Skilltrainer

Skilltrainer

A one-use super-dose of mechanites which trains a specific skill.
The dose is administered through the orbit of the eye. Once released into the brain, the mechanites quickly improve the subject's skills in a specific area, transmuting themselves into neural tissue as needed.

Base Stats

Type

Exotic item

Market Value

750 

Stack Limit

1

Mass

0.2 kg

HP

80

Flammability

20%

Rotatable

False

Path Cost

15 (46%)

Technical

defName

Neurotrainer

thingSetMakerTags

RewardStandardHighFreq, SkillNeurotrainer

tradeTags

ExoticMisc

Skilltrainers are rare items that will substantially increase a single, specific skill of the colonist using the item. It will then be used up and disappear.

In places, the game still refers to this item as a "neurotrainer" (see Version history, below).^[Where?]

Acquisition

Skilltrainers can be bought from traders, obtained as a quest reward and found in item stashes.

Summary

See also: Skill experience table

Each trainer is attuned to one specific skill and will increase this skill only, which is given as part of the name, such as "Skilltrainer (Construction)" or "Skilltrainer (Social)". The skill cannot be chosen, it is a property of the item and chosen randomly when the item is generated by the game.

To use the device, select a colonist, right-click the skilltrainer, then click "Use skilltrainer to learn <Skill Name>". The skill will increase immediately, the game will display an on-screen message to this effect, and the item will disappear.

Using the device gives 50,000 base experience, modified by the passion the colonist has for the skill, giving either 35%, 100% or 150% of the base XP depending on the level of passion. Traits like Too Smart or Fast Learner have no effect on the skill gain. Similarly, the learning penalty from reaching the "soft cap" of 4000 XP per day is ignored; the trainer always provides the same amount of XP for a given character.

Passion	XP Gain
None	17,500
	50,000
	75,000

While the amount of XP granted is fixed, the effect on the skill level of the colonist may vary depending on how skilled the they already were. For example:

• With an "interested" passion (one flame) and 0 XP in a skill (no knowledge), a pawn will be at skill level 9 ("solid professional"), halfway through level 10, after using the skilltrainer.
• The same pawn without any passion would be at level 5 ("significant familiarity"), about halfway through level 6.
• Starting at exactly skill level 16 ("region-known master") and 0 points, the same pawn would get to level 18 ("planet-known master") and no points to spare (ie. after 1000 points of decay, it would take them back to level 17 with 1000 under the requirement for level 18).

See the Experience Table for more detail.

It will have no effect on a colonist that is incapable of using that skill, but the item will still be consumed. A skill upgraded above or beyond level 10 is still subject to decay, as if the skill was learned in the natural way.

Analysis

• Skill passions are in effect when learning from this item, so it is most effective when used by a colonist with a low skill level but high passion for the skill. This gives the highest number of effective levels, which is usually the most impactful change for the colony.
• The trainer is very valuable if naturally training the skill in the field would be difficult, be it for lack of opportunity, or because it would require spending resources or a lot of time. It will allow you to make a colonist immediately viable and productive for a given task: for example, using a skilltrainer to train a passionate, but low-skilled miner would instantly allow you to mine valuable ores without wasting yield from the ore mine.
• Skill increases in general have diminishing returns. The lower the current skill level, the more valuable a given amount of XP points is. Since the item gives a fixed number of XP points, as opposed to increasing the skill level by a percentage, it is usually more effective to raise low skill levels with it (as this translates into more levels). Getting a character from level 0 to level 9 in a skill is worth significantly more than getting somebody from level 16 to 18. This is amplified further by every skill point from level 10 onward being subject to decay.

Version history

• 0.7.581 - Added as Neurotrainer
• Beta 18 - name was changed from Neurotrainer to Neurotrainer mech serum, and its description was changed.
• 1.1 - the name was reverted back from Neurotrainer mech serum to Neurotrainer.
• 1.2.2719 - Renamed yet again from Neurotrainer to Skilltrainer and gave them their own category similar to psytrainers.