Prisoners being fed Ambrosia despite 'nothing' food restriction

[Unit 744]

As the title says. I run a super-modded game, so maybe that is causing this. But I don't think I have any mods that would change this behavior...


Very simple to reproduce:

1. Get some Ambrosia and unforbid it.
2. Set a colonist to Warden so he will feed prisoners.
3. Set the prisoner to the 'Nothing' food restriction.
4. Wait until the prisoner gets hungry.
5. Watch as your colonist proceeds to feed Ambrosia to the prisoner.

I have to assume this is a bug. If I don't want to 'waste' even raw food on the prisoner, I sure as heck don't want to waste Ambrosia on them!

And no, the prisoner has no addiction to it or anything. They are not being fed Ambrosia for any medical reason. It is very obvious that the Ambrosia is being used as a food source, since switching the prisoner to any other food restriction will stop the Ambrosia use.

I hypothesize - though have not tested - that setting the prisoner to the 'raw food' (or any other setting other than 'nothing') would also result in Ambrosia being used if no other valid food source is available. E.g., if you set the prisoner to 'raw food' and you have no raw food left (but have Ambrosia), I bet the prisoner will be fed Ambrosia. Ambrosia is probably being treated as a a food type below even the 'Nothing' category - it is the last food type your colonists will try to use, and they consider it worse than 'nothing' (for some reason).

[Rocketeer]

Originally posted by Unit 744:

As the title says. I run a super-modded game, so maybe that is causing this. But I don't think I have any mods that would change this behavior...


Very simple to reproduce:

1. Get some Ambrosia and unforbid it.
2. Set a colonist to Warden so he will feed prisoners.
3. Set the prisoner to the 'Nothing' food restriction.
4. Wait until the prisoner gets hungry.
5. Watch as your colonist proceeds to feed Ambrosia to the prisoner.

I have to assume this is a bug. If I don't want to 'waste' even raw food on the prisoner, I sure as heck don't want to waste Ambrosia on them!

And no, the prisoner has no addiction to it or anything. They are not being fed Ambrosia for any medical reason. It is very obvious that the Ambrosia is being used as a food source, since switching the prisoner to any other food restriction will stop the Ambrosia use.

I hypothesize - though have not tested - that setting the prisoner to the 'raw food' (or any other setting other than 'nothing') would also result in Ambrosia being used if no other valid food source is available. E.g., if you set the prisoner to 'raw food' and you have no raw food left (but have Ambrosia), I bet the prisoner will be fed Ambrosia. Ambrosia is probably being treated as a a food type below even the 'Nothing' category - it is the last food type your colonists will try to use, and they consider it worse than 'nothing' (for some reason).

I believe this is due to ambrosia counting as a drug but being edible.

[ZS Maeklos]

Yeah. If you have no food options, your colonists will try to feed prisoners anything on hand that has a nutrition value. Typically, this is ambrosia, but I think it can also be beer (which is the same reason why animals will drink beer). There are a few things that have nutritional value that aren't technically food.

The easiest way to prevent this from happening is to either disallow the door to the prison so that your people can't access it at all, if you're wanting your prisoner to starve to death.

[SpaceThunder]

Is ambrosia counted as food still in the branch 1.3?

[RCMidas]

Ambrosia is a drug. It just happens to provide a bit of nourishment as well, exactly the same as beer.

[SpaceThunder]

Originally posted by RCMidas:

Ambrosia is a drug. It just happens to provide a bit of nourishment as well, exactly the same as beer.

Well, I want my pawns to eat meals only. Policy allows me to prohibit berries but I can not prohibit to eat ambrosia.

[RCMidas]

So change their drug policy to prohibit ambrosia and beer.

[SpaceThunder]

Originally posted by RCMidas:

So change their drug policy to prohibit ambrosia and beer.

I have no objection if my pawns take ambrosia recreationally, I just don't want them eating ambrosia 3 times a day (when food supply interrupted ocassionally :-)

[RCMidas]

Set it to once per day in such situations, and desperately work to avoid a supply interruption. That's a colony-killer bigger and more terrible than any raid. I know. I lost out to that once. Never again.