Environment

Environment consists of several aspects throughout the map that are largely intangible but can have a great impact on human inhabitants, wild animals, and plant life. Many of these aspects are ruled by the map's biome.

Beauty

Main article: Beauty

Terrain, flooring, objects, and plants attribute to a tile's beauty which in turn can affect a colonist's mood. The contents of a tile have a cumulative effect on its beauty, i.e. a granite chunk (beauty of -10) on a wood floor (beauty of +2) gives the tile a net beauty of -8. Certain unsightly objects, i.e. vomit, have one value when under a roof and a lower value when unroofed. This simulates the general disgust of seeing eyesores indoors versus encountering them outside.

Space

Main article: Space

As a colonist moves around the environment they observe the objects and free space around them to measure their space.

Flooring

Main article: Floors

Flooring replaces the natural terrain. It has an effect on beauty, growing zones, and walking speed.

Flora

Main article: Plants

Certain plants and trees have beauty, and may also provide cover to colonists.

Light

Light can be generated artificially or naturally. Artificial light is produced by appliances in a limited range. Natural light is generated throughout the map on unroofed tiles. Roofed tiles will be dark unless lit artificially.

Occasionally an eclipse befalls the planet. Natural daytime light is no longer generated until it ends.

Light's importance lies in the four elements it affects:

Plant growth - Plants only grow when the light level is at least 51%.
Power - Solar generators only produce power when naturally lit.
Colonists' mood - Colonists in sustained darkness will have the 'In darkness' thought. Sleeping colonists will not have this thought. Therefore, lighting is not needed in areas only used for sleeping.

There are three light levels: Lit, Brightly lit, and Dark. Each tile on the map has one of these light levels. The light level of a tile is listed in the tile's information area located above the Architect menu (when the menu is minimized). The light level is immediately followed by the brightness given in a percentage (%).

Light levels according to Light (%)
Light (%)	0-29	30-89	90-100
Light level	Dark	Lit	Brightly lit

Artificial light sources

Light in roofed areas is provided by the following appliances:

torch lamp
standing lamp and colored varieties
sun lamp (brightly lit)

Appliances that incidentally generate light are a crematorium, an electric smelter, a heater, and a campfire.

Daylight timing and latitude

The timing and strength of daylight is affected by latitude and time of year, due to the planet's apparent axial tilt.

This effect is more pronounced at extreme northern and southern latitudes, which can result in light levels not reaching 0% at night or 100% at daytime.

Near the central latitude, light level change throughout the day as follows:

Start time	Light level
4h	Lit
7h	Brightly lit
17h	Lit
20h	Dark

Openness

Openness refers to the often critical aspect of structures being open to the outside. It affects many things such as temperature, item deterioration, light, exposure to weather, and certain events.

Every tile on the map falls into one of three categories:

Outdoors - not enclosed by any structure, even if there is a roof.
Indoors - completely enclosed structure, completely roofed.
Unroofed - completely enclosed structure, but with one or more unroofed tiles.

Temperature

Main article: Temperature

Environmental temperature is affected outdoors mainly by the map's biome and by the current season. Temperature affects a plant's ability to grow. Temperature affects a human's comfort, and health in extreme temperatures.

Terrain

Terrain consists of the map's walking surface, terrain features, and mountain areas. Terrain affects things including walking speed, where plants can grow, and may prohibit construction.

Natural surface terrain includes soil, rich soil, marshy soil, marsh, mud, sand, lichen-covered dirt, gravel, rough stone (granite, marble, etc.), rough-hewn stone, shallow water, and deep water.

Terrain features include steam geysers and mountains. The steam from a geyser produces heat and an enclosed area around it will heat up unless unroofed. A mountain cannot be destroyed, even if all of its stone and ore has been mined out. What remains are terrain tiles listed as 'overhead mountain'.

Weather

Weather events occur from time to time, with the current weather listed at the right edge of the screen. When a weather event ends the weather returns to Clear. Each weather event has a general effect on wind speed. Wind speed continually varies between 0% to 100% but it is not displayed onscreen. Wind speed is a direct multiplier of a wind turbine's power output. At 50% wind speed a wind turbine produces 1500W of its 3000W max.

Weather types
Label	Time of year	Temperature range	Accuracy modifier	Movement speed modifier	Wind speed	Wind speed modifier	Can put out fires	Snowing rate	Notes
Clear	Any	Any	100%	100%	None to Moderate	100%	No	None
Fog	Any	Any	50%	100%	None to Calm	50%	No	None	Can accompany rain to create Foggy Rain
Rain	Any	0 - 100°C	80%	150%	Calm to Moderate	80%	Yes	None	Rain intensity can vary. Rain will put out any outdoor fires on the map. Rain will turn into snow if the temperature falls below +2 degrees Celsius. Rain can cause electronic objects to short circuit.
Dry Thunderstorm	Any	Any	100%	100%	Moderate to Extreme	150%	No	None	Lightning strikes from thunderstorms can ignite flammable objects, including flora. If accompanied by rain the fires should be extinguished without becoming a threat.
Rainy Thunderstorm	Any	Any	80%	80%	Moderate to Extreme	150%	Yes	None
Foggy rain	Any	Any	50%	90%	None to Calm	150%	Yes	None
Hard snow	Mainly Winter	-270 - -0.5°C	80%	80%	None to Moderate	150%	Yes	120%	Snow, in most biomes, mainly falls during winter when the temperature usually falls below freezing. Snow can also occur during a 'cold snap' if the temperature falls below +2 degrees Celsius
Soft snow	Mainly Winter	-270 - -0.5°C	80%	100%	None to Moderate	150%	Yes	80%
Flashstorm	Any	Any	100%	100%	None to moderate	100%	No	None	Flashstorms are extreme versions of dry thunderstorms. They strike many times in a row in a small area, igniting anything flammable and causing giant wildfires which can spread to your base easily.