No Joy

[ahowe42]

I have a colony with 10 colonists.  There is a TV next to the kitchen table and another facing 2 nice leather easy chairs.  There's 2 chess tables, a pool table, and like 8 horseshoes pins.  The time schedule is set with 7 hours "work", 3 hrs "joy", 7 hrs "sleep" and the rest grey.

Yet, I still see colonists complaining about low joy.  Any ideas about this?

On a related note, I have never seen any colonists sitting in the nice leather easy chairs.  Any ideas about this?

[Specter]

I also encountered this. Have you tried watching them if they actually use the joy objects? What happened to me was collision of two mods, somehow it turned off all joy objects.

[ahowe42]

I've seen them use the horseshoes mostly.  Seen them watch the TV at the dining table, as well as play pool.  I've not seen anyone play chess in a while, never seen anyone watch the TV in front of the easy chairs.  I don't have any mods.

[Specter]

I'd guess it's coincidence then. To be honest, I rarely saw my pawns watching TV and even the description for one kind of the TV's reads that it's supposed to be hospitals, if I recall it correctly.

[carbon]

Can you do a better job of defining your problem?

Is it that your colonists are never gaining any joy whatsoever (literally "No Joy") or you're just unhappy your colonists occasionally get slightly joy-deprived despite 3 hours of dedicated joy time.

Also, if you could include screenshots of your colonists' daily schedule as well as the TV setup (while TV is selected) that would aid folks trying to give feedback.

[ahowe42]

Can you do a better job of defining your problem?

Is it that your colonists are never gaining any joy whatsoever (literally "No Joy") or you're just unhappy your colonists occasionally get slightly joy-deprived despite 3 hours of dedicated joy time.

Also, if you could include screenshots of your colonists' daily schedule as well as the TV setup (while TV is selected) that would aid folks trying to give feedback.

Sure, the problem is very simple.  I keep getting the "No Joy" debuffs - both "Very joy deprived" and "Totally joy deprived" - on colonists despite plenty of opportunities and time for joy.  I'm not sure how I could define it better than this.  I'll send screenshots when I get back home.  The chairs are in the TVs' viewing regions.

[Thane]

I generally set my colonists to a 'Playtime' schedule. aka All Joy All the Time! They have fun until they can't stand it then will work for a while. Then when they need more joy they fill it back up. Very convenient for keeping that plus 10 around.

Many times miners will walk right over that 3 hour joy window if it is in the evening set it in the morning if anything.

[ahowe42]

I generally set my colonists to a 'Playtime' schedule. aka All Joy All the Time! They have fun until they can't stand it then will work for a while. Then when they need more joy they fill it back up. Very convenient for keeping that plus 10 around.

Many times miners will walk right over that 3 hour joy window if it is in the evening set it in the morning if anything.

And when nobody puts enough time into building the home, planting / harvesting, cooking, tailoring, hunting, etcetera, how long does the colony survive?

[Lizardo]

The consequences of are rather drastic.  This needs to be toned down substantially. 

Generally people's response to a drab life is a degree of listlessness, not homicidal mania or fire starting.  Given the opportunity, the colonists need to be more proactive in their own best interests.

[ahowe42]

Partial screenshot showing placement of TVs, as promised.

[attachment deleted by admin - too old]

[Shurp]

The TV is powered and turned on, right?  (I notice you have some coolers to the right turned off but I don't see the off icon on the TV... just double check though)

Also the TV is facing the table.  So the 6 chairs in the two white boxes are the only ones that would be used for TV viewing.

[ahowe42]

The TV is powered and turned on, right?  (I notice you have some coolers to the right turned off but I don't see the off icon on the TV... just double check though)

Also the TV is facing the table.  So the 6 chairs in the two white boxes are the only ones that would be used for TV viewing.

Yep, the TVs are on.  I've got the extra coolers because I get wicked heat waves.  You're correct about the direction.  That's a total of 6+2 colonists that can watch TV simultaneously.  I think I've got 9 at this point.  Should be enough TV joy...

[carbon]

TVs should be fine. Probably overkill to have two, especially that close together.

Scheduling probably has more to do with it than anything. I've always gotten away just fine with setting everyone to 24h of 'anything' (minor exception for night owls' sleep schedule). Pawns deal with their needs when they have them and I don't have to worry about raids right at bed/joy-time causing a colony-wide mental break.

[Thane]

And when nobody puts enough time into building the home, planting / harvesting, cooking, tailoring, hunting, etcetera, how long does the colony survive?

Quite well actually. Multi year colonies are common. Sure the buildup is decidedly slower, but once that 'New Colony Optimism' fades I find that having Joy-filled colonists is extremely useful in maintaining a general mood of levity.

You just have to play with the work priorities table a lot to make sure what needs doing gets done and work is done on time and idling is minimized. So there is that drawback. Lots of fiddling with that spreadsheet to get the right balance.