How to use the Nutrient Paste Dispenser in Rimworld

The Nutrient Paste Dispenser in RimWorld is a utilitarian but highly efficient food solution for your colony, drawing inspiration from The Matrix's "nutrient paste." It stands out for its resource efficiency, lack of reliance on colonist cooking skill, and instant meal production from raw food. While it won't boost morale, it's excellent for keeping pawns fed and healthy, particularly in challenging, low-resource scenarios.

Rimworld: use the Nutrient Paste Dispenser

Here's a guide to understanding, building, and effectively using the Nutrient Paste Dispenser in RimWorld.

Building the Nutrient Paste Dispenser in RimWorld

To unlock the Nutrient Paste Dispenser, you'll need to complete two prerequisite research projects:

Electricity: This foundational research is necessary for most powered structures.

Nutrient Paste: This specific research unlocks the dispenser itself.

Once both are completed, you can construct the dispenser.Construction Costs:

• 125 Steel
• 3 Components

(Note: Components are crafted at a Fabrication Bench using additional Steel, or can be found/purchased.)

Setting Up the Dispenser

The Nutrient Paste Dispenser doesn't function in isolation; it requires adjacent Hoppers to store the raw food it processes.

• Hopper Placement: Place at least one Hopper directly adjacent to the dispenser. Ensure the tube side of the Hopper is pointing towards the dispenser. Hoppers automatically draw raw food from your stockpiles.
• Power Connection: The dispenser requires electricity to operate. Make sure it's connected to your colony's power grid.
• Meal Output Tile: The dispenser has a specific meal output tile (marked with a circle). Colonists will stand on this tile to collect their food. It's crucial to plan this placement carefully:
  • Accessibility: Position the output tile in an easily accessible location.
  • Dining Area Integration: Ideally, place it where colonists can immediately move to a dining area or kitchen to eat their meal, maximizing the chance of getting the "Ate at table" mood buff and potentially an "Impressive dining room" buff,which can help offset the mood penalty from the paste itself.

Extra Uses and Considerations

The Nutrient Paste Dispenser offers several advantages beyond basic sustenance:

• Automated Prisoner Feeding: You can build a dispenser inside your prison. Prisoners will automatically use it to feed themselves, saving valuable colonisttime that would otherwise be spent manually delivering meals.
• Emergency Stockpiling (Micro-Management): While paste meals aren't typically stockpiled automatically due totheir instant production, you can manually create an emergency stash:

• Draft a hungry colonist.
• Have them use the dispenser repeatedly.
• After each use, forbid the meal they drop (press 'F' by default over the meal).
• By repeating this process, you can build a pile of paste meals foremergencies like solar flares (which cut power) or food shortages.Remember that nutrient paste meals have a relatively short shelf life(0.75 days at normal temperature) and will quickly spoil if not storedin a freezer.
• Food Efficiency: Paste meals require less raw food (0.3 nutrition per meal, yielding 0.9 nutrition) compared to simple (0.5 nutrition per meal) or fine/lavishmeals, effectively tripling your food efficiency. This significantly stretches your food supplies, making it invaluable in lean times or on difficult biomes.
• No Food Poisoning: Unlike meals cooked by low-skill colonists, nutrient paste never causes food poisoning. This eliminates a common early-game headache.
• No Cooking Skill Required: Any colonist can use the dispenser, regardless of their cooking skill, freeing up your skilled cooks for other tasks.

Drawbacks to Remember:

• Mood Penalty: The most significant drawback is the -4 "Ate awful meal" mood penalty colonists receive after consuming nutrient paste. This can be mitigated with beautiful environments, recreation, and positive thoughts, butit's a persistent minor debuff. (Note: Ascetic pawns and those with the"Eating Nutrient Paste: Don't Mind" ideoligion precept are immune tothis penalty.)
• No Portability: Colonists do not carry paste meals with them. If they get hungry while working far from the dispenser, they will walk all the way back to use it. This can lead to significant travel timeand inefficiency in large, spread-out colonies. Proper base layout witheasily accessible dispensers is crucial to minimize this issue.
• Power Reliance: It requires consistent electricity. During power outages (like solar flares), it becomes unusable, emphasizing the need for emergency meal stockpiles or backup power.
• Hopper Aesthetics: Hoppers containing raw food are considered "storage," which cannegatively impact the "impressiveness" rating of a dining room if placed inside. Some players opt to build the dispenser as a wall between a freezer (containing hoppers) and a dining room.

Despite its drawbacks, the Nutrient Paste Dispenser remains a powerful tool in a RimWorld colony's arsenal, offering unparalleled food efficiency andconvenience, especially during early game struggles or in situationswhere resources are scarce.

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