Downed

Downed is a condition in which a creature (human, animal, etc) is alive but incapable of movement. This is caused by one of the following states, listed in order of severity:

1. Unconsciousness: Consciousness falls below 30% but remains above 0%.
2. Pain shock: Pain reaches Pain Shock Threshold.
3. Incapacitated: Moving capacity is 15% or less.

"Incapacitated" and "incapable of movement" are often used as synonyms for downing. Creatures properly inside a bed are usually called "incapacitated" or "resting" rather than "downed", but they are functionally similar. A pawn that is only incapacitated, but still conscious, can have mood changes; needs like Recreation and Beauty will only decay when a pawn is conscious.

Downed pawns will drop their weapons and other carried items but will not drop equipped apparel and utility items. The vast majority of enemies will stop attacking a downed target. Pawns under murderous rage and predator animals looking for food can continue to target them, however. Also, downed pawns are still vulnerable to explosions. Shooters beyond 4 tiles have half the chance of hitting a downed target. Within 3 tiles, they instead gain a massive +750% "Execution" bonus to their hit chances.

Death on down

Enemy pawns have a chance to instantly die when downed from certain causes, even when the condition would otherwise not kill them:

• Pain Shock
• When damage directly drops Moving below 15%
• Heatstroke & hypothermia
• Toxic buildup
• Lung rot

This chance is dependent on current population intent and the storyteller settings, the latter of which can be adjusted at any time. Other causes of downing, such as consciousness reductions from ailments, do not trigger this death chance, so are preferred if you want to capture somebody.

Certain enemies will always die when downed these include:

• Enemy mechanoids. However a known bug does exist that rarely prevents this death, and friendly mechanoids are an exception to this rule.
• Revenants , which will play their death animation.
• Dreadmelds , which will spawn Fleshbeasts regardless if they were knocked out through various means.

Bypasses

Notably, death on down doesn't occur when blood loss or the expiration of a hediff is the cause for incapacitation. This can be used to guarantee the capture of valuable enemy pawn by applying the hediff, then damage them to a certain level and wait for the hediff to expire.

• Painblock and Go juice multiplies pain by 10%. The pain shock threshold of most pawns are below 90%, meaning if their pain level is 9% and pain block expires, they will be downed without dying. However beware that apparels such as the war mask increases the pain shock threshold of their wearer
• Psychic Focus improves movement by ×130%, the pawn will be downed if the movement of the pawn drop below 20% and the hediff expire
• Reaching the extreme severity of Vacuum exposure will down hostile pawns without killing them. Note that this requires vacuum exposure to reach >85% severity, with guaranteed death occurring at 100% severity. A pawn lacking any form of vacuum protection will accrue 2% severity every second, meaning that in the most extreme scenario a pawn has to be captured within 7 seconds after downing to prevent death. Once a pawn is captured, they are considered to be in a "safe" environment and will lose 10% exposure per second while being carried. This allows a pawn to be transported across large stretches of vacuum without risk provided they are not dropped during transit (Due to recovering 10% exposure per second a dropped pawn will no longer be incapacitated).

Tox gas exposure applies +25% pain and can be used to immediately bring pain level over the threshold. But it also cause −60% breathing, which will kill the pawn if their breathing is already below 60%.

Actions

An incapacitated creature is a valid target for a variety of actions:

• Rescued to the nearest available bed or sleeping spot.
• Being ranged or melee attacked to death by a drafted pawn, which does not give XP.
• Being carried by any drafted pawn, even if incapable of hauler work. They can be dropped in place, carried to a bed or loaded directly into a cryptosleep casket.
  • Colonists that are downed but are not currently being held can be brought into a ready Biosculpter pod.
• Being tended by a drafted pawn on the spot. Tending with medicine requires the drafted pawn to be holding medicine within their inventory.

Actions specific to incapacitated humans:

• Imprisonment by a drafted pawn.
• Stripping of apparel, including utility items.

Actions specific to downed animals:

• Neck cuts. A hunting colonist will finish off any animal that is set to hunt.
  • Tame animals cannot be hunted, but slaughtering is functionally similar and does not require downing.

Crawling

When downed, a human pawn with manipulation will begin crawling after some time to the nearest bed or away from hostile threats. If bleeding, a trail of blood will follow them where they crawl. Downed enemy pawns will attempt to crawl to the map's borders and escape.
If the pawn is being rescued by another pawn, then they will stop crawling.

Shamblers will continue trying to attack their target in melee range when crawling.

Version history

• 1.3.3066 - Drafted pawns can tend to others in the field, and will use medicine if they are carrying any. They can also be ordered to carry another downed pawn and drop them on command.
• 1.5.4062 - Downed pawns will now crawl away from danger and towards beds. Death-on-downed chance now applies to several non damage health state changes. (Heatstroke, hypothermia, tox gas, lung rot)