A little frustrated in looking for the ideal Colinists

[DorkDroll]

I started playing rimworld for real recently and as I'm learning I always end up starting new save. but the problem is, i always need to randomize my colonists to find acceptable stats and it takes almost 10 minutes just pressing the random button.
I know of the existence of the ''prepare carefully'' mod but I don't know how to balance the stats so I don't get too overpowered.

[whatamidoing]

Figure out how to give stats you find balanced (and use Character Editor instead of Prepare Carefully), or https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2057362949

[brian_va]

I used to do the same. Now I'll start with 3 pawns if not doing a single start. One is the grower/cook, single or double passion doesn't make much difference to me, skill of about 4-8 is usually fine. Then a builder/miner with same for passions and skill levels. Then a crafter. Double passion is preferred as they'll start making good stuff sooner. I don't go super heavy on research early on, but if one of the starter s has skills then that's a bonus for me. Ideally a good doctor and reasonable social skills on someone is necessary as well. Animal skill is someone dependent on whatever playstyles I'm shooting for but usually that and art can wait a bit.

I've really come to appreciate melee recently, so one of the starters with some passion and skill is nice, and at least a couple points in shooting for the others.

The rest can start to filter in as you add colonists. I do tend to be selective, so I usually go with fewer pawns but they end up being higher skilled.

[coyo7e]

"Prepare Carefully" mod is a little out of date and can sometimes conflict with things like adding extra hairstyles etc. I'd recommend the "Character Editor" mod instead. But for real, as long as everybody isn't elderly and suffering from a bad back, you can get away with almost anything as long as they don't start as addicts or refuse to do a basic job. Randomize away, but it's honestly a waste of your time if the "perfect pawn" gets owned by a squirrel on day 3. Addicts and bad (pre-existing) injuries and people who refuse to do basic jobs like "hauling" are basically the only things I try to avoid at start anymore.

You need at least one pawn who's a half-decent doctor, maybe a good cook and a good farmer, but otherwise, you can let them bumble along and gain skill and it comes up pretty fast even if they sucked to begin with.

I've seen and known plenty of folks who start with 1-3 pawns who have 20 points in everything and still fail and die miserably. Start small, and don't build too large to begin with!

A 5x5 patch of rice per colonist will easily keep 1-2 pawns fed until you get your footing safe below yourself, and won't slip and fall. Over-planning and over-building early on can ruin a game if you only have a couple pawns assigned to all the jobs. Use the "planner" to mark out what you want do build, but do not build it asap, just try and make sure that your pawns have a roof, a couple beds, plus maybe a table, chair and chessboard to begin with.

Even the horseshoe pit can be kept indoors and when pawns are playing without standing in the rain they can end up much happier, which results with them being better at whatever job you assign them to. You'll *never* have 12 pawns all playing horseshoes at the same time, so you only need enough room on its "advised area" never. I have pawns watching TV and playing poker while others toss horseshoes over their heads, I've been to bars IRL where people are throwing darts/axes around and everybody is happily ignoring them.

[AngleWyrm]

The problem with those Random Pawn rolling mods is they're concerned with individual pawns, whereas the player is concerned with the team having certain minimum skills. They also do a bad job of rolling pawns, generating many pawns that don't qualify instead of rolling on the specified ranges.

A given pawn could be fine with low cooking skill, but the team needs at least one cook that isn't going to make them sick. A pawn doesn't need to be a good shot, but the team should have someone capable of hunting and defending.

[Astasia]

Originally posted by DorkDroll:

I don't know how to balance the stats so I don't get too overpowered.

There isn't really any balance, or you could say the balancing point is time wasted. If you reroll often enough you can get a pawn with perfect traits and all skills above 8-10 and passions in almost everything. Just use the Character Editor mod as mentioned above and as long as you don't give a pawn bionics and 20 in every skill it's going to be about as "balanced" as vanilla without spending hours rerolling. Giving a starting pawn 10 in all skills doesn't really accomplish much anyway since a single colonist can only do so much per day and you are going to want them to specialize to get/keep one skill up to 20. Personally my own balance with Character Editor is to not give anyone a skill higher than 8, usually it's 5-6 for passions and 1-3 in other skills. You just split the passions evenly between your starting colonists and go, giving them whatever traits you want to be individual or useful.

[Vermillion Cardinal]

Originally posted by Astasia:

Originally posted by DorkDroll:

I don't know how to balance the stats so I don't get too overpowered.

There isn't really any balance, or you could say the balancing point is time wasted. If you reroll often enough you can get a pawn with perfect traits and all skills above 8-10 and passions in almost everything. Just use the Character Editor mod as mentioned above and as long as you don't give a pawn bionics and 20 in every skill it's going to be about as "balanced" as vanilla without spending hours rerolling. Giving a starting pawn 10 in all skills doesn't really accomplish much anyway since a single colonist can only do so much per day and you are going to want them to specialize to get/keep one skill up to 20. Personally my own balance with Character Editor is to not give anyone a skill higher than 8, usually it's 5-6 for passions and 1-3 in other skills. You just split the passions evenly between your starting colonists and go, giving them whatever traits you want to be individual or useful.

Almost pretty much what I do with my preset 2-3 core colonists that are loaded for every run (originally in PC, now CE), with occasional modifications. Too cheaty for some people (I have one Groundbreaker+Industrious+Jogger, the other Tycoon+Quick Sleeper+Academian/Ecologist) but it does mean a quick base setup so I can get to the good stuff quickly.

I used to reroll extensively in vanilla and later with Prepare Moderately, but I don't miss the times where I spent more time rerolling pawns than I did actually playing the game (at one time I rolled for over an hour while doing something else). Finally accepted that if I was going to go for the ideal colonist setup to that extent I might as well quit pretending that I was going to play as vanilla intended and directly set the stats myself.

Now I reroll for hours instead to get nice world and map layouts, lol (which I've mitigated a bit recently with Map Designer, Map Reroll, and the Regrowth mod for world generation).

[AngleWyrm]

Do skill points, traits and backgrounds have an effect on the 'Points Spent' or is that only a measure of the market price of equipment?

[Morkonan]

Originally posted by DorkDroll:

I started playing rimworld for real recently and as I'm learning I always end up starting new save. but the problem is, i always need to randomize my colonists to find acceptable stats and it takes almost 10 minutes just pressing the random button.
I know of the existence of the ''prepare carefully'' mod but I don't know how to balance the stats so I don't get too overpowered.

First, like others recommend, get a character editor/prepare carefully/prepare moderately/something mod to help combat this problem. AND, it is a "problem" in that if one is looking to set oneself up with a viable set of starting conditions then one can spend an inordinate amount of time in the party creation window... :) That's not terrible, since it actually encourages the player to just accept certain failings with their colonists, but it can be a bit frustrating.

"Acceptable stats" is a bit ambiguous. :)

What I consider "acceptable" would be something like this, not necessarily in this order in terms of priority: (I've tried to note priorities, but they can fluctuate at times.)

Skills:

A Grower with a good enough growing skill to be able to advance to "10" by the time I'd be ready to start working with Devilstrand. So, perhaps, a Grow skill >5+ or so. (More is better, of course. It's a Priority Skill.)

Someone with a Construction of 5 or greater, so they can build Coolers and, one assumes, can reach 6 fairly easily so they can build Solar Panels. (All the other Construction they'll be doing will push that. This is a "Critical Priority" Skill.)

A Cook with a minimum skill of 4. (I don't push this, though. It's just desirable. This is "Mid/Low Priority.")

Someone who can Research. I don't care what their Skill is, but the capability must be there in the group. (Critical Priority - One doesn't want to find oneself having goofed, here...)

No elderly folks... Sorry, but having a Day 1 Colonist subjected to old-age conditions quickly is.. bad. (Mid/Low Priority, but accepted if I can't easily get a Crit Priority skill score someplace else.)

Someone capable of Crafting/Tailoring/etc - I put an emphasis on being able to craft clothing by the time their original clothes are worn out. (Mid/Low Priority if I can easily grow Cotton so they can get lots of practice easily.)

At least one Shooter and one Melee with a three-colonist start. I don't particularly care too much about the scores, here, though a bit higher for melee would be preferred. One of them with a 4+ is decent. (This is a Priority - I don't want to get wiped out on the first weak Raids after I've spent an hour setting up the game...)

Traits:

No Pyromaniacs at Start. Just.. no. Not gonna... (Crit Priority)

No Cannibals. I don't do the whole Cannibalism thing as a personal preference. (N/A - I don't allow it at all.)

No doubling up on Jealous/Greedy at Start. (Mid Priority)

No Gourmands at Start. (Crit Priority - I also don't really like the Trait in general.)

No Nudists. (Mid Priority, depends on environment, really.)

I avoid "No dumb Labor" but may accept it if it is appropriate. (On a Researcher/Crafter for instance.)

I also use the below to help me get started a bit more quickly if I'm looking for a particular sort of environment. (Honestly, that should be a vanilla game feature that can be toggled/filtered for so players aren't playing hunt-and-peck over repeated Worldgens just to start playing the way they want.)

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1095331978

I play on an older version of Rimworld, but the above priorities/etc are still applicable AFAIK.

[johntarmac]

I'm playing my first game and got

Sickly pyromaniac who does a bit of gardening.
Doctor who won't fight and also does gardening.
Soldier who doesn't care about much else.