Prison Architect Update 11 released, makes your staff needy

There’s a Christmas opt-in bonus awaiting the owners of Prison Architect today, as Update 11 is released upon the inmates. It’s only available on the optional beta branch, so to get it you need to right-click on Prison Architect in your Steam list, open Properties, then the Betas tab, and select ‘beta’ from the drop-down list.

It looks like this Update predominantly deals with staff needs. Yes, your work-force of guards, dog handlers, snipers and the rest actually need to take a break every once in a while. Heaven forbid, they may actually need to take a piss, or get a snack, or just have a bit of a sit down.

Taking care of Staff Needs is an optional feature (not just because it’s only on the beta branch for now), that can be enabled or disabled through Extras, Map Settings. Here’s a video talking about the changes. Prepare yourself, because it opens with some Prison Architect themed Christmas carolling.

Here’s the changelog for Update 11:

Staff Needs
Your security staff now have needs, in much the same way as prisoners. This is optional, and can be enabled when creating a new prison, or enabled from Extras -> Map Settings.

You must take care of your staff needs, or else your staff will begin to perform their duties badly.

The staff members affected in this update are:

Guards
Armed Guards
Dog Handlers
Snipers
These staff will have a semi random mixture of the following needs. Each need is similar to its prisoner counterpart, but also slightly different:

BLADDER
BOWELS
Staff will only make use of toilets in staff designated zones or staff rooms
FOOD
Staff will eat in the Staff Room if you add a Serving Table. Or you can designate a canteen as “Staff Only” and they will eat there instead. Staff meals are more expensive than prisoner meals and are automatically delivered.
SAFETY
Staff hate to feel they are in danger. You can help with this need by equipping your staff with Tazers, body armour etc, as well as ensuring strength in numbers.
RECREATION
Staff get bored too. They can now make use of any entertainment so long as it exists within a staff room. Eg Pool tables, radios, TVs, etc.
COMFORT
Put some sofas in the staff room for this.
ENVIRONMENT
Same as prisoners, this is entirely based on the cleanliness of the surroundings.
REST
This replaces the “tiredness” mechanic. Be sure to give your staff enough down time.
If staff are happy, this contributes in a positive way towards the temperature of your prison. Likewise if they are unhappy, this will make the prison “hotter” and lead to more trouble later.

If you do not take care of your staff they will become “pissed off”, and begin to perform their jobs badly:

Sauntering around slowly when doing jobs
Less effective at searching for contraband
Less likely to actively look for trouble, more likely to turn a blind eye
Unwilling to put themselves in danger eg confronting gang members
In extreme cases, staff will take bribes in order to look the other way when searching for contraband

Staff break times
You can now specify how much break time to grant your staff. Go to Reports -> Policy.
You can choose how long each break is, and how many breaks per day are taken.
Staff on break will immediately begin attending to their needs. Nb. Staff will always finish their current job before starting their break.

Other changes
Arcade Cabinets have had their sound turned down
Larger clone size with Tools and Cheats enabled.
Main menu: ‘Terms and Conditions’ moved to Options menu.
Main menu: Added ‘Other Introversion Games’ link.
Tooltip added to Analytics in Options menu.

BUG Fixes
Fixed: Dog Handlers would be completely paralised if injured, and there was no Medical Ward
Crash when loading with mods which define a custom room.
Family Rooms no longer erroneously display the cell quality too high warning.