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I accidentally left the game running, winter happened and all my kittens starved.

It's sad but it took almost no time before new kittens replaced them. Is there a major downside to starving all the kittens in the winter and replacing them in the spring?

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3 Answers 3

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No, it's not really a problem. Assuming you're there to re-assign them.

The big problem is if you make sure you can survive a normal winter (-75% catnip rate), leave the game idle for a while (say overnight), and at some point, a cold winter hits (-90% catnip rate). If a kitten dies while you're idling, then the new kitten to arrive won't be assigned a job until you get back.

There are a few achievements related to starving kittens, though. You need to starve kittens for two of them (one at ten dead kittens, one at 100), and another comes for reaching 50 kittens without any dying. You don't need to worry too much about missing that last one, though; it's easier after a reset or two anyway.

Of course, the real question is: are you going to live with yourself after letting a poor innocent kitten starve to death?

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    I had a very stable setup for several in-game years. Left for lunch, with a little script that was logging the seasons for me. While away I was hit with a long string of (cold) seasons, and I returned to a massive log of kittens dying. I cannot bring myself to play the game any more :( Sep 18, 2014 at 13:08
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    With the newer jobs mechanic, the bonuses that highly experienced kittens give goes away, and has to be rebuilt from scratch if you want the bonus.
    – rlb.usa
    Aug 21, 2015 at 15:11
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Your kittens gain experience at their jobs. This is only visible after you have unlocked the technology Civil Servant at your Library. A list of your kittens and their experience levels then becomes visible in a Census div in the Village tab.

This means that the longer a kitten maintains a certain job, the better they become at it. If your kittens die each year, or if you change their role frequently, you’ll lose some efficiency.

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    That is not true, I have had my kittens die and they come back with same names and same levels of experience. Either loss of experience is not implemented yet or just not intended, but you do not lose anything.
    – Elise
    Sep 18, 2014 at 19:45
  • @Chippies I've only had kittens die once, four of them one harsh, cold winter when I had had about ten total. The replacements were Dabbling in their jobs, whereas my kittens before any deaths were all at least Novices. I did not think to track the names, and I have never reset my game, but I feel this is decent evidence that at least in some situations, death matters.
    – Sconibulus
    Sep 18, 2014 at 19:51
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    I just tried real hard to kill my 56 kittens and I could only manage to kill 9 at once (with one death message) and 4 returned with no skills at all, but the rest remained at master. I guess they do lose their experience, but not always? Odd.
    – Elise
    Sep 18, 2014 at 20:17
  • I guess the main point you were making is correct though and I stand corrected.
    – Elise
    Sep 18, 2014 at 20:19
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The only long term downside (short term being not having workers to generate resources and having to reassign them after) is losing the ability to gain the achievement "Serenity" for having 50 kittens without ever losing any. I believe the chance to get this achievement is available again after resetting the game though.

Also, when your kittens die, they lose their profession mastery and the new ones will work slower.

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