How to create the best schedule in Rimworld Console Edition

In Rimworld Console Edition, you live and die by your schedule. Each colonist has distinct needs, and they must be met using a combination of your schedule and the work available for colonists to complete. If not, you’ll quickly discover how easy it is for the human mind to break and the havoc that can unfold when it does. This guide explains how to create the best schedule in Rimworld Console Edition, so you don’t mess with your colonist’s fragile minds.

Related: How to make a hospital in Rimworld

How to create the best schedule

The needs of your colonists determine your schedule. There’s no perfect schedule that will fit everyone, but a good place to start is by giving all of your colonists the same set schedule. In the image above, you can see how we’ve organized a lot of sleep time at night, a good chunk of work time with blank free time to break it up, and some recreational time before the end of the day and going to bed. This allows for the basics of what all colonists need and works well for those that are happy to be awake all day and sleep all night.

Generally, colonists need 8 hours of sleep to keep them happy. That will not work for everyone because of their other needs, but 8 hours sleep is a good baseline. This means you can either have it in one big chunk or split it down the middle. If it’s split, you’ll give your night owls the ability to stay up and work at night, which is what they want to do. It should help ease any mental anguish caused by being forced to sleep at certain times of day, but it may not work for everyone. You can check the individual needs of each colonist by selecting them and opening the needs menu. Try to change your schedule on an individual colonist basis according to those requirements.

Ultimately, you need to tweak your schedule as you play and work out the subtle needs of each colonist. One may need to sleep all day and work at night, meaning you always have someone moving around getting jobs done. Others might need to eat more or be completely naked to feel comfortable. You can tweak all of these aspects of a colonist to keep them happy and even change their work priorities to ensure they don’t see dead animals if that upsets them. Eventually, your schedule will look like a patchwork quilt with colors everywhere, and nothing will match. That’s just because we’re all human and have different needs, though, and you’ll have a happier and more efficient colony if you remember that.

In addition to your schedule for sleep, work, and recreation, you should keep an eye on your work priorities to ensure they’re well balanced. If everything is set to 1, then nothing is a priority. That’s going to really sting when you need to heal a colonist or two after a battle. Check the skills that your colonists have, marked by the flames in certain sections, and make them prioritize the ones they’re good at. If no one has decent skills in something like Basic or Clean, then assign it to one or two colonists to make sure it gets done but isn’t a priority above their most skilled jobs.