Breaks

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Villagers taking a break at the Hearth

Overview

Every few minutes villagers have to return to a nearby Hearth for a break, to eat, rest, and satisfy needs. All consumption happens during breaks. Villagers of different species take breaks at different Intervals.

Break Intervals

Break Intervals show how much time each species has between breaks. Longer Intervals translate to more time spent doing tasks.

Species	Beavers	Foxes	Harpies	Humans	Lizards
Break Interval	02:00	02:00	01:40	02:00	01:40

Break mechanics

Duration

Base break duration is 6 seconds. That does not include travel time, only the time spent at the Hearth. Due to breaks' low duration, travel time to and from the Hearth usually takes up most of the time dedicated to a break. Accessible Hearths and efficient building layout and are essential if you want to minimize time you workers spend on breaks.

Cycle timer

The Break Interval is reset when a villager finishes their break.^[1] Travel time from the Hearth to their task after a break is not excluded. Newcomers that arrive in your settlement wait for a full break cycle before they decide to go to the Hearth.

Place

Villagers will always take breaks at the closest Hearth. Shelters or houses they are assigned to have no effect on their Hearth choice. A break does not involve a visit to Housing, Warehouses or Service buildings.

Interruptions

Villagers will never interrupt their current task to go for a break, i.e. if they are 3 seconds into a 126-second production cycle when it's time for their break, they will finish the cycle before walking to the Hearth. Hauling one stack of resources to and from a Warehouse, completing a production cycle, erecting a building, and Glade Event solving are all examples of singular tasks that breaks cannot interrupt. Similarly, once a villager has decided to go on a break, there is no way to alter their decision.

Consumption

All consumption happens at the Hearth during a break. That includes raw food, Complex Food, Clothing and Service Needs. Shelter and Housing Needs are fulfilled as soon as Shelters and Species Housing are constructed. All Resources are consumed at the end of the break, when villagers are about to leave. The amount of goods consumed is subject to modifiers, the most prominent of which are Parasites and Consumerism from Prestige 7 and 8 respectively.

During a break, villagers will consume food with the following priority (note that all options equally leave them full until the next break):

1. One of each available preferred Complex Food (each will contribute to a Resolve boost).
2. One random raw food.
3. One available Complex Food they don't like.

While  Coats will be consumed by villagers to satisfy the Clothing Need as long as you have some in storage, Service Goods have to be stocked in Service buildings to be consumed.

You can modify villagers' consumption behavior using Consumption Control.

Perks and Cornerstones influencing breaks

1 Perks mentioning 'Travel Rations'.

Perk	Rarity	Description	Source(s)
Travel Rations	Epic	"With provisions, haulers don't have to return to the Hearth as often. Increases time between breaks for haulers by +50%."	as a Cornerstone

1 Perks mentioning 'Drying Boards'.

Perk	Rarity	Description	Source(s)	Price
Drying Boards	Rare	"A clever invention that makes it easier to dry clothes. Time spent resting is reduced by 30% when under the effect of <sprite name="[needs] coats"> clothing."	purchased from a Trader	20

Negative Forest Mysteries influencing breaks

Mystery	Penalty	Active from Hostility	Prevention
Eclipse	-33% time between breaks for affected villagers.	6	2x Services
Nauseous Spores	-33% time between breaks for affected villagers.	4	1x Services

Positive Forest Mysteries influencing breaks

Mystery	Description
Inspiring View	The astonishingly beautiful view motivates villagers to work. The time interval between breaks is increased by +25%.

Plagues influencing breaks

Plague	Description
Plague of Malady	The Sealed Ones have inflicted a mysterious disease on the settlement. Villagers take +50% longer rests and have a +100% higher chance of consuming twice as much food during a break.

References

Break time counter start was tested by Discord user die_die.