Settlement

A settlement is either a single standalone Housing building or, more commonly, multiple Housing buildings built immediately adjacent to each other. This is where the Population lives and where the residents do almost everything: sleep, eat, maintain their hygiene, and enjoy Household Goods and so on. The only except is work in buildings or vehicles.

Services

Each settlement requests services to be provided to increase the comfort of the Population. Only Food supply and Waste collection are essential services. If these services are lacking, critical population decline will occur.

Other services are not essential, and there is no penalty for lacking services. But fulfilling these requests provides a set amount of Unity and/or promotes Health per request. They are helpful in a steady source of Unity, used for Research Lab (and its variants) and outposts such as the Sawmill or Oil Rig. They are also helpful to combat the bad influence of Air Pollution and Water Pollution.

The Population Overview UI pane as seen to the right is accessed by clicking the Population icon at the top-left corner of the game screen and displays the total amount of Unity received from meeting demands.

List of services

All services are shown in the following table.

The demand for each service is directly proportional to the population. And the demand for some services and the Unity bonus also depends on the tier of Housing. The effect of the tier of Housing is shown in the table after the one for services.

List of Services (Version 0.5.2)

Service	Demand / 60 per 1000 pops	Can get when fulfilled		Unity Bonus by Housing Tier	Note
		Unity	Health
Food (Base)	Special	1.00	-	yes	See "#Demand for food" and "#Unity and Health bonus by food"
Food Variety		0.15-3.00	0-12	no
Waste	29.3-47.5	-	-	-	See "#Amount of discharged waste"
Water	65.5	1.00	10	yes	Can get a Unity and Health bonus if Water is provided, and Waste Water is removed
Waste Water	54.8
Electricity	1.44 MW	1.20	-	yes
Hospitals ( Medical Supplies)	5.5	0.60-1.20	15-25	yes	See Clinic
Household Goods	10.7	1.40	-	yes
Household Appliances	7.8	1.40	-	yes
Consumer Electronics	3.9	1.80	-	yes
Settlements quality	-	1.00	-	no	See Square. Does not rely on population amount, only placement of the Square(s)
Other decorations ( Fuel Gas)	-	0.50	-	no	Build the Tomb of Captains and provide Fuel Gas. Only available in the Supporter Edition. Also doesn't change based on population

Effect of Housing Tier

Housing	Increased Demand	Additional Unity Bonus
Housing	None	None
Housing II	Electricity +10% Water and Waste Water +5%	+50% if Electricity and Water are provided, and Waste Water is removed
Housing III	Electricity +20% Water and Waste Water +10%	+100% if Electricity, Water, and Household Goods are provided and Waste Water is removed. This bonus replaces the previous one

Demand for food

The demand for food depends on the type of food, and it is a bit complex to calculate the amount. As a simple example, when only a single food is provided to settlements, the demand for food will be the following value.

Demand for Food (Version 0.6.4)

Food Category	Food	Base Demand (A) per 100 pops per month
Carbs	Potato	4.7
	Corn	3.3
	Bread	2.2
Protein	Meat	3.0
	Eggs	3.3
	Tofu	2.0
	Sausage	3.7
Vitamins	Vegetables	4.7
	Fruit	3.5
Treats	Snack	5.8
	Cake	2.8

When several types of food are provided to settlements, the demand for each food will decrease, as the total food demand (in terms of population sustenance) is distributed across the available categories and food types. The monthly demand for a specific food type per 100 pops is calculated using the following formula:

Demand per 100 pops per month = A / (N_c × N)

Where:

• A: The base demand for the food type when it is the only food provided (from the table above).
• N_c: The number of food categories with at least one food type provided.
• N: The number of food types provided within the same category as the food type being calculated.

This formula assumes a standard consumption multiplier of 1.0, which is typical in default game settings. If the consumption multiplier is adjusted (e.g., via difficulty settings or edicts), the demand scales proportionally—for example, a consumption multiplier of 1.5 would increase the demand by 50%.

Example Calculation

Consider a settlement with a population of 10,000 pops where all food types are provided:

• Total categories (N_c): 4 (Carbs, Protein, Vitamins, Treats).
• Carbs category: 3 food types (Potato, Corn, Bread).
• Potato demand:
  • Base demand (A) = 4.7.
  • Demand per 100 pops = 4.7 / (4 × 3) = 4.7 / 12 ≈ 0.3917 units per month.
  • For 10,000 pops (100 × 100 pops): 0.3917 × 100 ≈ 39.17 units per month.
• This matches in-game observations (e.g., approximately 39.2 units with rounding).

Similarly:

• Meat (Protein category): 4 types (Meat, Eggs, Tofu, Sausage), A = 3.0.
  • Demand per 100 pops = 3.0 / (4 × 4) = 3.0 / 16 = 0.1875 units.
  • For 10,000 pops: 0.1875 × 100 = 18.75 units (≈ 18.8 in-game).

Key Notes

• Total Demand Distribution: The game calculates food demand in "pop days" (e.g., population × 30 days per month), which is then evenly split among the provided food categories. Within each category, the demand is further divided equally among the provided food types. The actual quantity consumed depends on each food type’s base demand value (A).
• Variety Benefits: Providing multiple food types reduces the demand for each individual food type, potentially optimizing resource use or unlocking health bonuses, but the total sustenance requirement remains tied to the population size.
• Misconception Clarified: Earlier descriptions suggested that the total quantity of food consumed remains "similar" to the single-food case. This is inaccurate in terms of raw quantity, as different food types have varying consumption rates (e.g., 470 units of Potatoes alone vs. ~503 units with all types). Instead, the total sustenance demand (pop days) is fixed and distributed, not the total quantity.

Unity and Health bonus by food

Fulfilling food demand, that is, pops do not starve, provides 1.00 of Unity, which is boosted by Housing Tier. In addition, more Unity will be provided when settlements receive variable food, which is NOT boosted by Housing Tier.

Unity and Health Bonus (Version 0.5.3)

Food Category	Food	Unity
Carbs	Potato	0.15
	Corn	0.15
	Bread	0.30
Protein	Meat	0.40
	Eggs	0.30
	Tofu	0.30
	Sausage	0.10
Vitamins	Vegetables	0.20
	Fruit	0.30
Treats	Snack	0.25
	Cake	0.55

For example, Potato, Corn, Bread, and Vegetables are provided:

Unity = 1.00 + 0.15 + 0.15 + 0.30 + 0.20 = 1.80

In addition, pops live in Housing III:

Unity = 1.00 × 200% + 0.15 + 0.15 + 0.30 + 0.20 = 2.80

The Health bonus depend on the number of food categories provided to the settlement:

Health = 4 × (Number of food categories − 1)

For example, Potato, Corn, Bread, and Vegetables are provided:

Number of food category = 2 (Carbs and Vitamins)

Health = 4 × (2 − 1) = 4

Amount of discharged waste

The pops in the settlement discharge Waste depend on received services. They also discharge Biomass or Recyclables when Biomass Collection or Recyclables Collection is connected to the settlement. The discharged Waste, Biomass, and Recyclables are shown in the following table if all of the three collection buildings are connected to the settlement. Note that the amount of the discharged Waste will also change if the amount of consumed service items changes by Edicts or disease.

Amount of discharged waste (Version 0.5.3)

Received service	Discharged per 1000 Pops / 60			Comment
	Waste	Biomass	Recyclables
Base	29.3	-	-	Discharged in any case, even if the settlement receives no services.
Food	-	+1.3-6.4	-	Depending on the type of food. +4.1 if the settlement receives all types of food.
Water	-	-	-	-
Electricity	-	-	-	-
Medical Supplies	-	-	+2.7	-
Medical Supplies II	-	-	+2.7	-
Medical Supplies III	-	-	+3.4	-
Household Goods	-	+4.3	+6.8	-
Household Appliances	-	-	+9.4	-
Consumer Electronics	-	-	+6.1	-
All Service	29.3	8.3	25.7	The total amount of the above (excludes overlap)

The settlement will discharge the additional Waste instead of Biomass or Recyclables if Biomass Collection or Recyclables Collection is not connected. The ratio of them are:

• No Biomass Collection: Biomass 1.0 → Waste 1.0
• No Recyclable Collection: Depending on the service items
  • Medical Supplies: Discharge no additional Waste
  • Household Goods: Recyclables 6.8 → Waste 3.6
  • Household Appliances: Recyclables 9.4 → Waste 2.9
  • Consumer Electronics: Recyclables 6.1 → Waste 0.7