Overview
A (hopefully) helpful understanding of the new room quality feature.
First Notes
I just recently picked up PA again with the new Alpha 33 update and starting checking out all the new features. Among all of them, the room quality feature doesn’t seem to have much depth or explaination to go with it aside from the DevLog.
If I miss anything, or am just wrong about something, please let me know. If it’s helpful, rate and favorite it. 🙂
The Basics
To get started with the room quality section at all, you must first research Prison Labour so that you can use the Logistics screen.
This image shows you a rating 0 cell. Hovering the mouse of any specific cell while in the Room Quality selection will show you why it is rated as such. There are two important factors to take away from this screen. The first, which I find to be the most important, is the determination of the cell. From low to high, it’s Below Average, Average, Above Average, and Way Above Average. The second, is the actual rating of the room.
The list of things that determines the cell rating is as follows, and for each one in the cell you increase the rating by 1.
6 Squares (Normal 2×3 cell)
9 Squares (ex. 3×3 cell)
16 Squares (ex 4×4 cell)
Outdoor Window
Office Desk
Shower Head
TV
Radio
Bookshelf
Chair
If you make every cell the same, the entire room quality feature will not apply, whether it is a rating 0 or a rating 10. If every cell is a rating 10, the average cell is a rating 10.
All new prisoners start out being entitled to your prison’s average cell.
The average cell in this case is rating 4. So a new prisoner will be entitled to a rating 4 cell. If there are no available cells for a new prisoner, they are either left in shackles at Reception, or taken to a Holding Cell until this is a cell available.
For every day the prisoner does not have an incident, his cell entitlement is increased by 1. The moment the prisoner does something, such as trying to escape, fighting, or if you search his cell and find something he is not allowed to have, the prisoner’s entitled cell rating is set to 0. This also applies to any new prisoners who attempt to smuggle things in.
The higher quality (Above Average or Way Above Average) of cell a prisoner is in, the less likely he is to mess up, because he does not want to lose his cell. Prisoners in a Below Average cell are more likely to cause problems, because the only thing worse for him would be solitary.
Prisoner Reassignment
It took me a long while to understand exactly how this system works, but it does work. (It’s not perfect, but the feature is still new, so you can’t expect that. (Just like the mail room.))
This assumes that you have a diversified amount of cells, with an Average Cell being rating 3 or 4.
So, your cells are full and you have prisoners entitled to rating 2 cells, living in rating 4 cells, and prisoners entitled to rating 6 cells, living is rating 3 cells, and there is no one living in the rating 10 cells. As mentioned before, these ratings are the less important factor, and the actual quality of the cell is more important. Prisoners will not be given a cell that is too good for them automatically, so a prisoner entitled to an Average Cell will not be given an Above Average Cell or a Way Above Average Cell.
Even if you have two prisoners entitled to a better cell, one with an entitled rating of 8 and one with an entitled rating of 7, it does not mean the one with the rating of 8 will be moved, as they are both entitled to the same Above Average cell.
Over time, you will notice the cells balance out fairly well.
Further Help
PA Calculator: [link]
(Thank you, Shadow Snatcher. Nice work. ^^)