Stat Improvement
Is your colonist a little... weak?
A little low in the ol' stat-numbers?
There are a few ways that you can improve stats beyond what they might have been created or born with.
There is a limit on increasing stats. During leveling up and brain zapping, you can only go to the limit of five below max stats for your colonist's current level. In other words, since Level One's max is 20, if you're adding stats either via leveling up or by zapping their brain, you can only go up to 15 until all of the stats are at 15. So that means that Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma all have to be at 15 before you can bump that up above 15.
Crucibles are the only exception and are the primary method of getting base stats to be above that limit, as they can bring your colonist to the max stat for their level.
Leveling Up
The slow-and-steady method to get stat points is to simply level up your colonist. Every time someone draws your colonist or writes about them and submits it for experience points, your colonist gets a little bit closer to leveling up. There are a handful of levels, starting at your colonist's childhood and ending... to be determined!
Each time you level up your colonist, they earn a certain number of free stat points that can be applied to any stat (so long as the stat is below the max!) If you click on one of the levels on that page, you can see how many stat points they get at that level, as well as how many breeding slots they might earn when they level up.
Crucibles
If you want to increase specific stats a little faster, you can opt for submitting your adult colonists in a Crucible. These are images meant to be a bit more effort than regular art activities, because they result in a permanent increase in that stat. Each colony can submit one crucible for each stat per month, restarting at the first of the month. Colonists who have Crucibles done will earn a special badge for each Crucible and can even earn a badge that sits on their full profile to show they've done one crucible in each stat!
Crucible points are pooled slightly differently from regular stats, but are still inherited just the same.
Brain Zapper
If you simply want to shift your colonist's stats around a bit, you may want to get your hands on the Brain Zapper item. This can be used on any adult colonist and repools stats for distribution. Stats may only ever be repooled at a minimum of five points per stat, so any colonists with a stat pool of below 30 may not be able to have their brain zapped.
Brain zapping comes with its own consequences.
A brain zapped colonist will have a point of Mental Fatigue added, which can only be relieved if you feed them some Ginkgo Tea and submit a Treat an Illness prompt.
Stats that have had crucibles won't be able to have those specific points pooled by the brain zapper.
Temporary Increases: Equipment
If you don't want to increase via one of the above, you can always go for a temporary increase by equipping your colonist with some gear or weapons that affect those stats. These can be easily unequipped and swapped around to different colonists as needed.
These temporary adjustments ignore the above limitations because they are simply on top of your colonist and don't pass on to children, while the above options do.
Equipment and Weapons can either be made (if you have the right blueprints and ingredients), purchased from shops, or possibly found from random Observations or Investigations.
