Mood, backstories and relationships

Keep basic needs steady

Colonists need food, rest and recreation. Their mood also reflects thoughts about surroundings, comfort, illness, weather and recent events. Select a colonist and inspect Needs to see the actual causes of low mood.

Give people enough time to sleep and relax. Provide beds, eating furniture and recreation, keep rooms clean and pleasant, and prepare for temperature changes. Solving the largest negative thought is usually more useful than adding another decoration.

Needs tab with low Food, Rest and Recreation bars and the negative thoughts Hungry, Tired and Bored. — The low bars explain the Hungry, Tired and Bored thoughts below them. Address food, rest and recreation before trying to solve this colonist's mood with decorations. View full screenshot

Skills, traits and backstories

Skills improve through use. Traits shape how a colonist behaves and what affects them. Bio lists childhood, adulthood and family. Backstories add skills and can prevent particular work; these restrictions appear as dashes in the Work table.

Review recruits individually. A larger population needs more food, beds and work planning, and increases the colony’s exposure to larger threats.

Bio tab showing childhood and adulthood backgrounds and an inability to Haul or Clean. — Read Bio when assigning work. A backstory restriction can explain why a job is unavailable even when the colony urgently needs it. View full screenshot

Friendships and rivalries

Colonists talk when circumstances allow. Talks affect opinions and can create friends or rivals. The Social tab shows opinions in both directions, relationships and recent interactions. Relatives have lasting ties and react to imprisonment, recruitment and death.

Insults can provoke fist fights. An insulting spree is itself a mental break and can damage several relationships. Visitors who make friends or enemies can affect relations with their faction.

Social tab with opinions of other colonists and recent deep-talk and insult interactions. — Open Social to inspect relationships and recent interactions. Opinions can differ in each direction; a friendly talk and an insult have different effects. View full screenshot

Lovers and double beds

Compatible colonists can become lovers automatically. After Complex furniture, build a Double bed and assign its two sides. Lovers can share it and gain a positive thought from sleeping together. Breakups, jealousy and bereavement also affect mood.

Mental breaks

Very low mood can lead to wandering, binges, tantrums, insulting sprees or berserk violence. Respond to the danger and then address the needs behind it.

A colonist in a break may offer Arrest, if they are not the last free colonist. This needs a prison bed and a warden, may be resisted, and harms relationships. Berserk colonists are dangerous to everyone; wardens do not simply walk up to arrest them. See prisoners.