Effectively use Recreation Rooms?

[nets]

One of the things I've not really figured out properly yet is how to get the dupes to use the recreation room and the facilities there-in.
Some of the dupes enter, some just run off to sleep, some don't use the morale booster building.

What do i have to do to ensure my Dupes get the Morale boost they deserve? 

[Gus Smedstad]

You need to alter the schedule. Dupes start to head home to eat and use the toilet when Down Time hits. In a large colony, this takes long enough that by the time they're finished eating, they've hit the sleep part of the schedule.

One thing that works is to schedule an additional down time slot in the morning, after sleep but before bathtime. You know they're going to start in bed, so if the rec facilities are close to the beds, they should reach them and use them before the hour is up.

[SharraShimada]

Given 2 scenarios: You quit work at 16:00 and go to bed at 20:00. If you have 1h travel time, you have 3h recreation time. If you have 4h of travel time, you have zero recreation time, and go to bed when you arrive home. 

The same applys here. Dupes time off starts wherever they are. When they travel home the whole off time, they waste it traveling. 

[nets]

Alright, how many Morale booster buildings do i need then? It looks like i can't get more than two Dupes into a recreation room at a time, maybe three. 4 Dupes per schedule. They seem content with the water cooler in the Great Hall. The rooms are simpler than what i usually do, but i wanted less variables. What's wrong with these pictures (schedule is modified by your recommendations -- at least what i thought you meant).

 

[SharraShimada]

Do the dupes use the water cooler in your mess room? Why should they use another cooler in the recreation room again?

[pacovf]

As far as schedules, I have half an hour of bath time and an hour of downtime both right after and right before bed. I split half my dupes bath-first recreation-second, and the other half the other way around, so that I don’t have everyone trying to use the jukebox (and whatever) at the same time.

This works ok for me, even if it’s not perfect. As noted by other posters, sometimes a dupe gets back to base so late, that by the time they are done eating, it’s already well past their bedtime. But I find that, at the very least, everyone gets their play time in the morning.

[Lilalaunekuh]

I have 24 duplicants on differnt schedules (all shifted by one time slot ^^).

=> One recreation room is enough to keep every recreation buff (except the espresso) up all the time

 

But the arcade cabinet and jukebox are not used in a power efficient manner.

(More simultaneous breaks or less shifts could help, but if your so late into the game the wasted power shouldn´t hurt.)

 

So back to our topic:

3 hours ago, nets said:

What do i have to do to ensure my Dupes get the Morale boost they deserve? 

I would turn that around: How much morale can my current base/schedule provide ?

=> Look at your current morale and assgin skills based on this value.

(If your duplicant has not enough time to gain all the buffs in his downtime, you have to investigate if he just arrives to late and has no time or if the machine is blocked/in use already.)

 

 

[Denisetwin]

1 hour ago, Lilalaunekuh said:

except the espresso

my last base I built my first espresso and OMG I seriously love that animation!  I had to record it and send it to my coffee loving daughter who doesn't play ONI.  Once I get the pinch nut farm set up I am building another because it just makes me happy to watch them.  @Lilalaunekuh is correct though, it isn't really efficient as only one can use at a time, but I set up my whole schedule so that only four are on any given schedule at a time and they all cycle through.  Does anyone know how many can use the Jukebox at once?  

[SharraShimada]

Arcade-game machine two at once. Jukebox i´ve seen up to 4 dancing at once. Because of the space limitation, there could be more dupes, overlapping. But i have only 5 dupes per shift, so there is no way to be sure.

[Lilalaunekuh]

22 minutes ago, Denisetwin said:

it just makes me happy to watch them.  @Lilalaunekuh is correct though, it isn't really efficient as only one can use at a time, but I set up my whole schedule so that only four are on any given schedule at a time and they all cycle through.

I like the animation too

=> My exclusion was based on the buff duration of just 450 seconds, which would require a not "work time efficient" schedule to keep the buff up all day long.

Spoiler

Could be a nice challenge and I just think about how I could achieve close to 100% buff uptime in my base ^^

 

[Gus Smedstad]

It's 4 Dupes to the Jukebot, 2 to the Arcade Cabinet, and 1 for the Espresso Machine. The water cooler doesn't provide morale, and has other drawbacks like needing water refills, so I usually build one for my Great Hall and then deconstruct it when I can afford the power cost of a Jukebot.

Prior to QOL 3, I found a Jukebot or two was sufficient for my morale needs. I'm still working my way through a QOL 3 colony, so I don't have a feel for it yet. What I'm doing is building morale booster facilities as my Dupes start running into morale limits for skill assignments.

While the animation for the Espresso Machine is amusing, the long time required to use it, the single-Dupe nature of it, and the low duration of the buff makes it kind of questionable. I want the darned "coffee" drinker (Pincha Pepper ain't coffee, but Dupes don't know the difference) to get the heck out of the way and let someone else use the machine. He doesn't have to hog it just because he's savoring his drink, darn it!

[KieraGreywolf]

1 hour ago, Denisetwin said:

Does anyone know how many can use the Jukebox at once?  

If I recall it's five Dupes at a time. I know for certain I've seen up to four dancing at once, but I am pretty sure it can handle five at a time. Anytime one leaves, another can take it's place even if the others are still dancing. Each dupe has their own unique progress timer, so you don't need them to do it in sets.

[nets]

After changing the schedules around a bit, ensuring they do their recreational activities after waking up, (and reinstituting jukebots), my Dupes average Morale went from a minimum of 19 and average of 23 to a minimum of 23 and an average of 25. While this might not sound all that much, it is effectively the minimum Morale that dictates how much demand you can put on a Dupe.

[pacovf]

I find that I can usually get away with the minimum morale being below their requirements, as long as their average is above. Small amounts of stress here and there are fine. 

[Gurgel]

12 hours ago, Gus Smedstad said:

It's 4 Dupes to the Jukebot, 2 to the Arcade Cabinet, and 1 for the Espresso Machine. The water cooler doesn't provide morale, and has other drawbacks like needing water refills, so I usually build one for my Great Hall and then deconstruct it when I can afford the power cost of a Jukebot.

You can put in an unpowered jukebot.

[PhailRaptor]

I haven't built a Jukebot, Arcade Cabinet, or Espresso Machine yet.  It's pretty easy to get Morale into the mid 20s with just Rooms and Decor.  Barracks, Plumbed Bathroom, Great Hall is pretty much all you need for quite a long time.  Put up Paintings and Statues made from Granite, some Crown Molding, and a few Plants in the Barracks, Rec Room, and Great Hall, and call it good.

From that point you should be moving (or have already moved) to an Electrolyzer setup of some description, and be branching out your Power options to start running the ridiculous (though, balance-wise, understandable) power cost of the Jukebot.

[KittenIsAGeek]

18 hours ago, pacovf said:

I find that I can usually get away with the minimum morale being below their requirements, as long as their average is above. Small amounts of stress here and there are fine. 

You can go over their moral a fair amount if you also have massage tables.  Of course, at that point you're trading higher skills for extra down time.