Recreation

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Recreation is a stat: Recreation is the need to have fun. Repeating the same kind of activity makes it less fun, so variety is necessary. Its default value is 100%.

Recreation is one of a colonist's needs. Prisoners, visitors, enemy pawns, animals, and slaves do not have the recreation need.

Colonists gain recreation in two ways:

• Consuming something pleasurable, such as chocolate or beer.
• Doing an activity, such as playing horseshoes or watching television

Colonists may do recreation activities when their schedule allows. Some activities require nothing more than an allotted time while certain activities require the relevant building or item. Certain items can only be purchased from traders. Some activities have an added benefit of improving skill experience points. Colonists develop an increasing tolerance, or resistance, to a kind of activity the more it is done. Tolerances are shown in the Recreation tooltip (hover the mouse over the recreation meter) and are listed by kind and percentage. A variety of kinds of activities should be made available to avoid tolerance buildup. There are 10 types of recreation - solitary relaxation, social interaction, cerebral play, dexterity play, reading, television watching, telescope study, music, chemical consumption, and food consumption.

Colonists resting in a bed for medical reasons will only engage in recreational activities that can be done in bed i.e. watching television. A television is therefore a good investment for every hospital.

Colonists in a caravan gain recreation while stopped at a rate of 10% per hour, of the Solitary type if they are alone, or a mix of Solitary and Social if two or more colonists are on the same caravan. Tolerance is gained at an equivalent rate to Extremely Low Expectations, regardless of the expectations at the colony or the amount of wealth taken on the caravan.

Recreation needs

Recreation thresholds

The recreation meter has thresholds that trigger mood-altering thoughts. No thoughts are triggered from 30% to 69%.

Threshold	Label	Mood Effect	Thought
85 - 100	Recreation fully satisfied	+10	I've been enjoying myself so much, I love it!
70 - 85	Recreation satisfied	+5	I've been having a great time doing various things I like to do.
15 - 30	Recreation unfulfilled	−5	I could really use a break for something enjoyable.
0 - 15	Recreation deprived	−10	We need more variation in recreation activities, and i need time to enjoy them. This place is really dull.
0	Recreation-starved	−20	It's been so long since I did anything for fun on my own time.

Recreation gain rate

The base amount of recreation gained over time from a recreation-granting activity is 36% per hour. This is then multiplied by the activity's gain rate multiplier and the pawn's tolerance for that recreation type.

Recreation tolerance

Colonists develop an increasing tolerance, or resistance, to specific types of recreation the more it is performed. Tolerances are shown in the Recreation tooltip (hover the mouse over the recreation meter) and are listed by kind and percentage. A variety of kinds of activities should be made available to avoid tolerance buildup.

Recreation tolerance reduces recreation gained proportionally. Recreation tolerance gained is 2/3 of the recreation value increase from the activity. For instance, A colonist consuming 4 units of chocolate at 0% gluttonous tolerance would gain 40% recreation and 26.7% gluttonous tolerance. Eating another 4 immediately would only provide 73.3% of 40% or 29.3% recreation gain and 2/3 of 29.3% or 19.6% gluttonous tolerance. Recreation tolerance only increases when an action increases recreation.

Recreation tolerance decreases while awake at a rate dependent on the wealth of the colony, with higher wealth colonies needing more recreation variety to combat the lower rate of tolerance decrease. It has 6 stages at different wealth values.

Additionally, conceited nobles have Noble and Royal Expectations at the ranks of Baron and Count respectively. These expectations replace the effects of regular expectations. Note that despite only being seen in-game with the Royalty DLC activated, these expectations are defined in the Core game.

Finally, Ideoligious Roles can increase the expectations of the pawn by two levels, so a pawn that would normally have Low Expectations would then have High Expectations. To prevent these "going off the scale", at High and Sky-High, Elite and Supreme are used instead. Note that despite only being seen in-game with the Ideology DLC activated, these expectations are defined in the Core game.

Name	Wealth Limits	Recreation Tolerance Loss/Day	Num. of Recommended Recreation Types
Extremely low expectations	0 - 15,000	18%	2
Very low expectations	15,000 - 31,000	13%	3
Low expectations	31,000 - 81,000	11%	3
Moderate expectations	81,000 - 182,000	10%	4
High expectations	182,000 - 308,000	8%	5
Sky-high expectations	308,000 - 1,000,000,000	7%	6
Noble expectations	N/A	7%	6
Royal expectations	N/A	7%	6
Elite expectations	See above	7%	6
Supreme expectations	See above	7%	6

Recreation fall rate

Recreation drops at a steady 2.5% per hour, slowing down once below 30% and once more once below 15%.

Recreation Loss(%)/Hour	Threshold	Thought active	Effect	Real time in state	Game time in state	Real time since 100% recreation	Game time since 100% recreation
2.5%	85% - 100%	Recreation fully satisfied	+10	15,000 ticks (4.17 mins)	6 hours	N/A	N/A
	70% - 85%	Recreation satisfied	+5	15,000 ticks (4.17 mins)	6 hours	15,000 ticks (4.17 mins)	6 hours
	30% - 70%	None	0	40,000 ticks (11.11 mins)	16 hours	30,000 ticks (8.33 mins)	12 hours
1.75%	15% - 30%	Recreation unfulfilled	−5	21,425 ticks (5.95 mins)	8.57 hours	70,000 ticks (19.44 mins)	28 hours
1%	1% - 15%	Recreation deprived	−10	37,500 ticks (10.42 mins)	15 hours	91,425 ticks (25.4 mins)	36.57 hours
N/A	0%	Recreation starved	−20	N/A	N/A	128,925 ticks (35.81 mins)	51.57 hours

The loss rate is halved if a pawn is forming a caravan and is further affected by recreation fall rate. The recreation loss is fully stopped if a pawn is actively gaining recreation, is asleep, is suffering from a mental break, or is inside certain buildings like a cryptosleep casket or biosculpter pod.

Activities table

Activity	Duration	Gain Rate	Recreation kind	Interaction	Improves Skill	+XP Per Tick	Doable in Bed	Required Capacity	Base Chance
Building snowman	8,000 ticks (2.22 mins)	1	Solitary relaxation	Solitary	–	–	No	Manipulation, Enjoys Outdoors, Assigned Construction, Snow	0.75
Going for a walk	8,000 ticks (2.22 mins)	1	Solitary relaxation	Solitary	–	–	No	Moving, Enjoys Weather	1
Meditating	5,000 ticks (1.39 mins)	1	Solitary relaxation	Solitary	–	–	Yes	-	1
Praying	3,000 ticks (50 secs)	1	Solitary relaxation	Solitary	–	–	Yes	-	1
Skygazing	4,000 ticks (1.11 mins)	1 or 5	Solitary relaxation	Solitary	–	–	No	Sight, Enjoy Outdoors	1
Cheering up patient <NAME>	1,500 ticks (25 secs)	1	Social interaction	Social	–	–	Yes	-	3
Relaxing socially	4,000 ticks (1.11 mins)	1	Social interaction	Social	–	–	No	-	4
Viewing art	4,000 ticks (1.11 mins)	Varies	Solitary relaxation	Building	–	–	Yes	Sight	1
Visiting grave	4,000 ticks (1.11 mins)	1-1.4	Solitary relaxation	Building	–	–	No	-	1
Playing hoopstone ring	4,000 ticks (1.11 mins)	1	Dexterity play	Building	Shooting	0.003	No	Sight, Manipulation	2
Playing horseshoes	4,000 ticks (1.11 mins)	1	Dexterity play	Building	Shooting	0.003	No	Manipulation	2.5
Playing chess	4,000 ticks (1.11 mins)	1	Cerebral play	Building	Intellectual	0.002	No	Manipulation	2
Playing the game of Ur	4,000 ticks (1.11 mins)	0.8	Cerebral play	Building	Intellectual	0.0015	No	Manipulation	2
Playing billiards	4,000 ticks (1.11 mins)	1.3	Dexterity play	Building	Shooting	0.004	No	Sight, Manipulation	4
Playing poker	4,000 ticks (1.11 mins)	1.3	Cerebral play	Building	Intellectual	0.004	No	Sight, Manipulation	4
Watching television	4,000 ticks (1.11 mins)	1.2	Television watching	Building	–	–	Yes	Sight	3.5
Watching flatscreen television	4,000 ticks (1.11 mins)	1.4	Television watching	Building	–	–	Yes	Sight	3.5
Watching megascreen television	4,000 ticks (1.11 mins)	1.6	Television watching	Building	–	–	Yes	Sight	3.5
Using telescope	4,000 ticks (1.11 mins)	1.2	Telescope study	Building	Intellectual	0.004	No	Sight	2
Reading	8,000 ticks (2.22 mins)	Varies	Reading	Book	Intellectual	0.1	No	Sight, Manipulation	3
Meditating royally at grand / meditation throne	6,250 ticks (1.74 mins)	1	Solitary relaxation	Building	–	–	No	-	-
Playing harp	4,000 ticks (1.11 mins)	1	Music	Building	Artistic	0.0015	No	Manipulation	2
Playing harpsichord	4,000 ticks (1.11 mins)	1	Music	Building	Artistic	0.0015	No	Manipulation	2
Playing piano	4,000 ticks (1.11 mins)	1	Music	Building	Artistic	0.0015	No	Manipulation	2
Playing with a baby	4,000 ticks (1.11 mins)	1 or 1.25	Social interaction	Social	-	-	No	Manipulation	-

Note: the above Recreation gain rates are based on normal quality buildings when applicable.

Consumables table

Item	+Recreation (%)	Kind
Chocolate	10	Food Consumption
Insect jelly	8	Food Consumption
Ambrosia	50	Chemical
Beer	17	Chemical
Smokeleaf joint	80	Chemical
Psychite tea	40	Chemical
Go-juice	40	Chemical
Wake-up	40	Chemical
Yayo	80	Chemical
Flake	70	Chemical

Buildings

The following can be built from the Architect - Recreation menu.

Building	Recreation Spots	Recreation Power (%)	Recreation Type	Improves
Horseshoe pin	12	100%	Dexterity play	Shooting
Hoopstone ring	12	100%	Dexterity play	Shooting
Chess table	4 (Max 2)	100%	Cerebral play	Intellectual
Game-of-Ur board	2	80%	Cerebral play	–
Billiards table	2	130%	Dexterity play	Shooting
Poker table	8 (Max 4)	130%	Cerebral play	-
Telescope	1	120%	Telescope study	–
Tube television	15	120%	Television watching	–
Flatscreen television	30	140%	Television watching	–
Megascreen television	42	160%	Television watching	–

Activities

Building snowman

Colonists may build snowmen from snow on the ground. Building a snowman is only possible if the following conditions are true:

• The total depth of snow on the map must be at least 20000%.
• The weather's rain/snow level should be below 10% (either it isn't raining/snowing, the rain/snow just started, or it's about to finish).
• The outdoors temperature is within the pawn's comfortable temperature.
• None of the following conditions are occurring: toxic fallout, volcanic winter, or acidic smog.

Snowmen can only be built in a cell that meets the following conditions:

• Snow depth is at least 50%.
• All adjacent cells (diagonals included) can be stood in.
• There are no other snowmen within 12 cells.

Cheering up a patient

Colonists may visit sick in-bed colonists. Preferentially, the colonist will move to a chair that is both facing the patient and within 2.2 cells of the patient; if no such chair exists, they will move adjacent to the patient.

There are three unique properties of this activity:

• Cheering up a patient satisfies the patient's recreation need as well, at 1x joy gain rate.
• Every 320 ticks, the colonist will attempt to talk to the patient; this is a chitchat 80% of the time, and a deep talk otherwise. This makes cheering up patients excellent for building positive relations with non-Psychopaths.
• Unlike other recreational activities, colonists with a fully satisfied recreation need will continue performing the activity, until either its duration runs out or the patient is also fully recreationally satisfied. Patients who are extremely bored of social recreation can thus waste your other colonists' time.

Patients must satisfy all following conditions to be eligible for a visit:

• Not on fire.
• Capable of social interaction.
• Food need is above 0%, rest need is above 33%.
• Recreation is below 30%.
• Should be confined to bed for valid medical reasons, namely at least one of the following: is downed, would seek medical rest if removed from bed, has an immunizable illness which they have not yet developed immunity to, or is bleeding from at least 8 damage worth of untreated injuries. If the patient is somehow a non-human, the net damage of bleeding injuries required is scaled by the patient's race's base health scale.
• Patient is not a slave.

Going for a walk

Colonists 'going for a walk' aimlessly path around the area they started from at half their movement speed.

Meditating

Colonists meditate by standing motionless. Meditation is heavily influenced by whether or not certain DLCs are active.

• Preferred location: without the Royalty DLC, meditation occurs in one's own bedroom. With Royalty active, meditation preferentially occurs at whatever the best meditation focus for the colonist would be.
• Activity label: with the Ideology DLC, recreational, non-scheduled meditating is labeled as "praying" when performed by a colonist who believes in an ideoligion with at least one deity. This is, however, distinct from the Praying recreation activity detailed further below.

Only 50% of pawns are capable of spontaneously choosing to meditate for recreation, pseudorandomly determined using their ID number as a seed. Other pawns will never spontaneously choose to meditate to gain recreation.

Playing billiards

A billiards table can only be used if all adjacent cells (diagonals included) can be stood in. Up to two colonists can use a billiards table at once. They will wander in the cells adjacent to the table at half speed, taking shots. Slowly trains Shooting skill, albeit slightly faster than a hoopstone ring or horseshoe pin.

Playing chess

A chess table can only be used by a colonist if there is an available horizontally or vertically adjacent chair. Up to two colonists can use a chess table at once. Slowly trains Intellectual skill.

Playing hoopstone

Hoopstone rings can only be used from very specific positions - there are four 1x3 rectangles, one centered in each cardinal direction 5 cells away from the ring, with their long sides perpendicular to a straight line between the rectangle's center and the ring. Colonists can only use a hoopstone ring if at least one of these positions can be stood in. Up to three colonists can use a hoopstone ring at once, standing in one spot and throwing stones through the ring. Slowly trains Shooting skill.

Playing horseshoes

Identical to playing hoopstone, except done with a horseshoe pin; players throw horseshoes at the pin.

Playing poker

A poker table can only be used by a colonist if there is an available horizontally or vertically adjacent chair. Up to four colonists can use a poker table at once. Slowly trains Intellectual skill, albeit twice as fast as a chess table.

Playing the game of Ur

Identical to playing chess, except colonists do not require chairs to use the board, and it trains Intellectual skill even more slowly.

Praying

Colonists 'praying' will stand motionless somewhere in their bedroom. If the Ideology DLC is active, colonists will preferentially pray in rooms of worship that are not other pawns' bedrooms.

Only 40% of pawns are 'capable' of spontaneously choosing to pray for recreation, pseudorandomly determined using their ID number as a seed. Other pawns will never spontaneously choose to pray to gain recreation.

Reading

A colonist whose rest need is above 33% and whose food need is above 29% can decide to read a random book when seeking to gain recreation. Colonists will only consider books not disallowed by their assigned reading policy. Moreover, they may disregard books based on criteria tied to their type:

• A Textbook is only up for consideration if reading it would grant xp in at least one of its associated skills (not including the 250 xp/hour Intellectual skill gain from reading any book).
• A Schematic, if any of its associated research projects have not been finished.
• A Tome, under no circumstance.

Once a colonist has decided to read a book, they will go pick it up, then find somewhere to read.

• Colonists prefer the closest available chair which is not a building interaction spot. If none exist...
• They will settle for the closest available chair. If none exist...
• They will settle for a cell they can stand in adjacent to the closest table. If none exist...
• They will not go anywhere after picking up the book.

Once they have reached the spot determined from the process above, they will begin reading the book. The base joy gain rate for most books is 1x, but novels grant more recreation than other book types. Joy gain does not scale with the colonist's Reading Speed stat, but if it is done in a room, it is multiplied by the room's Reading Bonus stat.

Novel quality	Joy gain
Awful	1.2
Poor	1.4
Normal	1.6
Good	1.8
Excellent	2
Masterwork	2.25
Legendary	2.5

In addition to providing recreation, reading provides 250 Intellectual skill xp per hour.

Relaxing socially

A gather spot or gathering spot works like a loosely defined social "zone", allowing your pawns who are idle or seeking Social recreation to gather together in a specifically centered area. This also can keep them from getting lost when they're not doing anything productive.

If you have a "gather spot" enabled, colonists will gather here to socialize for recreation or to host parties. Colonists will stand in the vicinity of the campfire, or sit at a chair or stool beside a table. If beer is available, a colonist may carry a bottle while relaxing, without actually consuming the item. This action has been shown to occur among colonists with the Chemical Interest trait, the Teetotaler trait, and no trait in regards to alcohol.

Tables, campfires, and harps, harpsichords, and pianos can be designated as gather spots; they are so designated by default when constructed, but can be toggled off via a gizmo that appears when the object is selected. You can have more than one gather spot, in which case idle/socially-capable colonists select which one to use at random. Therefore, you should toggle off gather spots whenever they are in faraway, ugly, dangerous, or otherwise inconvenient locations.

Contradictory to its name, colonists can carry out this activity when alone, while still gaining recreation at the same rate.

Skygazing

Colonists 'skygazing' motionlessly lie on the ground in an unroofed cell, facing upwards. The label of the activity changes dynamically based on the following sequence (each version is identical except where otherwise mentioned):

• Watching eclipse

• Eclipse: beautiful precept does not affect this activity in any way, and the mood bonus does not require a pawn to watch the eclipse.

• Watching aurora

• During an aurora, recreation gain is 5 times higher and this recreation type is 8 times more likely to be chosen as a recreation source (which will apply even if an eclipse is happening at the same time).

• Stargazing (light provided by the sun is less than 10%)
• Cloudwatching (light provided by the sun is 65% or more)
• Watching sunrise (between midnight and noon)
• Watching sunset (between noon and midnight)

Skygazing is only possible if the following conditions are true:

• The colonist can reach a cell that isn't water, marsh, or mud.
• The weather's rain/snow level should be below 25% (either it isn't raining/snowing, the rain/snow just started, or it's about to finish).
• The outdoors temperature is within the pawn's comfortable temperature.
• None of the following conditions are occurring: toxic fallout, volcanic winter, acidic smog, or unnatural darkness.

Using telescope

A telescope can only be used if the following conditions are true:

• It is in an unroofed cell.
• Its interaction spot (behind the viewfinder) can be stood in.

Colonists using a telescope stand motionless behind the viewfinder. Oddly, telescopes are usable during daytime.

Viewing art

The pawn will stand next to an installed sculpture of any kind for an extended time. Colonists choose which art piece to view randomly, favoring those with higher beauty. An art piece can only be viewed for recreation if the following conditions are true:

• It is indoors.
• It belongs to the colonist's faction, or is not owned by a faction.
• It is either under a roof, or none of the following are true: the outdoors temperature is outside the colonist's comfortable temperature range, the current amount of rain/snow is at least 25%, or the outdoors climate is hazardous (due to toxic fallout, volcanic winter, or acidic smog).
• The art piece is not housed in a hospital, prison, or bedroom/barracks which the colonist does not have a bed in.

Recreation gain rate is multiplied by the ratio between the current beauty of the sculpture and base beauty of the sculpture (ignoring material). This value cannot go negative, but if it reaches zero it will not prevent recreation loss.

As an example: a grand sculpture has base beauty of 400. A legendary quality marble grand sculpture has beauty of 4330. The ratio between the two is 10.825, meaning that the recreation gain rate of that specific sculpture would be 10.825 times the normal (a 1082.5% recreation gain rate bonus).

Visiting grave

Colonists can visit a filled grave or sarcophagus.

Recreation gain can be increased by impressiveness of the room that the contains the grave or sarcophagus, regardless of whether the room is classified as a tomb. Beyond 0 impressiveness, recreation gain scales linearly up to +0.4x, or a total of 140% recreation gain, at 150 room impressiveness. Graves and sarcophagi that are not in a room receive no bonus.

Watching television

Colonists 'watching television' remain motionless, facing the screen. If they are in bed, they will remain in bed, making this the only recreation option which bedridden colonists can instigate on their own.

Televisions can only be used if powered, and only from very specific positions:

• Tube televisions can be watched in a 3x5 rectangle which starts 2 cells away from the television in its screen's facing direction; the long side is perpendicular to a straight line between the rectangle's center and the television. Cells which do not have line of sight to the television, or which are in a different room, are not usable.
• Flatscreen televisions are similar, but the usability rectangle is 5x6 in size.
• Megascreen televisions' usability rectangles are 6x7 in size.

Colonists not in a bed can use a television if at least one position in its usability rectangle can be stood in. They will preferentially choose positions with chairs that aren't facing directly away from the television.

Colonists in a bed can use a television if their head position is in the usability rectangle.

Playing a musical instrument

Colonists playing a musical instrument stand motionless in its interaction cell. This overrides the ambient music while the instrument is near the center of the player's screen, and also causes nearby pawns who are in the same room (if any) and not totally deaf to gain a mood bonus. The magnitude of the bonus, and the area of effect, are dependent on the type of instrument used.

• +2 while a harp within 12 cells is being played
• +4 while a harpsichord within 16 cells is being played
• +6 while a piano within 20 cells is being played

Very slowly trains Artistic skill.

Despite having the appearance and name of a real-life musical instrument, colonists do not consider the Drum to be a valid musical instrument when attempting to gain recreation.

Playing with a baby

Unlike other recreation-granting activities, colonists do not seek out babies to play with when in need of recreation. Instead, colonists assigned to Childcare in the Work tab will play with awake, non-burning babies whose Play need is lower than 95%. Colonists choose from three random forms of baby play:

• Static play: the colonist remains stationary while playing with the baby.
• Walking play: the colonist erratically walks around at one-third speed while carrying and bouncing the baby.
• Playing with toys: the colonist remains stationary while playing with the baby. There must be a toy box within 16 cells. In addition to enhancing the play gain of the baby, the toy box also enhances the colonist's joy gain rate by 1.25x.

Since this is technically a kind of work rather than recreation behavior, baby play stops when the baby's play need is fully satisfied rather than when the colonist's recreation need is fully satisfied.

Version history

• 0.10.785 - Added as Joy with Skygazing, Meditating/praying, Social relaxation, Horseshoes game, Chess, Billiards, Television, and Telescope as the initial sources.
• 0.11.877 - Added new joy activity: build snowman.
• 0.12.906 - Added grave and sarcophagus visiting as joy activity.
• B19/1.0 - Doing passionate work now affects mood instead of recreation.
• 1.1.0 - Pawns no longer engage in recreational activities when injured, unless the activity can be done in bed.

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Status levels

Needs

Beauty • Chemical • Comfort • Drug addiction • Food • Indoors • Outdoors • Recreation • Rest • Deathrest • Energy • Kill satiety • Learning • Play

Related

Hemogen

Other

Mood (Mental break • Mental inspiration)

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Architect

Recreation

Horseshoes pin ^(Colony) • Hoopstone ring ^(Tribal) • Game-of-Ur board ^(Tribal)

Complex Furniture

Billiards table • Chess table ^(Colony) • Poker table

(research)

Tube television • Flatscreen television • Harp • Harpsichord • Piano

(trade)

Megascreen television • Telescope

Related

Books (Novel • Schematic • Textbook • Tome) • Snowman