Children of the Dawn
Version: 0.4
Children of the Dawn
Did you ever want to stay on the planet and start a new civilization with your survivors?
Now they can have children and expand your population.
This mod adds a full children system to Stranded: Alien Dawn. Married or partnered survivors can have children who grow up through three life stages with age-appropriate abilities, custom portraits, and rich family dynamics.
Please let me know if you have any feature ideas or discover any bugs!
What’s New in v0.4
- Portrait Fix for Saved Games – v0.2 saves now load portraits correctly (backward compatible filenames added).
- 96 Total Portraits – Expanded to 3 unique portrait variants per skin tone (light/medium/dark), gender, and age phase.
- Bug Fixes – Fixed male survivors getting pregnant (uses biological Gender instead of PerceivedGender). Fixed portrait path resolution for saved children. Crash breadcrumbs and stability improvements.
Pregnancy
- Survivors in a relationship (Lover, Fiance, or Spouse) can conceive children
- Conception chance scales with love progression: Lover 3%/day, Fiance 5%/day, Spouse 7%/day
- Marriage bonus: +50% conception chance on the wedding day
- Pregnancy lasts 30 in-game days
- Pregnant survivors move 20% slower and show "(Pregnant)" in their name
- Population awareness: conception is blocked when food supply is critically low
- 8% chance of twins at birth
Child Growth System
Children grow up through three life stages. Aging is accelerated: 1 child year = 1 game season (4 child years per game year). A child reaches adulthood at age 18 (4.5 in-game years).
Age 0-5: Young Child
- Can only eat, sleep, and relax — all work activities are restricted
- 60% movement speed
- Very small body scale (60%), growing gradually
- Eats only 50% of an adult’s food ration
Age 6-15: Older Child
- Cooking, farming, and healing activities unlocked
- 80% movement speed
- Inherits up to 2 personality traits from parents (30% chance each, including negative traits)
- Eats 75% of an adult’s food ration
Age 16-17: Teenager
- All activities unlocked, but at reduced work speed
- Work efficiency: 50% at age 16, 75% at age 17
- 90% movement speed
Age 18: Adult
- Full adult with 100% speed and efficiency
- All child restrictions removed
Family Dynamics
- Parent-child relationships are registered in the game’s relationship system
- Sibling relationships between children of the same couple
- Parents get a happiness boost when near their child
- Children get a happiness boost when near a parent
- Birthday events: happiness bonus for the child and both parents each year
- Young children (0-5) gain happiness from playing outside
- Children (0-15) get scared during alien attacks (temporary happiness penalty)
- Severe grief (-30 happiness for 10 days) if a child dies
Custom Portraits
- 96 unique AI-generated portraits: 3 variants per skin tone (light/medium/dark), gender, and age phase
- Skin tone is inherited by averaging both parents’ skin color
- Portraits change as the child grows through age phases (baby, child, teen, adult)
Profile & Bio
- Child’s profile shows their parents’ names and birth date
- Inherited traits are listed in the bio
- Age is displayed in the survivor’s name: "Kira (6)"
- Age suffix is removed when they become an adult
Research Techs
- Child Vaccination (requires Antibiotics): Improves child health (+50 max health) and adds a "Vaccinated" happiness factor
- Bio-Synthetic Conception (requires Vaccination): Enables same-sex couples to have biological children
- Synthetic Reproduction (requires Vaccination + Electronics): Enables android-human couples to have biological children
Special Events
- First steps! – notification when a child turns 1
- Pregnancy halfway – notification showing days until birth
- Trait inheritance – summary of traits inherited from parents at age 6
- 16th Birthday Party – extra happiness boost for the child and both parents
- Coming of Age popup – colony-wide celebration event when a child turns 18
Console Commands (Debug/Testing)
Open the console (press ENTER in Mod Editor test map or use StrandedSteamDebug.exe) and type:
ChildrenMod_Help() — Show all commands ChildrenMod_CheatListSurvivors() — List all survivors with relationships ChildrenMod_CheatMarry() — Marry selected survivor ChildrenMod_CheatPregnancy() — Force pregnancy on selected ChildrenMod_CheatSpawnChild() — Spawn a child for selected ChildrenMod_CheatSpawnChild("Female") — Spawn a female child ChildrenMod_CheatTwins() — Spawn twins for selected ChildrenMod_CheatSetAge(6) — Set child to age 6 ChildrenMod_CheatSetAge(16) — Set child to age 16 ChildrenMod_CheatGrowUp() — Instantly grow up selected child ChildrenMod_CheatAdvanceDays(30) — Fast-forward 30 days ChildrenMod_CheatConceptionChance(100)– Set conception to 100% ChildrenMod_CheatVaccinate() — Unlock Child Vaccination research ChildrenMod_CheatUnlockSameSex() — Unlock Bio-Synthetic Conception ChildrenMod_CheatUnlockAndroid() — Unlock Synthetic Reproduction ChildrenMod_CheatUnlockAllResearch() — Unlock all mod research ChildrenMod_CheatFullTest() — Run full automated test ChildrenMod_DebugStatus() — Show all mod state
Compatibility
- Works with the base game and the Robots DLC
- Compatible with most other mods (survivor mods, building mods, etc.)
- Does not modify any vanilla game files
- Save-game safe: data is stored in MapVars and persists across save/load
Additional Features
- Children eat less than adults (50% food for young children, 75% for older children)
- Teenagers work at reduced efficiency (50% at age 16, 75% at age 17)
- Same-sex couples blocked by default (unlocked via research)
- Android-human couples blocked by default (unlocked via research)
- Android parents skip biological trait inheritance
- Children receive random hair and head from vanilla character pools
- Children inherit favorite food from a random parent
Early Stage Notice
This mod is in early stage. It is fully playable but may contain bugs. I really appreciate bug reports & feature wishes!
If you encounter any issues, please:
- Describe what happened and what you expected
- Include your game log from: %appdata%/Stranded – Alien Dawn/logs/
- Post in the Workshop comments or discussions
Planned Features (v0.5)
- Android-specific child portraits
- Education System – School Desk building + 8 craftable schoolbooks for active skill studying
- More child-specific events and interactions
- In-game mod options menu
Feel free to support this mod:
https://ko-fi.com/elzyklon
