Arresting your own colonists to get rid of mental breaks

[thecarlocarlone]

I just discovered that if you arrest one of your colonists and then you release them they will rejoin.

I did this because one of my pawns was going to snort an entire warehouse of yayo as a mental break. So I decided to arrest him and release him to "banish".
So I was today years old when I discovered that only the banish buttons is used for banishing colonists.

My question is: why are mental break bad? Can't I just imprison everyone and then release them right after that?

[Astasia]

Arresting them only works with a few mental breaks, only if you can get to them in time, and it makes their mood even worse, then you'll have to deal with something like berserk or catatonic instead.

[Fetid Peasant]

Another trick is to have a few of your melee pawns equip wood, then go beat the stars out of the pawn having a mental break. If he wakes up in a bad mood again then you can take away his leg privileges until he gets back with the program.

[Billdro]

Just be aware that this doesn't seem to work with temporary colonists like refugees. They will just leave when you release them. Although I didn't actually fail that quest when he left.

[Jigain]

Originally posted by thecarlocarlone:

My question is: why are mental break bad? Can't I just imprison everyone and then release them right after that?

Well, the pawn will not get the +40 Catharsis mood boost, but will instead get a -10 Was imprisoned mood penalty. That's the biggest reason not to arrest pawns on mental breaks unless it's necessary for the safety of themselves, others, or particularly expensive or essential equipment.

[ZS Maeklos]

I've noticed that arresting someone in the middle of an Insulting Spree actually snaps them out of it and gives them the +40 Catharsis boost, probably because being locked up prevents the insulting spree routine from actually finishing. Before 1.3, you didn't even have to bring them all the way to jail - just picking them up and carrying them a ways would snap them out of it. But now, since as soon as a pawn is picked up, they're considered a prisoner, this no longer works and you have to actually take them to jail.