Game can delete NPCs that take excessive damage

[arras]

I saw game erasing NPCs before, like deleting them from settlements on sector unload, but I did not know why. Recently while "training" NPCs I fount out why.

When NPC takes excessive damage, game can delete him form settlement where he is assigned. I am not sure where threshold for the damage is exactly, but only damage to the head and torso causes it (not sure about blood as it's harder to test). And it must be significant damage to that part. Bringing HP of that part somewhere close to 0. It does not matter if NPC took damage from player or other NPCs.

It happened regularly to the NPCs that I have "trained" and not damaging them in head or torso below 1/4 of HP completely prevented it. But only if HP in those parts was full at the beginning of the combat. If HP bar is not full, game seems to somehow raise threshold of erasing NPC higher.

Recently I also saw barman and his guards take beating by another NPC party. They were knocked off but recovered after the fight, returning to their normal duties. When I returned there later, they were all gone.

It's not a 100% case, it does not happen always but chance isn't low either. Why it can happen in some cases and not in others I have no idea.

You can also see that it have happened on the map tooltip of a location. Number of inhabitants will decrease from what it was before even if those NPCs are still walking that location and doing their assigned jobs.

If you wonder why are some NPCs gone or why are some locations suddenly empty, this can be the reason.