Prison Architect is one of those games that will either hook you, viciously, into feeding it hours and hours of your time or you'll walk away from in ten minutes. Like most sim games it takes patience, practice and whole lot of trial and error. I purchased Prison Architect duringt he Steam Summer sale and, with the recent announcement the game will be 40 percent off this weekend, thought I'd share some of my advice for everyone getting into the Warden game for the first time.
First, there are a number of Prison Architect cheats and tips online. Many are contained on the Prison Architect wiki, and others can found in the Steam community forums. But I'm the type of person that doesn't like to learn every single way to become a god in a game. I won't list all the cheats here, or all the strategies, but I wanted to share some of the things that have helped me build a successful prison. But lots of cheats are out there so game how you want.
Sidenote: My prison WAS successful until Alpha 13. Some bug caused the game to no longer recognize my cells because they're not "enclosed." They all have walls, doors and I installed one of the new perimeter fences all around my prison. Still nothing. But before the bug popped up I was rocking 152 inmates with no end in site.
I'm not bitter about the bug or having to start from scratch though. You need to know going into Prison Architect that it is still a game in development. So when you think you have it mastered it can change unexpectedly. This is a good thing, generally, but if you're prone to frustration and want a game that functions perfectly then Prison Architect is not for you.
Anywho, on with the cheats and tips I've found most useful in the 140 hours I've spent as a Warden.
The number one best thing that helped me find success in Prison Architect is a cheat that changes the number of inmates for your daily intake. This becomes important when you start to creep towards a triple digit capacity because getting randomized daily deliveries of 8-24 prisons is terribly frustrating. So, in order to change the intake number do the following:
1. Save the game.
2. Select 'Open Save Folder'
3. Open the saved game's text file
4. Locate the word intake, next to it is a number
5. Change the number to your desired prisoner intake amount
6. Reload the save file
Voila!
This single cheat is what has helped me the most. Having a completely full prison is the first step towards generating tons of revenue and expanding.
So, you're building a new prison. With the new Alpha 13 mod you have to design a prison that is hard to tunnel out of, so any strategy about constructing big buildings and fenced in yards is gone. The new layer of strategy is new to the relatively laidback sandbox style Alpha gamers have enjoyed so far. Prisoners are now actively trying to tunnel out of the prison so vigilance is key. But, inorder to do anything in Prison Architect you need money. And the best way to get money is to get your prisoners to work.
The best source of cash in the beginning is in the grants section of your in-game ledger. Accept all the grants and enjoy an $80k capital injection. It seems like a lot but it goes quickly, so don't go laying down wooden floors and giant rooms just yet. Two of the grants also give you a $10k bonus on completion so focus on those.
The first of the two bonus money grants is for building 15 cells. This is trickier than it sounds. Every cell requires 6 square meters of indoor floor space, plus it must be surrounded by walls, have a locking door, a bed and a working toilet. A working toilet means running water, so you'll have to be installing pipes and wiring to this cluster. Your best bet is to build something close to your water pump and generator. When you put in the generator leave at least a one square boundary around the outside of it so you can add capacitors later on to increase capacity. I recommend spending an extra $2k and adding two more to the generator right away, you'll need the power later when you start installing equipment in the kitchens and workshops.
Don't be afraid of the planning function. It is your best friend for figuring out the layout of your prison. Sketch out the cells and walls first, before you build the foundation. After that, run the wiring and plumbing. Do the objects next, and finish with the walls and doors. If you start putting up walls inside the building before hooking up the beds and toilets it adds a ton of time in pathfinding for your workers.
Also, the regime tab is great. I recommend scheduling a shower for around 3 a.m. For some reason the prisoners get all worked up if they sleep through the night without showering and eventually start rioting in the showers in the a.m. It's weird, but it works and will save you a lot of head scratching early on when you're getting riots out as soon as the inmates wake up.
The second grant with a $10k bonus is for medical care. For this you have to take a couple steps. You need to hire a warden, which means building an office. You'll need another office for a psychologist too, so build at least two at first. I like to just build the admin office right away too and include space for five offices. Again, sketching out five 4x4 sqaures makes this a much less frustrating process.
After the warden's set up you need to research medical and psychology benefits in the bureaucracy tree. It'll cost you $1k. Each doctor costs $1k and so does the psychologist. So, aside from buildings, you'll need at least $5k and $300 free on your daily budget to afford these guys. Since the reward is $10k it works out but it's key to do it first.
After that, you've got the maximum nest egg you can get out of the game.
There's a lot more designing and planning to be had after the first few buildings, so if you want more instruction you can go to the Prison Architect wiki to find out more on how to set things up for maximum effect, or watch a YouTube video or two on it.
Or you can go the stubborn route and trial and error your way to a successful prison. It's a longer path, sure, but in the end I think it's worth it. There's a wonderful feeling you get when you've built a fully functional prison with 150 inmates living in perfect harmony.
At least until Alpha 14 gets here ...
