Starting colonists, what do you aim for?

[Arcan Genth]

Just curious how everyone else preps their pawns, with Prepare Carefully, or without.

For example, I usually try to get a 'homebody' pawn that cooks, medic, and research. Social, too, if possible. The goal being that she never leaves the base a stays safe. (usually doesn't work out that way.)

After that I aim for farmer/crafter, miner/construction/crafter, and animals/crafter.

[Hoki]

working with scenario editor (vanilla) and character editor (mod).

i usually aim to have at least 2/3rd of my starting pawns able to fight . if the modpack is power intensive i try to get a decent contructor otherwise plant skill is more important IMO.

besides that 2 pawns minimum able to haul and one able to tend others.

mining is one of my lowest priorities early on.

[gimmethegepgun]

Unless it's a tribal start (and thus you have 5 pawns), inability to commit violence is an automatic reject.
At least one, preferably 2, must be capable of tending wounds. Preferably at least one who has a passion for it.
At least one must be capable of construction. Good at it is nice but not strictly necessary unless it's a hostile environment and you need them to be able to build more advanced buildings right away.
At least one must be capable of cooking. Ideally they are psychopath/cannibal/bloodlust and have a passion for it, but if not oh well.
At least one must be capable of Social.
At least one must be capable of Growing. High priority for getting someone who's good at it or has a passion for it.
At least one must be capable of Hauling, preferably all of them. Cleaning is less important but highly welcome.
At least one decent at research is a near-must.
If it's large hills or mountains, one capable of mining is a must. If mountains, someone good at it or with a passion is a must.

[happybjorn]

I tend to play naked brutality, so it's really only exclusion criteria. No incapable of violence, construction, plants, crafting, social, medical, or dumb labor. No traits that cause loss of control of pawn.

Flames in any of the no incapable of exclusion categories and positive traits are favored, but not required.

[ichifish]

I’ve been doing a “poor explorer” start lately (clothing, 10 meals, and a simple weapon). No incapables of course and a passion in construction unless another good combo comes up first.

For traits I look for tough, iron-willed, sanguine, fast learner, bloodlust, etc. but I usually get tired of rerolling before I find a good combo.

For early recruits I only take ones with a double passion in an all-day job unless I’m really desperate. Doesn’t really matter which job.

[vortex_13]

I just try to avoid any colonists with terrible traits and anyone who has too many jobs they won't do.

[Morkonan]

I do use Prepare Carefully, but I don't use it to the point where it's "overpowered." IOW - I will accept certain "bad" traits. The only one I won't accept is "Pyromaniac" because it's particularly unfair at the start. :) (Some players love Pyros, though. :))

I've never min/maxxed my Starting pawns using Prepare Carefully. Not once. That's not a confession, just an acknowledgement that starting out with everything one really needs is... a boring Start.

I only "adjust" points when I've been rerolling for so long that the Sun is about to come up. At that point, I'll try to get a pawn that has decent scores in the desired Skills to begin with and will adjust as needed. Again, though, I won't max out or overpower my choices. (I'll spend a few minutes rolling pawns, if needed.)

I choose for Cooking > 4, Construction > 6, and the highest natural Plants I can get. I'll "try" to avoid pacifists if possible. I will also attempt to get decent Shooters. (Melee specialists seem to be fairly common recruits, especially in the Early Game, and I try hard to capture them.)

I try to not choose older pawns. Though, when needs must... /shrug

I do my best to ensure that no single pawn is critical, but that's impossible at the start. So, I'll do what I can to make sure recruits are pushed to specialize in needed Skills so that no single pawn is the expert in too many tasks. I do not purposefully overload one single pawn or use Prepare Carefully on them to force multiple, excellent, scores.

I've been using Prepared Landing, too. That helps me form the sort of gameplay I'm looking for without needless frequent rerolls of the World. Though, due to its nature, the World may still need to be rerolled to find the "perfect" spot for the desired play. It's a nice tool to help speed up game generation.

Rimworld is sort of like those old-school RPG games where you can literally spend hours "rolling" up characters. In the longrun, though, no pawn is as significant as any of those old RPG characters so the pain and tedium in creating Starting Conditions for Rimworld is really not as necessary as it's designed to be. Though, that annoyance factor is purposeful... Tynan wants you to suffer, always. :)

[ichifish]

Originally posted by Morkonan:

I do not purposefully overload one single pawn or use Prepare Carefully on them to force multiple, excellent, scores.

I've been using Prepared Landing, too. That helps me form the sort of gameplay I'm looking for without needless frequent rerolls of the World. Though, due to its nature, the World may still need to be rerolled to find the "perfect" spot for the desired play. It's a nice tool to help speed up game generation.

Rimworld is sort of like those old-school RPG games where you can literally spend hours "rolling" up characters. In the longrun, though, no pawn is as significant as any of those old RPG characters so the pain and tedium in creating Starting Conditions for Rimworld is really not as necessary as it's designed to be. Though, that annoyance factor is purposeful... Tynan wants you to suffer, always. :)

Yeah I tried a run where I min-maxed three starting pawns and it was kind of boring.

I used to hunt for great starting tiles, too, but now I just do a random tile and caravan until I get to one I like. The longer I play the more I draw out the early game as much as possible.

[Rex Regis]

i been starting off with 5 tribals all with 0 skills but each with like 2 passions