Books

Books are a category of items with similar mechanics that provide recreation and additional bonuses. There are five types of book:

• Novel
• Textbook
• Schematic
• Tome
• Map

Summary

Books come in three different basic forms: novels, textbooks, and schematics, plus a fourth, Tomes (see below), if the Anomaly DLC is installed. They can be read by colonists for Recreation purposes, as long as the colonist is not blind (sight capacity above 0%). Additionally, reading any book will train intellectual at a rate of 0.1 XP per 1 tick (0.02 secs), or 250 XP per in-game hour. Lastly, each different type of book has a different additional effect when read.

Children will sometimes want to read books to fulfill their learning need.^{[Detail needed]}

While reading any book, pawns with passion for intellectual gain 4 I love reading mood, while pawns with burning passion gain 6 I really love reading mood. Similarly, when a pawn is reading a textbook they'll gain 6 Interesting textbook mood if they are passionate about the skill they are reading about, or 10 Amazing textbook mood with burning passion. Both the bonus for being a passionate about a textbook and intellectual passion about books in general can be active at the same time.

Books can be placed in bookcases to provide a +0.8% reading bonus to a room each, up to +20%.

Books can generate with a quest . Reading a book containing a quest has a chance to trigger such quest with a MTB of 12,500 ticks (3.47 mins). Only a single quest may be generated per book.

Selection

Colonists will only read books that are allowed by their reading policy. These policies can be configured and assigned via the assign tab.

When choosing a book to read, colonists will consider the benefits of available books, and will try to avoid books that are not useful to them. This includes textbooks that teach skills the colonist is incapable of, and schematics for completed research projects.

Recreation

Colonists can read books to gain "Reading" recreation. All books have an inherent recreation power of 1, placing them on par with the chess table and horseshoes pin, but behind more advanced diversions such as the billiards table, poker table, or any form of television.

Unlike most forms of recreation, the recreational effectiveness of books can be affected by external factors, as the rate at which recreation is gained is multiplied by the room's reading bonus. Additionally, novels gain a large multiplier on recreation based on their quality.

Assignment

You can choose which types of books colonists read by configuring their reading policy in the Assign tab. Policies can control what types of books colonists are allowed to read, the minimum and maximum quality of the books allowed, and which skills colonists should prioritize when selecting textbooks. See Reading policy for further detail.

Novels

Main article: Novel

Novels have a recreation gain multiplier. They will fulfill the pawn's need for recreation faster. Novels have 5% chance to generate with a quest.

Effect of Quality on Recreation

Quality	Factor
Awful	120%
Poor	140%
Normal	160%
Good	180%
Excellent	200%
Masterwork	225%
Legendary	250%

Textbooks

Main article: Textbook

Pawns can read textbooks in order to increase their skills. The quality of the book determines their XP gain per hour. This is modified depending on whether the book teaches one or two skills (when teaching two skills the number seems to be divided by 1.6). Textbooks have 1% chance to generate with a quest.

Effects of Quality on Reading

Quality	XP Rate		Max level
	1 skill	2 skills
Awful	125 / Hour	78 / Hour	2
Poor	188 / Hour	117 / Hour	5
Normal	250 / Hour	156 / Hour	8
Good	312 / Hour	195 / Hour	10
Excellent	375 / Hour	234 / Hour	12
Masterwork	438 / Hour	273 / Hour	14
Legendary	500 / Hour	312 / Hour	16

Schematics

Main article: Schematic

Schematics increase research points in a certain research. Schematics can be found for research projects that have not been completed, unless all projects are completed. When two topics are touched the points gained per topic is lowered. Schematics cannot generate with a quest.

Effects of Quality on Research

Quality	Points
	1 project	2 projects
Awful	20 / Hour	12 / Hour
Poor	30 / Hour	18 / Hour
Normal	40 / Hour	25 / Hour
Good	50 / Hour	31 / Hour
Excellent	60 / Hour	37 / Hour
Masterwork	70 / Hour	43 / Hour
Legendary	80 / Hour	50 / Hour

Tomes

Main article: Tome

Tomes function similarly to schematics, except that they progress Anomaly research and have a chance to cause mental breaks while being read. They are generally harder to obtain than other varieties of book. Tomes have 15% chance to generate with a quest.

Effects of Quality on Research

Quality	Points
	1 project	2 projects
Awful	0.07 / Hour	0.05 / Hour
Poor	0.15 / Hour	0.09 / Hour
Normal	0.23 / Hour	0.14 / Hour
Good	0.30 / Hour	0.19 / Hour
Excellent	0.38 / Hour	0.23 / Hour
Masterwork	0.45 / Hour	0.28 / Hour
Legendary	0.52 / Hour	0.33 / Hour

All tomes have mental break chance in range 1% - 5%, no matter quality.

Maps

Main article: Map

Maps, as opposed to other book types, do not have quality. However, they are always guaranteed to generate with a related quest.

Version history

• 1.5.4062 - Books and reading system added.
• Odyssey DLC Release - Added maps. All book types (besides schematics) can now generate with a quest that has a chance to be granted while reading the book.

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Architect

Recreation

Horseshoes pin ^(Colony) • Hoopstone ring ^(Tribal) • Game-of-Ur board ^(Tribal)

Complex Furniture

Billiards table • Chess table ^(Colony) • Poker table

(research)

Tube television • Flatscreen television • Harp • Harpsichord • Piano

(trade)

Megascreen television • Telescope

Related

Books (Novel • Schematic • Textbook • Tome • Map) • Snowman