Space
This article is considered accurate for the current version (Alpha 17B - 0.17.1557) of the game.
"Space" is the name for two separate elements of the game which are easily confused: a pawn's need for Space; and the Environmental concept of the amount of space in a particular room, one of the Room stats.
Need for Space
Space is one of the needs that pawns have. The Space need is satisfied according to the number of tiles the pawn can walk to within a radius of 7 (193 tiles total). The need is 100% satisfied if there are 99 or more such tiles, and 0% satisfied if there are 3 or fewer.
Objects like furniture, benches and trees that pawns can walk through don't affect this stat. Objects that cannot be walked through, like nutrient paste dispensers and act essentially as walls, covering some accessible tiles and possibly cutting off a path to others.
The Space need is always 100% satisfied when outdoors, regardless of the amount of accessible space near a player. A pawn in a doorway counts tiles on both sides of the door towards Space satisfaction, even if one or both sides of the door are outdoors.
Mood buffs/debuffs
There are three Thoughts associated with pawn satisfaction with its space.
| Pawn thought | Effect
on mood |
% Space need met
(# of accessible tiles) |
|---|---|---|
| "Very cramped interior" | -10 | 0% (1 - 3 tiles) |
| "Cramped interior" | -5 | 1% - 29% (4 - 10 tiles) |
| "Spacious interior" | +5 | 70% - 100% (41 or more tiles) |
(There is no Space-related Thought between 30% and 69% satisfaction)
Space in a room
A room's "Space" is a value that weighs the different tiles in the room for how easy they are to walk through. Tiles where you can stand (empty tiles, chairs, party spots, ...) are weighted higher than places you can only pass through (lamps, benches, trees, ...).
The equation is: (1.4 x tiles where you can stand) + (0.5 x tiles you can walk through) rounded to the nearest integer.
This number is a factor in the the room's overall Beauty rating -- the higher, the better.
There are seven Environment designations for how much Space there is in a room:
| Space value | Designation |
|---|---|
| 0-12 | "cramped" |
| 13-28 | "rather tight" |
| 29-54 | "average-sized" |
| 53-69 | "somewhat spacious" |
| 70-129 | "quite spacious" |
| 130-349 | "very spacious" |
| 350 (max value) | "extremely spacious" |
Confusion
The game concepts of "Need for Space" and "Space in a room" are easily confused. It's possible for a pawn to have the "Cramped interior" Thought while standing in the wrong part of an "extremely spacious" room (like the end of an 8x1 hallway). Likewise, a pawn can think "Spacious interior" and get 100% Space satisfaction from standing in a merely "average-sized" room.