Difference between revisions of "Reproduction"

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{{Biotech}}
 
{{Biotech}}
{{Stub}}
 
 
{{About|human pregnancy and babies|older children|Children}}
 
{{About|human pregnancy and babies|older children|Children}}
  
 
'''Reproduction''' is the means by which [[human]] babies are created.  
 
'''Reproduction''' is the means by which [[human]] babies are created.  
 +
{{TOCright}}
  
 
Note: Due to the continuous nature of the subject matter, this page covers from conception to the age of three.  
 
Note: Due to the continuous nature of the subject matter, this page covers from conception to the age of three.  
  
 
== Acquisition ==
 
== Acquisition ==
 +
{{Move| destination = Babies | reason = We've [[Topic:X7aza1755qpbr24t|discussed]] moving the Babies and Acquisition sections to a new Babies page since there's a lot of content here and reproduction and Babies are two separate topics | section = 1 }}
 
Babies can be obtained via several different methods:
 
Babies can be obtained via several different methods:
 
*  Choosing them as a starting colonist via the [[scenario system]].
 
*  Choosing them as a starting colonist via the [[scenario system]].
Line 15: Line 16:
 
*  Receiving them from [[quests]] and [[events]]. Babies of any faction can be adopted instantly to the colony, without angering them.
 
*  Receiving them from [[quests]] and [[events]]. Babies of any faction can be adopted instantly to the colony, without angering them.
  
Note that with the exception of the first point, these methods become unavailable if "Disable children" is toggled on in the [[AI_Storytellers#Biotech|storyteller settings]].
+
Note that with the exception of the first point, these methods become unavailable if "Disable children" is toggled on in the [[AI Storytellers#Biotech|storyteller settings]].
  
== Natural Reproduction ==
+
== Natural reproduction ==
{{Image wanted|section=1|reason=Images of the "Try for pregnancy" etc. icons.}}
+
Pawns in [[Social#Romance|romantic relationships]] have a chance to get pregnant when they initiate [[lovin']]. Note that pawns must share a two-person bed, bedroll, or sleeping spot at the same time to initate lovin'. The ''Sleeping Alone'' debuff only checks if 2 pawns are ''assigned'' the same bed; they don't need to sleep at the same time or ever engage in lovin' to avoid it.
Pawns have a chance to get pregnant when they initiate [[lovin']]. Note that pawns must share a two-person bed, bedroll, or sleeping spot to initate lovin' but do not require one to avoid the "sleeping alone" mood debuff.  
 
  
 
=== Chance ===
 
=== Chance ===
The prospective parents' chance of successfully reproducing is primarily controlled by their [[#Fertility|Fertility]] stat. The player has three options to adjust pregnancy rates from Lovin' in any relationship. By opening the social tab, to the right of a Lover, Fiancee, or Spouse, you can see a button that lets you change the couple's approach for having kids.
+
The prospective parents' chance of successfully reproducing is primarily controlled by their [[Fertility]] stat. The player has three options to adjust pregnancy rates from Lovin' in any relationship. By opening the social tab, to the right of a Lover, Fiancee, or Spouse, you can see a button that lets you change the couple's approach for having kids.
  
 
{| class="wikitable"
 
{| class="wikitable"
|-
 
 
! [[File:Normal.png|32px]]         
 
! [[File:Normal.png|32px]]         
 
| '''Normal''' (Default) || x1 pregnancy chance.  
 
| '''Normal''' (Default) || x1 pregnancy chance.  
 
|-  
 
|-  
 
! [[File:AvoidPregnancy.png|32px]]  
 
! [[File:AvoidPregnancy.png|32px]]  
| '''Avoid pregnancy''' || x0.25 pregnancy chance.  
+
| '''Avoid pregnancy''' || x0.25 pregnancy chance.  
 
|-  
 
|-  
 
! [[File:TryForBaby.png|32px]]     
 
! [[File:TryForBaby.png|32px]]     
| '''Try for baby'''   || x4 pregnancy chance.  
+
| '''Try for baby'''     || x4 pregnancy chance.  
 
|}
 
|}
Therefore, the total chance of pregnancy in one relationship is likely:  
+
Therefore, the total chance of pregnancy in one relationship is likely:
 +
 
 +
'''Pregnancy chance per relationship''' = '''Mother's fertility''' x '''Father's fertility''' x '''Reproductive Approach''' x '''Times Lovin''''
  
{| class="wikitable"
 
|-
 
| '''Pregnancy chance per relationship''' = '''Mother's fertility''' x '''Father's fertility''' x '''Reproductive Approach''' x '''Times Lovin''''
 
|}
 
  
The actual chance that a pair of pawns will do Lovin' each night varies, but it requires them to share the same bed and sleep at the same time. Their chance of Lovin' varies by age, as seen in [[Social#Lovin.27|this chart]]. The [[Genes#Low_libido|low libido]] and [[Genes#High_libido|high libido]] genes will also alter this. There have been reports that colonist mood and opinions of each other also influence the chance of doing Lovin'.
+
The actual chance that a pair of pawns will do Lovin' each night varies, but it requires them to share the same bed and sleep at the same time. Their chance of Lovin' varies by age, as seen in [[Social#Lovin.27|this chart]]. The [[Genes#Low libido|low libido]] and [[Genes#High libido|high libido]] genes will also alter this. There have been reports that colonist mood and opinions of each other also influence the chance of doing Lovin'.
  
 
=== Pregnancy ===
 
=== Pregnancy ===
 +
Pregnancy lasts for 18 days, broken into three 6-day trimesters. The player will receive a notification when the pregnancy starts and when it progresses from one trimester to the next. The pregnant pawn will gain penalties to movement, manipulation, and hunger rate, increasing each trimester as seen in the chart below. Other than the statistical penalties, pregnant pawns have no restrictions on the activities they pursue.
  
Pregnancy lasts for 18 days, broken into three 6 day trimesters. The player will receive a notification when the pregnancy starts and when it progresses from one trimester to the next. The pregnant pawn will gain penalties to movement, manipulation, and hunger rate, increasing each trimester as seen in the chart below.
+
If the mother is in poor health, such as [[Malnutrition]], she might suffer a miscarriage.{{Check Tag|Details|Sick? Injured? Blood loss? Low capacities?}}
  
 
{| class="wikitable"
 
{| class="wikitable"
|-
 
 
! Stage !! Effects
 
! Stage !! Effects
 
|-
 
|-
 
| First trimester ||
 
| First trimester ||
 
 
* Hunger rate offset: {{++|10%}}
 
* Hunger rate offset: {{++|10%}}
 
|-
 
|-
 
| Second trimester ||
 
| Second trimester ||
 
 
* [[Moving]]: {{--|10%}}
 
* [[Moving]]: {{--|10%}}
 
* [[Manipulation]]: {{--|5%}}
 
* [[Manipulation]]: {{--|5%}}
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|-
 
|-
 
| Third trimester ||  
 
| Third trimester ||  
 
 
* [[Moving]]: {{--|50%}}
 
* [[Moving]]: {{--|50%}}
 
* [[Manipulation]]: {{--|10%}}
 
* [[Manipulation]]: {{--|10%}}
Line 69: Line 63:
 
|}
 
|}
  
Throughout their pregnancy, they will also occasionally gain mood buffs or debuffs due to hormonal induced mood swings.{{Check Tag|Detail needed}} They may also receive the "morning sickness" condition, which lasts 4 to 8 ingame hours.
+
During the first trimester, a pawn will gain the ''New pregnancy'' moodlet, which can either be positive or negative direction: {{Good|+3}} ''I'm pregnant! It makes me happy.'', or {{Bad|-3}} ''I'm pregnant and not very happy about it.'' When the pawn is not happy about their pregnancy, you can perform an operation to end their pregnancy This will result in a mood buff of {{Good|+5}} ''I'm relieved I'm not pregnant any more''. Throughout their pregnancy, they will also occasionally gain mood buffs or debuffs due to hormone-induced mood swings, which includes the third trimester.{{Check Tag|Detail needed}} Mood swings are visible in the Health tab as a condition affecting the brain. They vary in severity, direction, and duration, appearing as: "Pregnancy Mood (<duration>, <type>)" with the description ''This common side effect of pregnancy represents a rising and falling mood caused by unbalanced hormones.'' Accompanying this, the pawn will get a positive or negative moodlet labeled ''Pregnancy mood <type>''. Mood swings are short-lived, with the longest duration seen so far being 10 hours.
 +
 
 +
'''Types of Mood swings:'''
 +
* {{Thought|desc=This pregnancy is so hard. My body always feels awful. So exhausting!|label=pregnancy mood collapse|value=-14|stack=1}} 
 +
* {{Thought|desc=It feels like everything is going wrong for me today. Pregnancy is tough.|label=pregnancy mood down|value=-8|stack=1}} 
 +
* {{Thought|desc=Everything feels a little bit more pleasant today. Pregnancy is nice.|label=pregnancy mood up|value=4|stack=1}} 
 +
* {{Thought|desc=I feel amazing! Being pregnant is a gift!|label=pregnancy mood high|value=8|stack=1}}
 +
 
 +
Pregnant pawns may also receive the "morning sickness" condition, which lasts 4 to 8 in-game hours. Along with health effects, they will gain the {{Bad|-3}} mood debuff ''Sick''.
  
 
'''Morning sickness:'''
 
'''Morning sickness:'''
Line 75: Line 77:
 
* [[Moving]]: {{Bad|x0.9}}
 
* [[Moving]]: {{Bad|x0.9}}
 
* [[Manipulation]]: {{Bad|x0.9}}
 
* [[Manipulation]]: {{Bad|x0.9}}
* Vomiting {{MTB}}: {{Bad|{{#expr:(24*0.075)}} Hours}}
+
* Vomiting {{MTB}}: {{Bad|{{#expr:(24*0.075)}} hours}}
  
 
Note that Pawns in the character selection menu can begin the game already pregnant.
 
Note that Pawns in the character selection menu can begin the game already pregnant.
  
It is impossible for a mother that is lactating to have another child under any circumstances, even via surrogacy.
+
== Assisted reproduction ==
 +
Science enables new methods for obtaining babies. After Fertility Procedures has been researched, you can extract [[Ovum|ova]] from female pawns and fertilize them to form an [[Embryo|embryo]], for use in surrogate pregnancies or vat-grown babies.
 +
 
 +
Both methods require extracting an ovum from a [[Fertility|fertile]] female pawn, be they [[colonist]], [[prisoner]], or [[slave]]{{IdeologyIcon}}, through a medical operation in the pawn's Health tab: "Extract ovum for IVF". The operation requires one of any type of medicine and a doctor, although it is a relatively easy surgery, with a 500% multiplier on success, and 0% chance of death on failure.
 +
 
 +
The ovum may then be fertilized by a fertile male colonist or slave (but not a prisoner or guest) to produce an embryo. As long as the male pawn's fertility is above 0% this will be successful{{Check Tag|Verify|Not thoroughly checked}}. The resulting embryo can then be implanted in female pawns (may be prisoner, colonist, or slave) to initiate a pregnancy, placed in a growth vat, or sold.
  
=== Birth ===
+
=== Surrogacy ===
The player will recieve one notification when the mother hits the third trimester: "<Colonist>'s baby prep", which explains all the steps you can take to help the mother give birth successfully. Besides preparing a location and doctor for the birth, this notification reminds you to prepare a food source for the baby and build them a crib. Labor will happen roughly 6 days after, starting with a notification of "<Colonist> in labor!".
+
With the [[Research#Fertility Procedures|Fertility Procedures]] research, you can create [[embryo]]s. They can then be implanted into a pawn for a chance for the pawn to become pregnant. The chance of success depends on the surrogate's own Fertility.
  
Once labor begins, the birthing procedure can be initiated by clicking on the mother, and selecting the "Begin birth" option. This allows the player to select participants and a Doctor, much like [[Ideology]]'s rituals. The procedure will take place at a bed or sleeping spot, chosen automatically (preferring medical beds) if the mother is not already in bed. This screen will show you the expected quality of the birth, determined by:
+
Even if they did not supply the ovum, the surrogate will be considered the birth mother. Otherwise, it will act as a regular pregnancy.{{Check Tag|Verify|Not thoroughly checked, quick devmode run to write this section}}. A pawn born this way will consider both their surrogate and genetic mother as the pawn's parents in terms of social opinions.
* Loved one present: the presence of someone that the mother considers a friend or more gives +5% quality, with no stacking for multiple friends or a better friend. By default, the father will be selected to be present. If the doctor performing the operation is a friend, they will count towards this bonus too.
 
* Age of the mother: a 22-year-old has a +50% quality, and as the mother grows older, this drops.
 
* Doctor's medical skill: can range from 0-20% or more. Skill level 1 gives 1.3%, 3 gives +3.8%, 7 gives +8.8%, and 16 gives +20% quality.
 
* Indoors: if inside, the quality gains +5%.
 
* Room cleanliness: cleanliness can range from 0-0.6, giving 0-10% in quality bonuses.
 
* Bed health effects: contributes up to 5%, with things like bed quality, a medical bed, and (perhaps vitals monitor or other furniture?) influencing this stat. A bed rating of 5 guarantees a quality bonus of +5%.
 
Therefore, the most important factors in a safe birth are the mother's age and the doctor's skill level. The expected duration of this operation is variable, but will end in the baby's birth or mother's death. Even at high expected birth qualities, there is still a chance of poor outcomes, with the baby either being born still, sick, or healthy. At certain quality levels, there is a chance that the mother may die during childbirth.
 
  
{| class=wikitable
+
=== Growth vats ===
! '''Expected Quality''' || 76 || 84 || 95
+
{{See also|Growth vat}}
|-
+
[[Growth vat]]s are a complete alternative to pregnancy. They require the [[Research#Growth vats|Growth vat]]s research to make, as well as [[Research#Fertility procedures|Fertility Procedures]], and two pawns with > 0% Fertility to actually create embryos.
| '''Mother dies''' || 0.98% || 0.45% || 0%
+
 
|-
+
Growth vats allow an embryo to be born in 9 days, half the time of a natural pregnancy. Active vats must be given a constant supply of 200 W of [[power]] and 6 [[nutrition]] per day - or around 6.5 [[simple meal]]s per day - to ensure survival of the fetus. If lacking either, then the fetus will undergo biostarvation, increasing by 50% per day. If biostarvation reaches 100%, the fetus will be destroyed.
| '''Still''' || 3.3% || 3% || 2.6%
+
 
|-
+
Otherwise, growth vat births always have a [[Reproduction#Quality|quality]] of 70%, which affects the chance of the baby being born healthy. On practice, per 100 birth there will be 2 dead and 10 sick. However, there are benefits to this method: as it avoids natural birth, the mother won't be weighed down, and there is no risk of them dying.
| '''Sick''' || 7.4% || 7.5% || 7.5%
+
 
|-
+
== Birth ==
| '''Healthy''' || 89% || 90% || 90%
+
Your first warning for a pawn's upcoming childbirth comes during a pawn's pregnancy: the player will receive one notification when the mother hits the third trimester about "<Colonist>'s baby prep", which explains all the steps you can take to help the mother give birth successfully. Besides preparing a location and doctor for the birth, this notification reminds you to prepare a food source for the baby and build them a crib. Labor will happen roughly 6 days after, starting with a notification of "<Colonist> in labor!".
|}
+
 
 +
Once labor begins, the birthing procedure can be initiated by clicking on the mother, and selecting the "Begin birth" option. This allows the player to select participants and a Doctor, much like [[Ideology]]'s rituals. The procedure will take place at a bed or sleeping spot, chosen automatically (preferring medical beds) if the mother is not already in bed. All of these choices have an effect on the birth's quality, which affects the chance that the mother and baby will come out of childbirth alive and healthy. You can view the exact factors and their influence in the Quality section below. The expected duration of this operation is variable, but will end once the baby has been born or mother has died.
  
 +
=== Labor ===
 
The progress of labor can be tracked in the mother's health tab. Labor begins with contractions, different stages of dilation that change randomly over time, with all adding various amounts of pain and restrictions on movement for the mother. Many stages will incapacitate her, so even before the childbirth operation begins, it is important to bring her to a bed. When the childbirth operation has proceeded for a while, you will receive a small notification saying "<mother>'s labor has entered the final stage", and the labor will progress to the final "pushing" stage.  
 
The progress of labor can be tracked in the mother's health tab. Labor begins with contractions, different stages of dilation that change randomly over time, with all adding various amounts of pain and restrictions on movement for the mother. Many stages will incapacitate her, so even before the childbirth operation begins, it is important to bring her to a bed. When the childbirth operation has proceeded for a while, you will receive a small notification saying "<mother>'s labor has entered the final stage", and the labor will progress to the final "pushing" stage.  
  
Stages of labor:
+
'''Stages of labor:'''
 
* dilation, mild: pain +25%, moving x40%
 
* dilation, mild: pain +25%, moving x40%
* dilation, debilitating: pain +85%
+
* dilation, intense: pain +50%, moving x20%
* pushing: pain +85%
+
* dilation, debilitating: pain +85%, moving x0%
 +
* pushing: pain +85%, moving x0%
 +
 
 +
Once the childbirth procedure has begun, any spectating loved ones may socialize with each other, but the doctor and mother will be focused on their tasks. Spectators and the doctors can leave if needed, by selecting a pawn and then pressing the "Leave child birth" option.
 +
Finally, you can cancel the birth operation by selecting any of the involved pawns and then selecting the "Cancel child birth" option, which allows you to restart childbirth later.
 +
 
 +
=== Quality ===
 +
When starting the child birth procedure, a screen will show you the expected quality of the birth, determined by (descending order of influence):
 +
* Age of the mother: The mother has a natural {{+|50%}} quality bonus between ages 20-30. Outside this range, the bonus drops. See the graph below.
 +
* Doctor's [[medical]] skill: Can range from 0-25%. Starting at 0% with skill level 1 and increasing by 1.25% every level, up to a maximum of 25% at skill level 20.
 +
* Room [[cleanliness]]: Cleanliness can range from 0-0.6, giving 0-10% in quality bonuses.
 +
* Other factors, gives up to 5% each:
 +
** Loved one present: The presence of someone that the mother considers a friend or more gives +5% quality, with no stacking for multiple friends or a better friend. By default, the father will be selected to be present. If the doctor performing the operation is a friend, they will count towards this bonus too, and forcing father to participate in addition to doctor will give nothing.
 +
** [[Rooms|Indoors]]: If inside, the quality gains +5%.
 +
** [[Bed]] health effects: Contributes up to 5%, with things like bed [[quality]], or a [[hospital bed]] influencing this stat. A bed rating of 5 guarantees a quality bonus of +5%.
  
During childbirth, the spectating loved ones may socialize with each other but the doctor and mother will be focused on their tasks. You can also allow the doctor or spectators to leave during birth by selecting them, then selecting the right option at the bottom of the screen. Having the doctor or loved one leave during birth, or allowing the room to grow dirty, affects the final birth quality, which is likely determined at the moment of the baby's birth. Finally, you can cancel the birth operation by selecting any of the involved pawns and then selecting the "Cancel child birth" option, which allows you to restart childbirth later.
+
Birth quality is determined at the moment of the baby's birth; allowing the doctor or loved ones to leave, or having the room grow dirty, has an effect on birth quality.
 +
 
 +
{| class="wikitable"
 +
! colspan="2" | Additional quality from Mother's age
 +
|-
 +
| {{Graph:Chart
 +
| xAxisTitle = Mother Age
 +
| yAxisTitle = Additional Quality (+%)
 +
| x  = 14, 15, 20, 30, 40, 65
 +
| y1 = 0, 30, 50, 50, 30, 0
 +
}}
 +
|
 +
* 14 yrs:  {{+|0%}}
 +
* 15 yrs: {{+|30%}}
 +
* 20 yrs: {{+|50%}}
 +
* 30 yrs: {{+|50%}}
 +
* 40 yrs: {{+|30%}}
 +
* 65 yrs:  {{+|0%}}
 +
Note: Bonus is linearly<br>interpolated between these points
 +
|}
  
 
=== Outcomes ===
 
=== Outcomes ===
{{Stub|section=1|reason=Exact math on the chance mechanics}}
+
{{Stub|section=1|reason=Stillborn thoughts. Use [[Template:Thought]] with full details. Specify whether normal death thoughts apply or if its custom, if a surrogate pregnancy is stillborn the genemother has a negative moodlet but does the surogate, can a stillbirth be resurrected by a mech serum}}
 +
Depending on the quality, the baby can be born healthy or sickly, or they may die during birth, also known as being stillborn. At lower qualities, there is also a chance that the mother can die during childbirth. The quality needs to be >90% for the best possible outcomes. Since the probability of a bad outcome increases drastically below 20% birth quality, it's strongly recommended to provide at least the bare necessities, such as a bed indoors, as even a few percent above 0% in birth quality will contribute massively to the outcome.
  
The baby can be born healthy or sickly, or they may die during birth. There is also a chance that the mother can die during childbirth.
+
{| class="wikitable"
 +
! Birth Outcome Chance
 +
! Mother Death Chance
 +
|-
 +
| {{Graph:Chart
 +
| width  = 300
 +
| height = 200
 +
| type  = stackedarea
 +
| xAxisTitle = Birth Quality (%)
 +
| yAxisTitle = Chance (%)
 +
| legend = Outcomes
 +
| x  =  0,  5  , 10  , 15  , 20  , 25  , 30  , 35  , 40  , 45  , 50  , 55  , 60  , 65  , 70  , 75  , 80  , 85  , 90  , 100
 +
| y1 = 100, 34  , 20  , 14.7, 11.1,  9.3,  7.9,  6.8,  6  ,  5.4,  4.9,  4.5,  4.1,  3.8,  3.5,  3.3,  3.1,  2.9,  2.5,  2.5
 +
| y2 =  0,  5.1,  6.1,  6.6,  6.8,  7  ,  7.1,  7.2,  7.2,  7.3,  7.3,  7.3,  7.4,  7.4,  7.4,  7.4,  7.5,  7.5,  7.5,  7.5
 +
| y3 =  0, 60.9, 73.9, 78.7, 82.1, 83.7, 85  , 86  , 86.8, 87.3, 87.8, 88.2, 88.5, 88.8, 89.1, 89.3, 89.4, 89.6, 90  ,  90
 +
| y1Title = Stillborn
 +
| y2Title = Sick
 +
| y3Title = Healthy
 +
| interpolate = monotone
 +
| colors = #0066bb, #00aacc, #00ddff
 +
}}
 +
| {{Graph:Chart
 +
| width  = 300
 +
| height = 200
 +
| type  = line
 +
| xAxisTitle = Birth Quality (%)
 +
| yAxisTitle = Chance (%)
 +
| x =  0, 20, 90, 100
 +
| y = 20,  5,  0,  0
 +
}}
 +
|}
 +
 
 +
You will receive a notification when the birth is complete, and the baby will appear on an adjacent tile. If the baby was born alive, a pawn with the Childcare work enabled can be instructed to either move the baby to a safe space, or to deliver it to the mother for breastfeeding. The baby will be born hungry, with a mood penalty of {{Bad|-6}}.{{Check Tag|Thought Template|Please convert to Template: Thought with all details}}
  
You will receive a notification when the birth is complete, and the baby will appear on an adjacent tile. If the baby was born alive, a pawn with the Childcare work enabled can be instructed to either move the baby to a safe space, or to deliver it to the mother for breastfeeding. The baby will be born hungry, with a mood penalty of {{Bad|-6}}.
+
If your baby was healthy, the notification is "Healthy child birth", and it gives you 24 hours to choose a name for the baby. You can also name stillborn babies via the stillborn notification.{{Check Tag|Notification title?|Like "Healthy child birth" but for stillborn.}}
  
If your baby was healthy, the notification is "Healthy child birth", and it gives you 24 hours to choose a name for the baby. This is the only time where you can completely customize the baby's first and last names, and you additionally can add an optional nickname. The game will suggest the mother and father's last names on this screen, and provide random suggestions for the other names. Until then, the baby's name is temporary, and called "Baby <Mother's last name>". The baby will also receive the Childhood title "Newborn", and belong to the mother's faction. The baby's parents will receive a 15-day mood boost that "<Baby> was born healthy" {{Good|+8}}.
+
These are only time where you can completely customize the baby's first and last names, and you additionally can add an optional nickname. The game will suggest the mother and father's last names on this screen, and provide random suggestions for the other names. Until then, the baby's name is temporary, and called "Baby <Mother's last name>". The baby will also receive the Childhood title "Newborn", and belong to the mother's faction. The baby's parents will receive a 15-day mood boost that "<Baby> was born healthy" {{Good|+8}}.
  
 
If the baby is born sick, they are affected by a form of [[infant illness]], which can start at a variable intensity. If left untreated before 10 days is up, the baby dies, but if it lives through 10 days after birth, the illness will no longer affect the baby. You will also get the chance to name your baby.
 
If the baby is born sick, they are affected by a form of [[infant illness]], which can start at a variable intensity. If left untreated before 10 days is up, the baby dies, but if it lives through 10 days after birth, the illness will no longer affect the baby. You will also get the chance to name your baby.
  
If the mother survived childbirth, she will remain in bed, incapacitated by exhaustion (Postpartum exhaustion) for 16 hours. She'll no longer feel any pain from childbirth, but won't be able to move. If her baby was born (healthy or sick), she will also begin lactating, with milk fullness starting at 100%. If another pawn hands delivers her baby to her, she can begin breastfeeding. After 10 days of not breastfeeding a child, she ceases to lactate.
+
If the baby is stillborn, then the mother and father will experience a negative moodlet. If a surrogate mother is used, the biological mother will receive the moodlet.  
  
== Assisted reproduction ==
+
If the mother survived childbirth, she will remain in bed, incapacitated by exhaustion (Postpartum exhaustion) for 16 hours. She'll no longer feel any pain from childbirth, but won't be able to move. However, if another pawn delivers her baby to her, she can begin breastfeeding.
After Fertility Procedures has been researched, an ovum can be extracted from a fertile female pawn, be they [[colonist]], [[prisoner]], or [[slave]]{{IdeologyIcon}},. It may then fertilized by a fertile male colonist or slave (but not prisoner) to produce an embryo. The resulting embryo can then be implanted in female pawns (may be prisoner, colonist, or slave) to initiate a pregnancy, placed in a growth vat, or sold.
 
  
=== Surrogacy ===
+
=== Lactation ===
With the [[Research#Fertillity Procedures|Fertillity Procedures]] research, you can create and fertilize [[embryo]]s. They can then be implanted into a pawn for a chance to become pregnant. The chance of success depends on the surrogate's own Fertility.
+
{{Quote|''The condition of being able to breastfeed a baby. The breasts are actively producing and storing milk. The lactating state begins when a mother gives birth, and continues indefinitely as long as she breastfeeds a baby at least once every 10 days. People who are lactating will have a harder time becoming pregnant.''|Description}}
  
Embryos can be created from 2 pawns with any Fertility above 0%. Even if they did not supply the ovum, the surrogate will be considered the birth mother. Otherwise, it will act as a regular pregnancy.{{Check Tag|Verify|Not thoroughly checked, quick devmode run to write this section}}.
+
Upon a successful natural childbirth, the birthing mother will begin lactating. A lactating pawn can breastfeed babies, even if not their own. Lactation lasts indefinitely, but stops after 10 days of not breastfeeding a baby or if the pawn is malnourished with a mtb of 4 hours so roughly stopping at 40% malnutrition. If a lactating pawn is sent on a pawn lending [[quest]], the 10 day timer will tick down unless they are sent along with a baby or babies that they can feed.
  
=== Growth vats ===
+
While lactating, the pawn gains a milk fullness stat, which starts at 100%. When it is above 0%, a pawn can breastfeed any baby, reducing milk accordingly. If it is below 100%, then the mother's Food Consumption increases. Consumption increases by up to +0.5 [[nutrition]] per day, for a total of 2.1 nutrition per day, until milk is full. For reference, 1 [[simple meal]] is 0.9 nutrition. The increased hunger scales with milk regeneration rate, which decreases as the pawn gets hungry.
{{See also|Growth vat}}
 
[[Growth vat]]s are a complete alternative to pregnancy. They require the [[Research#Growth vats|Growth vat]]s research to make, as well as the [[Research#Fertility procedures|Fertility procedures]] and 2 pawns with > 0% Fertility to actually create embryos.  
 
  
They allow an embryo to be born in 9 days, half the time of a natural pregnancy. Active vats must be given a constant supply of 200 W of [[power]] and 6 [[nutrition]] per day - or around 6.5 [[simple meal]]s per day - to ensure survival of the fetus. If lacking either, then the fetus will undergo biostarvation, increasing by 50% per day. If biostarvation reaches 100%, the fetus will be destroyed.
+
{| class=wikitable
 +
! '''Hunger Level''' || Malnourished || Ravenously hungry || Hungry || Full
 +
|-
 +
| '''Milk Regeneration''' || 0% || 25% || 50% || 100%
 +
|-
 +
| '''Extra Nutrition Per Day''' || 0 || 0.13 || 0.25 || 0.5
 +
|}
  
Growth vat births always have a quality of 70%, which affects the chance of the baby being born healthy. As it avoids natural birth, the mother won't be weighed down, and there is no risk of them dying. However, it also deprives pawns of the natural joys, or [[mood]]lets, of birth.
+
Lactation also multiplies [[Fertility]] by {{Bad|x5%}}, meaning the mother is very unlikely to get pregnant by any natural means.
  
 
== Heredity ==
 
== Heredity ==
 
{{See also|Genes}}
 
{{See also|Genes}}
 +
[[File:PawnFamilyTree.png|thumb|right|upright=1.8|A compact chart of familial pawn relationships and its effects on inbreeding. Redundant relations have been hidden for simplicity.]]
 
When an [[embryo]] is conceived, it will inherit some of the [[genes]] of both parents. During a mother's pregnancy, you can view her child's genes by going to her Health tab and selecting the information button for her pregnancy. The genetics section will list all genes that her child has inherited.  
 
When an [[embryo]] is conceived, it will inherit some of the [[genes]] of both parents. During a mother's pregnancy, you can view her child's genes by going to her Health tab and selecting the information button for her pregnancy. The genetics section will list all genes that her child has inherited.  
  
Genes which can be passed down come from the [[germline]] DNA, and are called endogenes. Pawns may modify themselves with [[Xenogene|xenogenes]], but as it's not part of a pawn's germline DNA, it cannot be passed down. If an endogene is only present in one parent, it has a small chance to be passed down.{{Check Tag|What's the chance?|What is the algorithm for calculating gene inheritance?}} However if an endogene is present in both parents, it will always be passed down.
+
Genes which can be passed down come from the germline DNA, and are called germline genes. Pawns may modify themselves with [[Xenogene|xenogenes]], but as it's not part of a pawn's germline DNA, it cannot be passed down. If a germline gene is only present in one parent, it has a small chance to be passed down.{{Check Tag|What's the chance?|What is the algorithm for calculating gene inheritance?}} However if an germline gene is present in both parents, it will always be passed down.
 +
 
 +
Generally, all pawns will have at least one hair color and skin color germline gene. Offspring will always pick one hair color and skin color germline gene from their parents. If no hair/skin color germline gene can be found in either parent, such as if they were two [[highmates]], a random hair/skin color germline gene will be picked from the natural list of hair/skin colors instead.
  
Generally, all pawns will have at least one hair color and skin color endogene. Offspring will always pick one hair color and skin color endogene from their parents. If no hair/skin color endogene can be found in either parent, such as if they were two [[highmates]], a random hair/skin color endogene will be picked from the natural list of hair/skin colors instead.
+
If a pawn has multiple [[Genes#Cosmetic|cosmetic genes]] within a category, like body type, one random gene will override the others. This will be the gene represented on the pawn. For non-cosmetic genes within a category there is a fixed priority for overrides, usually favored towards the negative variations. For example, an awful [[shooting]] aptitude will override all other shooting aptitudes. Xenogenes will always take priority over germline genes. Thus, even though the Slow runner germline gene overrides their Fast runner germline gene, the Fast runner ''xenogene'' will override the Slow runner germline gene. Note that overridden germline genes can still be passed down as normal.
  
If a pawn has multiple [[Genes#Cosmetic|cosmetic genes]] within a category, like body type, one random gene will override the others. This will be the gene represented on the pawn. For non-cosmetic genes within a category there is a fixed priority for overrides, usually favored towards the negative variations. For example, an awful [[shooting]] aptitude will override all other shooting aptitudes. Xenogenes will always take priority over endogenes. Thus, even though the Slow runner endogene overrides their Fast runner endogene, the Fast runner xenogene will override the Slow runner endogene. Note that overridden endogenes can still be passed down as normal.
+
=== Inbreeding ===
 +
If a child is born from an incestuous relationship, there's a risk of them becoming [[Genes#Inbred|inbred]]. The likelihood of this is modelled proportionally to the pawns' coefficient of relationship, though it is largely simplified.
  
If a child is born from an incestuous relationship, there's a risk of them becoming [[Genes#Miscellaneous|inbred]]; up to 80% for direct relatives. {{Check Tag|Which relations?|What counts as direct? Effect of other relations}}
+
As a general rule, the risk is '''80%''' for first-degree, '''40%''' for second-degree, and '''10%''' for third-degree relatives; however some exceptions apply, an example being 20% for cousins. Many fourth-degree relationships and beyond are simply referred to as "Kin". Kin relationships pose no risk for inbreeding, despite being considered incestuous. If two pawns are related in more ways than one, such as being both parent/child (80%) and grandparent/grandchild (40%), the highest number always takes priority when calculating inbreeding. Pawns being inbred will not directly increase this number, but since inbred is a gene it will follow the same rules of gene inheritance as all other genes.
 +
 
 +
It's possible to check for the inbred gene after conception by using the ''"Inspect baby genes..."'' button on the [[#Pregnancy|pregnant]] pawn or the [[embryo]]. The [[#Outcomes|outcome]] of a pregnancy isn't affected by inbreeding, but should the baby be born, the game will display an additional line in the birth results:
 +
<code>'' The baby shows signs of genetic abnormalities due to inbreeding. ''</code>
  
 
{| class="wikitable"
 
{| class="wikitable"
|-
 
 
! '''Inbred'''
 
! '''Inbred'''
[[File:Gene_Inbred.png|64px]]         
+
[[File:Gene Inbred.png|64px]]         
 
|
 
|
 
* Complexity: {{Bad|+1}}
 
* Complexity: {{Bad|+1}}
 
* Metabolic efficiency: {{Bad|-2}}
 
* Metabolic efficiency: {{Bad|-2}}
 
* Forced Trait: [[Slow learner]]
 
* Forced Trait: [[Slow learner]]
* [[#Fertility|Fertility]]: {{Bad|x50%}}
+
* [[Fertility]]: {{Bad|x50%}}
 
* [[Immunity gain speed]]: {{Bad|x85%}}
 
* [[Immunity gain speed]]: {{Bad|x85%}}
 
|}
 
|}
 +
 +
The risk of inbreeding goes as follows, higher numbers taking priority over lower ones:
 +
 +
<div><li style="display: inline-table;">
 +
{| {{STDT| sortable c_07 text-center}}
 +
! Relation
 +
! [[File:Gene Inbred.png|24px]] Inbreeding risk
 +
! Coefficient of relationship
 +
|-
 +
! Parent/Sibling/Child
 +
| 80% || 50%
 +
|-
 +
! Grandparent/Aunt/Uncle/Niece/Nephew/Halfsibling/Grandchild
 +
| 40% || 25%
 +
|-
 +
! Halfniece/Halfnephew
 +
| 40% || 12.5%
 +
|-
 +
! Cousin
 +
| 20% || 12.5%
 +
|-
 +
! G. grandparent/Grandaunt/Granduncle/Grandniece/Grandnephew/G. grandchild
 +
| 10% || 12.5%
 +
|-
 +
! Half grandniece/Half grandnephew/Cousin once removed
 +
| 10% || 6.25%
 +
|-
 +
! Second cousin
 +
| 10% || 3.125%
 +
|-
 +
! Birth parent<ref>Although birth parents are considered on the same level as biological parents, they aren't genetically related to the child they birth, and thus run no risk of inbreeding despite the game's warnings that they do.</ref>/Kin
 +
| 0% || N/A
 +
|}
 +
</li></div>
 +
<references/>
  
 
== Fertility ==
 
== Fertility ==
Fertility is the main pawn stat and is a percentage multiplier on pregnancy chances. Pregnancy chance is dependent on the fertility of both partners. Fertility affects more than just the chance of a natural pregnancy, it affects all types of reproduction. It also affects the chance of successfully implanting an embryo in a surrogate, and sterility prevents both the extraction and fertilization of [[Ovum|ova]] for IVF.
+
{{See also|Fertility}}
 +
Fertility is the main pawn stat affecting pregnancy chances, acting as a percentage multiplier on the chance of getting pregnant naturally or through an ovum implantation. Natural pregnancy chance is equally dependent on the fertility of both partners. Additionally, fertility must be above 0% to extract a pawn's ovum or to fertilize the [[Ovum|ovum]] into an [[Embryo|embryo]].
  
This stat is affected by a variety of factors, such as age and genes. For baseline humans without fertility-modifying genes, both men and women start becoming fertile after age 14; women's fertility increases until it reaches 100% through ages 20-28, then drops steadily from 100% to 0% at age 50, while men's fertility increases until it reaches 100% through ages 18-50, then starts dropping before reaching 0% at age 90. Fertility is also affected by [[#Contraceptives|contraceptives]] and genes. The [[Genes#Fertile|Fertile]] gene doubles fertility and the [[Genes#Sterile|Sterile]] gene completely nullifies it.  
+
This stat is affected by a variety of factors, such as age, [[Genes|genes]], and [[#Contraceptives|contraceptives]]. Age is the baseline for fertility, changing slowly for each colonist over time, and at a different rate by pawn gender. Genes provide an additional multiplier on fertility. Contraceptives instantly bring fertility to 0%, overriding other fertility factors.
  
Regardless of fertility, a pawn must be at least 16 in order to participate in reproduction.
+
For baseline humans without fertility-modifying genes, both men and women start becoming fertile after age 14; but regardless of fertility, pawns can't participate in reproduction until they are 16. Fertility increases differently by gender. Women's fertility increases until age 20, but starts dropping at age 28 until it reaches 0% at age 50. Men's fertility increases until age 18, but starts dropping at age 50 until it's 0% at age 90.  
  
 
{| class="wikitable"
 
{| class="wikitable"
 +
! Fertility
 
|-
 
|-
! Female Fertility
+
| {{Graph:Chart
|-
+
| width = 400
| {{GraphChart
+
| height = 100
|width=400
+
| type   = line
|height=100
+
| x = 0, 14,               18,  20, 28, 35, 40, 45, 50, 90, 120
|type=line
+
| y1 = 0, 0, {{#expr: 200/3}}, 100, 100, 50, 10,   2,   0,  0,  0
|x=0, 14, 20, 28, 35, 40, 45, 50, 120
+
| y2 = 0,  0,              100, 100, 100, 100, 100, 100, 100,  0,   0
|y=0, 0, 100, 100, 50, 10, 2, 0, 0
+
| xAxisTitle = Pawn age (years)
|xAxisTitle = Pawn age (years)
+
| yAxisTitle = Fertility (%)
|yAxisTitle = Fertility (%)
+
| legend =
}}
+
| y1Title = Female
 +
| y2Title = Male
 +
}}
 
|}
 
|}
  
{| class="wikitable"
+
Genes affect fertility in direct and indirect ways. There are two direct effects: the [[Genes#Fertile|Fertile]] gene doubles fertility and the [[Genes#Sterile|Sterile]] gene completely nullifies it. The [[Genes#Ageless|Ageless]] gene prevents aging entirely, which prevents fertility loss. [[Biosculpter pod#Age reversal|Age Reversal]]{{IdeologyIcon}} also has a fully restorative effect on fertility. Even a completely infertile pawn (due to age) can start reproduction again.
|-
 
! Male Fertility
 
|-
 
| {{GraphChart
 
|width=400
 
|height=100
 
|type=line
 
|x=0, 14, 18, 50, 90, 120
 
|y=0, 0, 100, 100, 0, 0
 
|xAxisTitle = Pawn age (years)
 
|yAxisTitle = Fertility (%)
 
}}
 
|}
 
  
 
== Contraceptives ==
 
== Contraceptives ==
The simplest way in the game to prevent pregnancy is to not give pawns a [[double bed]] to themselves. However, it deprives them of the [[mood]] bonuses of Lovin' in the first place. You can set pairs to avoid pregnancy in the Social tab, which reduces the rate by -75%. If a pawn is lactating (from having given birth before), then it is impossible for them to have a child under any circumstances.  
+
There are many ways to manually change the likelihood of natural pregnancy. The simplest way in the game to prevent pregnancy is to not give pawns a [[double bed]] to themselves. However, it deprives them of the [[mood]] bonuses of Lovin' in the first place. By changing a couple's Reproductive Approach "Avoid pregnancy" in the social tab, pregnancy rate will be reduced by {{--|75%}}, but still gives Lovin' at the same rate. Lactation, from having given birth before, gives a {{Bad|x5%}} multiplier to Fertility.
  
The [[Research#Fertility Procedures|Fertility Procedures]] research gives access to multiple ways to stop pregnancy. These surgeries can be applied to any pawn age 16 and up, and can be performed even if the pawn is already infertile.
+
A more stable way to prevent pregnancy is available from the [[Research#Fertility Procedures|Fertility Procedures]] research. This gives access to multiple operations, reversible or permanent, to prevent and stop pregnancies. These surgeries can be applied to any pawn age 16 and up, and can be performed even if the pawn is already infertile.
  
 
=== IUD ===
 
=== IUD ===
You can stop a female pawn from becoming pregnant with the "Implant IUD" operation. It lasts indefinitely, with the operation requiring {{Icon Small|medicine}} 1 [[Medicine]]. You can later remove it through the "Remove IUD" medical operation, also for and {{Icon Small|medicine}} 1 [[Medicine]]. Women may embark with IUDs already implanted. If either of these operations is botched, the patient will become permanently sterile.
+
This is a method of preventing pregnancies that lasts indefinitely but is reversible. You can stop a female pawn from becoming pregnant with the "Implant IUD" medical operation, which has a base 100% success chance and no chance of pawn death upon failure. The operation requires 1 Medicine of any type and will anesthetize the pawn. The IUD lasts indefinitely and can be seen in the pawn's Health tab, but you can later remove it through the "Remove IUD" medical operation for 1 Medicine of Industrial quality or better. Women may embark with IUDs already implanted. If either of these operations is botched, the patient will become permanently sterile.
  
IUDs also stop pregnancies in the first trimester.
+
Implanted IUDs also stop pregnancies in the first trimester, an alternative to the Terminate Pregnancy operation.
  
 
=== Vasectomy ===
 
=== Vasectomy ===
You can stop a male pawn from impregnating others with the "Perform vasectomy" operation. It lasts indefinitely, with the operation requiring {{Icon Small|medicine}} 1 [[Medicine]]. You can later remove it through the "Reverse vasectomy" medical operation, also for and {{Icon Small|medicine}} 1 [[Medicine]]. Men may embark with the operation already performed.{{Check Tag|Verify}} If either of these operations is botched, the patient will become permanently sterile.
+
This is another method of preventing pregnancies that lasts indefinitely but is reversible. You can stop a male pawn from impregnating others with the "Perform vasectomy" medical operation, which also has a base 100% success chance with no chance of pawn death upon failure. The vasectomy lasts indefinitely, with the operation requiring 1 Medicine of any type. You can later remove it through the "Reverse vasectomy" medical operation, also for and 1 Medicine of any type.{{Check Tag|Industrial only?|xml implies herbal is not sufficient}} Men may embark with the operation already performed.{{Check Tag|Verify}} If either of these operations is botched, the patient will become permanently sterile. Chance of permanent sterilization during vasectomy reversal is higher than IUD's removal.
  
 
=== Tubal Ligation ===
 
=== Tubal Ligation ===
This permanently stops a female pawn from being able to reproduce. "Perform tubal ligation" is a medical operation requiring {{Icon Small|medicine}} 1 [[Medicine]] of any type.
+
This permanently stops a female pawn from being able to reproduce. "Perform tubal ligation" is a medical operation requiring 1 Medicine of any type. The surgery success chance is 100% and there is no chance of pawn death upon failure. The operation is irreversable.
 +
 
 +
Neither of the IUD, Vasectomy and Tubal Ligation will be "healed" by luciferium, bioregeneration cycle and by applying healing or resurrection mech serum.
  
 
=== Termination ===
 
=== Termination ===
If the pawn has already become pregnant past the first trimester, the only option left is to terminate the pregnancy. This can be achieved through the medical operation "Terminate pregnancy" requiring {{Icon Small|medicine}} 1 [[Medicine]] after which the pawn will no longer be pregnant.
+
If the pawn has already become pregnant past the first trimester, the only option left is to terminate the pregnancy. This can be achieved through the medical operation "Terminate pregnancy" requiring 2 Medicine {{Check Tag|What quality?|Add "of herbal/industrial quality or better" or equivalent for whatever quality medicine is required.}} and {{ticks|1500}} of work, after which the pawn will no longer be pregnant. There is a 2% of death if this operation fails, but a {{Good|x2}} success chance factor. Note that the maximum success chance still applies, resulting in a 0.04% chance of death with max surgery success.
 +
 
 +
This operation can upset the affected pawn. Depending on the trimester of the pregnancy, a moodlet of {{Bad|-5}} for the first, {{Bad|-10}} for the second, and {{Bad|-20}} for the third will occur, lasting for 10 days. If a pawn was not happy about the pregnancy, they will gain a {{+|5}} moodlet instead. If performed on another faction's pawn, it is considered a violation and will result in loss of [[goodwill]].
 +
 
 +
This is the only fertility procedure that does not require the Fertility Procedures research.
  
This operation will upset the affected pawn. Depending on the trimester of the pregnancy, a moodlet of {{Bad|-5}} for the first, {{Bad|-10}} for the second, and {{Bad|-20}} for the third will occur, lasting for 10 days.
+
== Pregnancy analysis ==
 +
[[Growth vat]]s are the "best" way to create your own children, with it being faster, having no risk to the mother, and able to be done with low Fertility. However, the nutrition cost is non-negligible. The vats themselves cost some steel, components, and research to make.
 +
 
 +
If both pawns are reasonably young, fertile, and sleeping at the same time, then pregnancy will be quite common; it is easy to get pawns pregnant, if you wanted them to.
  
 
== Babies ==
 
== Babies ==
The end result of pregnancy is a human '''baby'''. Babies are small, helpless creatures that cannot walk or do anything by themselves. They only have three basic [[needs]]: food, sleep, and play.
+
{{Move| destination = Babies | reason = We've [[Topic:X7aza1755qpbr24t|discussed]] moving the Babies and Acquisition sections to a new Babies page since there's a lot of content here and reproduction and Babies are two separate topics | section = 1 }}
  
Under the default [[storyteller|storyteller settings]], pawns under 13 will age 4x faster than normal. [[Growth vat]]s can speed up a baby's growth by 20x that of an adult, or 5x faster than default. Using a growth vat seems to have no ill effects on a baby or its development, at least until it exits the baby stage.{{Check Tag|Not thoroughly tested|No visible effect?}} However, parents gain a {{--|4}} ''My baby is in a growth vat'' [[mood]]let.
+
The end result of pregnancy is a human '''baby'''. Babies are small, helpless creatures that cannot walk or do anything by themselves. They only have three basic [[needs]]: food, sleep, and play.  
  
===Food===
+
Babies are born with no traits or skills: these develop during childhood [[Children#Growth moments|Growth Moments]]. They also have no [[Ideoligion|ideoligion]] {{IdeologyIcon}}. Unless they have temporary health effects from being born sick, they have no health conditions, with every health stat at 100%, except for Moving, which is at 0%.
 +
 
 +
The baby life stage lasts for ages 0-2, with newborn ages tracked in days and quadrums rather than years. Once a baby turns 3, they become a [[Children|child]], and on their [[Children#Age 3|3rd birthday]] you can make special choices for how they will develop further. Under the default [[storyteller|storyteller settings]], babies will age 4x faster than normal, so the biological age of the baby is not how many days/quadrums they have actually been alive. [[Growth vat]]s can speed up a baby's growth by 20x that of an adult, or 5x faster than default. Depending on the [[Ideoligion#Growth vats|growth vat precept]] {{IdeologyIcon}} colonists may be sad about their baby being, or not being, in a growth vat. Using a growth vat seems to have no ill effects on a baby or its development, at least until it exits the baby stage.{{Check Tag|Not thoroughly tested|No visible effect?}}
 +
 
 +
If a baby is left on the ground, any colonist (even those incapable of childcare or hauling) can try to bring the baby somewhere safe, like an available crib. Usually a colonist will quickly try to do this automatically. If you draft a colonist while they are carrying a baby, you'll receive a pop-up warning that your colonist is carrying a baby while drafted. If you undraft and redraft the colonist, they will drop the baby.
 +
 
 +
[[Artificial body parts]] cannot be applied to babies, but [[Xenogerm]]s can be. Babies cannot be ordered to apply xenogerms by selecting them and right-clicking on the xenogerm, as they cannot walk. Players must instead place an order for it on the health tab.
 +
 
 +
=== Food ===
 +
{{Stub|section=1|reason=How much less nutrition}}
 
{{See also|Saturation}}
 
{{See also|Saturation}}
 
Babies need less [[nutrition]] to become full, but their hunger rate is adjusted with it to require [[food]] twice a day. Since babies cannot eat anything by themselves, pawns assigned to childcare will help feed them. The feeding process is fairly slow when compared to adult eating.
 
Babies need less [[nutrition]] to become full, but their hunger rate is adjusted with it to require [[food]] twice a day. Since babies cannot eat anything by themselves, pawns assigned to childcare will help feed them. The feeding process is fairly slow when compared to adult eating.
  
 
They can ''only'' be fed in one of following ways:
 
They can ''only'' be fed in one of following ways:
* Breastfeeding from any lactating pawn, even those not their mother.
+
* Breastfeeding from any [[#Lactation|lactating]] pawn, even those not their mother.
* Cooking and feeding them [[baby food]] from vegetable ingredients.
+
* Cooking and feeding them [[baby food]], produced at a [[campfire]] or [[stove]] from vegetable ingredients.
 
* Feeding them animal [[milk]] or [[insect jelly]].
 
* Feeding them animal [[milk]] or [[insect jelly]].
  
Of these, breastfeeding is usually the easiest. Unlike other foods, which feed in bursts only once the food has been consumed, breastfeeding will gradually increase the food bar. This allows the breastfeeding pawn to pause at any point, whilst also not wasting excess food.
+
Of these, breastfeeding is usually the easiest. Unlike other foods, which feed in bursts only once the food has been consumed, breastfeeding will gradually increase the food bar. This allows the breastfeeding pawn to pause at any point, whilst also not wasting excess food. Usually, a pawn will sit down to breastfeed, continuing until the baby is full or the pawn is out of milk.
  
 
You can control what foods the baby can eat and who will try to feed the baby in the baby's "Feeding" tab. By default, the mother will be set to Urgent, with all other pawns set to Childcare. If a pawn is set to childcare, that does not mean they will feed the baby: their childcare labor may be turned off, or they may be incapable of it.
 
You can control what foods the baby can eat and who will try to feed the baby in the baby's "Feeding" tab. By default, the mother will be set to Urgent, with all other pawns set to Childcare. If a pawn is set to childcare, that does not mean they will feed the baby: their childcare labor may be turned off, or they may be incapable of it.
Line 247: Line 368:
 
You can allow the baby to eat milk, insect jelly, and baby food in this tab, but can't control breastfeeding here.  
 
You can allow the baby to eat milk, insect jelly, and baby food in this tab, but can't control breastfeeding here.  
  
===Mood===
+
==== Drugs ====
Babies' moods are influenced by their needs for food, sleep, and play. Usually these add mood penalties, but at the highest level of play, babies receive a "Very Entertained" {{Good|+10}} mood boost.  
+
Although babies are limited to eating certain foods, you can administer drugs to babies under the Health>>Medical Operations tab. These have an outsized influence due to their very small body sizes (x0.20 of the size of an adult). Each drug causes a higher severity, increasing its duration. But due to the massive [[Drugs#Addiction and Tolerance|tolerance]], any further drugs are very likely to get them addicted. The actual effects of a drug are the same between babies and adults.
 +
 
 +
=== Sleep ===
 +
{{See also|Rest}}
 +
Unlike adults, babies don't follow a sleep schedule, instead falling asleep mostly at random. They may be in a sleeping spot, growing steadily more sleepy and upset, while still not falling asleep.
 +
 
 +
A [[crib]] or [[bed]] should be provided for the baby to sleep in, as it will negate the negative [[mood]] from sleeping on the floor. There are several benefits of cribs over beds: cribs take up only one tile, multiple can be placed in a room without turning it into a barracks, and high-quality cribs can increase the mood of the baby while it rests or sleeps.  
  
Babies have the same expectations for colony life as most other pawns do, influencing their moods at the same rate. They also get a mood bonus when both parents are happy: "Parent is happy" {{Good|+6}}. They appreciate comfort, with an excellent crib providing a {{Good|+4}} mood boost when they are resting.
+
Force-feeding, holding, or playing with the baby will wake them up, possibly keeping them unhappy from being tired.
  
===Sleep===
+
=== Play ===
{{See also|Rest}}
+
Babies need to be played with, in place of standard Recreation. An adult assigned to child care will play with the baby once the play need is almost empty. There are different activities that will fulfill the baby's play need. A [[toy box]] and [[baby decoration]] increases the quality of play. Babies that are somehow [[psychopath]]s or [[inhumanized]]{{AnomalyIcon}} will be unaffected by this need, this cannot be seen outside of developer mode and adding the trait or hediff.
Unlike adults, babies don't follow a sleep schedule, instead falling asleep mostly at random. A [[crib]] should be provided for them to sleep in, as it will negate the negative [[mood]] from sleeping on the floor. A good quality crib will even increase the mood of the baby. Force-feeding or playing will wake them up, possibly keeping them unhappy from being tired.
+
 
 +
=== Mood ===
 +
Babies' moods are influenced by their needs for food, sleep, and play. These are affected at the same rates as for adults:
 +
 
 +
{| class=wikitable
 +
! '''Hunger''' || Ravenously Hungry || Hungry || Normal
 +
|-
 +
| '''Mood effect''' || -12 || -6 || 0
 +
|}
 +
 
 +
{| class=wikitable
 +
! '''Sleep''' || Tired || Drowsy  || Normal
 +
|-
 +
| '''Mood effect''' || -12 || -6 || 0
 +
|}
 +
 
 +
{| class=wikitable
 +
! '''Play''' || Really wants to play || Wants to Play  || Normal || Entertained || Very Entertained
 +
|-
 +
| '''Mood effect''' || -10 || -5 || 0 || 5 || 10
 +
|}
 +
 
 +
Babies share some moodlets with adults but aren't affected by as many thoughts. Babies can gain the {{Bad|-4}} Slept in the Cold moodlet, but aren't affected by temperature while awake. Babies have the same expectations for colony life as other pawns do, influencing their moods at the same rate. They can be influenced by [[Events#Psychic drone|psychic drones]], [[Events#Psychic soothes|soothes]], and [[Psycasts|psycasts]] {{RoyaltyIcon}} just as much as other pawns, because they have a psychic sensitivity of 100% by default. However, babies don't consider furniture comfort or quality, except while resting or sleeping in a [[Crib|crib]], with various crib qualities providing higher mood boosts.
 +
 
 +
Uniquely, babies get a mood bonus when their parents are very happy: "Parent is happy" {{Good|+6}}, or "Parents are happy" {{Good|+12}}.
 +
 
 +
Being held or breastfed does not affect the baby or caretaking adult's mood in any direct way. However, babies will temporarily forget any ill mood effects from lack of Sleep while being held, although these needs will still decrease as usual.
  
===Play===
+
A baby's mood affects the moods of all other colonists, much like [[Children#Mood|children's moods]] can. Parents of a baby who is very happy will receive a {{Good|+6}} mood boost for "My child <baby> is happy". If the baby is about 1/3 of its happiness or less, parents have a {{Bad|-6}} mood penalty, thinking "My child <baby> is unhappy". Babies also factor into the colonists' thoughts on the overall happiness of the colony's children, which range from a positive {{Good|+2}} "Happy youngsters" mood boost to a {{Bad|-2}} "Sad youngsters", to worse negative mood penalties, all based on the average of the moods of colonists aged 0-17.
Babies need to be played with, in place of standard Recreation. An adult assigned to child care will play with the baby once the play need is almost empty. There are different activities that will fulfill the baby's play need. A [[toy box]] and [[baby decoration]] increases the quality of play.
 
  
===Giggling and crying===
+
==== Giggling and crying ====
 
Instead of [[mental inspiration|mental inspirations]] or [[mental breaks]], babies will have giggling or crying "fits" which gives a mood boost or penalty to other colonists within a 10 tile{{Check Tag|Verify|Based on dev mode testing. Exact number unverified.}} radius. The ratio between giggling and crying is directly related with the baby's mood.
 
Instead of [[mental inspiration|mental inspirations]] or [[mental breaks]], babies will have giggling or crying "fits" which gives a mood boost or penalty to other colonists within a 10 tile{{Check Tag|Verify|Based on dev mode testing. Exact number unverified.}} radius. The ratio between giggling and crying is directly related with the baby's mood.
  
[[Mood]] boosts from giggling babies go from {{Good|+4}} up to {{Good|+10}}, while crying babies can cause mood maluses from {{Bad|-8}} down to {{Bad|-20}}. Parents are only half as bothered by their baby crying, and twice as happy when their baby is giggling.
+
[[Mood]] boosts from giggling babies go from {{Good|+4}} up to {{Good|+10}}, while crying babies can cause mood maluses from {{Bad|-8}} down to {{Bad|-20}}. Parents are only half as bothered by their baby crying, and twice as happy when their baby is giggling. Pawns with 0% [[Hearing]] are not affected by the crying.{{Check Tag|Giggling?|Do deaf pawns get the mood buff}}{{Check Tag|Parents vs non|Verify that deafness prevents the mood effects for both giggles and crying for both parents and non parents}}
  
 
{| class="wikitable"
 
{| class="wikitable"
|-
 
 
! Giggling occurance
 
! Giggling occurance
 
|-
 
|-
| {{GraphChart
+
| {{Graph:Chart
|width=400
+
| width = 400
|height=100
+
| height = 100
|type=line
+
| type   = line
|x=0, 25, 50, 75, 100
+
| x = 0   , 25   , 50, 75, 100
|y=0.125, 0.25, 1, 2, 4  
+
| y = 0.125, 0.25, 1, 2,   4  
|xAxisTitle = Baby mood (%)
+
| xAxisTitle = Baby mood (%)
|yAxisTitle = Average occurance (times per day)
+
| yAxisTitle = Average occurance (times per day)
}}
+
}}
 
|}
 
|}
  
 
{| class="wikitable"
 
{| class="wikitable"
|-
 
 
! Crying occurance
 
! Crying occurance
 
|-
 
|-
| {{GraphChart
+
| {{Graph:Chart
|width=400
+
| width = 400
|height=100
+
| height = 100
|type=line
+
| type   = line
|x=0, 25, 50, 75, 100
+
| x = 0, 25, 50, 75   , 100
|y=12, 6, 1, 0.25, 0.125  
+
| y = 12, 6, 1, 0.25,   0.125  
|xAxisTitle = Baby mood (%)
+
| xAxisTitle = Baby mood (%)
|yAxisTitle = Average occurance (times per day)
+
| yAxisTitle = Average occurance (times per day)
}}
+
}}
 
|}
 
|}
  
 
{| class="wikitable"
 
{| class="wikitable"
|-
 
 
! Giggling to crying ratio (higher is better)
 
! Giggling to crying ratio (higher is better)
 
|-
 
|-
| {{GraphChart
+
| {{Graph:Chart
|width=400
+
| width = 400
|height=100
+
| height = 100
|type=line
+
| type   = line
|x=0, 25, 50, 75, 100
+
| x = 0   , 25   , 50, 75, 100
|y=0.011, 0.042, 1, 8, 32  
+
| y = 0.011, 0.042, 1, 8, 32  
|xAxisTitle = Baby mood (%)
+
| xAxisTitle = Baby mood (%)
|yAxisTitle = Occurance of giggling per time crying
+
| yAxisTitle = Occurance of giggling per time crying
}}
+
}}
 
|}
 
|}
 +
 +
=== Social ===
 +
Babies get the same [[Social|social]] opinion boosts from [[Social#Family by Blood|familial relationships]] that other pawns do. They are born aware of their entire family tree, going back to the great-grandparent generation and including dead relatives. In addition, their social relationships are impacted by who feeds them and who hears them crying. They will not know all of your colonists when born, only beginning to remember them after they've interacted a few times (and the colonist will likewise not remember the baby)!
 +
 +
Feeding changes the social opinions between a baby and their caretaker. A baby will gain about {{Good|+16}} social opinion for another pawn each time they are fed, with the "Fed me" opinion, which wears off over time. Breastfeeding provides a similar{{Check Tag|Same?|Is the opinion boost the same?}} benefit. An adult who feeds a baby will gain about {{Good|+4}} social opinion for them from this act, and remember the feeding for longer than the baby does. This bonus only stacks up to 5 times, for a maximum of +16 opinion of the baby. Adults who breastfeed a baby gain about {{Good|+7}} opinion for the baby from the interaction. These feeding opinion changes are the same whether the caretaker is the baby's parent or not.
 +
 +
Adults who hear a baby cry or giggle will change their opinions of the baby temporarily. A crying baby will gain the ''Cried'' {{Bad|-12}} opinion penalty, while a giggling baby will gain the ''Giggled'' {{Good|+12}} opinion boost. An adult can remember a baby's crying and giggling at the same time, cancelling each effect out. It is unclear if these modifiers stack.
 +
 +
==Analysis==
 +
The [[baby]] stage lasts for 45 days (3/4ths of a year). It requires a notably high amount of colonist labor, as the baby must both be fed and played with by adults.
 +
 +
Feeding babies takes a surprisingly long time, especially if breastfed. The base duration of feeding a baby from empty is {{ticks/gametime/hours|5000}}, and babies need to be fed roughly twice a day.  Between this and caring for her own needs, a mother tasked with caring for her baby can spend over half her waking hours, every day, for those 45 days.
 +
 +
[[Growth vat]]s can be used to skip the baby stage, at the cost of nutrition and a slight mood penalty.
 +
 +
== Version history ==
 +
* [[Biotech DLC]] release - Introduced. Humans have a gestation cycle defined without Biotech, but they can not get pregnant.
 +
* [[Version/1.4.3529|1.4.3529]] - Fix: Babies can carry items in caravans.
 +
* [[Version/1.4.3541|1.4.3541]] - Fix: Overactive temperature warning for baby moving.
 +
* [[Version/1.4.3555|1.4.3555]] - Lactating no longer prevents pregnancy or ovum extraction, but now inflicts a {{Bad|x5%}} multiplier to Fertility. Update the lactating hediff's description to mention that it reduces fertility. Pawns away on a PawnLend quest won't have their lactating condition expire if there are any babies with them that can feed. Terminate pregnancy operation increased to 2 medicine (from 1), work slightly reduced. Update the wording of the stillbirth letter to be a bit clearer about the choice of naming the baby, and allow the player to decide not to name the baby. Fathers now get a negative thought if their child is stillborn. If a baby is stillborn from a surrogate mother, the gene-mother gets a negative thought.
 +
* [[Version/1.4.3557|1.4.3557]] - Colonists born in the colony no longer stay stuck in labor forever if the Ideology DLC was not active when they became a child.
 +
* [[Version/1.4.3580|1.4.3580]] - Fix: Babies being assigned child body type on load.
  
 
{{Biotech navbox}}
 
{{Biotech navbox}}
 +
[[Category:Game mechanics]]

Latest revision as of 22:47, 17 November 2024

Reproduction is the means by which human babies are created.

Note: Due to the continuous nature of the subject matter, this page covers from conception to the age of three.

Acquisition[edit]

Babies can be obtained via several different methods:

  • Choosing them as a starting colonist via the scenario system.
  • Natural reproduction, through pregnancy.
  • Assisted reproduction, through surrogacy or growth vats.
  • Purchasing them from slavers.[Can babies be bought?]
  • Receiving them from quests and events. Babies of any faction can be adopted instantly to the colony, without angering them.

Note that with the exception of the first point, these methods become unavailable if "Disable children" is toggled on in the storyteller settings.

Natural reproduction[edit]

Pawns in romantic relationships have a chance to get pregnant when they initiate lovin'. Note that pawns must share a two-person bed, bedroll, or sleeping spot at the same time to initate lovin'. The Sleeping Alone debuff only checks if 2 pawns are assigned the same bed; they don't need to sleep at the same time or ever engage in lovin' to avoid it.

Chance[edit]

The prospective parents' chance of successfully reproducing is primarily controlled by their Fertility stat. The player has three options to adjust pregnancy rates from Lovin' in any relationship. By opening the social tab, to the right of a Lover, Fiancee, or Spouse, you can see a button that lets you change the couple's approach for having kids.

Normal.png Normal (Default) x1 pregnancy chance.
AvoidPregnancy.png Avoid pregnancy x0.25 pregnancy chance.
TryForBaby.png Try for baby x4 pregnancy chance.

Therefore, the total chance of pregnancy in one relationship is likely:

Pregnancy chance per relationship = Mother's fertility x Father's fertility x Reproductive Approach x Times Lovin'


The actual chance that a pair of pawns will do Lovin' each night varies, but it requires them to share the same bed and sleep at the same time. Their chance of Lovin' varies by age, as seen in this chart. The low libido and high libido genes will also alter this. There have been reports that colonist mood and opinions of each other also influence the chance of doing Lovin'.

Pregnancy[edit]

Pregnancy lasts for 18 days, broken into three 6-day trimesters. The player will receive a notification when the pregnancy starts and when it progresses from one trimester to the next. The pregnant pawn will gain penalties to movement, manipulation, and hunger rate, increasing each trimester as seen in the chart below. Other than the statistical penalties, pregnant pawns have no restrictions on the activities they pursue.

If the mother is in poor health, such as Malnutrition, she might suffer a miscarriage.[Details]

Stage Effects
First trimester
  • Hunger rate offset: +10%
Second trimester
Third trimester

During the first trimester, a pawn will gain the New pregnancy moodlet, which can either be positive or negative direction: +3 I'm pregnant! It makes me happy., or −3 I'm pregnant and not very happy about it. When the pawn is not happy about their pregnancy, you can perform an operation to end their pregnancy This will result in a mood buff of +5 I'm relieved I'm not pregnant any more. Throughout their pregnancy, they will also occasionally gain mood buffs or debuffs due to hormone-induced mood swings, which includes the third trimester.[Detail needed] Mood swings are visible in the Health tab as a condition affecting the brain. They vary in severity, direction, and duration, appearing as: "Pregnancy Mood (<duration>, <type>)" with the description This common side effect of pregnancy represents a rising and falling mood caused by unbalanced hormones. Accompanying this, the pawn will get a positive or negative moodlet labeled Pregnancy mood <type>. Mood swings are short-lived, with the longest duration seen so far being 10 hours.

Types of Mood swings:

  • −14 Pregnancy mood collapse mood
  • −8 Pregnancy mood down mood
  • 4 Pregnancy mood up mood
  • 8 Pregnancy mood high mood

Pregnant pawns may also receive the "morning sickness" condition, which lasts 4 to 8 in-game hours. Along with health effects, they will gain the −3 mood debuff Sick.

Morning sickness:

Note that Pawns in the character selection menu can begin the game already pregnant.

Assisted reproduction[edit]

Science enables new methods for obtaining babies. After Fertility Procedures has been researched, you can extract ova from female pawns and fertilize them to form an embryo, for use in surrogate pregnancies or vat-grown babies.

Both methods require extracting an ovum from a fertile female pawn, be they colonist, prisoner, or slaveContent added by the Ideology DLC, through a medical operation in the pawn's Health tab: "Extract ovum for IVF". The operation requires one of any type of medicine and a doctor, although it is a relatively easy surgery, with a 500% multiplier on success, and 0% chance of death on failure.

The ovum may then be fertilized by a fertile male colonist or slave (but not a prisoner or guest) to produce an embryo. As long as the male pawn's fertility is above 0% this will be successful[Verify]. The resulting embryo can then be implanted in female pawns (may be prisoner, colonist, or slave) to initiate a pregnancy, placed in a growth vat, or sold.

Surrogacy[edit]

With the Fertility Procedures research, you can create embryos. They can then be implanted into a pawn for a chance for the pawn to become pregnant. The chance of success depends on the surrogate's own Fertility.

Even if they did not supply the ovum, the surrogate will be considered the birth mother. Otherwise, it will act as a regular pregnancy.[Verify]. A pawn born this way will consider both their surrogate and genetic mother as the pawn's parents in terms of social opinions.

Growth vats[edit]

Growth vats are a complete alternative to pregnancy. They require the Growth vats research to make, as well as Fertility Procedures, and two pawns with > 0% Fertility to actually create embryos.

Growth vats allow an embryo to be born in 9 days, half the time of a natural pregnancy. Active vats must be given a constant supply of 200 W of power and 6 nutrition per day - or around 6.5 simple meals per day - to ensure survival of the fetus. If lacking either, then the fetus will undergo biostarvation, increasing by 50% per day. If biostarvation reaches 100%, the fetus will be destroyed.

Otherwise, growth vat births always have a quality of 70%, which affects the chance of the baby being born healthy. On practice, per 100 birth there will be 2 dead and 10 sick. However, there are benefits to this method: as it avoids natural birth, the mother won't be weighed down, and there is no risk of them dying.

Birth[edit]

Your first warning for a pawn's upcoming childbirth comes during a pawn's pregnancy: the player will receive one notification when the mother hits the third trimester about "<Colonist>'s baby prep", which explains all the steps you can take to help the mother give birth successfully. Besides preparing a location and doctor for the birth, this notification reminds you to prepare a food source for the baby and build them a crib. Labor will happen roughly 6 days after, starting with a notification of "<Colonist> in labor!".

Once labor begins, the birthing procedure can be initiated by clicking on the mother, and selecting the "Begin birth" option. This allows the player to select participants and a Doctor, much like Ideology's rituals. The procedure will take place at a bed or sleeping spot, chosen automatically (preferring medical beds) if the mother is not already in bed. All of these choices have an effect on the birth's quality, which affects the chance that the mother and baby will come out of childbirth alive and healthy. You can view the exact factors and their influence in the Quality section below. The expected duration of this operation is variable, but will end once the baby has been born or mother has died.

Labor[edit]

The progress of labor can be tracked in the mother's health tab. Labor begins with contractions, different stages of dilation that change randomly over time, with all adding various amounts of pain and restrictions on movement for the mother. Many stages will incapacitate her, so even before the childbirth operation begins, it is important to bring her to a bed. When the childbirth operation has proceeded for a while, you will receive a small notification saying "<mother>'s labor has entered the final stage", and the labor will progress to the final "pushing" stage.

Stages of labor:

  • dilation, mild: pain +25%, moving x40%
  • dilation, intense: pain +50%, moving x20%
  • dilation, debilitating: pain +85%, moving x0%
  • pushing: pain +85%, moving x0%

Once the childbirth procedure has begun, any spectating loved ones may socialize with each other, but the doctor and mother will be focused on their tasks. Spectators and the doctors can leave if needed, by selecting a pawn and then pressing the "Leave child birth" option. Finally, you can cancel the birth operation by selecting any of the involved pawns and then selecting the "Cancel child birth" option, which allows you to restart childbirth later.

Quality[edit]

When starting the child birth procedure, a screen will show you the expected quality of the birth, determined by (descending order of influence):

  • Age of the mother: The mother has a natural +50% quality bonus between ages 20-30. Outside this range, the bonus drops. See the graph below.
  • Doctor's medical skill: Can range from 0-25%. Starting at 0% with skill level 1 and increasing by 1.25% every level, up to a maximum of 25% at skill level 20.
  • Room cleanliness: Cleanliness can range from 0-0.6, giving 0-10% in quality bonuses.
  • Other factors, gives up to 5% each:
    • Loved one present: The presence of someone that the mother considers a friend or more gives +5% quality, with no stacking for multiple friends or a better friend. By default, the father will be selected to be present. If the doctor performing the operation is a friend, they will count towards this bonus too, and forcing father to participate in addition to doctor will give nothing.
    • Indoors: If inside, the quality gains +5%.
    • Bed health effects: Contributes up to 5%, with things like bed quality, or a hospital bed influencing this stat. A bed rating of 5 guarantees a quality bonus of +5%.

Birth quality is determined at the moment of the baby's birth; allowing the doctor or loved ones to leave, or having the room grow dirty, has an effect on birth quality.

Additional quality from Mother's age
  • 14 yrs: +0%
  • 15 yrs: +30%
  • 20 yrs: +50%
  • 30 yrs: +50%
  • 40 yrs: +30%
  • 65 yrs: +0%

Note: Bonus is linearly
interpolated between these points

Outcomes[edit]

Depending on the quality, the baby can be born healthy or sickly, or they may die during birth, also known as being stillborn. At lower qualities, there is also a chance that the mother can die during childbirth. The quality needs to be >90% for the best possible outcomes. Since the probability of a bad outcome increases drastically below 20% birth quality, it's strongly recommended to provide at least the bare necessities, such as a bed indoors, as even a few percent above 0% in birth quality will contribute massively to the outcome.

Birth Outcome Chance Mother Death Chance

You will receive a notification when the birth is complete, and the baby will appear on an adjacent tile. If the baby was born alive, a pawn with the Childcare work enabled can be instructed to either move the baby to a safe space, or to deliver it to the mother for breastfeeding. The baby will be born hungry, with a mood penalty of −6.[Thought Template]

If your baby was healthy, the notification is "Healthy child birth", and it gives you 24 hours to choose a name for the baby. You can also name stillborn babies via the stillborn notification.[Notification title?]

These are only time where you can completely customize the baby's first and last names, and you additionally can add an optional nickname. The game will suggest the mother and father's last names on this screen, and provide random suggestions for the other names. Until then, the baby's name is temporary, and called "Baby <Mother's last name>". The baby will also receive the Childhood title "Newborn", and belong to the mother's faction. The baby's parents will receive a 15-day mood boost that "<Baby> was born healthy" +8.

If the baby is born sick, they are affected by a form of infant illness, which can start at a variable intensity. If left untreated before 10 days is up, the baby dies, but if it lives through 10 days after birth, the illness will no longer affect the baby. You will also get the chance to name your baby.

If the baby is stillborn, then the mother and father will experience a negative moodlet. If a surrogate mother is used, the biological mother will receive the moodlet.

If the mother survived childbirth, she will remain in bed, incapacitated by exhaustion (Postpartum exhaustion) for 16 hours. She'll no longer feel any pain from childbirth, but won't be able to move. However, if another pawn delivers her baby to her, she can begin breastfeeding.

Lactation[edit]

The condition of being able to breastfeed a baby. The breasts are actively producing and storing milk. The lactating state begins when a mother gives birth, and continues indefinitely as long as she breastfeeds a baby at least once every 10 days. People who are lactating will have a harder time becoming pregnant.

— Description

Upon a successful natural childbirth, the birthing mother will begin lactating. A lactating pawn can breastfeed babies, even if not their own. Lactation lasts indefinitely, but stops after 10 days of not breastfeeding a baby or if the pawn is malnourished with a mtb of 4 hours so roughly stopping at 40% malnutrition. If a lactating pawn is sent on a pawn lending quest, the 10 day timer will tick down unless they are sent along with a baby or babies that they can feed.

While lactating, the pawn gains a milk fullness stat, which starts at 100%. When it is above 0%, a pawn can breastfeed any baby, reducing milk accordingly. If it is below 100%, then the mother's Food Consumption increases. Consumption increases by up to +0.5 nutrition per day, for a total of 2.1 nutrition per day, until milk is full. For reference, 1 simple meal is 0.9 nutrition. The increased hunger scales with milk regeneration rate, which decreases as the pawn gets hungry.

Hunger Level Malnourished Ravenously hungry Hungry Full
Milk Regeneration 0% 25% 50% 100%
Extra Nutrition Per Day 0 0.13 0.25 0.5

Lactation also multiplies Fertility by ×5%, meaning the mother is very unlikely to get pregnant by any natural means.

Heredity[edit]

A compact chart of familial pawn relationships and its effects on inbreeding. Redundant relations have been hidden for simplicity.

When an embryo is conceived, it will inherit some of the genes of both parents. During a mother's pregnancy, you can view her child's genes by going to her Health tab and selecting the information button for her pregnancy. The genetics section will list all genes that her child has inherited.

Genes which can be passed down come from the germline DNA, and are called germline genes. Pawns may modify themselves with xenogenes, but as it's not part of a pawn's germline DNA, it cannot be passed down. If a germline gene is only present in one parent, it has a small chance to be passed down.[What's the chance?] However if an germline gene is present in both parents, it will always be passed down.

Generally, all pawns will have at least one hair color and skin color germline gene. Offspring will always pick one hair color and skin color germline gene from their parents. If no hair/skin color germline gene can be found in either parent, such as if they were two highmates, a random hair/skin color germline gene will be picked from the natural list of hair/skin colors instead.

If a pawn has multiple cosmetic genes within a category, like body type, one random gene will override the others. This will be the gene represented on the pawn. For non-cosmetic genes within a category there is a fixed priority for overrides, usually favored towards the negative variations. For example, an awful shooting aptitude will override all other shooting aptitudes. Xenogenes will always take priority over germline genes. Thus, even though the Slow runner germline gene overrides their Fast runner germline gene, the Fast runner xenogene will override the Slow runner germline gene. Note that overridden germline genes can still be passed down as normal.

Inbreeding[edit]

If a child is born from an incestuous relationship, there's a risk of them becoming inbred. The likelihood of this is modelled proportionally to the pawns' coefficient of relationship, though it is largely simplified.

As a general rule, the risk is 80% for first-degree, 40% for second-degree, and 10% for third-degree relatives; however some exceptions apply, an example being 20% for cousins. Many fourth-degree relationships and beyond are simply referred to as "Kin". Kin relationships pose no risk for inbreeding, despite being considered incestuous. If two pawns are related in more ways than one, such as being both parent/child (80%) and grandparent/grandchild (40%), the highest number always takes priority when calculating inbreeding. Pawns being inbred will not directly increase this number, but since inbred is a gene it will follow the same rules of gene inheritance as all other genes.

It's possible to check for the inbred gene after conception by using the "Inspect baby genes..." button on the pregnant pawn or the embryo. The outcome of a pregnancy isn't affected by inbreeding, but should the baby be born, the game will display an additional line in the birth results: The baby shows signs of genetic abnormalities due to inbreeding.

Inbred

Gene Inbred.png

The risk of inbreeding goes as follows, higher numbers taking priority over lower ones:

  • Relation Gene Inbred.png Inbreeding risk Coefficient of relationship
    Parent/Sibling/Child 80% 50%
    Grandparent/Aunt/Uncle/Niece/Nephew/Halfsibling/Grandchild 40% 25%
    Halfniece/Halfnephew 40% 12.5%
    Cousin 20% 12.5%
    G. grandparent/Grandaunt/Granduncle/Grandniece/Grandnephew/G. grandchild 10% 12.5%
    Half grandniece/Half grandnephew/Cousin once removed 10% 6.25%
    Second cousin 10% 3.125%
    Birth parent[1]/Kin 0% N/A
    1. Although birth parents are considered on the same level as biological parents, they aren't genetically related to the child they birth, and thus run no risk of inbreeding despite the game's warnings that they do.

    Fertility[edit]

    Fertility is the main pawn stat affecting pregnancy chances, acting as a percentage multiplier on the chance of getting pregnant naturally or through an ovum implantation. Natural pregnancy chance is equally dependent on the fertility of both partners. Additionally, fertility must be above 0% to extract a pawn's ovum or to fertilize the ovum into an embryo.

    This stat is affected by a variety of factors, such as age, genes, and contraceptives. Age is the baseline for fertility, changing slowly for each colonist over time, and at a different rate by pawn gender. Genes provide an additional multiplier on fertility. Contraceptives instantly bring fertility to 0%, overriding other fertility factors.

    For baseline humans without fertility-modifying genes, both men and women start becoming fertile after age 14; but regardless of fertility, pawns can't participate in reproduction until they are 16. Fertility increases differently by gender. Women's fertility increases until age 20, but starts dropping at age 28 until it reaches 0% at age 50. Men's fertility increases until age 18, but starts dropping at age 50 until it's 0% at age 90.

    Fertility

    Genes affect fertility in direct and indirect ways. There are two direct effects: the Fertile gene doubles fertility and the Sterile gene completely nullifies it. The Ageless gene prevents aging entirely, which prevents fertility loss. Age ReversalContent added by the Ideology DLC also has a fully restorative effect on fertility. Even a completely infertile pawn (due to age) can start reproduction again.

    Contraceptives[edit]

    There are many ways to manually change the likelihood of natural pregnancy. The simplest way in the game to prevent pregnancy is to not give pawns a double bed to themselves. However, it deprives them of the mood bonuses of Lovin' in the first place. By changing a couple's Reproductive Approach "Avoid pregnancy" in the social tab, pregnancy rate will be reduced by −75%, but still gives Lovin' at the same rate. Lactation, from having given birth before, gives a ×5% multiplier to Fertility.

    A more stable way to prevent pregnancy is available from the Fertility Procedures research. This gives access to multiple operations, reversible or permanent, to prevent and stop pregnancies. These surgeries can be applied to any pawn age 16 and up, and can be performed even if the pawn is already infertile.

    IUD[edit]

    This is a method of preventing pregnancies that lasts indefinitely but is reversible. You can stop a female pawn from becoming pregnant with the "Implant IUD" medical operation, which has a base 100% success chance and no chance of pawn death upon failure. The operation requires 1 Medicine of any type and will anesthetize the pawn. The IUD lasts indefinitely and can be seen in the pawn's Health tab, but you can later remove it through the "Remove IUD" medical operation for 1 Medicine of Industrial quality or better. Women may embark with IUDs already implanted. If either of these operations is botched, the patient will become permanently sterile.

    Implanted IUDs also stop pregnancies in the first trimester, an alternative to the Terminate Pregnancy operation.

    Vasectomy[edit]

    This is another method of preventing pregnancies that lasts indefinitely but is reversible. You can stop a male pawn from impregnating others with the "Perform vasectomy" medical operation, which also has a base 100% success chance with no chance of pawn death upon failure. The vasectomy lasts indefinitely, with the operation requiring 1 Medicine of any type. You can later remove it through the "Reverse vasectomy" medical operation, also for and 1 Medicine of any type.[Industrial only?] Men may embark with the operation already performed.[Verify] If either of these operations is botched, the patient will become permanently sterile. Chance of permanent sterilization during vasectomy reversal is higher than IUD's removal.

    Tubal Ligation[edit]

    This permanently stops a female pawn from being able to reproduce. "Perform tubal ligation" is a medical operation requiring 1 Medicine of any type. The surgery success chance is 100% and there is no chance of pawn death upon failure. The operation is irreversable.

    Neither of the IUD, Vasectomy and Tubal Ligation will be "healed" by luciferium, bioregeneration cycle and by applying healing or resurrection mech serum.

    Termination[edit]

    If the pawn has already become pregnant past the first trimester, the only option left is to terminate the pregnancy. This can be achieved through the medical operation "Terminate pregnancy" requiring 2 Medicine [What quality?] and 1,500 ticks (25 secs) of work, after which the pawn will no longer be pregnant. There is a 2% of death if this operation fails, but a ×2 success chance factor. Note that the maximum success chance still applies, resulting in a 0.04% chance of death with max surgery success.

    This operation can upset the affected pawn. Depending on the trimester of the pregnancy, a moodlet of −5 for the first, −10 for the second, and −20 for the third will occur, lasting for 10 days. If a pawn was not happy about the pregnancy, they will gain a +5 moodlet instead. If performed on another faction's pawn, it is considered a violation and will result in loss of goodwill.

    This is the only fertility procedure that does not require the Fertility Procedures research.

    Pregnancy analysis[edit]

    Growth vats are the "best" way to create your own children, with it being faster, having no risk to the mother, and able to be done with low Fertility. However, the nutrition cost is non-negligible. The vats themselves cost some steel, components, and research to make.

    If both pawns are reasonably young, fertile, and sleeping at the same time, then pregnancy will be quite common; it is easy to get pawns pregnant, if you wanted them to.

    Babies[edit]

    The end result of pregnancy is a human baby. Babies are small, helpless creatures that cannot walk or do anything by themselves. They only have three basic needs: food, sleep, and play.

    Babies are born with no traits or skills: these develop during childhood Growth Moments. They also have no ideoligion Content added by the Ideology DLC. Unless they have temporary health effects from being born sick, they have no health conditions, with every health stat at 100%, except for Moving, which is at 0%.

    The baby life stage lasts for ages 0-2, with newborn ages tracked in days and quadrums rather than years. Once a baby turns 3, they become a child, and on their 3rd birthday you can make special choices for how they will develop further. Under the default storyteller settings, babies will age 4x faster than normal, so the biological age of the baby is not how many days/quadrums they have actually been alive. Growth vats can speed up a baby's growth by 20x that of an adult, or 5x faster than default. Depending on the growth vat precept Content added by the Ideology DLC colonists may be sad about their baby being, or not being, in a growth vat. Using a growth vat seems to have no ill effects on a baby or its development, at least until it exits the baby stage.[Not thoroughly tested]

    If a baby is left on the ground, any colonist (even those incapable of childcare or hauling) can try to bring the baby somewhere safe, like an available crib. Usually a colonist will quickly try to do this automatically. If you draft a colonist while they are carrying a baby, you'll receive a pop-up warning that your colonist is carrying a baby while drafted. If you undraft and redraft the colonist, they will drop the baby.

    Artificial body parts cannot be applied to babies, but Xenogerms can be. Babies cannot be ordered to apply xenogerms by selecting them and right-clicking on the xenogerm, as they cannot walk. Players must instead place an order for it on the health tab.

    Food[edit]

    Babies need less nutrition to become full, but their hunger rate is adjusted with it to require food twice a day. Since babies cannot eat anything by themselves, pawns assigned to childcare will help feed them. The feeding process is fairly slow when compared to adult eating.

    They can only be fed in one of following ways:

    Of these, breastfeeding is usually the easiest. Unlike other foods, which feed in bursts only once the food has been consumed, breastfeeding will gradually increase the food bar. This allows the breastfeeding pawn to pause at any point, whilst also not wasting excess food. Usually, a pawn will sit down to breastfeed, continuing until the baby is full or the pawn is out of milk.

    You can control what foods the baby can eat and who will try to feed the baby in the baby's "Feeding" tab. By default, the mother will be set to Urgent, with all other pawns set to Childcare. If a pawn is set to childcare, that does not mean they will feed the baby: their childcare labor may be turned off, or they may be incapable of it.

    • "Urgent" means the pawn will feed the baby day or night, even if the pawn is not assigned to childcare or capable of it.
    • "Childcare" means the pawn will feed the baby as childcare work.
    • "Never" means the pawn won't automatically feed the baby.

    You can allow the baby to eat milk, insect jelly, and baby food in this tab, but can't control breastfeeding here.

    Drugs[edit]

    Although babies are limited to eating certain foods, you can administer drugs to babies under the Health>>Medical Operations tab. These have an outsized influence due to their very small body sizes (x0.20 of the size of an adult). Each drug causes a higher severity, increasing its duration. But due to the massive tolerance, any further drugs are very likely to get them addicted. The actual effects of a drug are the same between babies and adults.

    Sleep[edit]

    Unlike adults, babies don't follow a sleep schedule, instead falling asleep mostly at random. They may be in a sleeping spot, growing steadily more sleepy and upset, while still not falling asleep.

    A crib or bed should be provided for the baby to sleep in, as it will negate the negative mood from sleeping on the floor. There are several benefits of cribs over beds: cribs take up only one tile, multiple can be placed in a room without turning it into a barracks, and high-quality cribs can increase the mood of the baby while it rests or sleeps.

    Force-feeding, holding, or playing with the baby will wake them up, possibly keeping them unhappy from being tired.

    Play[edit]

    Babies need to be played with, in place of standard Recreation. An adult assigned to child care will play with the baby once the play need is almost empty. There are different activities that will fulfill the baby's play need. A toy box and baby decoration increases the quality of play. Babies that are somehow psychopaths or inhumanizedContent added by the Anomaly DLC will be unaffected by this need, this cannot be seen outside of developer mode and adding the trait or hediff.

    Mood[edit]

    Babies' moods are influenced by their needs for food, sleep, and play. These are affected at the same rates as for adults:

    Hunger Ravenously Hungry Hungry Normal
    Mood effect -12 -6 0
    Sleep Tired Drowsy Normal
    Mood effect -12 -6 0
    Play Really wants to play Wants to Play Normal Entertained Very Entertained
    Mood effect -10 -5 0 5 10

    Babies share some moodlets with adults but aren't affected by as many thoughts. Babies can gain the −4 Slept in the Cold moodlet, but aren't affected by temperature while awake. Babies have the same expectations for colony life as other pawns do, influencing their moods at the same rate. They can be influenced by psychic drones, soothes, and psycasts Content added by the Royalty DLC just as much as other pawns, because they have a psychic sensitivity of 100% by default. However, babies don't consider furniture comfort or quality, except while resting or sleeping in a crib, with various crib qualities providing higher mood boosts.

    Uniquely, babies get a mood bonus when their parents are very happy: "Parent is happy" +6, or "Parents are happy" +12.

    Being held or breastfed does not affect the baby or caretaking adult's mood in any direct way. However, babies will temporarily forget any ill mood effects from lack of Sleep while being held, although these needs will still decrease as usual.

    A baby's mood affects the moods of all other colonists, much like children's moods can. Parents of a baby who is very happy will receive a +6 mood boost for "My child <baby> is happy". If the baby is about 1/3 of its happiness or less, parents have a −6 mood penalty, thinking "My child <baby> is unhappy". Babies also factor into the colonists' thoughts on the overall happiness of the colony's children, which range from a positive +2 "Happy youngsters" mood boost to a −2 "Sad youngsters", to worse negative mood penalties, all based on the average of the moods of colonists aged 0-17.

    Giggling and crying[edit]

    Instead of mental inspirations or mental breaks, babies will have giggling or crying "fits" which gives a mood boost or penalty to other colonists within a 10 tile[Verify] radius. The ratio between giggling and crying is directly related with the baby's mood.

    Mood boosts from giggling babies go from +4 up to +10, while crying babies can cause mood maluses from −8 down to −20. Parents are only half as bothered by their baby crying, and twice as happy when their baby is giggling. Pawns with 0% Hearing are not affected by the crying.[Giggling?][Parents vs non]

    Giggling occurance
    Crying occurance
    Giggling to crying ratio (higher is better)

    Social[edit]

    Babies get the same social opinion boosts from familial relationships that other pawns do. They are born aware of their entire family tree, going back to the great-grandparent generation and including dead relatives. In addition, their social relationships are impacted by who feeds them and who hears them crying. They will not know all of your colonists when born, only beginning to remember them after they've interacted a few times (and the colonist will likewise not remember the baby)!

    Feeding changes the social opinions between a baby and their caretaker. A baby will gain about +16 social opinion for another pawn each time they are fed, with the "Fed me" opinion, which wears off over time. Breastfeeding provides a similar[Same?] benefit. An adult who feeds a baby will gain about +4 social opinion for them from this act, and remember the feeding for longer than the baby does. This bonus only stacks up to 5 times, for a maximum of +16 opinion of the baby. Adults who breastfeed a baby gain about +7 opinion for the baby from the interaction. These feeding opinion changes are the same whether the caretaker is the baby's parent or not.

    Adults who hear a baby cry or giggle will change their opinions of the baby temporarily. A crying baby will gain the Cried −12 opinion penalty, while a giggling baby will gain the Giggled +12 opinion boost. An adult can remember a baby's crying and giggling at the same time, cancelling each effect out. It is unclear if these modifiers stack.

    Analysis[edit]

    The baby stage lasts for 45 days (3/4ths of a year). It requires a notably high amount of colonist labor, as the baby must both be fed and played with by adults.

    Feeding babies takes a surprisingly long time, especially if breastfed. The base duration of feeding a baby from empty is 5,000 ticks (2 in-game hours), and babies need to be fed roughly twice a day. Between this and caring for her own needs, a mother tasked with caring for her baby can spend over half her waking hours, every day, for those 45 days.

    Growth vats can be used to skip the baby stage, at the cost of nutrition and a slight mood penalty.

    Version history[edit]

    • Biotech DLC release - Introduced. Humans have a gestation cycle defined without Biotech, but they can not get pregnant.
    • 1.4.3529 - Fix: Babies can carry items in caravans.
    • 1.4.3541 - Fix: Overactive temperature warning for baby moving.
    • 1.4.3555 - Lactating no longer prevents pregnancy or ovum extraction, but now inflicts a ×5% multiplier to Fertility. Update the lactating hediff's description to mention that it reduces fertility. Pawns away on a PawnLend quest won't have their lactating condition expire if there are any babies with them that can feed. Terminate pregnancy operation increased to 2 medicine (from 1), work slightly reduced. Update the wording of the stillbirth letter to be a bit clearer about the choice of naming the baby, and allow the player to decide not to name the baby. Fathers now get a negative thought if their child is stillborn. If a baby is stillborn from a surrogate mother, the gene-mother gets a negative thought.
    • 1.4.3557 - Colonists born in the colony no longer stay stuck in labor forever if the Ideology DLC was not active when they became a child.
    • 1.4.3580 - Fix: Babies being assigned child body type on load.