Survivors

Faction members are the lifeblood of any shelter must be cared for in order to being out their best potential.

## Leader

The Shelter's leader is your most important character, if they die the faction dies with them and the game is lost. They are also in the same vein the most powerful of all of the settlers because of their Leader Traits, you get to pick some at the start of the game with 5 Trait Points but more points can be found by discovering Floppy Disks while exploring the world to unlock some of the positive traits later on.

**NOTE**: A floppy disk icon  next to a name means that trait can be unlocked in-game with points gained from floppy disks.

Note - All traits that increase the maximum of a stat, or add points to the stat, cannot be chosen from floppy disk "points" during the game. Some otber traits are also unavailable.

## Faction Members

### Negative Traits

Each faction member is assigned a random negative trait. These can never be removed.

## Needs

All faction members have different needs to see to of varying importance. A well cared for member will be a happier member and less prone to mental ailments or breakdowns where they act out and disrupt things. Most needs are met by the construction of various shelter objects.

* Hunger - eat food from a pantry; if you don't eat, you can become malnourished, which causes you to take damage and gives a negative mood (Note: your personal dirtiness level and the dirtiness of the room both contribute to the possibility of getting food poisoning when eating, and the chance is abnormally high)
* Thirst - drink water from a water storage container; if you don't drink, you can become dehydrated, which causes you to take damage and gives a negative mood
* Toilet - use any toilet; if you don't, you will cause a mess; you gain a negative mood from being in the "red" for this need
* Energy - use any bed; if you don't, you will pass out where you are (there is a Fortitude skill that removes this) and the character will refuse to do some tasks, like exercise or read; you gain a -5 mood from being in the "red" for this need
* Hygiene - use any shower or be above ground (but not on an expedition) in the rain or black rain; if you don't shower you will get food poisoning when you eat; you gain a -5 mood from being in the "red" for this need
* Oxygen - If the oxygen level of your shelter goes to 0%, all characters inside the shelter will start to suffocate and take damage (they may also try to move to the surface); keep in mind that your oxygen filter is designed to work with a certain number of people in the shelter at a time, and exceeding this number will reduce oxygen: people on expeditions do not count against this number, but prisoners and recruits do
* Mood - there are dozens of effects that can affect your mood; being in a negative mood for too long will cause a character to develop a random mental ailment (Note: these can be cured with a medical bed - T3 blueprint - and a character with the Therapist skill from the perception tree); there is no known bonus for being in a high positive mood, but it might affect conversations?

## Mood

There are many ways to increase or decrease your mood. Here are some:

### Positive Mood

* Eating a "good" (★★★) meal +20
* Slept in a bed (T2)
* Sleeping in a comfy (T3) bed +20
* Bury a body +75 (this stacks, so each body gives +75)
* Fulfilled a desire +30
* Reading a story book

### Negative Mood

* Cold (under 15℃ but above 0) -20
* Hot (above 22℃ and below 26℃) -10
* Sweltering (above 26℃) -20 (and takes 1 damage every tick)
* In the dark (less than about 38% light in your room) -10
* Sleep disturbed (cancel the sleep task before it's finished) -5
* Healing disturbed (cancel the rest task before it's finished) -5
* Dirty (hygiene need in red) -5
* Sleepy (energy need in red) -5
* Recently killed someone -40 (this gradually goes down each time as your character gets desensitized to killing; knock people out to avoid)

## Stats

A character's starting stat also determine their maximum potential stat.

Stat Maximums
 4

This means if you start with a 1 in Strength, your maximum possible strength will be randomly between 10 and 12. You can "experiment" on a character to raise a stat, but this can only happen once per stat per character (and each attempt has a 10% chance to succeed and causes a -30 mood modifier with each attempt).

Each stat also has their own skill tree. Leveling up a stat gains 1 point to spend in the tree. All of a character's starting skill tree points are randomly spent.

## Recruiting

There are three ways to add new faction members.

* You can broadcast that you are recruiting from the radio. This will lead to option 2 more frequently.
* Occasionally someone will come by your shelter and ask to be taken in. They will act as a normal faction member in all ways except they cannot go on expeditions and they will have a loyalty stat. This will gradually increase over time as you continue to meet their needs.
* You can subdue a random person or other faction member in combat, and if you have an empty prison, you can (immediately) teleport them to your prison.

#### Prison

To recruit a prisoner, you will first need to build an empty prison cell. This can hold only one prisoner. Each prisoner will have a loyalty stat that gradually increases as they eat, drink, sleep, get comforted, or get interrogated. Once this loyalty stat reaches 100, you can "recruit" the prisoner, which will turn them into a normal faction member (there is no additional waiting period for them to go on expeditions).

You need to keep an eye on whether or not the prisoner needs food or water. To give them more, select an existing faction member and select a pantry or water storage item, and choose to "carry" one of that item. Then, select the prison bars and choose to feed the prisoner or give them water.

Once per day, you can comfort the prisoner for a loyalty boost. It is unknown if any characters are better than any others for this task. You can also choose to interrogate the prisoner. This will cause their loyalty to go up, but it also means they will start with a random mental ailment when they join your faction.

If you no longer want a prisoner, you can set them free, or execute them.

#### Recruits vs. Prisoners

Recruits

* Pros: can see what their starting stats are, so you know their maximum potential; you get to determine where their skill points go as they level; are far more productive while gaining loyalty, as they can do any job around the shelter
* Cons: tend to have lower stats as they never start over 5, which means they will spend a long while leveling; use more water and resources as they will need to shower, use the toilet, and sleep on a bed

Prisoners

* Pros: can see their current stats which might be very high; don't need to use shelter space to keep around equipment for raising low stats
* Cons: take a LONG time to gain loyalty, especially at first, with zero benefit to your shelter overall until they are recruited; don't know what their maximum stats are (some may even be reached already); you have no control over how their stats are distributed thus far

Overall: recruits are generally stronger in the long run than prisoners, since 1) you can control where their skill points go, 2) you can use their loyalty-gaining period to spend time boosting their stats, and 3) you have control over what their starting/max stats are, since you can see them and choose what recruits to take in. However, prisoners potentially gain you a more effective faction member much faster, even with the extremely long wait for them to gain loyalty, as they can start with much higher stats. It's also nice to not have to spend shelter space on low-level equipment for training STR and DEX.

Prisoners also may be more prone to gaining mental ailments from negative mood modifiers, but more experimenting needs to be done to verify this.