung and a negative trait like unable to cook or something like that

[Sasza22]

I tend to accept slow learners just so they don`t advance the job tree too fast so i can gt the decor and food in the proper quality before they do. Early on i didn`t accept loud sleepers but with my new bedroom layout it`s no longer a problem. I look at interests rather than stats since those will matter in the long run. Usually i avoid the traits that make them unable to do a certain job type and accept all others.

[Grimgaw]

1 hour ago, Sasza22 said:

I tend to accept slow learners just so they don`t advance the job tree too fast

That's not how learning skill works. Interests is what gets you through job ladder quicker, learning gets you skill points quicker.

[Technoincubus]

RimWorld. Prepare Carefully mod.

[PhailRaptor]

20 hours ago, Sasza22 said:

I tend to accept slow learners just so they don`t advance the job tree too fast so i can gt the decor and food in the proper quality before they do.

It hasn't worked that way since the Occupation Upgrade.  The Job Tier system replaced all that.  It's now 100% dependent on the highest tier of Job that either is currently worked, or has been mastered.  Which was then further shuttered under the Morale system.

[Cipupec2]

If you obsessively select your dupes through out the game, there is a simple solution, just disable high stress reaction and you should be able to find duplicants MUCH easier.

[BlueLance]

I cycle through my dupes until I get one who likes farming and is a fast learner, or ranching + farming because I like to begin ranching ASAP

[Cipupec2]

From meta perspective dupes interest are the least influential stuff, because soon enough you'd just cycle them all through all specializations anyway. 

[David13]

15 hours ago, Technoincubus said:

RimWorld. Prepare Carefully mod.

Mods are not meant to be used as duct tape to fix a broken game mechanic, while I appreciate modders for fixing issues and bugs and alike its still on the devs to fix it in the base game as well. And yes this isn't that big of a deal I know, but its still something the devs should take a look at. But thanks for the recommendation anyways

 

6 hours ago, Cipupec2 said:

If you obsessively select your dupes through out the game, there is a simple solution, just disable high stress reaction and you should be able to find duplicants MUCH easier.

I only select the first 3 with that amount of care since there's no in-game penalty for doing so...I mean sure I waste my own time but whatevs I still prefer to have a great start.

 

6 hours ago, BlueLance said:

I cycle through my dupes until I get one who likes farming and is a fast learner, or ranching + farming because I like to begin ranching ASAP

How do you begin ranching ASAP? I always viewed that as a late-game thing.
 

[Mutineer]

Starting dups do not matter that much. I have only 2 criteria, No negative and anoint traits, basically I take dups that cannot do 1 job, as this does not affect the game as much. The second criteria I want 1 dup with high learning. What I found that research spending on water and other stuff proportional to time spent researching. If your researcher suck, initial water expense could be to big.
So, I select on good researcher as a starting dup and use him all game.

[Grimgaw]

7 hours ago, BlueLance said:

or ranching + farming because I like to begin ranching ASAP

Worth noting that ranching skill doesn't do anything.

[Technoincubus]

8 hours ago, David13 said:

Mods are not meant to be used as duct tape to fix a broken game mechanic, while I appreciate modders for fixing issues and bugs and alike its still on the devs to fix it in the base game as well. And yes this isn't that big of a deal I know, but its still something the devs should take a look at. But thanks for the recommendation anyways

I presented it as an example for how it could be solved. Get a simple point system where you can buy stats and traits. It will remove all this meaningless and boring shuffling.

Because those who want to shuffle will shuffle and those who want hardcome challenges could play with randomize option.

[tzionut]

In may last 1370 cycle game i pick only flatulent duplicants. Plus.. free nat gas. cons.. more filters to collect the nat gas, and more difficult but not impossible to make vacuum in an area.

In my current 430 cycle game i pick only pacifist dupes, for making me find alternative ways to kill my excess creatures. 

In my next game I will pick only loud sleepers for modify my usual bedroom configuration... 

[BlueLance]

12 hours ago, David13 said:

How do you begin ranching ASAP? I always viewed that as a late-game thing.

Unlock the research and have them become a rancher? The research is easy to learn and stables require no power. Unless you are using a sheering station or some more complex.

 

11 hours ago, Grimgaw said:

Worth noting that ranching skill doesn't do anything.

True, but it doesn't mean it won't always do nothing, rather be prepared than have to change things further down the line.