[HELP WANTED] {GUIDE} The Ultimate Guide to Prison Architect

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RutgerM
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[HELP WANTED] {GUIDE} The Ultimate Guide to Prison Architect

Postby RutgerM » Sun May 26, 2013 12:28 pm

I've made a Steam guide for Prison Architect.

This Guide will cover everything, starting at the User Interface and ending with Tips & Tricks to help even the most experienced Players in managing a well running Prison.
The Guide is a work in progress, so there might be empty sections, radical changes, missing information or grammatical errors.


Feel free to leave some feedback to allow me to improve the guide! :D

Link: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/f ... =142966741


~Rutger
Last edited by RutgerM on Sat Nov 14, 2015 8:08 pm, edited 9 times in total.
xidey
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Postby xidey » Sun May 26, 2013 1:46 pm

Amazing guide.

Also gave me some great ideas for my own layouts!

There is a bit where you seem to have the garbage and deliveries inside of a room. How did you get that to work?
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Postby RutgerM » Sun May 26, 2013 1:54 pm

Thanks! :D

xidey wrote:There is a bit where you seem to have the garbage and deliveries inside of a room. How did you get that to work?


You mean this part: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/f ... 6741#50497 ?

It's not a room though. It's just a wall around the garbage and deliveries area :)
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Postby xidey » Sun May 26, 2013 1:55 pm

yeah my bad sorry! Hadn't finished reading the guide!
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Postby FourWinds » Sun May 26, 2013 2:29 pm

When I picked up the game - from the web site and not steam - I had to do a lot of reading around the forums, as well as watching a lot of youtube, to get as much knowledge you've squeezed into your guide. I'd guess that's going to help out a lot of Steam peeps.

One addition I'd make if it were me is a few save files to cope with the guy that pops up saying something like: "What the hell man, I paid $500 for this and there's just a truck coming down from the top to an empty plot of land!" Seems to me that a Steam impulse buyer would be grateful for something to show them what's what.

I had spent time on youtube before I went to the web to buy it, but a Steam impulse purchase may not have a clue.
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Postby RutgerM » Sun May 26, 2013 2:47 pm

FourWinds wrote:One addition I'd make if it were me is a few save files to cope with the guy that pops up saying something like: "What the hell man, I paid $500 for this and there's just a truck coming down from the top to an empty plot of land!" Seems to me that a Steam impulse buyer would be grateful for something to show them what's what.


I've been thinking about adding a complete save file with the first cell block of my guide (and all of the other remaining buildings).
I'll do that now then :)
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Postby xidey » Sun May 26, 2013 4:36 pm

RutgerM wrote:
FourWinds wrote:One addition I'd make if it were me is a few save files to cope with the guy that pops up saying something like: "What the hell man, I paid $500 for this and there's just a truck coming down from the top to an empty plot of land!" Seems to me that a Steam impulse buyer would be grateful for something to show them what's what.


I've been thinking about adding a complete save file with the first cell block of my guide (and all of the other remaining buildings).
I'll do that now then :)


Do that!
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Postby RutgerM » Sun May 26, 2013 4:40 pm

xidey wrote:Do that!


Making a save with cell block four as starter cell :)
I'll add it to the guide when I'm done.
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Postby RutgerM » Sun May 26, 2013 6:39 pm

I've uploaded a save to the Tips & Tricks section of the guide :)
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Postby Great Magical Hat » Sun May 26, 2013 7:01 pm

Looks nice. There is a number of remarks I have, though:

- I'd say it would be good to add a warning about accidental bangup to both the bangup button's description and to the bureaucracy button's description
- It may be language nitpick, but someone might misunderstand you: lockdown and bangup say they affect the regime. They affect whether and how the regime is used, but not the regime itself (as it would mean that the regime would be changed).
- Prisoners tab: This should include an "if continuous intake is turned off"
- Needs tab: For exercise, prisoners seem to enjoy running in circles along the border of the yard as well. I don't exactly know what unlocks it, but a large enough yard is most definitely important and fast materials in the yard might play a role too
- Needs tab: You mention the book shelf. I've often heard say that it has no effect, and though I believe it might have a (non-visual) effect, it would be unclear what that effect would be exactly
- "Note that if you want to use the Cleaning Cupboard as a Job Area for your Prisoners, you need to add a door to that said Room." - There is nothing else you can use it for, really.
- Canteen & Kitchen: You are using bench-table-bench-table-bench setup. A bench-table-bench-bench-table-bench allows for 33% seats more efficiently.
- Infirmary: It's very, very big. There's a lot of unused space, which you can no longer use for other purposes, and there's a lot of beds. I've never really found that I needed more than two beds, but usually I use only one.
- Holding Cells: The minimum is 5x5 not 10x10
- Power and Water Stations: Generally, a beginner (which I believe is the target audience) won't want to place 15 capacitors at his power station (unless he is editing in money) so showing an image of such a setup is somewhat misleading
- Entrance, Delivery and Garbage Areas: While it looks better than building everything to the left of the garbage and delivery areas, the entrance serves little purpose. It's also strongly based on how the trucks and road just happen to be handle walls and gates at the moment. The alternative is just to have staff-only area either inside or outside the entrance to make sure prisoners won't go to the deliveries area. The one advantage of the entrance setup is only that you don't have to use workmen/guards to pick up things that the prisoners can pick up themselves (though there are arguments to be made for not having the prisoners do this anyway), and if you want this, I'd suggest building an entrance at that point instead of focusing on it right from the start.
- Regime Tab: For work hours you forgot to mention that prisoners that aren't working have free time.
- Personally, I would like to see a mention of building a fence around your prison. It's free, so it's the perfect things to work on (or expand) when low on money and it'll allow you to build care-free as prisoner won't be able to escape anyway.
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Postby RutgerM » Sun May 26, 2013 7:21 pm

Thanks for the great feedback, Great Magical Hat. I'll take those in effect when I've got some free time :)


Great Magical Hat wrote: - Entrance, Delivery and Garbage Areas: While it looks better than building everything to the left of the garbage and delivery areas, the entrance serves little purpose. It's also strongly based on how the trucks and road just happen to be handle walls and gates at the moment. The alternative is just to have staff-only area either inside or outside the entrance to make sure prisoners won't go to the deliveries area. The one advantage of the entrance setup is only that you don't have to use workmen/guards to pick up things that the prisoners can pick up themselves (though there are arguments to be made for not having the prisoners do this anyway), and if you want this, I'd suggest building an entrance at that point instead of focusing on it right from the start.


I do not quite understand what you mean with this (I think). I see you're Dutch too, so you can send me a PM if you'd like for a easier explanation (as my English fails sometimes :/).
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RutgerM
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Postby RutgerM » Sun May 26, 2013 8:27 pm

[It says I'm not allowed to PM untill I have made one post. But I've made like 7 or 8 now o_o...]
Fixed
Last edited by RutgerM on Sun May 26, 2013 10:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Postby Dosedmonkey » Sun May 26, 2013 10:13 pm

Nice one!! Keep improving it, very apprecaited, will link confused people to it in future. :lol: Maybe a sticky post with this in would be helpful?
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Postby RutgerM » Mon May 27, 2013 9:26 am

Dosedmonkey wrote:Nice one!! Keep improving it, very apprecaited, will link confused people to it in future.

Thanks! :D

:lol: Maybe a sticky post with this in would be helpful?


That would be great!
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Postby asmo0 » Mon May 27, 2013 10:18 am

Guide looks very nice, but every design example is very expensive. Might want to include some ghetto solutions as well, and at least emphasize how fences can save incredible amount of money. The proposed entrance area for example would cost 72*50 + 350*4 = $5000, when you could get identical functionality using fences and a single door for $350.

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