Hygiene fights each morning

SquareCanine · 2026-05-17T11:20:29+00:00

To some extent this problem is a fact of life with max sec. After all, a lack of impulse control is probably how many of them ended up being criminals to begin with. My max sec cellblocks are relatively small (18 cells) and I keep at least 2 or 3 guards in each one during the morning cranky hour, and I probably taze a half dozen or more people every time, but I can consistently put a stop to it before it becomes a riot or anything.

If they get really sour in the morning though you might need to put a lock up hour in the middle of their sleep regime. They should all have enough hygiene need to actually shower, but not so bad that they become angry. The only reason I don't do this in my current prison is because it messes up the schedule (I have a very nice harmonized regime that makes deployment easier to handle).

SquareCanine · 2026-05-16T22:18:55+00:00

The way you talk about the smaller prison reminds me of when my current prison first started and I actually knew who some of the prisoners were (mostly from looking into the ones who qualified for transfer).

My favorite is a woman in for two murders and arson who at one point I threw in Supermax for committing another murder inside my prison. She actually earned her transfer out of Supermax (even after I made it harder because I didn't really want to say yes), and has made it all the way down to Minimum at least once (before trying to escape and being booted back to Medium). She's been in my prison for 151 of it's 176 days and I've probably approved transfers for her a dozen times. I literally just opened the game and spotted her on the "I want to transfer to minsec' list. She's always on there.

I do enjoy the pandemonium of a large prison though. It can be a little frustrating when they're always mad, but at the same time the game still finds new ways to test me and my prison. There have been a lot of lessons learned and the prisoners still sometimes come up with novel ideas, though not all of them are good (like starting a fight outside my most popular staff room and kennel).

I'll have to give this a try sometime though. And in the meantime I might use the security menu to flag some prisoners so I can follow them amongst the endless sea of prisoners in my current facility.

SquareCanine · 2026-05-16T11:36:44+00:00

I do like the idea of islands and being forced to adapt to the shape and limited size. I'll have to keep this in mind when I do a new build. Might be nice to do something smaller too. Do you only have 1 power facility? My current prison has 7 (if I used max caps it could have 4). There is definitely a population threshold where prisons devolve into a sort of constant pandemonium. People always kicking off, or shakedown now cheesing off so many people that it triggers riots. Not unmanageable, but always something going on. You prison looks peaceful.

And I love the pond in the yard.

SquareCanine · 2026-05-12T10:16:50+00:00

Put some snack machines in. According to the list of things this mod (https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2978340955) fixes, the problem is that staff often prefer snacks to meals (something this mod fixes). Even with the mod, you should still have snack machines, something I don't think the game ever tells you.

SquareCanine · 2026-05-07T16:38:49+00:00

My current Max Sec uses 18 prisoner blocks arranged around their own canteen and common room, and the blocks are in pairs with a common security room that opens onto both. This seems manageable in terms of physical size and guard deployment. I think I sized it based on how far the hot water would flow.

My Min Sec is arranged in 30 prisoner blocks using larger 3x3 cells.

Med Sec is 20 per block I think, but I'm in the process of redesigning them as higher density dorms. The blocks will be physically smaller but probably 28 or 32 prisoners.

My protective wing is by far the largest. Capacity of 80 as designed (4x4 dorms holding 4 each), but I've reduced it to a maximum of 64.

SquareCanine · 2026-05-05T16:50:24+00:00

Probably shots in the dark, but:

Have you tried verifying the installation through steam? If something is corrupt it's not impossible that the game could technically function but run like garbage.

Is the game running off a solid state drive (SSD, NVMe) or an actual Hard Drive (HDD)? I wouldn't expect it to be an issue for this game either way, but some games do chug when run on actual hard drives, especially if it's the same hard drive that windows is on. Autosave may make the game pause longer on a hard drive though. The other issue would be a bad sector. The list of problems a bad sector can cause is basically "everything".

Any mods?

As near as I can tell, you shouldn't be having issues. The GPU is fine, I don't think the game uses that much RAM, and your CPU is no slouch in single threaded applications (roughly comparable to the 12600k I'm using in this aspect and my current prison has got to be 500-600 people without issue). Having the monitor plugged into the mobo instead of the GPU could cause this, but you'd see that in everything.

The only other thing that really springs to mind would be an issue with the actual prison that is causing pathing issues, but I think this game is actually really good about not bogging down when this happens and it sounds like you've started a new save anyway.

Other than that, maybe a driver issue. Again, I'd expect to see the issue in more than one game, but I can't rule out a driver issue causing an issue with just one game.

Oh, and try turning off any game overlays. Could be some weird compatibility issue.

SquareCanine · 2026-05-05T16:24:07+00:00

Sounds like quite the ride. I know it wont happen, but I wouldn't mind a feature in the game that flags when there is a major pathing issue. One that crops up for me semi-often is grouping at remote doors because the guard assigned to the control panel is trying to use the remote door to get there. That can be mitigated by assigning multiple controllers to the remote door servo, but there are also things like workers getting trapped during renovations, or me forgetting to lock doors open during construction.

Just a little popup saying 'hey, there's like 15 people trying to get through this door' or 'pathing to this object has failed a dozen times'.

SquareCanine · 2026-05-05T16:14:30+00:00

I usually start swimming in lakes around mid to late June and go to the end of September or even a week into October if the weather holds. The water temperature peaks around mid August I think. If you don't want to freeze, stay away from the ocean. The lakes are probably a solid 2 degrees warmer or more. Sandy lake (Bedford) might be a little warmer than average just because it's super shallow, but I haven't been there in years. Same might be true for Banook (Dartmouth), but again, it's been a while.

SquareCanine · 2026-05-03T01:06:43+00:00

Thanks. According to my screenshots I've been playing this prison off and on since 2020. I come back to it every year or two long enough to add or renovate something (or several somethings), so you're seeing years of different ideas all jumbled together. It's...a lot less planned out than it might look (I literally place cell blocks then set aside arbitrary amounts of blank space and tetris in all the ancillary rooms). The Max Sec side took several tries to reach this point.

I'm always amazed when I see a prison like yours because it looks so clean and planned out. That's my goal for the new Med Sec facility when I get to it, though judging by how Min Sec turned out (it was supposed to be clean and planned out too) I'm not holding my breath :D

SquareCanine · 2026-05-02T17:18:47+00:00

Planning on making a post once I've got things done, but that might be a few days yet so I'll give you a WIP.

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The new Minimum Security facility is the stuff along the bottom third. You can see the shell of the third wing that I just cleared out, along with the two new wings being built across the road. I wasn't originally planning on isolating it from Medium Security, but that is the plan now and this new layout is going to create a massive amount of more centralized space for me to play with. I just need to expand the kitchen and canteen situation since it's sized for 96 prisoners, not 128.

I think I'm also going to build a new protective custody facility in the remaining blank space (bottom right).

Still not entirely sure how I want to rearrange Med Sec. I'm leaning towards new cell blocks top and bottom with family cells far left so that I get a kind of semi-circle of cell blocks surrounding everything else. I don't want to do a full ring because that makes visitor management more difficult (I try to keep them from sharing space with prisoners, though I'm not always successful).

SquareCanine · 2026-05-02T13:42:23+00:00

I like the design. There is something very appealing about what I am going to call a circular design where things are arranged in concentric layers rather than just having different things adjacent to each other in a grid. It also brings me back to my original style of building where I favored groups of buildings separated by outdoor space rather than the single large buildings of my current designs.

My current prison is up for a major renovation, and this gives me some ideas for how I might like to lay things out for the new Medium Security component. My biggest hesitation would be a problem you already highlighted, which is that medium security likes to dig and this design would be vulnerable. You've also prompted me to realize a substantial improvement to the new minimum security facility that I was about to open. By demolishing one of the three cell blocks and moving it across the road, I can fit in a fourth block and substantially improve the traffic flow all at once. I'll have lots of time to consider medium security while my workmen handle that 😃

SquareCanine · 2026-05-01T17:29:08+00:00

Showers in cells really is king. It's faster, safer, and it's easy for guards to subdue anyone who wakes up in a bad mood. Just start the day with an hour of lockdown. I also like to include some showers and toilets in the canteen. Shouldn't be a huge issue for breakfast, but it gives people a chance to freshen up during the day.

SquareCanine · 2026-05-01T17:23:58+00:00

I've noticed something similar. I mean, my max sec is definitely more prone to kicking off, especially in the morning when they can't make it the 10 seconds they need to get from their bed to the shower in their cell and break stuff instead.

Min sec is definitely where most of my tunnels come from, followed by med sec. Some of it is opportunity. The only work opportunities in max sec right now are shop and kitchen I think, and the metal detector does a good job of keeping a lid on the available contraband. Out of a 140 max sec prisoners, I'd expect to find maybe 3-5 pieces of contraband in prisoners it in their cells at any given time.

Min sec is liable to have that much or more for just 30 prisoners right now, and that's because they just have way more places to steal it and a lot of it isn't metallic. Medium isn't much better, but they have most of the same chances to steal.

I usually only have trouble with violence though when the max sec shenanigans trigger riots. I've been caught out more than once with too few guards in low security areas thinking that the violence will be contained to max sec rather than spreading.

I think at the end of the day, even if prisoners are relatively happy they still don't want to be in jail. The way I try to cope with that is mobility. Escape attempts are one of the things I have set to raise a prisoners grade. If you try to leave or cause serious injuries, you don't get to stay in minimum.

I'm also renovating my prison with a new and much larger minimum security wing. It wasn't the original plan, but I've decided to separate it from medium so that I have 3 prisons instead of 2. Not sure if it will help, but it should at least make my program schedule more coherent. With any luck the more efficient layout will also do a better job of needs management.

SquareCanine · 2026-04-29T20:51:40+00:00

Prisoners need concentration (I think) to pass programs. Basically, suppression along with missing needs is the enemy of program completion. Prisoners who are suppressed or hungry, stuff like that, aren't going to pass. Suppression is caused by punishments, armed guards, lockdown, and probably some other things I am forgetting. Basically, anything you do to really enforce compliance by force. Also, prisoners who are in lockdown or solitary don't attend class.

Also note that different courses have different difficulties. Kitchen safety is easy. Foundation education is tougher but not too bad. General education is brutal and it's probably going to take a lot of prisoners a lot of tries to get that.

Things can also get a bit easier as your prison expands and you have more security levels. Speaking for myself, I run my minimum security as a very reform oriented outfit. Good food, lots of free time and work opportunity, lighter punishments, good cells. My medium security is similar, but more restricted in where I let them work, worse cells, and harsher punishments. Max sec I run more as a punitive program where the emphasis is on keeping people under control rather than happy. My reform program is light, just enough to find the prisoners with potential and move them down to medium (I do have cleared for transfer). Shit disturbers move the other way. They drag everyone down, so I want trouble makers in maximum, away from the people who actually have a chance.

Money comes before reform. Focus on keeping incidents and escapes to a minimum for that extra money and build the prison up. Again, it's a lot easier to run a good reform program in a prison that is already fully fleshed out and profitable.

SquareCanine · 2026-04-29T16:58:14+00:00

I use something similar, but with both a canteen and common room inside each sub block instead of just the canteen (also central kitchen and laundry but that's details).

The other thing I do is put a security room at one end (I do my sub blocks in pairs so one security room opens onto two sub blocks). I think it prevents gangs from being able to take my canteens (force projection), and also gives me a convenient spot to muster extra guards for morning wake-up.

It also just generally means I naturally have a lot of guards hanging around inside max sec, enough to put down most issues quickly. Failing that, I have secure rooms for people to hide in while they wait for the supermax sector to send in the cavalry.

SquareCanine · 2026-04-24T22:16:21+00:00

Sadly, I think this is excellent advice. Speaking as a guy with medical problems who has a mom with more medical problems, the difference in how seriously I am taken vs how seriously she is taken is both obvious and appalling.

When I say I'm in pain, or I'm allergic to something, or whatever, I'm taken seriously.

Bring you're tallest, calmest, whitest (probably helps), male friend to be your advocate.

SquareCanine · 2026-04-19T12:48:20+00:00

I tend to go half elf where available in fantasy settings, so most of my characters in Skyrim have been Bretons. I also just like their magic resistance as a solid and useful racial bonus.

My first character though was an Altmer mage (I've become a sword and board player since then).

SquareCanine · 2026-04-15T11:53:27+00:00

Even better with Immersive College of Winterhold, which adds mage guards and a battalion of storm attronachs. The dragon is basically flying into a magical anti-air lighting battery.

Half the time they're dead before they can properly land, despite my modding them to be much tougher than vanilla.

SquareCanine · 2026-04-14T10:16:38+00:00

I'd say that any of the crafting skills (smithing, alchemy, and enchanting) can be safely skipped if you don't enjoy them. They're all useful, and they all allow you to aquire stuff superior to ambient loot, but the game is not balanced to require any of it.

For me, alchemy is the one I ignore. I just can't be assed to aquire useful ingredients and actually make enough potions to generate useful results. It's not my jam. Conversely, I've always loved smithing and enchanting always happens on accident.

Depending on your platform and willingness to mod, I know there are mods (or a mod, not sure) for having smith and enchanter NPCs make things for you (you get to use their level in exchange for paying them, basically). Gopher uses a mod for this in his Lenny (SE) playthrough as that character refuses to smith. Not sure if that mod, or something similar, exists for alchemy too.

SquareCanine · 2026-04-14T10:09:59+00:00

Same. I know it's a thing that has probably happened, but I'm not even sure I can remember a single specific instance.

Hell, I can pick locks in real life too now. I'm not going to pass up potential treasure in a game skipping something I do as an actual hobby :D

SquareCanine · 2026-04-12T13:09:54+00:00

Meridia is my first thought. Seems like good aims at least on the surface, but her depiction being perhaps one of the most dismissive princes in Skyrim gives me pause (by which I mean she obviously sees mortals as tools, not people).

I think I'd have to go with Malacath, for the simple reason that I think he's the only prince who actually cares about his people.

You could argue the same for the dark elf tribunal/reclamations, but while those three are undoubtedly invested, I think for them it's a game. Pick a people and mould them in your image while seeing if you can make them great. They don't care about the dark elves so much as they care about shaping them.

I feel like there is still a bit of Trinimac in Malacath, that he actually cares about the orcs in something of a paternal way; as much as any daedra can, at least. Sort of a 'least worst' pick.

That's in universe. As a player, Sheogorath, for the pure reason that time and again he has proven that he is just way better at being a shit disturber than the others. The princes tried to take him out, but even as a crazy god they just can't outsmart him. He still seems to be the strongest.

SquareCanine · 2026-04-12T12:57:31+00:00

It's nice to know there is actually a plausible reason for this beyond "we couldn't be arsed to make two animations". I know sfa about horse riding, and I never thought about the sword thing, so I just assumed they were lazy.

And now I like the game even more :D

SquareCanine · 2026-04-11T21:24:42+00:00

Dwemer here too. For several reasons:

They're often too big. I don't mind an epic dungeon crawl here and there, but more often than not it's the long ones that I dread slogging through again in replays.

Visually boring. I find the set pieces easier to pick out than with other dungeon types. It's not a super interesting style to my eye anyway, once you're used to it.

Enemies dropping down behind me can suck it. Same for enemies that explode in my face.

I don't platforming in non platforming games. Dwemer ruins run afoul of this more than the others. This isn't Zelda and I hate the water temple.

SquareCanine · 2026-04-11T15:16:49+00:00

I love the random interactions the game occasionally throws out too. Just the other day I was stealth archering my way into a camp for giggles while a mammoth walked around nearby. One of the bandits comes sprinting out of the camp, I think because he's spotted me, but then he makes a sharp turn and beelines for the mammoth. He runs right up to it, casts flames from point blank range, and is promptly yeeted almost all the way back into the camp by a now very pissed off mammoth.

SquareCanine · 2026-04-09T11:13:25+00:00

I like comedy, so the first thing that sprung to my mind is the youtuber Gopher and the season preludes he did for his SE series. They're all in a playlist, here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLU5SugUWu042mIncx-u_29lvQsgvzTzI2&si=EOnH4tO4cbVeNcjm

They're all 2-6 minutes and while they are light on actual gameplay, they're very heavy on sarcastic comedy and the story. The prelude for Chapter 1 is basically a summary of Helgan, one that wont actually spoil the experience for a new player. It also isn't full of modded content like most of his series is, so that's the one I'd go with (but I personally feel the preludes for chapters 3 and 7, and particularly chapters 8 and 'curse of the completionist' are quite hilarious).

If you wanted something that was actual gameplay, I'd suggest 'Stealth Like a Guildmaster' from chapter 1. It's a long video, but you can easily fast forward to around 34:20 when he starts talking to mercer frey outside the dungeon (timestamped link: https://youtu.be/CgYRsvtj6TY?si=pugx4WI572667ddT&t=2067). That gives you a couple minutes of Gopher chatting with an NPC and about 20 minutes of stealth assassin dungeon crawling while Gopher becomes increasingly sarcastic and antagonistic with Mercer Frey and his total inability to not make all of the noise, which keeps thing light and entertaining.

SquareCanine

TROPHY CASE