Remove mental breaks?

[Flopza]

Is there a mod that alerts me when a pawn reaches the threshold for a mental break, but prevents the break itself from triggering automatically? I’d prefer to roleplay the outcome based on the pawn’s personality, rather than have the game force an often-immersion-breaking action. Some of the default break behaviours just don’t fit certain characters and pull me out of the story. Alternatively, is there a way to instantly cancel or override a mental break once it starts, so I can manually decide how the pawn reacts? Just to be clear — I’m not looking to make the game easier; I still want pawns to reach the breaking point. I just want more narrative control for immersion’s sake.

[CloudSeeker]

If you want to puppet pawns in every single detail I don't understand why you just don't write a book or something. This isn't supposed to be a roleplaying game. Each pawn has a small level of autonomy. The game is a story generator, but not a writing device. To me it seems that your definition of immersion is "they don't do what I want them to do".

[Flopza]

Originally posted by CloudSeeker:

If you want to puppet pawns in every single detail I don't understand why you just don't write a book or something. This isn't supposed to be a roleplaying game. Each pawn has a small level of autonomy. The game is a story generator, but not a writing device. To me it seems that your definition of immersion is "they don't do what I want them to do".

I use every other system in the game as intended — I'm simply asking for control in rare moments to enhance immersion, not remove it. Your response adds nothing helpful, just a personal opinion framed as fact. If the game is a story generator, then wanting more narrative control isn’t against its purpose — it’s embracing it.

[CloudSeeker]

Originally posted by Flopza:

Originally posted by CloudSeeker:

If you want to puppet pawns in every single detail I don't understand why you just don't write a book or something. This isn't supposed to be a roleplaying game. Each pawn has a small level of autonomy. The game is a story generator, but not a writing device. To me it seems that your definition of immersion is "they don't do what I want them to do".

I use every other system in the game as intended — I'm simply asking for control in rare moments to enhance immersion, not remove it. Your response adds nothing helpful, just a personal opinion framed as fact. If the game is a story generator, then wanting more narrative control isn’t against its purpose — it’s embracing it.

And you state "immersion" as if it was a fact when it seems it is a skewed version of it. If you want to puppet around the pawns, play a game that is like that. Like The Sims or something.
What you actually want is to force interactions on the pawns they are not naturally supposed to do. You do not embrace the emergent storytelling at all, but rather force it like a director creating play. The reason you give is BS.

If you want to puppet a pawn. Just use the dev console or something like Character editor. That way you can choose exactly what mental break they have, or even remove it completely.

[MadArtillery]

Should mental breaks fit a character? It's a mental break. Extreme out of character behavior due to excess stress and misery.

[whatamidoing]

In dev mode, you can open the actions, then settings, then disable random mental states

[Flopza]

Originally posted by whatamidoing:

In dev mode, you can open the actions, then settings, then disable random mental states

I appreciate you, I was beginning to think Rimworld had a toxic community with the ego driven responses from CloudSeeker.

[Flopza]

Originally posted by CloudSeeker:

Originally posted by Flopza:

I use every other system in the game as intended — I'm simply asking for control in rare moments to enhance immersion, not remove it. Your response adds nothing helpful, just a personal opinion framed as fact. If the game is a story generator, then wanting more narrative control isn’t against its purpose — it’s embracing it.

And you state "immersion" as if it was a fact when it seems it is a skewed version of it. If you want to puppet around the pawns, play a game that is like that. Like The Sims or something.
What you actually want is to force interactions on the pawns they are not naturally supposed to do. You do not embrace the emergent storytelling at all, but rather force it like a director creating play. The reason you give is BS.

If you want to puppet a pawn. Just use the dev console or something like Character editor. That way you can choose exactly what mental break they have, or even remove it completely.

You're being unnecessarily obnoxious over a simple, focused question about mental breaks. I use every other feature of RimWorld as intended — I’m not “puppeting” pawns, I’m asking for control over one mechanic to better align with character-driven storytelling. Mental breaks are not the core of the game — they’re just one system among many.

Your whole response reads more like gatekeeping than discussion. RimWorld is literally described by Tynan as a story generator — if someone wants to shape that story differently, that’s not "wrong," it’s playing the game the way it was meant to be: flexibly.

You’re painting the community as toxic with this dismissive attitude. If you’re not here to help or contribute meaningfully, there’s no need to keep replying.

[MadArtillery]

Hmm I do have to disagree about mental breaks not being a core mechanic. A majority of the game is mood management, it's why you build colonies of increasing quality of life as wealth an expectations increase, it's why you waste nutrition on fancier food, it's why you risk larger raids with luxury goods, arts, and other decorations. Sure you get rewarded for good moods but someones family being killed risking a mental break, prompting drug use to counteract the mood crash, risking addiction and whole character arc or even death from overdose. Moods and the price of what you do to manage them is so core to the game that most of rimworld wouldn't have a reason to exist without them and many hard or risky decisions would be pointless and gone and so too the narratives with them. I really think you severely underestimate their importance for both gameplay and narrative.

[Flopza]

Originally posted by MadArtillery:

Hmm I do have to disagree about mental breaks not being a core mechanic. A majority of the game is mood management, it's why you build colonies of increasing quality of life as wealth an expectations increase, it's why you waste nutrition on fancier food, it's why you risk larger raids with luxury goods, arts, and other decorations. Sure you get rewarded for good moods but someones family being killed risking a mental break, prompting drug use to counteract the mood crash, risking addiction and whole character arc or even death from overdose. Moods and the price of what you do to manage them is so core to the game most of rimworld wouldn't have a reason to exist without them and many hard or risky decisions would be pointless and gone and so too the narratives with them.

That’s a fair perspective, but it’s not necessarily true across all playstyles. While mood management is certainly a major system, mental breaks themselves aren’t the core — they’re just one outcome of that system. The real core is how you respond to those pressures, whether through gameplay mechanics or roleplay choices.

Many players enjoy RimWorld for its flexibility — some lean into the randomness, others shape the story themselves. The mood system creates tension, sure, but that doesn’t mean the pre-baked break actions are sacred. Choosing to manually roleplay a pawn’s breakdown still preserves the system’s stakes — you're just telling the story your way, not removing the consequences. That’s still RimWorld.

[MadArtillery]

Originally posted by Flopza:

Originally posted by MadArtillery:

Hmm I do have to disagree about mental breaks not being a core mechanic. A majority of the game is mood management, it's why you build colonies of increasing quality of life as wealth an expectations increase, it's why you waste nutrition on fancier food, it's why you risk larger raids with luxury goods, arts, and other decorations. Sure you get rewarded for good moods but someones family being killed risking a mental break, prompting drug use to counteract the mood crash, risking addiction and whole character arc or even death from overdose. Moods and the price of what you do to manage them is so core to the game most of rimworld wouldn't have a reason to exist without them and many hard or risky decisions would be pointless and gone and so too the narratives with them.

That’s a fair perspective, but it’s not necessarily true across all playstyles. While mood management is certainly a major system, mental breaks themselves aren’t the core — they’re just one outcome of that system. The real core is how you respond to those pressures, whether through gameplay mechanics or roleplay choices.

Many players enjoy RimWorld for its flexibility — some lean into the randomness, others shape the story themselves. The mood system creates tension, sure, but that doesn’t mean the pre-baked break actions are sacred. Choosing to manually roleplay a pawn’s breakdown still preserves the system’s stakes — you're just telling the story your way, not removing the consequences. That’s still RimWorld.

There is no pressures without the mental breaks. Mental breaks are the price you pay for ignoring or failing mood mangement, without mental breaks every colonist could just sit at 0% mood permenantly to no impact which makes a majority of the game from raids to basic management fall apart. They are an absolutetly critical friction point that makes the game work.

[Flopza]

Originally posted by MadArtillery:

Originally posted by Flopza:

That’s a fair perspective, but it’s not necessarily true across all playstyles. While mood management is certainly a major system, mental breaks themselves aren’t the core — they’re just one outcome of that system. The real core is how you respond to those pressures, whether through gameplay mechanics or roleplay choices.

Many players enjoy RimWorld for its flexibility — some lean into the randomness, others shape the story themselves. The mood system creates tension, sure, but that doesn’t mean the pre-baked break actions are sacred. Choosing to manually roleplay a pawn’s breakdown still preserves the system’s stakes — you're just telling the story your way, not removing the consequences. That’s still RimWorld.

There is no pressures without the mental breaks. Mental breaks are the price you pay for ignoring or failing mood mangement, without mental breaks every colonist could just sit at 0% mood permenantly to no impact. They are an absolutetly critical friction point that makes the game work.

You're completely missing the point I made. I never said I want to remove the pressure or consequences of mental breaks — I clearly stated that the pressure is still there. What I’m aiming for is to replace the default, often nonsensical break behaviours with actions that actually fit the pawn’s personality and story. That’s not removing difficulty — it’s enhancing the meaning of the consequences.

The mental break still happens — just not in a canned, immersion-breaking way. Instead, it’s roleplayed with intention, which often makes the outcome more serious and impactful, not less. I’m not asking for a cheat or easier game — I’m asking for more believable storytelling within the same system. That is embracing the core of RimWorld.

[MadArtillery]

Originally posted by Flopza:

Originally posted by MadArtillery:

There is no pressures without the mental breaks. Mental breaks are the price you pay for ignoring or failing mood mangement, without mental breaks every colonist could just sit at 0% mood permenantly to no impact. They are an absolutetly critical friction point that makes the game work.

You're completely missing the point I made. I never said I want to remove the pressure or consequences of mental breaks — I clearly stated that the pressure is still there. What I’m aiming for is to replace the default, often nonsensical break behaviours with actions that actually fit the pawn’s personality and story. That’s not removing difficulty — it’s enhancing the meaning of the consequences.

The mental break still happens — just not in a canned, immersion-breaking way. Instead, it’s roleplayed with intention, which often makes the outcome more serious and impactful, not less. I’m not asking for a cheat or easier game — I’m asking for more believable storytelling within the same system. That is embracing the core of RimWorld.

I heartily, completely, and utterly disagree. It's a singleplayer game, you can do whatever you want, but there isn't much rimworld without forced detrimental mental breaks and yes, it is removing difficulty, mental breaks are unpredictable once they are in the zone, they can be tense, will this person get through what they need to before they break? Can they hold on till they've patched up the colony before breaking? Will that generator get built in time before they go break something in frustration? Does the person truly wish to keep pushing on through this or just leave to greener pastures and put it all behind them and damn the consequences? Should they negate the risk of it all and drug up? Will they go binge drugs of their own accord? Controlled and managed mental breaks are just begging to obliterate emergent storytelling and important unpredictable tension.

[Flopza]

Originally posted by Flopza:

Originally posted by MadArtillery:

I heartily, completely, and utterly disagree. It's a singleplayer game, you can do whatever you want, but there isn't much rimworld without forced detrimental mental breaks and yes, it is removing difficulty, mental breaks are unpredictable once they are in the zone, they can be tense, will this person get through what they need to before they break? Can they hold on till they've patched up the colony before breaking? Should they negate the risk and drug up? "Controlled" and "managed" mental breaks are just begging to obliterate emergent storytelling and important tension.

And I completely respect your right to play that way — but you're still missing the nuance of my point. I'm not asking to control every mental break to remove tension; I'm asking for the freedom to redirect that tension in a way that’s consistent with the character and story. The pressure, unpredictability, and stakes are still there — I’m just choosing how they manifest when the break occurs.

It’s not about neutering gameplay; it’s about making the response fit. Some breaks in RimWorld are immersive. Others just don’t make sense — like a hardened warrior going on a food binge over a dirty room. When I say roleplayed, I don’t mean "safe" — I mean custom, meaningful, and still risky. That’s not removing emergent storytelling. That is emergent storytelling — just with more narrative consistency.

The base game’s mental breaks are often shallow, random, and completely out of sync with the character’s personality — which ruins immersion. I’m aiming for something more impactful, fitting, and narratively meaningful, not easier. RimWorld is literally a story generator, designed to be shaped by the player — yet some in the community seem more interested in policing how others play than encouraging deeper storytelling.

Everything you said just shows you're being obnoxious for the sake of it, not because my approach lacks merit. In fact, roleplaying breaks takes more thought and challenge than letting the game randomly decide it for you.

[MadArtillery]

Originally posted by Flopza:

Originally posted by MadArtillery:

I heartily, completely, and utterly disagree. It's a singleplayer game, you can do whatever you want, but there isn't much rimworld without forced detrimental mental breaks and yes, it is removing difficulty, mental breaks are unpredictable once they are in the zone, they can be tense, will this person get through what they need to before they break? Can they hold on till they've patched up the colony before breaking? Should they negate the risk and drug up? "Controlled" and "managed" mental breaks are just begging to obliterate emergent storytelling and important tension.

And I completely respect your right to play that way — but you're still missing the nuance of my point. I'm not asking to control every mental break to remove tension; I'm asking for the freedom to redirect that tension in a way that’s consistent with the character and story. The pressure, unpredictability, and stakes are still there — I’m just choosing how they manifest when the break occurs.

It’s not about neutering gameplay; it’s about making the response fit. Some breaks in RimWorld are immersive. Others just don’t make sense — like a hardened warrior going on a food binge over a dirty room. When I say roleplayed, I don’t mean "safe" — I mean custom, meaningful, and still risky. That’s not removing emergent storytelling. That is emergent storytelling — just with more narrative consistency.

The base game’s mental breaks are often shallow, random, and completely out of sync with the character’s personality — which ruins immersion. I’m aiming for something more impactful, fitting, and narratively meaningful, not easier. RimWorld is literally a story generator, designed to be shaped by the player — yet some in the community seem more interested in policing how others play than encouraging deeper storytelling.

Everything you said just shows he’s being obnoxious for the sake of it, not because my approach lacks merit. In fact, roleplaying breaks takes more thou

No I'm disagreeing whole heartily with what you believe is a point I should acknowledge. Disagreeing is not missing a point. Why shouldn't a warrior faced with a crappy ugly grime covered hell hole of a room (piled on top of all the actual causes of their mental break as it's rarely any one thing same as with real life) binge on some dopamine, eating the pain away is if anything a quite common human response to things, stress eating is quite common and most people have probably done it. You are looking at mental breaks too logically when the point is potentially doing something out of character, every mental break in Rimworld is a pile of negatives. The breaking point is just when you've had a ♥♥♥♥ day, drop something, then punch a hole in the wall because everything is just too much and even minor things can flare completetly irrational behavior. Dropping the thing had little to do with the sudden snap, it was everything piled up behind it.

[Flopza]

Originally posted by MadArtillery:

Originally posted by Flopza:

And I completely respect your right to play that way — but you're still missing the nuance of my point. I'm not asking to control every mental break to remove tension; I'm asking for the freedom to redirect that tension in a way that’s consistent with the character and story. The pressure, unpredictability, and stakes are still there — I’m just choosing how they manifest when the break occurs.

It’s not about neutering gameplay; it’s about making the response fit. Some breaks in RimWorld are immersive. Others just don’t make sense — like a hardened warrior going on a food binge over a dirty room. When I say roleplayed, I don’t mean "safe" — I mean custom, meaningful, and still risky. That’s not removing emergent storytelling. That is emergent storytelling — just with more narrative consistency.

The base game’s mental breaks are often shallow, random, and completely out of sync with the character’s personality — which ruins immersion. I’m aiming for something more impactful, fitting, and narratively meaningful, not easier. RimWorld is literally a story generator, designed to be shaped by the player — yet some in the community seem more interested in policing how others play than encouraging deeper storytelling.

Everything you said just shows he’s being obnoxious for the sake of it, not because my approach lacks merit. In fact, roleplaying breaks takes more thou

No I'm disagreeing whole heartily with what you believe is a point I should acknowledge. Disagreeing is not missing a point. Why shouldn't a warrior faced with a crappy ugly grime covered hell hole of a room (piled on top of all the actual causes of their mental break as it's rarely any one thing) binge on some dopamine, eating the pain away is if anything a quite common human response to things, stress eating is quite common and most people have probably done it. You are looking at mental breaks too logically when the point is potentially doing something out of character, every mental break in Rimworld is a pile of negatives, the breaking point is just when you've had a ♥♥♥♥ day, drop something, then punch a hole in the wall because everything is just too much and even minor things can flare completetly irrational behavior. Dropping the thing had little to do with the sudden snap, it was everything behind it.

You're absolutely right that people can snap over something small — but when they do, they usually direct that outburst toward what they believe is the root of their suffering, not something random like stuffing their face with raw rice. In reality, people often lash out at the source, not sideways. If a pawn hates another pawn, it makes far more sense for that anger to boil over into a violent outburst or revenge, not wandering aimlessly or setting fires for no reason.

What’s core to RimWorld isn’t the mechanical break itself — it’s the consequence. The tension, fallout, and impact on the colony — that’s what matters. And that can be achieved in countless ways, including player-driven consequences that are far more realistic, narratively grounded, and emotionally compelling.

Wanting more immersive breaks doesn’t mean removing challenge or emotion — it means tailoring those moments so they hit harder and make more sense. That’s not anti-RimWorld. That’s how great stories are made.

In-game mental breaks are fantastic — if you don’t have the creativity to create the breaks yourself. They serve a purpose, no doubt, and they’re great for players who want the game to handle the chaos for them. But for those of us who enjoy crafting deeper, more character-driven narratives, letting a pawn react in a way that actually fits their personality, relationships, and backstory creates something far more powerful than a random fire-starting spree ever could. RimWorld gives us the tools — it's up to us how far we want to take the story.