Stop feeding them the good stuff!

[Listy]

I keep screaming this at my Warden.

I've got a rather large colony and everything running along nicely, apart from one critical point. My Prison population is rather large. The game is shifting from the know the people by name stage where you fight against the elements, to the Simcity stage where you worry about providing enough food and the like.

Well here's the problem with a large prison population: They eat food.

SO I'm starting to see a strain on my food production as I'm lacking chefs. So I built a Nutrient paste dispenser in the prison, just for the prisoners so I can keep the fine meals for my loyal minions. However no-one is using it and the warden has just kept bringing the Fine meals in.

So has anyone worked out how to set this up so the cheapo nutrient paste gets used for prisoners, while the good stuff is kept for people who get a benefit from it.

[Segrog]

People don't use nutrient paste dispensers if they are in prisons. That could be your problem. I do wish you could toggle what food prisoners can eat and make them wear certain cloths though.

[muffins]

In the prisoners tab there is an option where you can disable the delivery of food to that prisoner. They will then be forced to either use the nutrient paste dispenser or grab a meal from a stockpile inside the prison.

Obviously if you do that to a prisoner that can't walk, he/she will starve.

[Listy]

People don't use nutrient paste dispensers if they are in prisons. That could be your problem. I do wish you could toggle what food prisoners can eat and make them wear certain cloths though.

The later one is easy enough to do, Stockpile inside the prison with said clothing. Strip then haul each prisoner's outfit. The naked prisoner will then seek any nearby clothing.

[TLHeart]

I build a small critical stockpile in the prison, that only allows the lowest quality food for that map. As long as there is food in the stockpile, your wardens will not deliver food to the able bodied prisoners. They will still feed the incapacitated prisoners good meals though.

I allows my low skill level cooks to make that simple meal that goes to the prisoner also, helps train them up, and since the food is in a stockpile that my colonist can not us, no food poisoning for my colonists.

[Listy]

In the prisoners tab there is an option where you can disable the delivery of food to that prisoner. They will then be forced to either use the nutrient paste dispenser or grab a meal from a stockpile inside the prison.

Obviously if you do that to a prisoner that can't walk, he/she will starve.

Does that actually work? I'll try it!

Edit: Nope it doesn't work. Prisoner with starvation despite access to a paste dispenser was the result.

TLHeart's idea does work though. However there appears to be no way to generate Paste meals.

[muffins]

In the prisoners tab there is an option where you can disable the delivery of food to that prisoner. They will then be forced to either use the nutrient paste dispenser or grab a meal from a stockpile inside the prison.

Obviously if you do that to a prisoner that can't walk, he/she will starve.

Does that actually work? I'll try it!

Edit: Nope it doesn't work. Prisoner with starvation despite access to a paste dispenser was the result.

TLHeart's idea does work though. However there appears to be no way to generate Paste meals.

Is there a hopper next to the paste dispenser with food in it? The nutrient paste dispenser will pull raw food from a hopper adjacent to it and turn it into nutrient paste meals.

[Listy]

Is there a hopper next to the paste dispenser with food in it? The nutrient paste dispenser will pull raw food from a hopper adjacent to it and turn it into nutrient paste meals.

Two actually... I have a lot of prisoner's to feed.

[muffins]

Is there a hopper next to the paste dispenser with food in it? The nutrient paste dispenser will pull raw food from a hopper adjacent to it and turn it into nutrient paste meals.

Two actually... I have a lot of prisoner's to feed.

You might have a bug. This is my setup which works without problems. The only prisoners that get food delivered to them are those that can't walk.

[The-MathMog]

Maybe there is a bug or an issue that makes nutrient re-synthesizers not work, if the hoppers themselves are in the prison room?

[Listy]

You might have a bug. This is my setup which works without problems. The only prisoners that get food delivered to them are those that can't walk.

Interesting.  There's some differences between your set up and mine.

1: Hoppers were on the flank.
2: I only had the nozzle of the paste dispenser in the room. (EG on your version the dispenser would be in the room above the prison, and the nozzle would be where your hopper is.

Time for some god mode testing!

Tried it by copying your set up: IE: Dispenser in the room, Hopper outside. Nope still not working. It does appear your using a modded game though.

[TLHeart]

I have never been able to get the prisoners to feed themselves with a paste dispenser either, that is why I went to the simple meal stockpile in the prison.

[Vexare]

Seems to me this should be a fix/addition to prisoner AI. If they will pick up a meal off the ground that's in their vicinity to feed themselves, they should be capable of taking food out of the nutrient paste dispenser. Honestly, the dispenser is a waste of time/materials for regular colonists - at least allow it as a viable way to feed prisoners.

[keylocke]

first question should always be.. what mods are you using?
second would probably be, what version of the game are you playing?

it's probably a bug from a mod though or just some xml that you might've modified.