Difference between revisions of "Colony Building Guide"

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(reviewing all the information in the guide)
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== Base Types ==
 
== Base Types ==
  
There are different ways to build your base.
+
There are different ways to build your base. In all different designs one can opt to either predefine each room role or make modular rooms which are easier to expand but also less efficient.
  
 
=== Superstructure base ===
 
=== Superstructure base ===
  
To build a superstructure base, put everything in 1 large building rather than separate it into multiple small parts.
+
A superstructure base is a base where everything or almost everything is in one large building rather than smaller separate parts.
  
 
This is a common method to build bases, and is generally the recommended way to do so.
 
This is a common method to build bases, and is generally the recommended way to do so.
  
 
'''Pros'''
 
'''Pros'''
*Convenient
+
* Saves building materials and space.
*Saves building materials and some space
+
* Easier to control temperature.
*More resistant against [[Events#Toxic_Fallout|toxic fallout]]
+
* Easier to defend against raids.
*Improved temperature control
+
* More resistant against [[Events#Toxic_Fallout|toxic fallout]].
  
 
'''Cons'''
 
'''Cons'''
*Fires can spread all over the base if flammable materials are used
+
* Rivers, patches of deep water and soft sand can complicate the design.
*Requires a large, continuous area of buildable land, making it not viable for swamp [[biomes]]
+
* Some areas might need to be unroofed to prevent cabin fever.
*Not flexible
+
* Some large hallways might be needed to help defend against raiders dropping on top.
*Less able to satisfy outdoors need, so risk of cabin fever [[thoughts]]
 
  
=== Town-like settlement ===
+
=== Separate structures base ===
  
 
Build everything in separated buildings, just like building a small town.
 
Build everything in separated buildings, just like building a small town.
  
This is great for starting off, as well as building in swamps where the land is not suited for building superstructure bases.
+
It is easier for starting off, but it usually does not scale as well into late game.
  
 
'''Pros'''
 
'''Pros'''
*Flexible
+
* Easier to avoid areas with building restrictions.
*Does not require large patches of land
+
* Naturally gets rid of cabin fever.
 +
* Naturally offer areas in between buildings to fight raiders that drop on top.
  
 
'''Cons'''
 
'''Cons'''
*Requires more space and building materials overall
+
* Requires more space and building materials overall.
 +
* Harder to control temperature.
 +
* Harder to defend against most raids.
 +
* Vulnerable to [[Events#Toxic_Fallout|toxic fallout]].
  
 
=== Mountain base ===
 
=== Mountain base ===
  
 
For mountainous maps where you have less space to build, you can opt to dig inside the mountains instead.
 
For mountainous maps where you have less space to build, you can opt to dig inside the mountains instead.
 +
 +
Also very easy to start off, used to be the most popular kind of base but now depending on how bad the [[Infestation|Infestations]] are it can be good or impossible late game.
  
 
'''Pros'''
 
'''Pros'''
*Good temperature control
+
* Saves a lot of building materials.
*Easy to defend
+
* Easier to control temperature.
*Immune to mortar strikes
+
* Easier to defend against raids.
*Leaves more soil available for farming
+
* More resistant against [[Events#Toxic_Fallout|toxic fallout]].
 +
* [[Smooth stone|Free flooring]].
 +
* Immune to raiders dropping on top.
 +
* Immune to sieges.
  
 
'''Cons'''
 
'''Cons'''
*'''Infestations can happen within base'''
+
* Infestations inside can be impossible to deal with.
*Not flexible
+
* Cabin fever can be a real problem.
*Colonists who never go outdoors will suffer the progressively debilitating Cabin Fever [[Thoughts|thought]].
 
 
 
=== Modular base ===
 
 
 
Bases consisting of 'modules' that you progressively build to expand your base.
 
 
 
The properties depend on the modules that are used, but in general, they provide easier and more ordered expansion than other base types.
 
  
 
== Base Structures ==
 
== Base Structures ==
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=== Dining room ===
 
=== Dining room ===
  
Dining rooms, at its simplest, are simply rooms where you put tables and chairs for colonists to dine in.
+
Dining room is a room with table and chairs.
  
A dining room should be built as close as possible near the freezer/ food storage so your colonists will actually use the dining room, instead of eating on the floor of the storage, giving them a -3 mood debuff. This is especially true for larger freezers, in which colonists retrieving food from the far end may simply give up searching for a table and eat on the floor.
+
Its usually a good idea to have a main dining room near the food storage so your colonists will actually use the dining room, instead of eating on the floor of the food storage.
 +
Its also a good idea to have a minor dining room right in front of the colonists bedrooms or they might eat their breakfast on the floor since colonists tend to go to bed with food and eat as soon as they wake up.
  
For increased mood buffs, decorate your dining room using [[sculptures]], [[plant pot]]s or quality furniture.
+
In big bases dining rooms can be partially unroofed to get rid of cabin fever since colonists do not mind eating on hot or cold rooms.
  
=== Rec room ===
+
Good dining rooms give good mood modifiers so they should have plenty of art, light, good flooring and high quality furniture. It does not need to be warmed. [[Nutrient paste dispenser|Nutrient paste dispensers]] are very useful on dining rooms to ensure that nobody needs to eat raw food, they are usually placed half in the dining room and half in the freezer.
  
You should have a wide variety of [[joy]] sources so your colonists don't get bored repeatedly throwing horseshoes at a pin, or wandering around aimlessly. Putting all of them in a room also provides a mood bonus after a colonist uses the facilities inside, depending on the impressiveness of the room.
+
Dining rooms are usually combined with recreation rooms.
  
In the early game all you'll need is a horseshoes pin somewhere in the colony, and colonists will proceed to use it when they are bored.
+
=== Recreation rooms ===
  
Once you reach midgame, you can afford more joy facilities such as chess tables or billiards tables, or [[Tube television]]s, which provide different kinds of joy for additional variety. In addition, you can also obtain additional joy sources from exotic goods traders, such as [[telescope]]s or [[Flatscreen television|flatscreen]] and [[Megascreen television|megascreen]] televisions, which are more joyful than the craftable tube television.
+
Recreation room is a room with sources of [[joy]].
  
Similarly to the dining room, decorating it can improve the mood bonus from using the room.
+
Colonists get bored of using the same joy source repeatedly, so you should have as many joy sources as possible in the recreation room.
  
=== Combined common room ===
+
In the early game all you need is a [[horseshoes pin]] and a [[chess table]]. Mid game you should add a [[poker table]], a [[billiards table]] and a [[tube television]]. Late game you should add a [[telescope]] and replace your [[tube television]] with a better [[flatscreen television]] or even a [[megascreen television]], all of which can be bought from traders.
  
Combining a dining room with a rec room is quite a good idea, as the room will have increased impressiveness as the wealth and space of both rooms are combined, and colonists' mood gains are based on the activity they did in the room, rather than the function of the room.
+
In big bases recreation rooms can be partially unroofed to get rid of cabin fever since colonists do not mind playing on hot or cold rooms.
  
Should you choose to do so, remember to leave enough space for both joy furniture and dining tables. You can choose to toggle the 'Gather spot' on for these tables, or set them to 'Off' and have an additional table for social purposes.
+
Good recreations rooms give good mood modifiers so they should have plenty of art, light, good flooring and high quality furniture. It does not need to be warmed.
 +
 
 +
Recreation rooms are usually combined with dining rooms.
  
 
=== Barracks ===
 
=== Barracks ===
  
You will need somewhere indoors for your colonists to sleep early-game. It should be one of your starting projects.
+
Barracks is a room with multiple beds.
 +
 
 +
They are usually a good option early game when resources are limited and eventually late game to deal with overflow of people. Overall, its better to have separate bedrooms since barracks give a lower mood modifier and cause a lot of 'Disturbed sleep' penalties.
 +
 
 +
Good barracks give good mood modifiers so they should have plenty of art, good flooring and high quality furniture. It should be warmed for better moods. [[dresser|Dressers]] are a very good addition to barracks since they increase the comfort of many beds at once.
  
Build beds for your colonists to sleep in as colonists dislike sleeping on the ground.
+
Colonists like to eat as soon as they wake up, but do not place table and chairs inside the barracks or colonists will use the tables at night and cause 'Disturbed sleep' penalties, instead barracks should be build close to dinning rooms.
  
 
=== Bedrooms ===
 
=== Bedrooms ===
  
[[File:Bedroom_example_midgame.png|400px|thumb|right|Mid-game bedrooms from Alpha 17. Each is carpeted, has beds, tables with chairs, flower pots for decoration and a vent connected to the corridors.]]
+
[[File:Bedroom_example_midgame.png|400px|thumb|right|Mid-game bedrooms from Alpha 17.]]
  
Only colonists in love like to share a bedroom, and all sleeping colonists will get disturbed by non-lovers walking about in the same room while they sleep, so once you have the manpower and materials you should upgrade to individual bedrooms for each colonist or couple.  If you have couples they will need a double bed so that they can sleep together and avoid a mood debuff.
+
Bedroom is a room with only one bed.
  
For better comfort and rest effectiveness, make sure the beds are of Normal quality or above, otherwise deconstruct and try again until you get it.  
+
Only colonists in love like to share a room, and all sleeping colonists will get disturbed by non-lovers walking about in the same room while they sleep, so once you have the resources you should upgrade to individual bedrooms for each colonist or couple.  If you have couples they will need [[double bed|double beds]] so that they can sleep together. Is recommended to have [[double bed|double beds]] in every single room because couple are not smart enough to assign themselves to bedrooms with [[double bed|double beds]], so if you have some bedrooms with normal beds and some bedrooms with double beds you gotta have to re-assign the couples every time they go out on a [[caravan]].
  
You should also have tables and chairs in the bedrooms, as colonists often carry a meal with them.  Without a table, colonists will resort to eating their breakfast on the floor and gain a mood debuff. Turn off the 'Gather Spot' option on these tables, as colonists seeking [[joy]] may sit at these tables, possibly entering ''someone else's bedroom'' and disturb their sleep (though they don't seem to care beyond that).  Another option is to set aside one room near the bedrooms as a dining room or even build a table and chairs outdoors nearby.
+
Good bedrooms give good mood modifiers so they should have plenty of art, good flooring and high quality furniture. It should be warmed for better moods. [[Dresser|Dressers]] and [[end table|end tables]] are recommended in bedrooms to increase the comfort of the bed. [[Royal bed|Royal beds]] are particularly good to have in bedrooms if you can afford it.
  
As you progress in the game, you should upgrade your bedrooms to allow colonists to live and sleep better.
+
Colonists like to eat as soon as they wake up, but do not place table and chairs inside the bedrooms or colonists will use other colonists tables at night and cause 'Disturbed sleep' penalties, instead bedrooms should be build close to dinning rooms.
*At the very beginning, you only need it to be 2x2, just enough to fit a bed and possibly an end table.
 
*In early-midgame, bedrooms should ideally be at least be 3x5; this gives you enough space to squeeze in a bed, a table and some other things, without feeling too cramped.
 
*In mid-game or later, a 4x6 bedroom allows you to fit in a double bed, a 1x2 table with chairs, an [[end table]] and a [[dresser]], with some room for decorations.
 
  
 
=== Storage ===
 
=== Storage ===
  
You will obviously need to store your stuff somewhere in your base.
+
Storage is a room with a stockpile. It is not a official [[room roles|room role]].
 +
 
 +
The storage is usually the biggest room in the base. It should be covered by [[Orbital trade beacon|Orbital trade beacons]] so you can sell your stuff to trade ships. The [[electric crematorium]] and [[electric smelter]] may be placed here or in the workshop.
 +
 
 +
It does not need to be impressive. It does not need to be warmed.
 +
 
 +
It should be build close to workshop.
 +
 
 +
==== Freezer ====
 +
 
 +
Freezers is a room with a stockpile that is kept cold by [[cooler|coolers]]. It is not a official [[room roles|room role]].
 +
 
 +
The freezer is usually the second biggest room in the base, it is where you put your valuables that would otherwise spoil in the storage like food and corpses. It should be covered by [[Orbital trade beacon|Orbital trade beacons]] so you can sell your food to trade ships.
 +
 
 +
It is common to have a [[butcher spot]] and a [[crafting spot]] inside the freezer to butcher corpses, make [[kibble]] and make [[smokeleaf joint]]. The work to make those is so small that the temperature penalty does not matter, so since the ingredients are in the freezer your colonists might as well do it in the freezer.
 +
 
 +
[[Nutrient paste dispenser|Nutrient paste dispensers]] are usually placed half in the dining room and half in the freezer.
 +
 
 +
Even though food freezes at {{Temperature|0}} you should have your freezer at least at {{Temperature|-5}} since it will constantly lose temperature whenever a colonist comes in. It is common to make airlocks in the entrance of the freezer to reduce that temperature exchange. It is also common to make the freezer with double walls to increase insulation.
 +
 
 +
To save power it is a good idea to have the [[cooler|coolers]] set to different temperatures. For example, if a cooler is set to {{Temperature|-5}} and another is set to {{Temperature|-10}} then the first will only consume power during hotter times when the second is not able to keep the temperature bellow {{Temperature|-5}} alone.
 +
 
 +
It does not need to be impressive.
 +
 
 +
It should be build close to dining rooms.
 +
 
 +
=== Kitchen ===
 +
 
 +
Kitchen is a room with a [[butcher table]] or a stove.
 +
 
 +
The kitchen is where your colonists turn raw food into meals. The room should be clean to avoid [[ailments#food poisoning|food poisoning]], so often the butcher table is placed inside the freezer instead since it creates a lot of dirt and also for saving travel time.
 +
 
 +
Besides stoves, the kitchen should include chairs, light and [[sterile tile|sterile tiles]]. You might wanna add a little vegetables stockpile inside to save travel time, since plants take a while to spoil they should be cooked before it happens.
 +
 
 +
Since the kitchen is placed near the freezer some crafting stations which include plants ingredients may be also placed in there. The [[brewery]], [[drug lab]] and [[biofuel refinery]] are good choices and if you do place them there you should also add [[tool cabinet|tool cabinets]] and little stockpiles for [[hops]], [[psychoid leaves]] and [[neutroamine]].
 +
 
 +
It does not need to be impressive, but it is usually a good idea to add a little art since colonists tend to stay there a long time. It should be warmed for better working speed.
 +
 
 +
=== Workshop ===
 +
 
 +
Workshop is a room with a crafting station.
  
==== Warehouse ====
+
The workshop is where your colonists turn raw materials into advanced products.
  
A simple structure with nothing but an expansive stockpile zone to store items in. You can have multiple smaller stockpile zones which are set to allow different items so that colonists can sort them.
+
Early game crafting stations include: [[stonecutter's table]], [[sculptor's table]], [[hand-tailoring bench]] and [[fueled smithy]]. Mid game crafting stations include: [[machining table]], also include replacing the older bench and smithy for the [[electric tailoring bench]] and [[electric smithy]]. Late game crafting stations include: [[fabrication bench]].
  
==== Dangerous items ====
+
The [[brewery]], [[drug lab]] and [[biofuel refinery]] may be placed here or in the kitchen.
  
It may be worth it to store items that can explode, such as [[mortar shell]]s or [[chemfuel]] independently in a walled room away from the exterior of the base. You can partition the room to stop explosions from affecting your entire stock of materials.  You may want to build this room out of stronger walls and doors to contain an accidental explosion inside or prevent an explosion outside from setting off the materials inside.
+
The [[electric crematorium]] and [[electric smelter]] may be placed here or in the storage.
  
Putting it away from the exterior prevents [[doomsday rocket launcher]]s fired at your base from hitting the items.
+
Besides crafting stations, the workshop should include chairs, light and [[tool cabinet|tool cabinets]]. A lot of different little materials stockpiles may be placed inside to save travel time.
  
==== Freezer ====
+
It does not need to be impressive, but it is usually a good idea to add a little art since colonists tend to stay there a long time. It should be warmed for better working speed.
  
Freezers are vital to food preservation if you aren't living in a really cold place.
+
It should be build close to storage.
  
Consider making a dedicated stockpile with a very high priority at the front of your freezer which only allows [[meal]]s. This way, your meals will always be right at the front of your possibly very large freezer. Also, if you make two more stockpiles at the front of your freezer for meat and veggies, your cook won't have to run as far for ingredients, allowing him to make meals faster (colonists assigned to hauling and trained animals will move ingredients from the back of the freezer to the front).
+
=== Laboratory ===
  
Expect your dining room to be pretty crowded during meal times, especially after a party or marriage ceremony, so have enough chairs for at least half your colony. Colonists will also hang out in the dining room if you set the table for it, occupying seats.
+
Laboratory is a room with a [[simple research bench]] or a [[hi-tech research bench]].
  
To save power, if you are living somewhere with sub-zero temperatures during the day (possibly in winter), put vents that lead outwards and turn off your freezer so you can use the outside cold to chill your meals. Close the vents once temperatures get warmer.
+
Research speed is affected by the cleanliness of the room which is why it might worth making a separate room for it.
  
==== Armory ====
+
Besides the research bench the laboratory should include a chair, light and [[sterile tile|sterile tiles]]. After you replace the [[simple research bench]] for a [[hi-tech research bench]] you can also get a [[multi-analyzer]].
 +
 
 +
It does not need to be impressive, but it is usually a good idea to add a little art since colonists tend to stay there a long time. It should be warmed for better working speed.
  
You can choose to have a dedicated area to store your weapons. If so, put it far away from your prison so that prisoners do not have ready access to dangerous weapons.
+
It should be build isolated to avoid people walking around.
  
 
=== Hospital ===
 
=== Hospital ===
 
[[File:Hospital_example_midgame.png|400px|thumb|right|Hospital with sterile tiles, hospital beds with vital monitors, decorations and megascreen TVs facing the beds.]]
 
[[File:Hospital_example_midgame.png|400px|thumb|right|Hospital with sterile tiles, hospital beds with vital monitors, decorations and megascreen TVs facing the beds.]]
  
Dedicated hospitals are more of a mid-game thing when you have enough resources to build the specialized equipment used in them.
+
Hospital is a room with a medical bed.
 +
 
 +
Hospital is a place specialized in healing your colonists, if you do not have one, colonists will heal themselves in their bedroom. The room should be clean to avoid [[infection]].
 +
 
 +
In the early game all you need is [[floors]], [[bed|beds]] and a light source. Mid game you should replace your floor with [[sterile tile|sterile tiles]] and replace your beds with [[hospital bed|hospital beds]]. Late game you should add [[vitals monitor|vitals monitors]]. All that will increase treatment quality.
 +
 
 +
Store medicine in or near your hospital so your doctors can quickly patch them up.
  
Hospitals should be built somewhere where colonists can quickly bring their downed comrades to treat them. Keep doors open, or use [[autodoor]]s so they don't obstruct colonists' access. If you need to you can build more elsewhere in the base.
+
Good hospitals give good mood modifiers so they should have plenty of art and high quality furniture. It should be warmed for better moods. Since colonist will likely spend a lot of time in the hospital it is a good idea to also add televisions which they can watch while on bed, if you do not have televisions other colonists need to go to the hospital to cheer them up to provide [[joy]].
  
[[Hospital bed]]s provide a boost to treatment quality, immunity gain speed, and healing speed, meaning colonists will recover faster from illnesses and injuries, making them the choice for hospitals.
+
It should be build close to the entrance for quicker rescue.
The [[vitals monitor]] brings even better boosts to treatment and immunity gain, so when available it's recommended that you put them down near your hospital beds.
 
  
Store your medicine in or near your hospital using [[shelf|shelves]] so your doctors can quickly grab them to patch up colonists before they bleed to death. Sometimes just that little distance can already make a difference between life and death.
+
==== Barn ====
  
Hospitals should have [[sterile tile]]s as flooring as they provide a slight cleanliness buff that can increase surgery success chance and reduce wound infection chance.
+
Barn is a room with a [[animal sleeping box]] or [[animal bed]].
  
Decorating hospitals to make them beautiful can give colonists inside a great mood boost (max +15, plus impressive room stats). This is good, especially considering that some colonists will stay in the hospital for some time , such as the severely injured, incapacitated or sick.
+
Barns help ensure that hauling animals will go back to your base at night for safety. They can also be used to ensure that animals products will drop near your base for quicker hauling.
  
To provide joy, you may also install televisions into your hospitals. Patients lying in hospital beds within the viewing area will watch TV to entertain themselves when they are bored, and you won't need colonists coming to cheer them up as their only joy source.
+
They should include stockpiles of [[kibble]] for the animals, if they are placed outside they should be in a [[shelf]] to avoid deteriorating. Since animals go back to their boxes or bed for healing it might be a good idea to store medicine near your barn for quicker patching up, again if placed outside they should be in a [[shelf]].
  
==== Patient rooms ====
+
It does not need to be impressive, also does not need to be indoors. Usually it does not need to be warmed, but sometimes it does if your animals can not handle the local temperature.
  
If you have even more resources you can build a separate room for each colonist. While they don't mind sleeping with others in a hospital, they do get disturbed by them walking around, and dirt can more easily affect cleanliness as well.
+
It should be build close to the freezer or the stockpile.
  
==== Operating theater ====
+
==== Armory ====
  
You can build a separate room to accommodate colonists who will undergo surgery, to make sure that colonists undergo medical operations in the cleanest of places.
+
Armory is a room with a stockpile for weapons and armor. It is not a official [[room roles|room role]].
  
Your operating theater should be forbidden at all cases except when someone is about to have surgery. This prevents colonists from tracking dirt or blood into it, staining it.
+
Often your colonists need to change their guns and gear to better fight different kinds of raids. Having an armory helps keeping your gun and gear stock under control and puts them in a more accessible position for your colonists to grab them quicker.
  
==== Vet area ====
+
It does not need to be impressive. It does not need to be warmed.
  
Also consider building animal sleeping spots with their own animal area near your medicine stockpile that you can restrict wounded animals to.  That way, they can be treated as fast as possible.
+
It should be build close to the entrance for quicker reaction to raids, it should also be far away from the prison.
  
=== Laboratory ===
+
==== Tomb ====
 +
 
 +
Tomb is a room with a [[sarcophagus]].
  
You may want to have a room dedicated to research, with [[hi-tech research bench]]es, [[multi-analyzer]]s to increase research speed and unlock new research, as well as sterile tiles to keep the room clean, increasing research speed. For even better cleanliness, restrict the lab to your researchers and janitors only, reducing traffic and hence the amount of dirt in the room.
+
Not the most important of the rooms, but colonists do go visit sarcophagus filled with colonists corpses to fill [[joy]] so you might wanna give a nicer room for them to do that.
  
=== Backup ===
+
It does not need to be impressive. It does not need to be warmed.
  
There are many types of ways you can set up buildings on your map to possibly save your colonists' lives in dire situations:
+
Can be build anywhere.
*'''Shelters:''' Building small rooms with an emergency food and wood supply can save your colonists from enraged animals. Thick enough walls (at least 4 layers) can stop raiders from killing your colonists hiding inside.
 
*'''[[Nutrient paste dispenser]]s''': When food is running low or you forecast that it will, a paste dispenser can significantly slow down food consumption by efficiently converting raw foods into nutrient paste.
 
  
 
== Production ==
 
== Production ==
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Animals are an extremely useful asset to the colony if you can handle them (both in-game and performance-wise). They provide a variety of products, from raw food materials (meat, eggs or milk) for producing quality foods, to wool, which is an excellent insulator against both heat and cold. Moreover, they can be used in combat, as haulers, or as pack animals in a [[caravan]].
 
Animals are an extremely useful asset to the colony if you can handle them (both in-game and performance-wise). They provide a variety of products, from raw food materials (meat, eggs or milk) for producing quality foods, to wool, which is an excellent insulator against both heat and cold. Moreover, they can be used in combat, as haulers, or as pack animals in a [[caravan]].
 
==== Barn ====
 
 
Barns are necessary only if you're keeping some animals in places where temperatures can exceed their comfort, as animals don't mind sleeping in the open. In this case, a temperature-controlled barn is necessary to keep the animals comfy.
 
 
Building [[animal sleeping box]]es or [[animal bed]]s can help animals rest faster, though this doesn't really do much and is not cost efficient.
 
  
 
==== Chemfuel farming ====
 
==== Chemfuel farming ====
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Due to their explosive nature, they won't be attacked by predators, so you can let them roam freely without much danger. Keeping them confined is dangerous as the death of one boomalope can injure others, and if you don't intervene the other boomalopes will die, exploding and causing a chain reaction.
 
Due to their explosive nature, they won't be attacked by predators, so you can let them roam freely without much danger. Keeping them confined is dangerous as the death of one boomalope can injure others, and if you don't intervene the other boomalopes will die, exploding and causing a chain reaction.
 
=== Workshop ===
 
 
Workshops are places where you put all your crafting stations and benches, probably including your cooking stoves as well. You should put them near your warehouse so your colonists can spend less time hauling the needed resources to the workshop for crafting. Also remember to put chairs of any sort at the interaction spot so your colonists won't have to keep standing while crafting.
 
 
The [[tool cabinet]] is handy for increasing productivity of your craftsmen, but you will need to allocate the positions of these carefully so as not to block colonists or future plans.
 
 
Putting all the crafting stations inside the warehouse isn't recommended despite the convenience, as colonists do not enjoy the sight of random objects laying around. This lowers their beauty opinion of their surroundings, in turn giving mood penalties. You should however put crafting materials near the workshop for quicker retrieval.
 
 
It is an excellent idea to '''put decorations such as sculptures inside the workshop''', as a beautiful environment gives up to +15 mood, improving colonists' productivity and even allowing for the occasional mental inspiration.
 
 
=== Kitchen ===
 
 
You should build your kitchen near your cold storage and your dining room, just as you build the workshop near your warehouse.
 
 
Kitchens should only have cooking stoves, and sterile tiles for flooring to reduce the chance of food poisoning. The [[butcher table]] is best put elsewhere due to the heavy cleanliness debuff.
 
 
[[Shelf|Shelves]] or small stockpiles can really improve cooking efficiency when placed right next to your stoves. Set one to accept berries and vegetables only, and the other to accept meals only the as these do not spoil in a matter of days, unlike meat which should always be in the freezer. Hauling colonists will do the transport work for your cooks instead.
 
  
 
== Prison ==
 
== Prison ==
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* Enclosed by walls, including objects that act as walls, such as the [[nutrient paste dispenser]].
 
* Enclosed by walls, including objects that act as walls, such as the [[nutrient paste dispenser]].
* [[Bed]]s or [[Sleeping spot]]s
+
* [[Bed]]s or [[sleeping spot]]s.
* Safe temperature (using coolers or heaters).
+
* Safe temperature (coolers or heaters might or might not be needed).
  
 
Good mood features:
 
Good mood features:
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* Art.
 
* Art.
 
* Comfortable temperature.
 
* Comfortable temperature.
* [[End table]]s and [[Dresser]]s.
+
* [[End table]]s and [[dresser]]s.
 
* [[Psychic emanator]].
 
* [[Psychic emanator]].
  

Revision as of 12:56, 12 August 2018

Template:NeedsPictures

This guide is the ultimate go-to guide to building your base, for all stages of the game.

Base Types

There are different ways to build your base. In all different designs one can opt to either predefine each room role or make modular rooms which are easier to expand but also less efficient.

Superstructure base

A superstructure base is a base where everything or almost everything is in one large building rather than smaller separate parts.

This is a common method to build bases, and is generally the recommended way to do so.

Pros

  • Saves building materials and space.
  • Easier to control temperature.
  • Easier to defend against raids.
  • More resistant against toxic fallout.

Cons

  • Rivers, patches of deep water and soft sand can complicate the design.
  • Some areas might need to be unroofed to prevent cabin fever.
  • Some large hallways might be needed to help defend against raiders dropping on top.

Separate structures base

Build everything in separated buildings, just like building a small town.

It is easier for starting off, but it usually does not scale as well into late game.

Pros

  • Easier to avoid areas with building restrictions.
  • Naturally gets rid of cabin fever.
  • Naturally offer areas in between buildings to fight raiders that drop on top.

Cons

  • Requires more space and building materials overall.
  • Harder to control temperature.
  • Harder to defend against most raids.
  • Vulnerable to toxic fallout.

Mountain base

For mountainous maps where you have less space to build, you can opt to dig inside the mountains instead.

Also very easy to start off, used to be the most popular kind of base but now depending on how bad the Infestations are it can be good or impossible late game.

Pros

  • Saves a lot of building materials.
  • Easier to control temperature.
  • Easier to defend against raids.
  • More resistant against toxic fallout.
  • Free flooring.
  • Immune to raiders dropping on top.
  • Immune to sieges.

Cons

  • Infestations inside can be impossible to deal with.
  • Cabin fever can be a real problem.

Base Structures

Different structures suit the different needs of your colony.

Dining room

Dining room is a room with table and chairs.

Its usually a good idea to have a main dining room near the food storage so your colonists will actually use the dining room, instead of eating on the floor of the food storage. Its also a good idea to have a minor dining room right in front of the colonists bedrooms or they might eat their breakfast on the floor since colonists tend to go to bed with food and eat as soon as they wake up.

In big bases dining rooms can be partially unroofed to get rid of cabin fever since colonists do not mind eating on hot or cold rooms.

Good dining rooms give good mood modifiers so they should have plenty of art, light, good flooring and high quality furniture. It does not need to be warmed. Nutrient paste dispensers are very useful on dining rooms to ensure that nobody needs to eat raw food, they are usually placed half in the dining room and half in the freezer.

Dining rooms are usually combined with recreation rooms.

Recreation rooms

Recreation room is a room with sources of joy.

Colonists get bored of using the same joy source repeatedly, so you should have as many joy sources as possible in the recreation room.

In the early game all you need is a horseshoes pin and a chess table. Mid game you should add a poker table, a billiards table and a tube television. Late game you should add a telescope and replace your tube television with a better flatscreen television or even a megascreen television, all of which can be bought from traders.

In big bases recreation rooms can be partially unroofed to get rid of cabin fever since colonists do not mind playing on hot or cold rooms.

Good recreations rooms give good mood modifiers so they should have plenty of art, light, good flooring and high quality furniture. It does not need to be warmed.

Recreation rooms are usually combined with dining rooms.

Barracks

Barracks is a room with multiple beds.

They are usually a good option early game when resources are limited and eventually late game to deal with overflow of people. Overall, its better to have separate bedrooms since barracks give a lower mood modifier and cause a lot of 'Disturbed sleep' penalties.

Good barracks give good mood modifiers so they should have plenty of art, good flooring and high quality furniture. It should be warmed for better moods. Dressers are a very good addition to barracks since they increase the comfort of many beds at once.

Colonists like to eat as soon as they wake up, but do not place table and chairs inside the barracks or colonists will use the tables at night and cause 'Disturbed sleep' penalties, instead barracks should be build close to dinning rooms.

Bedrooms

Mid-game bedrooms from Alpha 17.

Bedroom is a room with only one bed.

Only colonists in love like to share a room, and all sleeping colonists will get disturbed by non-lovers walking about in the same room while they sleep, so once you have the resources you should upgrade to individual bedrooms for each colonist or couple. If you have couples they will need double beds so that they can sleep together. Is recommended to have double beds in every single room because couple are not smart enough to assign themselves to bedrooms with double beds, so if you have some bedrooms with normal beds and some bedrooms with double beds you gotta have to re-assign the couples every time they go out on a caravan.

Good bedrooms give good mood modifiers so they should have plenty of art, good flooring and high quality furniture. It should be warmed for better moods. Dressers and end tables are recommended in bedrooms to increase the comfort of the bed. Royal beds are particularly good to have in bedrooms if you can afford it.

Colonists like to eat as soon as they wake up, but do not place table and chairs inside the bedrooms or colonists will use other colonists tables at night and cause 'Disturbed sleep' penalties, instead bedrooms should be build close to dinning rooms.

Storage

Storage is a room with a stockpile. It is not a official room role.

The storage is usually the biggest room in the base. It should be covered by Orbital trade beacons so you can sell your stuff to trade ships. The electric crematorium and electric smelter may be placed here or in the workshop.

It does not need to be impressive. It does not need to be warmed.

It should be build close to workshop.

Freezer

Freezers is a room with a stockpile that is kept cold by coolers. It is not a official room role.

The freezer is usually the second biggest room in the base, it is where you put your valuables that would otherwise spoil in the storage like food and corpses. It should be covered by Orbital trade beacons so you can sell your food to trade ships.

It is common to have a butcher spot and a crafting spot inside the freezer to butcher corpses, make kibble and make smokeleaf joint. The work to make those is so small that the temperature penalty does not matter, so since the ingredients are in the freezer your colonists might as well do it in the freezer.

Nutrient paste dispensers are usually placed half in the dining room and half in the freezer.

Even though food freezes at 0 °C (32 °F) you should have your freezer at least at -5 °C (23 °F) since it will constantly lose temperature whenever a colonist comes in. It is common to make airlocks in the entrance of the freezer to reduce that temperature exchange. It is also common to make the freezer with double walls to increase insulation.

To save power it is a good idea to have the coolers set to different temperatures. For example, if a cooler is set to -5 °C (23 °F) and another is set to -10 °C (14 °F) then the first will only consume power during hotter times when the second is not able to keep the temperature bellow -5 °C (23 °F) alone.

It does not need to be impressive.

It should be build close to dining rooms.

Kitchen

Kitchen is a room with a butcher table or a stove.

The kitchen is where your colonists turn raw food into meals. The room should be clean to avoid food poisoning, so often the butcher table is placed inside the freezer instead since it creates a lot of dirt and also for saving travel time.

Besides stoves, the kitchen should include chairs, light and sterile tiles. You might wanna add a little vegetables stockpile inside to save travel time, since plants take a while to spoil they should be cooked before it happens.

Since the kitchen is placed near the freezer some crafting stations which include plants ingredients may be also placed in there. The brewery, drug lab and biofuel refinery are good choices and if you do place them there you should also add tool cabinets and little stockpiles for hops, psychoid leaves and neutroamine.

It does not need to be impressive, but it is usually a good idea to add a little art since colonists tend to stay there a long time. It should be warmed for better working speed.

Workshop

Workshop is a room with a crafting station.

The workshop is where your colonists turn raw materials into advanced products.

Early game crafting stations include: stonecutter's table, sculptor's table, hand-tailoring bench and fueled smithy. Mid game crafting stations include: machining table, also include replacing the older bench and smithy for the electric tailoring bench and electric smithy. Late game crafting stations include: fabrication bench.

The brewery, drug lab and biofuel refinery may be placed here or in the kitchen.

The electric crematorium and electric smelter may be placed here or in the storage.

Besides crafting stations, the workshop should include chairs, light and tool cabinets. A lot of different little materials stockpiles may be placed inside to save travel time.

It does not need to be impressive, but it is usually a good idea to add a little art since colonists tend to stay there a long time. It should be warmed for better working speed.

It should be build close to storage.

Laboratory

Laboratory is a room with a simple research bench or a hi-tech research bench.

Research speed is affected by the cleanliness of the room which is why it might worth making a separate room for it.

Besides the research bench the laboratory should include a chair, light and sterile tiles. After you replace the simple research bench for a hi-tech research bench you can also get a multi-analyzer.

It does not need to be impressive, but it is usually a good idea to add a little art since colonists tend to stay there a long time. It should be warmed for better working speed.

It should be build isolated to avoid people walking around.

Hospital

Hospital with sterile tiles, hospital beds with vital monitors, decorations and megascreen TVs facing the beds.

Hospital is a room with a medical bed.

Hospital is a place specialized in healing your colonists, if you do not have one, colonists will heal themselves in their bedroom. The room should be clean to avoid infection.

In the early game all you need is floors, beds and a light source. Mid game you should replace your floor with sterile tiles and replace your beds with hospital beds. Late game you should add vitals monitors. All that will increase treatment quality.

Store medicine in or near your hospital so your doctors can quickly patch them up.

Good hospitals give good mood modifiers so they should have plenty of art and high quality furniture. It should be warmed for better moods. Since colonist will likely spend a lot of time in the hospital it is a good idea to also add televisions which they can watch while on bed, if you do not have televisions other colonists need to go to the hospital to cheer them up to provide joy.

It should be build close to the entrance for quicker rescue.

Barn

Barn is a room with a animal sleeping box or animal bed.

Barns help ensure that hauling animals will go back to your base at night for safety. They can also be used to ensure that animals products will drop near your base for quicker hauling.

They should include stockpiles of kibble for the animals, if they are placed outside they should be in a shelf to avoid deteriorating. Since animals go back to their boxes or bed for healing it might be a good idea to store medicine near your barn for quicker patching up, again if placed outside they should be in a shelf.

It does not need to be impressive, also does not need to be indoors. Usually it does not need to be warmed, but sometimes it does if your animals can not handle the local temperature.

It should be build close to the freezer or the stockpile.

Armory

Armory is a room with a stockpile for weapons and armor. It is not a official room role.

Often your colonists need to change their guns and gear to better fight different kinds of raids. Having an armory helps keeping your gun and gear stock under control and puts them in a more accessible position for your colonists to grab them quicker.

It does not need to be impressive. It does not need to be warmed.

It should be build close to the entrance for quicker reaction to raids, it should also be far away from the prison.

Tomb

Tomb is a room with a sarcophagus.

Not the most important of the rooms, but colonists do go visit sarcophagus filled with colonists corpses to fill joy so you might wanna give a nicer room for them to do that.

It does not need to be impressive. It does not need to be warmed.

Can be build anywhere.

Production

You will also need various buildings to produce or manufacture the stuff that your colonists need.

Crops

Sun lamp illuminating crops grown in hydroponics basins. With this configuration you can fit 24 basins under 1 sun lamp for a total of 96 plants grown.

See also: Food production

Crop fields

Crop fields are rather simple; just set up a growing zone, designate the desired plant type and growers will automatically go and grow the plants.

You need to check carefully the soil fertility before marking out your areas.

  • Gravel looks quite similar to dirt at first glance, but has a greatly reduced fertility meaning plants will grow slower.
  • Rich soil, on the other hand, is visibly darker and has improved fertility, making it suitable for long growing time plants such as devilstrand.

You will need to keep animals out, whether or not they are tamed. Exclude these areas out of the allowed areas of animals, and build walls to keep out wild animals.

Greenhouses

Enclosed areas that grow crops with the aid of temperature control, sun lamps and possibly hydroponics basins. They allow you to continue growing crops regardless of soil or weather conditions. Note that greenhouses are subject to power draining events like solar flares, knocking out lamps, heaters and hydroponics.

Mining

In early-midgame you just need to select mineral outcrops and designate them, and miners will proceed to dig out the minerals.

Later on, you can choose to continue mining through several means.

Strip mining

If you have more mountains or rocks which you can mine, you can strip mine them by mining out long tunnels with 2 tiles between each other. This allows you to cover everything in the mines.

Covering up your mine to prevent infestations is a good idea, using cheap materials such as wood it is possible to completely seal up the mines at a low cost. Alternatively, set up defenses at the mine entrance and just farm the insects.

Deep drills

After research you will unlock the deep drill and the ground-penetrating scanner for use.

It is not recommended to start deep drilling without an active scanner as you cannot see the locations of mineral locations this way and deep drills cannot be relocated.

Some deposits will be directly underneath your base. You can deconstruct or relocate buildings to give access to your drills. Be careful when you mine in colonists' bedrooms as they can easily disturb sleep.

Animals

Animals are an extremely useful asset to the colony if you can handle them (both in-game and performance-wise). They provide a variety of products, from raw food materials (meat, eggs or milk) for producing quality foods, to wool, which is an excellent insulator against both heat and cold. Moreover, they can be used in combat, as haulers, or as pack animals in a caravan.

Chemfuel farming

Boomalopes are unique in the fact that they can produce chemfuel. This can be used to power generators, used as transport pod fuel or made into mortar shells.

Due to their explosive nature, they won't be attacked by predators, so you can let them roam freely without much danger. Keeping them confined is dangerous as the death of one boomalope can injure others, and if you don't intervene the other boomalopes will die, exploding and causing a chain reaction.

Prison

An early game prison (top) and a mid-game prison (bottom). Both prisons are clean, pretty and cooled. Prisoners can feed themselves, and doctors can treat prisoners with herbal medicine. Wardens can strip their valuable clothes and prisoners will wear cheap tribalwear. The outside is empty with a second wall.
Mid-late game prison blocks from B18, with a filled cell and a warden. Each cell has a table with a chair, a bed and some decorations.

Prisons are places where you put your captives of war. Better prisons make it easier to recruit people. Still, prisons are not consistently used, so one should consider how much effort and resources should be invested in it.

Basic features:

Good mood features:

Convenience features:

Medical features:

Safety features:

  • Isolated from the rest of the base, but not close to the map edges.
  • Isolated from any potential weapons, even wood and beer.
  • Doors connected to an empty walled area, possibly guarded by turrets.

Prisons can have the following rooms:

Prison barracks

Barracks are rooms with multiple prisoner beds.

They are cheaper than cells and allow for features that are unreasonable to have in every single cell. The prison barracks mood modifier is only 2 less than the prison cell modifier which is even less the +5 'Spacious interior' modifier so they arguably offer better mood than prison cells since prisoners do not get 'Disturbed sleep' penalties. However, if a prison break happens all prisoners in the barracks will break out together.

Prison cells

Cells are rooms with a single prisoner bed.

Cells offer only slightly better mood modifier than barracks and usually are much more limited in what they can have. The major advantage of cells is that if a prison break happens, not all prisoners in nearby cells will join.

If you are lacking space for prisoners, a colonist bedroom can be temporarily turned into a prison cell.

Prison hospital

The prison hospital is a room with medical prisoner beds.

Prisoners often first enter your prison injured, so having a proper prison hospital can help avoid unnecessary deaths and infections. They are like a regular hospital attached to the rest of your prison, however, you do not need to have televisions in it since prisoners are not affected by joy.

Prison freezer

The prison freezer is a room with a stockpile kept cold by coolers inside the prison.

This is for storing stocks of food and herbal medicine to prevent spoilage, should you decide to include them. If you have a Nutrient paste dispenser you can place part of it and all the hoppers inside.

Power

Solar power

Solar generators provide power only during the day. It provides 1700W, quite a decent figure, but still not to be fully relied on.

Wind power

Wind turbines provide unstable power throughout the day. It can provide up to 3000W, but it usually gives less than that.

It requires plenty of open space for maximum efficiency, and any obstacles can easily reduce efficiency. To prevent trees from growing and obstructing the turbines, put down floors, grow crops underneath the turbines or fill in the gaps with solar generators.

Fueled generation

You can get the wood-fired generator which runs on wood, or the chemfuel powered generator which runs on chemfuel. Both provide a constant 1000W of power, so it is a good idea to have some of these as a backup power source, or even as your main source in biomes that are loaded with forests that will replenish themselves, such as in the tropics.

Chemfuel is significantly more efficient than wood, so once you research the refinery it's a better idea to refine wood into chemfuel before usage as fuel.

Boomalope setup

Boomalopes generate enough chemfuel to run 2 generators.

2 boomalopes give enough fuel to continuously power 5 generators for a total of 5000W. This is not taking into account any energy costs from growing food for use by the boomalopes.

Infinite chemreactor setup

Infinite chemreactors generate enough chemfuel to run a generator, which in turn generates more than enough power to run the chemreactor.

8 infinite chemreactors can generate enough fuel to power 15 generators, for a total surplus power of 12600W.

Geothermal power

Geothermal generators constantly gives 3600W of power after being built on a steam geyser without requiring fuel. It is an important source of power from mid-game onward, as it is constant and high-powered.

Research is required to unlock it, and the generator itself is quite costly so it's best left to midgame. However, once researched and built you can have a constant power supply, and with 5 generators on the map you can sustain a basic mid-sized colony.

Make sure your geothermal generators and their connecting conduits are well-protected as they often have to be placed far from base. Walling the generators helps protect them against raiders, but walling the conduits isn't recommended due to the cost and its hindrance on colonist field work. Be aware of the heat that the geysers release. If you closely wall and roof in a geothermal generator, the temperature inside will be quite high, high enough in fact to catch combustible building materials on fire. Consider removing the roofs on such buildings. However, if the vent is close to your base in a cold biome, consider attaching its building to your own base to help heat it.

It is possible to rush the research for geothermal power, though you should be careful not to neglect other more important research projects.

Power storage

You will need batteries to store power if you're using unstable power supplies such as wind or solar power. Batteries need to be kept under a roof to prevent short-circuits, and they should be protected from external threats, too. Connect them to the grid via switches, so you can shut off unneeded batteries to reduce the impact of short circuits.

Leave a 1-tile gap between adjacent groups of batteries so power does not flow between them and you can independently control connectivity.

Power network

It's not a good idea to have just 1 conduit spanning the entirety of your base. While it saves materials, short circuits or other events can cripple your power supply. Instead, build a network with redundant pathways so that the grid will continue to function even if there is a break somewhere in the network.

It is best to connect geothermal generators to other geothermal generators, so events such as wildfires and raider attacks won't easily disconnect them from your power network, causing severe power shortages.

Emergency power

Some events will cause you to lose power if you are unprepared. Some colonies rely on wind or solar power to power everything, and eventually every colony with electricity will suffer from a fault conduit explosion, also show as 'Zzzt...' Both cases will cause you to lose power, whether it's not enough wind or sun, or an explosion. Raider attacking and destroying power conduits connected to power generators can sever power from the colony, reducing the power available.

  • Backup batteries: Always have spare power stores, such as multiple battery systems with switches. Only connect extra when they are about to run out, or are charging.
  • Backup generators: Have some fueled generators that you bring online only if there's not enough power in the colony. This can allow your backup batteries to discharge slower, or even recharge. If they are turned off they will not consume fuel.

Vanometric power cell

A vanometric power cell constantly provides 1200W of power regardless of any condition, and can be placed anywhere. Obtaining it can be quite hard due to its rarity, even in the mid-late game, yet a constant, uninterrupted source of power is always valuable to any colony.

It can be used as a good starting power source when you are branching off to start a new colony.

Defenses

Unless you're playing on Peaceful difficulty, you will eventually encounter major threats, so you will need to prepare defenses for that.

The greatest advantage on your side is cover. While enemies are hiding behind rock chunks, you have sandbags and walls on your side, giving you a significant upper hand. You can even clear the rock chunks to force enemies behind trees which are less optimal a cover choice, widening the advantage.

You can also choose to build turrets if you have unlocked them. They are essential if you don't have enough colonists to defend against raids, most typically the start of the Rich Explorer scenario.

Temperature control

Room should have its temperature regulated by some method or another, so as to keep a comfortable temperature for colonists to live in, and protect them from extreme temperature conditions such as heat waves, cold snaps or simply the outdoors ambient temperature.

Large rooms such as your dining room or rec room should have their own heaters and coolers. If they are interconnected you may want to open doors for faster colonist access and temperature exchange. If you choose to do so, remember to close doors if a fire breaks out in the room.

Smaller rooms such as your bedrooms should be thermally connected to a larger central space through vents. Your heaters and coolers should be all placed outside the bedrooms. This reduces the number of heaters and coolers you need to build while keeping your bedrooms at a comfy temperature at the same time.

Keep in mind that you will also need to be prepared in case of a freak temperature event such as heat waves or cold snaps. Without enough temperature devices rooms can get uncomfortably cold or hot, and in severe cases begin to cause hypothermia or heatstroke.

Cooler gap prevention

As coolers need to be built as part of a wall, the process of building a cooler involves tearing down the original wall, then putting the cooler in place. This short interval allows temperature to go freely through the gap, which isn't something you want.

To fix this, you can plug the gap by building cheap wooden wall in front of or behind the cooler blueprint, then starting work on the cooler. The wooden wall will prevent temperatures from equalizing easily.
Remember to deconstruct the wall after the cooler is done.

Protected coolers

Coolers are very fragile, and a single explosion or dedicated effort from melee attackers can easily break them down. Protecting the coolers helps fortify your base against enemy raids by eliminating the weak points in your walls. This is done by walling the coolers off while giving it unroofed space in front of the hot end to vent away heat.

If your colony is in a cold but not quite freezing biome, consider venting the heat from the coolers for your freezer into your living spaces instead.

Cooler column

Have the hot end facing an unroofed area where the heat vents out into the open. That unroofed area can be placed within an existing structure, such as inside the freezer. For maximum spatial efficiency the strips of unroofed area should be 1 tile wide, surrounded by coolers.

Best used for freezers to keep cool as most cases don't call for that many coolers.

Temporary temperature control

If your regular heaters or coolers aren't doing the trick, there's a temporary power outage or you're a tribe without the ability to harness electricity yet, you can use campfires or passive coolers to heat or cool down your base respectively. Both have the same effect as their powered variants, except they are rather limited in their available temperature range: campfires can't heat above 30°C while passive coolers can't cool below 15°C. Also, their temperature effect is full and cannot be throttled. Depending on what gear your colonists are wearing, it's possible for them in a room being heated with campfires to complain about it being too hot.

These are best used to keep colonists comfortable during heat waves or cold snaps. If you always encounter uncomfortable temperatures during summer or winter then it's time to upgrade your heaters or cooler system.

Miscellaneous

Dirt floors

Until you have enough manpower to spare for cleaning jobs, instead of building any floors, use the terrain as the floors. Dirt trailed on constructed floors makes for a much worse beauty penalty than using dirt floors, so this can actually make your rooms look better.

However for places like hospitals it's better to use sterile tiles and manually clean them instead.

Flooring outside

To reduce the amount of dirt inside your colony buildings, put any kind of flooring covering places where colonists and animals frequently walk. This reduces the amount of dirt formed as well as causes dirt to be left outside where it does not look as bad.

This should obviously be done only if you have enough janitors, otherwise it's better to just not build any floors (see above).

Moisture pumps

Moisture pumps clear out moisture from the ground around them, making dry land suitable for construction and agriculture. They are excellent in swamp biomes for clearing out shallow water, marshy soil and mud in order to build structures. Their effect is permanent, so they can safely be deconstructed once the land you want to use is dry. Note that shallow water will be converted to gravel, which only has 70% fertility. Still, this can be the only way to farm in ground outdoors in biomes like Ice Sheet and Sea Ice.