Any mods that make mental breaks not so game breaking?

[Gold♥Shield]

I'm mainly looking for something that will make mental breaks more of a priority based issue since I just had a pawn in a sad wander let two prisoners kill him and another one on a food binge kept walking into my freezer that was actively on fire who ended up burning to death because for some reason, the game says their insatiable hunger was more important than not turning into a human torch.

So are there any mods that do this? I'm fine with some of the more extreme mental breaks taking priority, but some of the minor breaks controlling everything is a bit ridiculous.

[The Yeen Queen]

I mean, they're not game breaking. None of them.

But, a mod that gives you a way to manage breaks without being "cheaty" is Snap Out!:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1319782555

[Gold♥Shield]

Originally posted by Night Foxx:

I mean, they're not game breaking. None of them.

But, a mod that gives you a way to manage breaks without being "cheaty" is Snap Out!:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1319782555

Thanks. I'll check it out.

And I meant game breaking in that in the aforementioned scenarios, it is absolutely ridiculous to have a pawn walk into a raging fire and die just because they're hungry. Both the prisoner's beating my sad wandering pawn to death and my food binging pawn burning to death just happened when I was raided and two of my pawns broke because my other pawn died during the raid. The prisoners started going berserk because the pawn that died was my only warden so they didn't get fed while my other two pawns were going through a mental break.

[VitaKaninen]

There is also Dubs Break mod that changes how breaks are triggered.


https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1722398508

[Wantoomany]

Originally posted by Gold♥Shield:

Originally posted by Night Foxx:

I mean, they're not game breaking. None of them.

But, a mod that gives you a way to manage breaks without being "cheaty" is Snap Out!:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1319782555

Thanks. I'll check it out.

And I meant game breaking in that in the aforementioned scenarios, it is absolutely ridiculous to have a pawn walk into a raging fire and die just because they're hungry. Both the prisoner's beating my sad wandering pawn to death and my food binging pawn burning to death just happened when I was raided and two of my pawns broke because my other pawn died during the raid. The prisoners started going berserk because the pawn that died was my only warden so they didn't get fed while my other two pawns were going through a mental break.

Sounds like it was the raid, and the loss of a critical pawn, that killed you. not the mental breaks. Mental breaks are punishment for a long series of failures, they are not the failure themselves.

[The Yeen Queen]

Originally posted by Gold♥Shield:

And I meant game breaking in that in the aforementioned scenarios, it is absolutely ridiculous to have a pawn walk into a raging fire and die just because they're hungry.

He didn't do it JUST because he was hungry. The "last straw" listed is just that: The last straw. The thing that pushed him over the edge when he was already stressed to the breaking point. And a mental break is exactly what it sounds like. The pawn isn't acting rationally. Of course what they do isn't going to make sense. People having a mental breakdown have been known to do stupid ♥♥♥♥ that can get themselves severely injured or even killed IRL. And life on a Rimworld is psychologically straining.

[Reeva!]

Originally posted by Night Foxx:

Originally posted by Gold♥Shield:

And I meant game breaking in that in the aforementioned scenarios, it is absolutely ridiculous to have a pawn walk into a raging fire and die just because they're hungry.

He didn't do it JUST because he was hungry. The "last straw" listed is just that: The last straw. The thing that pushed him over the edge when he was already stressed to the breaking point. And a mental break is exactly what it sounds like. The pawn isn't acting rationally. Of course what they do isn't going to make sense. People having a mental breakdown have been known to do stupid ♥♥♥♥ that can get themselves severely injured or even killed IRL. And life on a Rimworld is psychologically straining.

My big boi colonist got a mental break with the last straw being "hungry" whilst he was eating a lavish meal made from the finest Thrumbo nards. He cooked that meal to perfection with his lvl 16 cooking and pissed his pants 1 second away from finishing his food at a table. Threw a tantrum, started smashing the oven.

[VitaKaninen]

When they do that, I just laugh at them trashing their own base, and then enjoy watching them sleep on the ground in the cold. That's what you get when you have no self-control and break your bed and bust down the walls in your own house. Serves them right.

[The Yeen Queen]

Originally posted by VitaKaninen:

When they do that, I just laugh at them trashing their own base, and then enjoy watching them sleep on the ground in the cold. That's what you get when you have no self-control and break your bed and bust down the walls in your own house. Serves them right.

This isn't an issue of "no self control". This is a legit mental breakdown. I mean, dude. Tell me you know NOTHING about mental health without saying you know nothing about mental health.....

[MadArtillery]

Just apply appropriate beatings if it's important. Or imprisonment for their physical safety.

[VitaKaninen]

Originally posted by Night Foxx:

This isn't an issue of "no self control". This is a legit mental breakdown. I mean, dude. Tell me you know NOTHING about mental health without saying you know nothing about mental health.....

Throwing a tantrum about being hungry while in the middle of eating a lavish meal is just silly, and I doubt it would happen in real life.

This would not be an issue with someone needing mental healthcare or therapy to help them through the difficulties of dealing with an empty stomach.

We are not talking about dealing with the death of a friend here. He is throwing a temper tantrum over being hungry while he is eating, and if they destroy their own bed in a fit of rage, then they deserve to sleep on the ground.

[The Blind One]

The mood mechanic is a bit wonky in this game imho.

The base mood (32) is lower than the first break threshold (35) meaning your base pawn is generally going to break even if you didn't do anything bad to the pawn and they have at least simple living standards that provide no debuffs.

Mood swings are also quite unpredictable at times with certain need bars dropping off and into the negative by the end of the day such as recreation / comfort / food / rest all being drained by the end of a pawns work day often causing pawns to dip into mental break threshold ranges when they are just moments away from refilling their needs.

Add in the unpredictable nature of outdoor/indoor needs related to job activities coupled with room beauty and pawns will often times be hanging on by a needle's thread.

A very simple fix I use in my own game is to simply slow down mood movements by about a factor of 10. This causes their moods to be drifting much more towards their 'daily average' rather than the 'in the moment' mood they currently have. This gives you more time as a player to try and prevent mood breaks but also carries pawns through the day in the stable mood balance to the moments where their moods would improve.

The best method however to keep moods stable in a vanilla unmodded game is the biphasic sleep schedule since it prevents mood bars from draining too far during the day.

I also highly recommend dubs break mod just so you don't have to deal with bs moodbreaks that make no sense if you don't mind mods.

[MadArtillery]

Good scheduling solves all those issues of bars draining by the end of the work day. No one should ever have the opportunity for rec, rest, or comfort to even reach halfway down. It's one of those major parts of the game people tend to sideline without realizing how much harder not having mandated breaks is. A nice short midday nap to max comfort and some time for a spot of beer and tv mid day does wonders by itself. Otherwise colonists tend to work themselves into misery and try to fix it too late.

[Astasia]

The point is you aren't supposed to let mental breaks happen in the first place. Mood is a key stat to the colony management aspect, letting it fall to mental break range is effectively like hitting 0 HP in a combat game, it's a fail state and the mental break is the punishment. It's not a normal part of the game you are meant to deal with or watch happen repeatedly, they are punishing to teach you to avoid them.

Originally posted by The Blind One:

The base mood (37) is lower than the first break threshold (38) meaning your base pawn is generally going to break even if you didn't do anything bad to the pawn and they have at least simple living standards that provide no debuffs.

Minor mental break threshold is 35%.

Colonists don't have "base mood" until sky-high expectations though. With that much colony wealth there isn't really any excuse for not have highly impressive everything to keep their mood basically maxed out at all times. If you treat your colonists like humans and avoid recruiting highly problematic pawns, it's generally trivial to keep their mood high, just doing the basics of the base building and colony management stuff.

You have emergency means to control it even in extreme situations, "health potions" as you will to keep them above "mood death" in the form of multiple drugs, and "healing totems" you can park them next to in the form of beautiful sculptures which provides a massive mood bonus as long as they stay in view distance of them.

[MadArtillery]

Even with "problematic" pawns mood tends to be quite manageable. The depression gene for -10 mood is one of my fav to have for a reason. Free real estate.

[The Blind One]

Originally posted by Astasia:

Minor mental break threshold is 35%.

Oops, you're right, I corrected it now. Thanks Astasia. Been a while since I played.

You have emergency means to control it even in extreme situations, "health potions" as you will to keep them above "mood death" in the form of multiple drugs, and "healing totems" you can park them next to in the form of beautiful sculptures which provides a massive mood bonus as long as they stay in view distance of them.

I really don't like using drugs to keep them happy. As a former addict myself I find it hugely distasteful to drug em up to get through bad times. (yes I know chocolate, etc exists) As for art, yeah that works but again it's kind wonky how that works. I personally wouldn't give a rats ass if a mastercraft sculpture was placed next to my work station irl and once the pawn leaves the area it's in the negative again. (you don't always have access to high quality art pawns either, its a luxury if you do)

Colonists don't have "base mood" until sky-high expectations though. With that much colony wealth there isn't really any excuse for not have highly impressive everything to keep their mood basically maxed out at all times. If you treat your colonists like humans and avoid recruiting highly problematic pawns, it's generally trivial to keep their mood high, just doing the basics of the base building and colony management stuff.

It's not that it's hard to keep them in the positive under normal conditions, it's that the margin becomes smaller the later in the game you get. The low expectations mood buff cannot be completely offset by improved living conditions. This means that the closer you get to the end game the more tight the default mood becomes.

The single best method I have to prevent low mood is to get them all a partner asap. The bonus from got some loving and the positive opinion of partner bonus is often enough to get them through tough times.

But that's not always the case for most non-partnered pawns. They often lack the proper mood cushion to keep them from breaking from the most mundane (rimworld) stuff. If they get downed that's a -20 due to pain. If they get sick, that's often a -10, If they are downed long enough for whatever reason they will lose out on their living condition bonuses which often can mean anywhere from another -15 minus in moods.

Its especially frustrating if you have as many do, a rec / dining room combo and the enemy jump pods into that room, destroying everything in the ensuing battle ... you have to race to get your rec room back up or everyone goes into mental meltdown because they couldn't get their beloved rec / dining bonus for 24 hours.

The game doesn't really give you much of a time cushion when it comes to moods, it's an all or nothing 'right now' kind of system. If they drop below the threshold, you know someone's going to break eventually, even if for the other 9/10th of the day their mood was up the wahooza. It doesn't really keep checks on how the 'average' mood is of a pawn but only what their mood is 'right now' even if they are just a minute away from eating a lavish meal, they will still break for being hungry 'right now'.