Children at the Age of 3 can Melee and Shooting...

[UltimateTobi]

... how would I go about and train them in those two skills?
I know you could give them a launcher (incendiary, EMP, etc.) and have them shoot at the ground (is there a better solution though?)
What about Melee?

[boytype]

My colonies children have had around 3 in Melee and Shooting by the time they reach age 3 so far.

If you have a desk with chairs and with at least 1 blackboard in front of it, the children will randomly decide to go sit at it. Then any pawn set to Childcare might be chosen to go "Give A Lesson" to that child on a certain skill, which increases that childs learning experience as well as their actual skill level.

The more blackboards in front of a desk (up to 3) the faster the child will learn from lessons.

[UltimateTobi]

Originally posted by boytype:

My colonies children have had around 3 in Melee and Shooting by the time they reach age 3 so far.

If you have a desk with chairs and with at least 1 blackboard in front of it, the children will randomly decide to go sit at it. Then any pawn set to Childcare might be chosen to go "Give A Lesson" to that child on a certain skill, which increases that childs learning experience as well as their actual skill level.

The more blackboards in front of a desk (up to 3) the faster the child will learn from lessons.

I know they learn in a class room. I also assumed, since they learn a random skill, that Shooting and Melee would be among them.
I don't want to leave that up to randomness though.

(Also how would a baby learn any skills, since you said your child already had 3 in Shooting and Melee by the time they turned 3?)

[Jaasrg]

Outside of classroom, you don't really.
Because low hp all melee is lethal and age modifiers make the guns take a century to shoot.

[POWER WITHIN USER]

Kids are slow and will lose a limb the moment anything touches them so don't bother with actual melee (or ranged) practice.
They'll learn melee fast enough when they hit 18 anyways and they'll be able to equip real armor, which on top of their 'adult' hitpoints and speed will ensure they don't instantly die.

Originally posted by UltimateTobi:

I know you could give them a launcher (incendiary, EMP, etc.) and have them shoot at the ground (is there a better solution though?)

Not really because again, they're really weak and going outside to shoot means they may miss out on real learning then lose traits/passion options.

Use smoke or EMPs instead of the tox/fire ones.

[UltimateTobi]

Originally posted by POWER WITHIN USER:

They'll learn melee fast enough when they hit 18 anyways

How so? Because they'll be involved in combat (with armor and a melee weapon) or anything I am missing?

[boytype]

Originally posted by UltimateTobi:

(Also how would a baby learn any skills, since you said your child already had 3 in Shooting and Melee by the time they turned 3?)

I have no idea how or why exactly, but my infants routinely get to 1.5 in melee and shooting within a week of being born, just from sitting in their crib and staying in the green mood level.
Maybe their parents are play-fighting with them? XD

But yeah, just from being left to learn on their own and being equipped with a melee or ranged weapon (or both if you have Sidearms mod installed), the kids in my colony
generally are ending up with 10 Melee AND Shooting by the time they hit 13.

For reference, I have 10 kids in my colony (5 each from two couples) that have been born during the current playthough, the oldest two of which is just about to turn 18 and pair off to start making a 3rd generation.

The first Biotech colony I had got to a 4th generation with a total of 16 kids having been born during the playthough. In both cases ALL of the children have basically gotten to 10+ in Melee or shooting before 13.

[UltimateTobi]

Originally posted by boytype:

Originally posted by UltimateTobi:

(Also how would a baby learn any skills, since you said your child already had 3 in Shooting and Melee by the time they turned 3?)

Maybe their parents are play-fighting with them? XD

LOL that even makes sense on some level.

Originally posted by boytype:

But yeah, just from being left to learn on their own and being equipped with a melee or ranged weapon (or both if you have Sidearms mod installed), the kids in my colony generally are ending up with 10 Melee AND Shooting by the time they hit 13.

Thanks. That is very good to know.

[Jaasrg]

Originally posted by boytype:

Originally posted by UltimateTobi:

(Also how would a baby learn any skills, since you said your child already had 3 in Shooting and Melee by the time they turned 3?)

I have no idea how or why exactly, but my infants routinely get to 1.5 in melee and shooting within a week of being born, just from sitting in their crib and staying in the green mood level.
Maybe their parents are play-fighting with them? XD

Got this mod installed?
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2439736083

[boytype]

I do not have that mod installed :D
I think the Vanilla Expanded stuff is great, but its a little OP for my personal taste.
Great content in general though!

[Edmund Greyfox]

Misc Training mod. Build some melee and shooting training dummies. give the kid a weapon, and they will take it from there. My melee kids are level 20 before they hit age 13.

[boytype]

Here is a screenshot from the last colony I had that shows the kids skills and ages.
Tough little kids.

I got no training, skill, or social mods. Just a lot of QoL stuff and "Metal Doesnt Burn". A few of the kids do have gene mods, but none that effect Melee or Shooting (mostly immunity or healing speed). Some of them also have bionics, but not learning stuff.

This was before I started equipping them with both a Melee and Ranged weapon at age 3. So maybe that has something to do with in?

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2887840626

[boytype]

After a little more research, I think the Growth Vat is one of the things that teaches them Melee and Shooting to level 3 by the time that they get to age 3.

I have used it one the 5/10 of the kids in my current colony just to avoid the mother having to always be tasked with feeding or playing with the kid, since she is also the Settlement Leader and Royal. Looking at the current baby in the vat, they already have 2.87 Melee at age 2 and have done nothing but be born and sit in the vat.

I dont have any kids below 3 that are not in the vat right now, so I cant check to see if they also get these skills when not in there, but I have another one about to be born and will raise that one outside of the vat to check it out.