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Talking Isn't Everything

Why is mumbling to oneself about the relationship between love and piracy an essential component of the process of taming a muffalo? Does losing one's tongue really make it impossible to ever find love?

This mod aims to make the inability to talk less crippling. I set out to make genetically mute pawns (VRE Lycan, Integrated Genes, etc) able to tame and train animals, because why shouldn't they? And then the scope got away from me a little.

A pawn is "mute" if they are incapable of Talking (Talking 0% in the Health tab), whether that's a genetic inability, a result of injury, or any other reason. (This is independent of being Incapable of Social work. This mod does not alter hte restrictions on pawns who are Incapable of Social.)

Ten (wow.) toggleable options are provided to give mute pawns more options.

• New and adjusted log entries :
  
  • When a non-mute pawn initiates Chit-Chat or Deep Talk with a mute pawn, the log will no longer imply that the mute pawn responded verbally. Eg. "X and Y chatted about space travel" might be replaced with "X monologued to Y about space travel".
    
  • Mute pawns playing with babies (Biotech only) won't generate log entries about singing to them or telling stories.
    
  • When mute pawns release an animal to the wild, they will not "say some warm words".
    
  • Mute pawns may now "talk to" creepjoiners (Anomaly only) -- aka listen to their pitch and decide yea or nay
    
  • When put on trial, mute pawns will not speak in their own defence, but may use gesture.
    
  • When put in charge of rituals (Ideology only) that involve giving a speech, mute pawns will use gesture and pantomime instead of spoken words. Results may be silly.
    
  • When using role abilities (Ideology only) such as Reassure or Convert, the log will not describe a mute pawn speaking.
    
  • Log entries will be generated when mute pawns use Word Of psycasts (instead of failing to show up in the log).
• (Toggleable, default: on) Animal interactions :
  
  • Talking is no longer required to tame or train animals, nor does Talking % affect the chance of success.
    
  • Corresponding log entries will not describe the pawn talking to themself or the animal.
• (Toggleable, default: on) Romance :
  
  • Mute pawns are now capable of initiating romance and proposing marriage.
    
  • Corresponding log entries describe the use of touch, gestures, and body language instead of words to communicate their intentions.
    
  • Note that if casual interactions are disabled, mute pawns may still have difficulty building a strong enough relationship for romance.
    
  • Also note that if they are mute due to an injury to the head and face they may still count as disfigured, lowering other pawns' opinion of them.
• (Toggleable, default: off) Casual social interactions :
  
  • Mute pawns will maintain (or destroy) relationships with other nearby pawns using the same mechanics (chit chat, deep talk, slight, insult) as other pawns.
    
  • Corresponding log entries feature casual friendly touch, shared contemplative moments, obscene gestures, and more.
    
  • Opinion modifiers, etc, will still name these interactions "Chit-Chat", etc, because they use the vanilla interactions in order to maximise compatibility. Only the log entries have been overridden.
• (Toggleable, default: on) Comms console :
  
  • Allows mute pawns to use the comms console, perhaps by employing some advanced technology such as a keyboard
• (Toggleable, default: off) Recruiting :
  
  • Mute pawns can recruit prisoners.
    
  • Corresponding log entries describe the use of pantomime and non-verbal communication to establish a relationship and extend an invitation to join.
• (Toggleable, default: on) Slavery (Ideology only) :
  
  • Mute pawns can enslave and suppress others.
    
  • Corresponding log entries describe the use of physical intimidation and crude gesture to make their intent clear.
• (Toggleable, default: off) Conversion (Ideology only) :
  
  • Mute pawns can convert others to their ideology.
    
  • Corresponding log entries describe the demonstration of traditions through example and pantomime.
• (Toggleable, default: on) Trial (Ideology only) :
  
  • Mute pawns with the Leader role can use the Trial ability to declare others guilty.
    
  • Corresponding log entries describe silent deliberation, and use of gesture.
• (Toggleable, default: off) Speeches (Ideology or Royalty) :
  
  • Mute pawns with the Leader role can use the Leader Speech ability.
    
  • Mute pawns with sufficient title can use the Throne Speech ability.
    
  • Corresponding log entries describe pantomime and gesture.
• (Toggleable, default: on) Teaching (Biotech only) :
  
  • Mute pawns can teach children at a schooldesk when the child is interested in Lessontaking.
    
  • Corresponding log entries describe diagrams, practical demonstration, and practice.

Mute pawns still have a very low Social Impact and Negotiation ability, so they won't be good at many of the above tasks. But they are able to try.

Mod-added interactions (eg. Vanilla Social Interactions Expanded) have not been touched unless specified below. Most modded interactions ought to still be unavailable to mute pawns, but depending on the exact implementation, there's a chance mute pawns will be able to use them.

Compatible with:

• Interaction Bubbles. No patch needed. The bubbles will display the adjusted log entries.
  
• Life Lessons. Mute pawns can still learn speaking from others (representing understanding speech), but cannot teach it.
  
• Romance on the Rim. Only lightly tested but seems compatible. Most RotR activities (except Argument and Quarrel) are Jobs not Interactions and don't interact with TIE.
  
• Way Better Romance - explicit patch, should be fully compatible.
  
• We Are United. There is a toggle in the We Are United settings to control whether or not the talking capability is required.

If you find mute pawns having conversations they shouldn't be, let me know. I'm willing to add patches to make sure mute pawns don't use those interactions. I'm afraid I'm probably not going to be writing log replacements for modded interactions like I have for the vanilla ones.

- wep of wepfont.com for Atmospheric font
- TeH_Dav for testing

[github.com]
[cyanobotcodes.tumblr.com]
[ko-fi.com]