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feat(balance): nerf senior citizen profession with elderly traits#8326

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feat(balance): nerf senior citizen profession with elderly traits#8326
DeinonychusDiscord wants to merge 2 commits intocataclysmbn:mainfrom
DeinonychusDiscord:ok-boomer

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Purpose of change (The Why)

Senior Citizen was a completely pointless profession. It was basically just a reskinned survivor with slightly fancy casual clothes and a tobacco pipe.

Describe the solution (The How)

Made the senior citizen, which is clearly intended to be a parody role of the porch-shouting rocking chair elderly american, more fleshed out.

They have the typical signs of old age in retirement now - bad back, bad knees, bad cardio, far-sighted [since stereotypical old people are portrayed needing reading glasses], and slow running.

Describe alternatives you've considered

I also considered making them clumsy to represent just generally not moving very well anymore due to joint calcification, old injuries that never healed properly, or just "bad" joints, but felt that might go from satirical to outright cartoonish.

The thought did cross my mind of making them also have psychosis to represent "since the war", with the random hallucinations standing in for "flashbacks from the war" but that felt a little silly.

Testing

cataclysm-bn-tiles_zhgJ2DNY3i

Tried new character screen. All traits displaying as intended.

Additional context

I'm well aware this is supposed to just be a joke profession. I thought the joke worked better when it's complete in this way.

Checklist

Mandatory

@github-actions github-actions bot added the JSON related to game datas in JSON format. label Mar 17, 2026
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autofix-ci bot commented Mar 17, 2026

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@@ -3939,6 +3939,7 @@
"name": "Senior Citizen",
"description": "You haven't seen this much blood since the war. The whole world's gone crazy! They ate your grandkids! But dagnabbit, you'll make them all pay for what they've done.",
"points": 0,
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Suggested change
"points": 0,
"points": -8,

added bad traits have total -14 points, needs more bonus points.

BADKNEES: -2
BADBACK: -3
BADHEARING: -1
BADCARDIO: -4
SLOWRUNNER: -3
HYPEROPIC: -1

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Senior Citizen start is akin to Abandoned hospital patient start - they're both supposed to be challenges you take, expecting and knowing they are going to suck in some way, but doing them anyway just to prove how skillful you are as a cata player.

Abandoned scenario starts you off at 8 points gained assuming you start with default survivor profession. The default trait assigned, Frail, earns you an additional 10 points.

That's a scenario that starts you with -18 points with no effort on your part. It does not have any "bonus points" assigned. It is in the mainline vanilla game, unchanged and uncontested.

-14 is less than the -18 of an already existing scenario .

Senior Citizen starts with a walking cane - it was at least implied you're supposed to be mobility-challenged due to advanced age and its rigors on calcified joints.

I added reasonable negative traits that make sense for the profession - bad knees, bad back, out of shape, slow running, far sight. It is now the challenge it was likely always intended to be.

I could've gone with myopic, or no vision impairment entirely - and still would've given the player less points than the abandoned scenario and its one default trait.

I will reiterate once again - a person chooses to be a senior citizen because they are doing a challenge run.

If they wanted a no frills profession with no point impact at all, they'd just pick the default survivor who starts with a cutting tool and a smartphone - actual survival gear.

My changes make the senior citizen have a reason to exist - because currently it is just bloat as a profession.

@scarf005 scarf005 changed the title feat: senior citizen profession has actual elderly traits now feat(balance): nerf senior citizen profession with elderly traits Mar 17, 2026
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