The auto-break->trauma->auto-break->trauma->auto-break->trauma-> death cycle is too frustrating

[Cybroxis]

I cannot even get any buffs on them, because the buff for eating in a dining room or sleeping in a bedroom doesn't even last the whole day! Then the trauma (-10 or -15) lasts for multiple days, but the anti-trauma +25 buff after a break only lasts for 1 day! It's just an absolute ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ spiral every single time. This is why Rimworld changed that mechanic so that the ENTIRE game doesn't involve constantly micro-managing your pawns so that they don't just off themselves at every opportunity. Imagine in Rimworld if you had a pawn go uncontrollable for a day due to negative mood modifiers, then they get like 1 hour buff to offset, then they actually get a negative debuff FROM the break, leading to another break which is not offset. I like the idea that you allow your mages to break and over time with the punishment they develop scars which are slightly punishing but build up a baseline "resistance." But with how easy it is to get into this loop, I think you need to separate trauma from the death system. Or at least remove the constantly decreasing timer every time they get to death's door. It is too punishing and anti-fun. I don't feel like I can even focus on the INSANE number of other cool things in the game when this is a CONSTANT source of micromanagement. I really think this needs a re-think or a major change - again, not sure what the alternative is, but it feels really bad right now.

[Philtre]

It sounds like you need to figure out what sources of stress are causing your people to get to the breaking point, and put more effort into fixing those problems preemptively. It's much better to prevent breaks from occurring in the first place than to try to recover afterwards. So you may need to be more proactive about keeping your people happy, starting from day 1.

If you are really struggling, you can adjust difficulty settings in a very fine-grained way, even in an ongoing game, to tone down any specific mechanics that are causing the most pain.

[Pervy]

Early game before you get positive conviction food I like to have them eat before going to sleep. It's important to note that conviction WILL NOT CHANGE while sleeping but buff and debuff timers continue running. This can be utilized in two ways. One you can eat before you sleep so the debuff wears off by the time they get up. Their convinction will go up pretty high early in the day. Have them eat again somewhere in the middle of the day while their conviction is high so it will just go down towards the end of the day before you eat again and go to bed resetting the cycle of going up and down. Or two you can just have "two" sleep cycles a day and after every meal have them sleep for 4~ hours. A couple more if you like to push them since they will auto wake up if they cant rest anymore. They have to sleep and eat anyway and if you put your table near their bedroom you aren't losing any more travel time then normal. This method largely ignores early game conviction loss from eating.

Ideally rush Bitter Gruel and get off Gutberries. -5 is a lot better than -20. Also I prefer to get rugs "Liven up the place" early because it utilizes Smokepearls with the occult rug which really have no use early game so they aren't fighting for other projects. If you look at rooms you can get Private Dining Room and Conservatory rec room VERY early with just some windows and rugs. Like I'm talking before day 10. Assuming you hire or start with a Lightning teacher. Don't forget that some bookshelves are the only thing you need to make the second best research room in the game the Mage Tower. Utilizing rooms early really help.

[Basti]

Once the cycle starts, its hard to break it. At that point it is less about progression but about conviction control. Noticed how easy it is to have your conviction spiral out of control. Also if your MAGE score rises to fast, there is little you can do but to control the fires until you lose. If you have everything set up and all your mages trained, it becomes very easy, but getting there is hard. Before this the bottleneck was resource gathering, which is still there.

I figure they want to make this game about micromanagement.

[Philtre]

Originally posted by Basti:

I figure they want to make this game about micromanagement.

Personally, I think it's about planning ahead and preventing problems from arising in the first place, which would be similar to the publisher's other colony sim, Oxygen Not Included. Of course, this means your first run will likely crash and burn, because you need time to learn about what can go wrong and how to prevent those things.