How to create private rooms

[Gorge_Trail]

After things get stable on a world, I like to work on giving all of my colonists nice private rooms. I also normally have a nightshift/dayshift rotation where half of my colonists will be awake at any time.

The problems is that I can't get my colonists to respect room privacy! I put small tables in the rooms, and the pawns use these to eat at or socialize at, causing my sleeping colonists to get the "disturbed sleep" mood deduction. Colonists also enter the rooms to clean and replant flower pots, and unrestricted animals wander in. When trading caravans visit, those pawns also use the tables in my colonist's rooms. Is there a way to stop this? Have I missed a game mechanic?

The pawns already have access to a real dinning table and plenty of spaces to socialize. I have zoned all my animals to stay out of living space (except hauling animals). The only solution I see is to zone each individual pawn to the map minus other people's rooms, and even then you'd have to unrestrict for cleaning. Are there other ways to avoid my problem?

[Jigain]

When pawns are hungry and they have food in their inventory, they will look for the nearest unoccupied table and chair within a certain radius, and go there to eat. If no table and chair can be found in this radius, they will eat without a table and you are a horrible, horrible ruler for forcing them to do this. Shame on you. Et cetera, et cetera. :P

The way to avoid this is to not build tables in people's rooms. Or heavily abuse the zoning tool, but you'd have to set up so many zones that it's not worth it. For cleaning and planting, set up your pawns to go to sleep at the same time and it should minimalize the amount of disturbed sleep from that.

Animals, unless I'm much mistaken, do not disturb sleep.

[TwoTonGamer]

Night shift cleaning can be solved with the night cleaner colonist having a zone all to themselves that excludes colonist's rooms. Just one extra zone may not be too bad to keep track of...the zones tend to build up the more you perfect your colony.

Unfortunately, you may have to get rid of the tables.

If you are able to provide a small table and chair nearer all the common work areas then that will reduce this behavior. Such as right in the workrooms and in a nook near the most used entrances.

Each table has a button for "Gathering Spot" which you can forbid but this will only forbid them from gathering socially at that table. Colonists will still seek out the nearest table to eat their food.

[Jigain]

Actually, if you're keen on keeping the table in the room, what you could do is try this mod:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1430086135

It lets you set a radius for how far the pawns should look for a table. It also lets you set a per-table radius, so you could set your pawns' "private" tables to just cover the room and no more. In theory, this should mean that nobody except the pawn who owns the room should eat there. Then just disable the gathering spot for the table and you're golden? Question mark?

I have the mod but I've never used it this way, so I can offer no guarantees. Also I don't know if it works on visitors and traders. But it's an option to try, if you really want to keep the tables.

[martindirt]

All tables & campfires has an option : "Meeting spot" (or stg like that). You can disable that option. But if u do this, the owner of the room also won't use the table.
Next opt is to make zones for all your pawns, and zone them out from others bedrooms.
Best opt IMO if you don't build tables in the bedrooms.

[Jigain]

Even if you disable the table as a meeting spot, pawns will still use the table for eating.

[Kaerius]

You can minimize the room eating by making the path from the food storage area to the rooms contain a large dining area. I generally have my storage zones at the entrance, next to eachother, with the non-food/cold area being the larger and having most of my crafting stations(except food preparation, which is in the cold room), as well as a big dining area in the middle, this a) means it's close to the food storage and cooking area, and b) is an impressive dining room, for a bigger mood buff. The living quarters are further in.

I should note that I build into mountains, as it makes it easier to cope with events like heatwave, as well as being more defensible.

[Triggerhippy]

I don't put tables in my rooms, but plant pots I always put just inside the door and put the bed on the opposite corner to the door. This means replanting pawns will just stand in the doorway to plant and don't disturb sleep and the plant pot still counts as being in their room.

[Astasia]

If it really bothers you, use this mod:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1157085076

It's not worth it though IMO, "disturbed sleep" is trivial and can be avoided by making larger rooms and moving the beds away from the tables/plants. It's going to be a hassle to keep the rooms clean if you are specifically trying to keep cleaners out, and a few dirt splotches on a bedroom floor can have a much larger impact than disturbed sleep.

[M.K.]

Originally posted by Jigain:

When pawns are hungry and they have food in their inventory, they will look for the nearest unoccupied table and chair within a certain radius, and go there to eat. If no table and chair can be found in this radius, they will eat without a table and you are a horrible, horrible ruler for forcing them to do this. Shame on you. Et cetera, et cetera. :P

The way to avoid this is to not build tables in people's rooms.

You have a slight spelling error there, let me correct it for you.
The way to avoid this is to schedule your work and eating times so that the pawns become hungry WHILE IN YOUR DINING ROOM, where they will use the communal chairs and table, partake in the lovely ambiance of a very expensive dining/rec room, and have a friendly social chat with their companions.

[pmutzu]

When designing a colony you have to take into account the 25 tile limit on how far a colonist will look for things like a table ,rec,ect. . you do not need tables or any recreation in your colonist rooms. you are much better served by strategically placing your rec/dining room in a good spot. centrally located and near a meal source. wall fridges are great for this as they can be put in the dining room itself. the only thing you need in your bedroom is a bed, a plant pot,a end table, a rug, and a bed, eventually adding dressers and such. Never anything that would promote another colonist to enter that room. no rec, no table, if you use hygene make a central bathroom also not individual bathrooms. you can make a large room with stalls for toilets and showers maintaining privacy

[Legion]

Originally posted by M.K.:

Originally posted by Jigain:

When pawns are hungry and they have food in their inventory, they will look for the nearest unoccupied table and chair within a certain radius, and go there to eat. If no table and chair can be found in this radius, they will eat without a table and you are a horrible, horrible ruler for forcing them to do this. Shame on you. Et cetera, et cetera. :P

The way to avoid this is to not build tables in people's rooms.

You have a slight spelling error there, let me correct it for you.
The way to avoid this is to schedule your work and eating times so that the pawns become hungry WHILE IN YOUR DINING ROOM, where they will use the communal chairs and table, partake in the lovely ambiance of a very expensive dining/rec room, and have a friendly social chat with their companions.

Your clear condescension aside, Jigain is correct in the matter. Don't build tables in private rooms as that's what dining halls are for.

[M.K.]

Originally posted by Nomadic:

Originally posted by M.K.:

You have a slight spelling error there, let me correct it for you.
The way to avoid this is to schedule your work and eating times so that the pawns become hungry WHILE IN YOUR DINING ROOM, where they will use the communal chairs and table, partake in the lovely ambiance of a very expensive dining/rec room, and have a friendly social chat with their companions.

Your clear condescension aside, Jigain is correct in the matter. Don't build tables in private rooms as that's what dining halls are for.

You keep on using that word, I do not think it means what you think it means.

[Legion]

Originally posted by M.K.:

Originally posted by Nomadic:

Your clear condescension aside, Jigain is correct in the matter. Don't build tables in private rooms as that's what dining halls are for.

You keep on using that word, I do not think it means what you think it means.

Then perhaps it's best that you stop thinking.

[tekhedd]

Originally posted by Nomadic:

Don't build tables in private rooms as that's what dining halls are for.

Or at any rate put the tables outside the bedroom. I find that a small room with a table and chairs, with several bedrooms off of it, works pretty well. As long as the only entrance to the bedrooms is towards the antechamber, nobody will use the bedrooms as shortcuts, and only sleepers will head to the bedrooms.

[Legion]

Originally posted by tekhedd:

Originally posted by Nomadic:

Don't build tables in private rooms as that's what dining halls are for.

Or at any rate put the tables outside the bedroom. I find that a small room with a table and chairs, with several bedrooms off of it, works pretty well. As long as the only entrance to the bedrooms is towards the antechamber, nobody will use the bedrooms as shortcuts, and only sleepers will head to the bedrooms.

I personally create regular houses with an actual diningroom in each one; no tables where people sleep. That, and I create picnic benches here and there throughout my settlements. Makes it drastically easier.