Rooms Guide: Room Types, Bonuses & Layout Tips
Rooms are enclosed spaces defined by walls/tiles and buildings that provide gameplay effects for Duplicants and critters — they determine morale bonuses, critter happiness and reproduction, building bonuses (e.g., Massage Clinic), and which actions are available. Proper room design is essential for colony comfort, productivity and critter ranching.
What defines a Room
- A Room is any contiguous area of tiles enclosed by solid walls/tiles or doors. Airflow Tiles and Mesh Tiles do not block gases but still form room boundaries for room-type detection. Tiles stop gas and liquid passage and block light; doors and airlocks can be part of room boundaries.
- The Room Overlay shows recognized room types and whether a room meets size and content requirements.
Room effects on Duplicants
Morale and room types
Certain room types grant morale bonuses when their requirements are met:
- Barracks (minimum area, at least one Cot) grants a bonus; upgrading to a Private Bedroom with Comfy Bed increases that bonus.
- Mess Hall (minimum area and at least one Mess Table) and Latrine (toilet + wash station, no industrial machinery) grant morale or stress relief when used.
- Recreation and relaxation rooms (Massage Clinic, Great Hall / Mess Hall, Spa-type rooms, etc.) provide larger morale or stress-reduction effects when correctly configured; Massage Clinic doubles Massage Table efficiency when the room is 12–64 tiles, has no industrial machinery, and includes at least one decorative building.
Room bonuses require specific contents (beds, tables, toilets, wash stations, massage tables, refrigerators, etc.) and absence of forbidden machinery as specified per room type.
Light, sleep and workspace
- Lights affect sleep and work: lights near beds can interrupt sleep and reduce stamina recovery; Nyctophobic and Loud Sleeper traits alter those interactions.
- Buildings provide a Lit Workspace buff (+15% work speed) when a Duplicant works on a tile with at least 1 lux; some machines require much more light to grant their light-based buffs (certain cells of interest require 1000 lux).
Decor and morale interactions
- Decor in a tile is the sum of all decor sources affecting that tile within their radius. Duplicants receive morale benefits from high decor up to a maximum (the overlay marks 120 as the practical cap for morale gain).
- Windows and Pneumatic Doors allow decor to pass; Mechanized Airlocks and Manual Airlocks block decor while closed.
- Heavy clutter (machines, wires, dropped debris) reduces decor. Common mitigations: place decorative rooms (Mess Hall, Great Hall), use Carpeted Tiles, place artwork/statues, or isolate industrial wiring in maintenance tunnels.
Access, ownership and restrictions
- Many room buildings can be set as restricted to particular Duplicants or controlled by a Dupe Control Station (Interior Building Restrictions). Rooms can be used to limit access to rec/bedroom/storage buildings.
- Individual Duplicants can be assigned ownership of Cots, Comfy Beds, Mess Tables, Lavatories, and other personal-use buildings. Public buildings are usable by anyone.
Room effects on Critters
- Each critter has a required minimum space (e.g., Pufts, Gassy Moos, Grubgrubs often require 16 tiles; Cuddle Pips only 4 tiles). If a room is smaller than the required space, critters get the Confined debuff (−10 Happiness and −100% reproduction) which overrides other crowding penalties.
- Crowded: when total critter personal-space requirements exceed room size, critters suffer happiness penalties scaled to the excess divided by each critter's personal space (rounded up).
- Cramped: similar to Crowded but counts eggs as well and reduces reproduction rate rather than happiness. At least one egg is required to trigger Cramped.
- Room size planning: consult critter-specific Space Requirements when building stables and ranches. Stable tiles (e.g., 96-tile stable) have maximum critter counts per species based on their required space.
Construction, layout and practical tips
Placement and cell-of-interest
- Many buildings have a specific cell of interest for Dupe interaction, delivery and drop-off (for example, Cots, Mess Tables, Arcade Cabinets, many machines). Place floors/paths and lighting to ensure that the cell is accessible and (if required) well-lit for Lit Workspace.
- Some buildings have multi-tile interaction points (arcade cabinets, research portal, etc.); check their cell of interest to position them inside the room correctly.
Sleeproom design
- Barracks require a minimum size and at least one Cot to qualify; Private Bedrooms require Drywall and Comfy Beds for higher morale.
- Beds influence stamina recovery: Cots give a baseline, Comfy Beds increase stamina recovery and grant more room morale. Multiple Cots in a Barracks yield stamina recovery similar to several Comfy Beds in different configurations — plan for commute times vs. bed comfort.
- Avoid bright lights near beds (unless Nyctophobic trait applies). Use room placement and schedule to prevent interrupted sleep; Bathtime and Downtime scheduling helps concentrate bathroom and leisure usage.
Hygiene and food rooms
- Latrine requires a toilet and a wash station and forbids industrial machinery. Place the wash station at a single exit to encourage handwashing and reduce food-poisoning germ spread.
- Mess Halls near food production/refrigeration reduce travel time and idle time while eating. Duplicants will only eat at an assigned table; unassigned tables are taken by the first user.
Ranching and critter rooms
- Use sturdy materials for critter stables (to prevent burrowers like Voles escaping — see burrow-through exceptions) and pneumatic doors or metal tiles where necessary.
- For decor-producing critters (Shine Bugs, Buddy Buds), place ranches adjacent to rooms that benefit from their decor, but ensure temperature/light requirements for those critters are satisfied.
Special tiles and airflow
- Mesh Tiles and Airflow Tiles allow gases/liquids to pass while still delimiting rooms for some room-type calculations (note: Mesh Tiles do not pass Decor or block radiation).
- Tile selection matters: Insulated Tiles and specific material conductivity affect temperature and pressure behavior of enclosed rooms. Four-tile-thick walls prevent high-pressure leakage.
Room-based building bonuses and advanced interactions
- Many buildings have their efficiency or output modified by being placed inside an appropriately designated room (e.g., Massage Tables in a Massage Clinic, Research Portal counts as Laboratory, Printing Pod provides light workspace for early buildings).
- Some buildings require specific room contents or absence of industrial machinery; check the room requirements when designing for bonuses.
- Automation and wiring running through or adjacent to rooms can create large negative Decor if exposed (Heavi-Watt Wire, Joint Plates). Hide or route such wiring away from Duplicant areas or use decorative offsets to counteract the penalty.
Common room designs and recommendations
- Bedroom cluster: Private Bedrooms for high-value Duplicants; otherwise Barracks with multiple Cots to save space and materials.
- Mess Hall / Great Hall: central, high-decor dining area near kitchens and fridges; include lights for Lit Workspace and art for morale.
- Latrine / Washroom: shared toilets and washbasins with a single exit to encourage handwashing.
- Recreation hub: place high-tier rec buildings (Soda Fountain, Beach Chair, Arcade, Sauna) in a comfortable room with good decor to maximize morale buffs.
- Critter stables: sized to critter requirements, insulated where needed, with secure doors/tiles to prevent escape.
Design rooms with the end effect in mind: morale, work speed, critter health and reproduction, and disease control. Proper room planning increases duplicant productivity, reduces stress, and keeps critter ranches efficient.