Wasters

Wasters are a xenotype perfectly suited for post-apocalyptic pollution worlds. Their adaptation comes with several drawbacks, and their aggression and ugliness makes it hard for them to coexist with other xenotypes.

Lore

Wasters are gaunt-faced, grey-skinned, aggressive, immune to toxic pollution, almost impervious to disease, and can ingest as much psychite and wake-up drugs as they wish with no ill effects. Their toxin-adapted metabolism means they must consume some form of psychite to survive - usually flake or yayo.
Originally engineered to prevent resettlement of post-apocalyptic deathworlds, wasters are living area-denial weapons. Waster pirates armed with toxic weapons are the bane of many frontier peoples, both on the rimworlds and in the depths of the urbworld hyperstructures.
The faction of waster pirates are a diverse collection of violent xenohumans. They are mostly wasters, with a smattering of hussars, neanderthals, dirtmoles, genies, yttakins, and pigskins. They have little interest in building, or farming, preferring to take their sustenance from others using violence. Their technology level depends mostly on who they've managed to steal from recently. Mostly they carry gunpowder weapons, though some prefer to stab victims at close range. They’ll always be a threat. - In Game Description

Occurrence

The table below describes the chance for a given pawn from each faction being a waster. Note that this value does not account for chances in xenotype chance from ideoligion or from pawn kind, it only shows the base value before those factors.

Summary

Wasters can thrive in polluted areas but sacrifice talents in other areas to do so. They are genetically dependent on psychite, with major consequences if their need is not met: they will start feeling mood effects after 5 days without it, will fall into a coma after 30 days without, and will die after 60 days of deprivation. Wasters are very noticeable, with gasmask-like gaunt gray faces.

Genes

Wasters have a gene complexity of 13 complexity. With a 0 metabolic efficiency, they have a hunger rate of ×100%.

All wasters have these germline genes:

Assorted:

Super immunity	Total antitoxic lungs	Aggressive	Unattractive	Pollution stimulus	Psychite dependency	Wake-up impervious

Cosmetic:

Gaunt head	Gray hair	Slate gray skin

Skills:

Poor cooking	Poor artistic	Awful animals

Origins

Many wasters found homes in the Waster pirate bands of the Rim. If you have this band of pirates enabled you will be attacked by wasters sooner or later. There is also a slight chance for them to show up with other pirate gangs, or with scattered groups as parts of quests.

Analysis

Besides their immunity to toxicity and need for psychite, wasters are relatively plain. They don't get along with others, due to the combination of Unattractive and Aggressive. They thrive in polluted environments, and decent outside of one. Wake-up is useful when you need to get stuff done, now.

Psychite dependency is easily manageable, and can even be a positive, as covered below. For the gene extractor, it's well worth to take Psychite Dependency for +4 metabolic efficiency and its own positives. Other noteworthy genes to extract are the negative Cooking / Animals / Artistic genes, which are free metabolic efficiency for colonists who don't use those skills.

Psychite

A waster's psychite dependency is very affordable. Even in Losing is Fun, just 10 psychoid plants converted into flake are enough to sustain a waster for an entire year, without deficiency. In a year-round growing season, this is a field of 3 psychoid plants. If you have a grower with the required Plants 6 skill and the Psychite refining research, this is trivial. In exchange, you can (almost) freely ingest yayo, flake, and wake-up. (See "Health effects with drug genes" for stipulations.)

• Flake is the cheapest way to handle the dependency. Compared to psychite tea, flake restores more rest, reduces Sleep Fall Rate significantly more, and gives a much higher mood for the same amount of leaves. You can take flake once every 2.7 days without a net tolerance increase. While tea can be taken every 2 days, this is not sufficient to overcome the flake's statistical advantages even when scheduling flake to be taken every 3 days.

• Yayo consumes twice as many leaves per dose, but is superior as a drug.

Yayo shares the same +35 mood, x50% pain reduction, and ×33% Sleep Fall Rate as flake, but also gives +15% Moving, lasts twice as long per dose, and restores twice as much rest. In addition, yayo takes only 23% as much time to consume. This makes yayo effective as an ersatz combat drug and, if take at the same cadence as the cheaper flake, generally makes for more efficient workers as well. So if leaf production is not a limiting factor, such as with decent planters and a year-round growing season, yayo is better overall.

And, if necessary, you can take yayo, flake, and psychite tea at the same time for +82 mood.

If you have other colonists with the chemical interest or chemical fascination traits, you should keep them away from any hard drugs produced. To counter these traits, set an allowed area to exclude areas where drugs are produced or stored. With a gene extractor and assembler, you can give chemically interested pawns psychite dependency yourself, allowing them to indulge in chemical need all they want.

Health effects with drug genes

Psychite dependency and wake-up impervious prevent addiction and any sort of overdose upon taking the drug. There are some health effects they do not protect from.

• Too high of a psychite tolerance can cause chemical damage to the kidneys. However, an adult can take up to 11 doses of flake/yayo in a row without reaching this tolerance threshold. If a pawn takes a drug every 5 days, they shouldn't ever have chemical damage, even if they take a few emergency doses every once in a while. Plus, kidneys can be replaced with either an organic or artificial replacement.
• Wake-up has a rare chance to cause a heart attack during the high. A prosthetic heart or bionic heart prevents this entirely.

Basically, if a colonist is only taking psychite every 5 days, then health concerns are minimal.

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Biotech (DLC)

Families

Relationships (Reproduction • Children)
Life stages (Babies • Children • Adults)
Furniture (Crib • Baby sleeping spot • Growth vat • Toy box • Baby decoration • School desk • Blackboard)

Mechanoids

Laborers (Agrihand • Cleansweeper • Constructoid • Fabricor • Lifter • Paramedic • Tunneler)
Combatants (Centurion • Legionary • Militor • Scorcher • Tesseron)
Commanders (Apocriton • Diabolus • War queen • War urchin)

Mechanitors

Control (Mechlink • Band node • Mech boosters • Mech signallers • Control pack • Airwire headset)
Mechanoid creation (Basic subcore • Standard subcore • High subcore • Subcore encoder • Subcore softscanner • Subcore ripscanner • Mech gestator)
Maintenance (Mech recharger)

Genetics

Xenohumans (Dirtmoles • Genies • Highmates • Hussars • Impids • Neanderthals • Pigskins • Sanguophages • Wasters • Yttakin)
Genes Germline • Xenogene • Metabolic efficiency
Genetic Modification Genepack • Gene extractor • Gene bank • Gene assembler • Gene processor • Xenogerm • Archite capsules
Deathrest (Deathrest accelerator • Deathrest capacity serum • Deathrest casket • Glucosoid pump • Hemogen amplifier • Hemopump • Psychofluid pump)

Pollution

Nature (Toxalope • Toxipotato plant • Waste rat • Gray pine tree • Pebble cactus • Rat palm tree • Witchwood tree • Stasis cocoon)
Mitigation (Wastepacks • Atomizers • Pollution pumps • Polux trees)
Adaptation Face mask • Gas mask • Tox grenades • Tox pack • Tox shell • Toxic needle gun • Toxbomb launcher • Detoxifier kidney • Detoxifier lung
Nonchalance Toxifier generator