Can we get more ways to make our colonists happy?

[OnyxShadow]

Right now the ways to improve morale are few and only provide relatively small amounts of joy to combat the rather large negative factors. It would be nice if we could trade resources/time to improve this.

To me one of the most obvious solutions is the choice of how hard to work the colonists. Work them hard and get stuff done faster at the cost of happiness or take more breaks (even days off) to put everyone in a good mood.

Beyond that, maybe let us provide alcohol (oh no, Mike is having a drunken rampage) or snacks, better furniture, and exotic dancers! 

[emraldilian]

I'd like this too, currently I run colonies on fear since it's much easier. No need to clean or worry about eating people or making your rooms the right size. Too many negative happiness effects, I'd rather just put a dead colonist in a gibbet cage in everyone's rooms and get them shot when they start having a mental break.

[Quasarrgames]

Yes. I know this may be slightly ironic, but:

video game consoles maybe?

Wouldn't be unrealistic. Just a rewired comms console.

[StorymasterQ]

Somebody should mod a sun lamp (or something) to become some sort of holographic projector. Put some chairs around it and all colonists sitting will have their happiness raised slightly over time. Could even put it in a room and have it be a Holodeck

[James009]

Yeah, I feel like R&D should develop a bunch of new options to keep people happy including booze (and a pub), refrigeration (better food storage), games, consoles, TVs, radios, and more social stuff. Maybe you could craft items that people can use for fun (ie. handhelds, books, magazines, toys).

[StorymasterQ]

"Hey, where's Jack?"
"He's still playing that sim game, The Sims X000, I think."
"He hasn't been pulling his weight for days, now. What's the problem?"
"I think he mentioned that his sim guy is stuck in his computer playing this game about being stuck in a rim world."
"Woah, recursion."

[Coenmcj]

"Hey, where's Jack?"
"He's still playing that sim game, The Sims X000, I think."
"He hasn't been pulling his weight for days, now. What's the problem?"
"I think he mentioned that his sim guy is stuck in his computer playing this game about being stuck in a rim world."
"Woah, recursion."

My word!

The fourth wall has been broken!
We must evacuate before it goes deeper!

[Serrate Bloodrage]

With custom thoughts coming in A3 I will be doing quite a bit like this as mods.
I have already created the tech trees for it(expect some long research!) and rough .xml. When I can attach thoughts to use I will be making a bunch of mods

[starlight]

Right now the ways to improve morale are few and only provide relatively small amounts of joy to combat the rather large negative factors. It would be nice if we could trade resources/time to improve this.

To me one of the most obvious solutions is the choice of how hard to work the colonists. Work them hard and get stuff done faster at the cost of happiness or take more breaks (even days off) to put everyone in a good mood.

Beyond that, maybe let us provide alcohol (oh no, Mike is having a drunken rampage) or snacks, better furniture, and exotic dancers! 

It would be nice to have some kind of *drink* added to the diet. Doesn't have to be alcohol, though that could be one of the options.

What I propose is:
1. Water. Currently missing from the game. Adds lot of depth / changes apart from adding realism.
You get water tiles: rivers, streams, pools. (Doesn't have to flow - graphics not important, can come later)
You can build bridges across them.
You can have swimming as a skill to check who can cross them.
You can add boats
You can have fishing as a means of obtaining food.

You can make a moat and fill it with acid / poison water yikes.........

[Monkfish]

And natural springs, onto which wells could be built and used to pump water to a storage tank of some description. Perhaps some form of random failure could be added that would result in the loss of some/all stored water. I'm thinking along the lines of overpressure (either due to power surge or due to a full storage tank with the pump still running) that would result in the water storage being compromised and leaking water everywhere. This could cause issues with power systems if the water happens to come in contact with them, or even electrocute colonists (random chance of insta-death) if they happen to be stood in the water when it touches the power and discharges.

[vagineer1]

Since berries are in the game maybe we could have a way to produce some sort of alcohol like wine.

[Opie]

Realdoll crafting stations 

[StorymasterQ]

Realdoll crafting stations 

Seconded

[AwesumnisRawr188]

And natural springs, onto which wells could be built and used to pump water to a storage tank of some description. Perhaps some form of random failure could be added that would result in the loss of some/all stored water. I'm thinking along the lines of overpressure (either due to power surge or due to a full storage tank with the pump still running) that would result in the water storage being compromised and leaking water everywhere. This could cause issues with power systems if the water happens to come in contact with them, or even electrocute colonists (random chance of insta-death) if they happen to be stood in the water when it touches the power and discharges.

This is awesome! I don't like the insta-death part although it's realistic though. Maybe insta-incap to make it a tidbit fairer.