Is a self tending pawn less efficient then they are tending to others?

[Kami]

In a rather new save, two of my five starter tribals have gotten the plague, one of them unfortunately being my only competent doctor. Because of this I really don't have much of a choice but to have him tend to himself as well as the other sick tribal. But while he got a 44% quality with the other pawn, he had a quality of less than 1% with his self-tend, both while using herbal medicine.

So are pawns worse at tending to themselves then they are to other pawns, or did he just get incredibly unlucky?

[whatamidoing]

Yes, self-tending carries an efficiency penalty. -30% iirc.

[Jaggid Edje]

Yes, self-tend is at 70% of normal tending efficiency. It actually tells you this in the mouse over tooltip for the self-tend option and is probably why it defaults to being turned off.

[gimmethegepgun]

Originally posted by im not a cow im obama:

So are pawns worse at tending to themselves then they are to other pawns, or did he just get incredibly unlucky?

It's worse, AND he got unlucky.

[Kami]

Didn't notice the mouseover, thanks. I'm assuming then that it would be best if I keep the doctor self tending? The next best pawn in medical is only half as good as he is.

[Jaggid Edje]

Originally posted by im not a cow im obama:

Didn't notice the mouseover, thanks. I'm assuming then that it would be best if I keep the doctor self tending? The next best pawn in medical is only half as good as he is.

Whether it's better or not would also depend on what the actual skill levels are. "Half the skill level" is much less big of a deal if you are talking skill level 8 vs. 4 compared to 10 vs. 20...

If you click the "i" button for the pawns you can view the medical tend quality rating for each of them and then you'll know if 70% of the one is better than 100% of the other. Also do keep in mind that there's a cap applied depending on what type of medicine you are using.

[Crim]

Originally posted by gimmethegepgun:

Originally posted by im not a cow im obama:

So are pawns worse at tending to themselves then they are to other pawns, or did he just get incredibly unlucky?

It's worse, AND he got unlucky.

This here

He legit got unlucky

It's only 70%
Medical is 20%+10*Level

So,
1 21 30
2 28 40
3 35 50
4 42 60
5 49 70
6 56 80
7 63 90
8 70 100

So, You can line it up to see if its better to use someone else or just self tend

[Jaggid Edje]

Originally posted by Talamare:

So, You can line it up to see if its better to use someone else or just self tend

It's also effected by manipulation and sight, so if whatever the better doctor has that requires tending is reducing his manipulation and/or sight, that will also be a factor. Hence why I advised him to actually look at the info for the pawns.

[Kami]

Originally posted by Jaggid Edje:

Originally posted by im not a cow im obama:

Didn't notice the mouseover, thanks. I'm assuming then that it would be best if I keep the doctor self tending? The next best pawn in medical is only half as good as he is.

Whether it's better or not would also depend on what the actual skill levels are. "Half the skill level" is much less big of a deal if you are talking skill level 8 vs. 4 compared to 10 vs. 20...

If you click the "i" button for the pawns you can view the medical tend quality rating for each of them and then you'll know if 70% of the one is better than 100% of the other. Also do keep in mind that there's a cap applied depending on what type of medicine you are using.

I am actually talking about 8 vs 4. I just checked and it does seem the other pawn is the better option by a tiny bit, so I'll likely have them do the doctoring work from now on.

[gimmethegepgun]

Originally posted by Jaggid Edje:

Originally posted by Talamare:

So, You can line it up to see if its better to use someone else or just self tend

It's also effected by manipulation and sight, so if whatever the better doctor has that requires tending is reducing his manipulation and/or sight, that will also be a factor. Hence why I advised him to actually look at the info for the pawns.

Which is particularly notable considering OP is talking about the plague, which lowers consciousness and manipulation, and the pain can lower consciousness at the higher levels.

[Kami]

Both made it. Both are immune now, although my doctor came far too close for comfort: Immunity beat disease by 2%. Thanks for the help.

[Jaggid Edje]

Originally posted by im not a cow im obama:

Both made it. Both are immune now, although my doctor came far too close for comfort: Immunity beat disease by 2%. Thanks for the help.

I had this same exact thing happen in my very first game of Rimworld (which was just a few months ago)...

I had a doctor with the plague who was self-tending because I didn't fully understand just how severely a combination of 70% quality and the plague itself were lowering his tending quality. Fortunately, just like you, I figured out what was happening before it was too late, but he came really, really close to not beating it.

[Astasia]

Self tending not only reduces tend quality but also counts as being tended on the ground which has additional penalties. It's generally a terrible idea to self tend unless there is literally no other option.

[Kami]

Originally posted by Astasia:

Self tending not only reduces tend quality but also counts as being tended on the ground which has additional penalties. It's generally a terrible idea to self tend unless there is literally no other option.

Oh, right. So its even worse then. It didn't feel like a 70% reduction and a couple of manipulation nerfs should've been making self tending as bad as it was so I suppose that makes sense.

Also my dog has immediately caught the flu.

[MerlinCross]

Self Tend is usually for solo colonists or the last pawn standing after a raid and no other doctor is around.

It's not good but it's better than bleeding out.

[Crim]

I mean, my Doctor has 17? skill + Bionic Eyes and such

My next highest has like 8?

Self Tend is fine if you hard specialize