What is the minimum amount of sleep needed?

[Ξ ＮＹＯ]

I purchased a few joywires recently and realized that I could eliminate all joy producing activities in the lives of the altered slav- er I mean citizens and began to wonder, how much sleep do they need, and what would be the most efficent way to divide it about the day to minimize the negitive effects of tiredness.

[woolfoma]

Sleep doesn't work like that... in real life or in game... ye bastard. Rest is based off the quality of the bed your colonists are sleeping in... making your colonists work more and sleep less actually casues the opposite effect within a day or two. they will collapse on the floor which has a rest effectiveness of 70% while a bed can have up to 131%, collapsing from tiredness is the biggest issue I see most rimworld players run intro when time gets tough... your colonists could end up sleeping 8-10 hours per day while mine are sleeping 5 hours and getting more done

[Ξ ＮＹＯ]

So five hours? I will look more into this and calculate how much I can get out of the gnats with a decent margin.

Do you think that instead of having a sleeping time period a "do anything" period of time would work?

[Eretnek]

Combination is best. You order 1-2 hours of sleep and leave the rest anything and they will automatically get up when fully rested.

[FragLeg]

Originally posted by Eretnek:

Combination is best. You order 1-2 hours of sleep and leave the rest anything and they will automatically get up when fully rested.

This is in my opinion a terrible idea, because what will happen is that they will work till they are tired and then rest before the sleep time arrives. This interrupts their work, which might be okay if they are inside the colony anyway, but if they are like at the corner of the map growing stuff or hunting, you basically waste all day moving back and forth - especially as they are forced to go sleeping even though their resting bar might be 3/4 full.

[Random]

Human body needs 4 hours to function, 6 to function and think, 7-9 to be fully rested.
Not sure how this is translating to the game. But I had things set to 8 hours.
I also have people on Day and Night shifts, so someone is always up.

[woolfoma]

Originally posted by FragLeg:

This is in my opinion a terrible idea, because what will happen is that they will work till they are tired and then rest before the sleep time arrives. This interrupts their work, which might be okay if they are inside the colony anyway, but if they are like at the corner of the map growing stuff or hunting, you basically waste all day moving back and forth - especially as they are forced to go sleeping even though their resting bar might be 3/4 full.

I have my guys set to 2 hours of sleep just so that their clocks stay in sync, they will automatically stay in bed untill fully rested if you have everything else as undefined. the system for defining times for work/ play/ sleep is useless unless you have a huge colony and you want the crafting benches on shifts.

[Sphinx of Black Quartz]

Consider a system of positive and negative feedback to condition your expendable drones valuable and unique contributors to society. Test the abilities of all your colonists by setting a full 24 hour labor schedule; the last colonist to collapse should have his or her fortitude and determination rewarded by being assigned to a prestigious job, such as Beer Brewer or Person Who Charges Heavily Armed Bandits With A Shiv To Buy Time For Your Snipers. Such "carrots" incentivize high performance and ensure each colonist is a totally interchangeable and obedient cog in your merciless nightmare machine strives to find his or her own best role in your budding utopia.

Colonists who collapse from fatigue after a mere 14-16 hours, however, should receive judicious applications of negative feedback — "the stick," in the vernacular parlance. Consider punishing slackers by withholding meals; hunger is an excellent motivator and a healthy adult human can survive several days without food before serious malnutrition sets in. Those who are resistant to such measures may need more serious motivational therapy; consider amputation of unused limbs and removal of supernumerary internal organs as disciplinary tools. A colonist who loses his left leg for inadequate hauling performance will certainly haul all the faster to save his remaining leg!

Such visible reminders of the value of hard work can also impress the correct mindset upon visitors and new recruits; when inprocessing enslaved raiders re-educated criminals given a second chance via work-release and captured visitors semi-voluntary cultural exchange program participants, it can be invaluable to be able to point at the mewling, filth-spattered horror shuffling around on four wooden pegs, one lung, and one kidney, hauling chunks of rock with his teeth, and say "Oh, him? He was not a good worker. But you'll be a good worker, won't you?"

[Captain Crispy Bacon]

Originally posted by Pocket Nerd:

Consider a system of positive and negative feedback to condition your expendable drones valuable and unique contributors to society. Test the abilities of all your colonists by setting a full 24 hour labor schedule; the last colonist to collapse should have his or her fortitude and determination rewarded by being assigned to a prestigious job, such as Beer Brewer or Person Who Charges Heavily Armed Bandits With A Shiv To Buy Time For Your Snipers. Such "carrots" incentivize high performance and ensure each colonist is a totally interchangeable and obedient cog in your merciless nightmare machine strives to find his or her own best role in your budding utopia.

Colonists who collapse from fatigue after a mere 14-16 hours, however, should receive judicious applications of negative feedback — "the stick," in the vernacular parlance. Consider punishing slackers by withholding meals; hunger is an excellent motivator and a healthy adult human can survive several days without food before serious malnutrition sets in. Those who are resistant to such measures may need more serious motivational therapy; consider amputation of unused limbs and removal of supernumerary internal organs as disciplinary tools. A colonist who loses his left leg for inadequate hauling performance will certainly haul all the faster to save his remaining leg!

Such visible reminders of the value of hard work can also impress the correct mindset upon visitors and new recruits; when inprocessing enslaved raiders re-educated criminals given a second chance via work-release and captured visitors semi-voluntary cultural exchange program participants, it can be invaluable to be able to point at the mewling, filth-spattered horror shuffling around on four wooden pegs, one lung, and one kidney, hauling chunks of rock with his teeth, and say "Oh, him? He was not a good worker. But you'll be a good worker, won't you?"

That's why I love RimWorld lol

[Bullwinkle]

I like to schedule 2 sleep shifts per day. Pawns are willing to sleep any time their rest is under 74-75%. Doing it this way, they never get down very low levels of rest. Raids are most painful when your colonists need to go to sleep, so doing it this way guarantees you will never have a raid when they NEED to sleep. More sleep shifts per day cause more travelling to and from beds, so for me the optimal number is 2 sleep shifts per day.

Also I make NO effort to keep them all in sync. Invariably somebody (most often the doc) needs to get up in the middle of a sleep cycle, or somebody has the quick sleeper trait or night owl, so keeping them in sync becomes complicated. And it just doesn't matter, since no one is ever very sleepy. I just readjust when each individual is assigned to sleep every day or two. This works well for me, but I usually run small colonies, so I don't mind a bit of micromanaging. Your needs might be different.

[gussmed]

It's worth noting that when the work restriction is "anything," pawns will go to bed if they're tired enough to hit "drowsy." So if you really want pawns to work maximum hours, set all hours to "anything." Just don't set everything to "work," because that'll tend to prevent sleep when they need it.

There will be some drawbacks to this, like pawns having the "drowsy" mood until they can make it to bed. That may cause mental breaks if they're near the edge.

Night Owls really should have a sleep block from 10 AM to 6 PM. Because from 11 AM to 6 PM they get a -10 for being awake, and +16 for being awake from 11 PM to 6 AM. That's a very strong incentive to put them on a definite sleep schedule.

[ShuFlngPu]

Pawns NEED 8hrs of sleep per day. (without quick sleeper which gives 50% faster sleep)
If they get less, they will start to get insane mood debuffs.
You can decrease the amount of sleep a pawn needs to get by having luxurious Dresser, nightstand and bed.
Luxury keeps em happy and gives a bonus to mood and the dresser ACTUALLY reduces time needed for sleep.
A comfy bed also reduces need for sleep. (royal)

In your situation, youll want to set a sleep sced. for 5 hours with 2 hours of "anything" followed by your 'rec time' if you are alloting any. (note, pawns default to work on "anything" if food/rec are not needed but sometimes they will just go stand outside or do w/e for a bit.)

This will have your pawns force sleep for 5 hours and then they will get up between 6-7 depending on sleep needs of the pawn.

[Raymond]

Originally posted by ShuFlngPu:

Pawns NEED 8hrs of sleep per day.

Although my pawns follow the 8 hours sleep schedule, they tend to go to bed later and wake up sooner. And even when their schedule are split up into 3 shifts, there are many time entire colony are fully awake.

[ShuFlngPu]

Originally posted by YariMurai:

Originally posted by ShuFlngPu:

Pawns NEED 8hrs of sleep per day.

Although my pawns follow the 8 hours sleep schedule, they tend to go to bed later and wake up sooner. And even when their schedule are split up into 3 shifts, there are many time entire colony are fully awake.

Refer to luxury and reduced sleep needs along with furniture.

[Punyrock]

Pawns seem to wake up anyway whenever their rest meters are full.