Containment

Containment is the desired end result when encountering Entities. Colonies can hold entities on a Holding Spot or a Holding Platform, the latter of which requires research and steel to build. Once contained, entities can be researched or regularly harvested for resources or power.

Any containment room is subject to containment breaches. The containment strength of the room can be viewed by clicking on the platform. It is affected by a broad number of factors, including wall strength, door strength, lighting, the presence of a ceiling, temperature, the presence of a bioferrite floor, and the presence of various linkable structures. Larger and more dangerous entities generally require more containment strength. An entity can be held in a weak cell just fine in the short term, it simply increases the rate at which they will break out. As a general rule, the average frequency of breaches for entities that are sufficiently contained is measured in years, while the frequency of those insufficiently contained are measured in days. This is still likely to be enough time for an unprepared colony to quickly set up an adequate cell.

The size of the cell does not affect containment strength. Note that storing multiple entities in the same room will increase the required containment strength. This may still be worthwhile for harvesting certain resources more efficiently.

An entity incapable of moving will never breach. This includes entities with broken spines, or entities with destroyed legs and insufficient arm strength. Such entities can even be held outside in a holding spot without any risk, and are a useful resource to a colony.

Only creature entities are placed on holding platforms. Item entities, such as the Cube, can be hauled around and placed in stockpiles - having an important stockpile dedicated to entities may be a good idea. Building entities, such as the Monolith, must be studied in their current location, as none of the are mobile. Be careful about integrating them into your base designs as they may be a source of risk down the road.

A good starting cell would include the strongest walls available, a steel or stone door, a light source, a ceiling, and a holding spot. In a pinch, a walk-in freezer serves as an excellent holding location for a range of reasons - they tend to have strong walls, double doors, entities will ignore the stored food, and the low temperature actually provides a small containment strength bonus. Another option is to integrate existing veins of metal into the wall. The extremely high HP of compacted steel - or better yet, plasteel - will cause the containment strength of the cell to skyrocket. Endgame setups will vary depending on how many of each entity the colony has acquired.