How do you make your colonists socialize with each other more?

[Sugarcube Battery]

I already have some mods. The chat bubbles one and romance on the rim. Not necessarily aiming for romantic connections. I just want my colonists to be closer to each other in general.

[HunterSilver]

Colonists only socialize if they are awake and in the same area as each other. The best way to do this is to set specific blocks of recreation time where everyone hangs out in the same recreation room together.

[Astasia]

Make them work near each other.

[MadArtillery]

Working near eachother or simultaneous rec

[Sugarcube Battery]

I never set any free time for them lol I will try that. Thank you.

[The Blind One]

Originally posted by Sugarcube Battery:

I never set any free time for them lol I will try that. Thank you.

Korea / Japan moment

[Wraith_Magus]

The nearby workstations works wonders, too. If I put my art station next to my tailor and drug lab, I'll have all three of those pawns at 100 relationship (and two of them engaged) within a couple days. Growers tend to be close enough that they're always in socialization range, too.

You can manipulate schedules to get people working at the same time to up the odds.

In general, it's isolation that prevents socialization, so if you aren't sending pawns off alone on long walks to haul things by themselves all the time, they'll socialize.

[The Blind One]

Originally posted by Wraith_Magus:

The nearby workstations works wonders, too. If I put my art station next to my tailor and drug lab, I'll have all three of those pawns at 100 relationship (and two of them engaged) within a couple days. Growers tend to be close enough that they're always in socialization range, too.

You can manipulate schedules to get people working at the same time to up the odds

Yup, this method is basically how I got all my pawns to hook up with each other. It was extremely effective at keeping the colonists happy when they're all hooked up with each other, get the positive relations with spouse boost + sum luvin.

[Steelfleece]

I usually set them all to have recreation time simultaneously (2-3hours rec time before bed, 2-3 any time after for most, and a simultaneous rec break for night owls) and make the rec/dining rooms' seats pretty close together when possible. The workshop tends to be pretty compact as well, which helps.

[Narn]

I had a pawn that never socialized. So I placed a work bench near a well beaten path and people were always talking to him when they passed by. He became friends with everyone in the colony.

[Ghevd]

Originally posted by Sugarcube Battery:

I never set any free time for them lol I will try that. Thank you.

I take the opposite approach. When I'm establishing a new colony, or in case of emergency, that is the only time I have 'work' scheduled on my pawns. Once I have the basics establish. Farm, rec/barracks/dining/kitchen combo, and a research bench up and running I switch my schedule. The only thing I schedule is recreation and/or meditation and when to sleep. Every other block is set to 'anything'.

[ψυχή]

theres a romance control mod, you can use it!

[The Blind One]

Originally posted by Ghevd:

Originally posted by Sugarcube Battery:

I never set any free time for them lol I will try that. Thank you.

I take the opposite approach. When I'm establishing a new colony, or in case of emergency, that is the only time I have 'work' scheduled on my pawns. Once I have the basics establish. Farm, rec/barracks/dining/kitchen combo, and a research bench up and running I switch my schedule. The only thing I schedule is recreation and/or meditation and when to sleep. Every other block is set to 'anything'.

I used to use the anything method as well but honestly actually scheduling in work time works better. They will be much more consistent in their work hours and be more productive. You just have to make sure they have enough free time and recreation time at the end of the day to fill their food and rec bars in time tho since they won't be doing any of that during the rest of the day.

Alternatively the biphasic schedule works great if you want to keep moods stabile and optimal at the expense of a little bit of efficiency.

[Raymond]

give them the same work schedule.

[Sugarcube Battery]

Originally posted by Ghevd:

Originally posted by Sugarcube Battery:

I never set any free time for them lol I will try that. Thank you.

I take the opposite approach. When I'm establishing a new colony, or in case of emergency, that is the only time I have 'work' scheduled on my pawns. Once I have the basics establish. Farm, rec/barracks/dining/kitchen combo, and a research bench up and running I switch my schedule. The only thing I schedule is recreation and/or meditation and when to sleep. Every other block is set to 'anything'.

I don’t touch it at all. I’m assuming it’s anything by default?

[Red Bat]

I usually don't. Although the way I build colonies tends to make social interactions at least somewhat common.

Some tips if you really want to force it:
1. Build all workshop structures in the same room so pawns clump together more. This is usually space efficient anyway.

2. Combine a rec room and a dining room. It doesn't look as nice, but there's no real benefit to separating them.

3. Throw production or research structures into your prison. Not efficiencywise optimal, but it results in more social interactions prior to recruitment. Little more efficient if the warden is the one working those production structures as it will result in faster recruitment. For the record I almost never do this.

4. Set rec time the same time period between 2 pawns you want interacting with. This is actually almost the only reason you'd schedule rec time for an adult.

5. Have a clustered colony with only 1 way to most destinations. Will almost certainly happen with a cave colony. This results in pawns talking to each other more on the way to destinations. At the very least try to have all your bedrooms near each other so pawns will group together when heading to and from bed.

6. Assign multiple pawns to the same task, such as growing crops or handling animals. They will have social interactions when near each other.