RimWorld production/research — materials, bills and power
Cooking, stonecutting, tailoring, research and initial-power requirements. Check building materials, jobs, bill units, output collection and stalled processes.
Edition: PC Steam base game (app 294100), no DLC/mods. Examples use Crashlanded, Cassandra Classic, Community builder and temperate forest with a long growing season, without custom difficulty changes. Adjust for other scenarios, biomes and console editions
Verification scope: Normal 1.6 release branch. Official updates and June 8, 2026 Update 1.6.4850 checked on 2026-10-04. Running build untested: also inspect the title-screen number and Steam branch
Sources checked: 2026-10-04
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Separate work and machine prerequisites before counting materials
Base 1.6 Crashlanded; wooden benches use wooden material examples. Researched does not mean automatically built. Construct, assign the job and set bills before production can run.
- Check research first. Crashlanded starts with basics such as Electricity; do not repeat already-unlocked technologies.
- Read building materials and Construction requirements under Architect. Reserve product ingredients separately.
- Keep the work spot reachable and connect required fuel/power.
- Set product, quantity, ingredients and worker restrictions under Bills; enable the corresponding Work job.
- Choose output destination and watch one completion enter stock. Repeat only after supply and collection function.
Numbers are baseline construction/recipe values. Quality, material, capacities, temperature, difficulty and mods prevent fixed completion-time or daily-output guarantees.
Basic building requirements
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| Building | Research / skill | Construction materials | Operating conditions | Use / exception |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fueled stove | No additional research | 80 steel | Wood fuel, Cook and meal bill | Non-electric cooking; construction 80 steel differs from operating wood |
| Electric stove | Electricity; Construction 4 | 80 steel + 2 components | 350 W, Cook and meal bill | No direct wood fueling needed |
| Wooden butcher table | No additional research | 95 wood: 75 main material + 20 additional wood | Cook, unrotted animal corpse and butcher bill | Produces meat/leather; corpse count does not fix yield |
| Wooden stonecutter's table | Stonecutting | 75 wood + 30 steel | Craft, chunks and bill; no electricity | Output count does not scale with Crafting skill |
| Wooden simple research bench | No additional research | 75 wood + 25 steel | Research worker/topic; no electricity | Later hi-tech-bench requirements are separate |
| Wooden hand tailor bench | Complex clothing | 75 wood | Tailor and clothing bill | No electricity; quality relates to Crafting skill |
| Wood-fired generator | Electricity; Construction 4 | 100 steel + 2 components | Operating wood, refueling assignment and network | 1000 W while fueled/on; consumes fuel separately from consumer demand |
| Wind turbine | Electricity; Construction 4 | 100 steel + 2 components | Clear front/rear obstruction area and connect network | Wind output varies; do not budget it as constant |
| Battery | Battery | 70 steel + 2 components | Direct adjacency to the same network, excess generation and roofing against rain | New batteries are empty and do not generate power |
| Cooler | Air conditioning; Construction 5 | 90 steel + 3 components | 200 W while cooling; blue inward, red toward exhaust | 20 W idle; target differs from actual room temperature |
| Heater | Electricity; Construction 5 | 50 steel + 1 component | 175 W while heating; enclosed powered room | For cold rooms; room size and other conditions can prevent reaching target |
No matching entries in this table. Shorten the query or clear it to restore all entries.
Different construction materials can change requirements. Wooden examples are not universal recipes for every material, including gold or silver.
Check bill units as well as amounts
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| Product | Research / equipment | Ingredients / work | Bill | Use / exception |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 simple meal | Campfire, fueled stove or electric stove | 0.5 ingredient nutrition; 10 rice/potatoes/ordinary meat as examples; Cook, no minimum skill | One Simple meal bill; permit available ingredients | Counts vary by ingredient; edible ingredients differ from corpses |
| 4 simple meals | Same as above | 2 ingredient nutrition; 40 rice if rice-only; Cook | Run the 4× bill once, separately from the single-meal bill | One cycle makes 4 meals, not four cycles; insufficient ingredients can block it |
| Animal meat / leather | Butcher table | 1 unrotted corpse, Cook; yield varies with species/injuries | Allow the animal under Butcher creature | Move resulting meat to cooking; butcher and stove are separate |
| Stone blocks | Stonecutting and stonecutter's table | 1 matching chunk → 20 blocks; Craft | Use Do X times for the chosen stone, or a stock target | 5 cycles use 5 chunks for 100 blocks; Do until X counts finished blocks |
| Parka | Complex clothing; hand/electric tailoring bench | 80 matching textile/leather, Tailor; quality from Crafting | One Parka bill; choose material and worker | Compare finished material/quality and wearer temperature range |
No matching entries in this table. Shorten the query or clear it to restore all entries.
Skills differ from Work categories: stonecutting uses Craft, clothes Tailor, butchering Cook. High skill alone does not start an unassigned job.
From one test bill to a stock target
Overproduction or apparent material shortages can result from restrictive bills. Start with one cycle and follow it into counted stock.
- Select bench → Bills → Add Bill. Set Do X times to 1 and ensure it is not suspended.
- Under Details, inspect ingredients, durability, worker/skill range and search radius. Confirm available ingredients satisfy them.
- Check earlier active bills on the same bench. Raise the needed one or suspend unnecessary work.
- Enable its Work category, then prioritize by right-click. Follow one finished item to its destination.
- Choose accepting storage/shelves. Initially use a reliable destination such as Take to best stockpile to confirm counted stock.
- For ongoing production, switch to Do until you have X. Set a target and optionally Pause when satisfied / Unpause at.
- Watch resumption when stock falls. With Drop on floor, provide a work-area stockpile/hauler to avoid overproduction of uncounted scattered items.
Meal target X is not a fixed recommendation. Adjust to preservation and consumption. Some unfinished products remain tied to their original creator rather than automatically transferring to another crafter.
Separate generation, connection, demand and storage
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| Reason for stoppage | Target / area / materials | Action | Success check |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fuel depleted | Wood-generator fuel, refueling access and Haul | Supply safely reachable wood and refuel | Fuel enters and output returns |
| Weak wind / obstruction | Turbine output, white area, trees, roofs and buildings | Remove obstructions separately from natural wind variation | Obstruction warnings clear and output responds under comparable conditions |
| Connected to another network | Stopped consumer's connection and Grid Excess/Stored | Inspect conduit breaks/adjacency/switches; Reconnect if needed | Connects to a powered network |
| Power-toggle job unfinished | ON/OFF order and Basic assignment | Give a worker access to perform the switch | Actual power state changes, not merely the order |
| Demand exceeds supply | Insufficient Grid Excess; Stored decreasing | Stop unnecessary consumers and compare generation/load | Shortage ends and required machines run continuously |
| Only batteries were added | Empty batteries, no excess generation | Provide generation first; roof batteries and directly connect the same network | Stored power rises during surplus |
| Solar-flare notification | Electrical equipment stopped together during the event | Batteries alone cannot solve it; inspect non-electric cooking/heating and stored food | Recheck power and temperature after the event |
| Power exists but cooking does not | Stove bills, ingredients and Cook | Return from electrical checks to bill checks | Ingredients are delivered and cooking begins |
No matching entries in this table. Shorten the query or clear it to restore all entries.
A consumer connecting to nearby wire differs from distant generators sharing that network. Visible wiring alone does not establish adequate supply.
Test a small working network
Diagnostic example: 1 wood generator, 1 electric stove and 1 cooler. Not a finished colony-scale design.
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| Check | Prepare in this example | Success criterion |
|---|---|---|
| Construction materials | 270 steel and 7 components for the three machines; wiring, walls, doors and roof are additional | All blueprints complete with Construction 4/5 requirements met |
| Start operation | Fuel the generator and connect all three to one network | Verify 1000 W generation and each connection |
| Read the load | 350 W stove + 200 W cooling = 550 W; simple difference 450 W | Assumes no other consumers; storage and standby are separate displays |
| Cooking | Simple-meal ingredients and one bill cycle | A meal reaches storage and counted stock |
| Preservation | Cooler direction/exhaust, enclosed freezer and food acceptance | Check actual temperature and Frozen status, not only setpoint |
No matching entries in this table. Shorten the query or clear it to restore all entries.
270/7 sum the three listed buildings. 550 W/450 W are arithmetic from their power figures. Excludes wiring, construction and lights; no fixed room size or heat-wave capacity is guaranteed.
Research needs a topic, worker and suitable bench
A bench alone does not begin research. Repeated manufacturing-style force orders are unnecessary.
- Choose an incomplete topic; read prerequisites and bench needs. Do not count already-researched nodes as new goals.
- Build a compatible bench and assign Research. Check Intellectual and worker Health.
- Check whether main jobs always come first. Consider another researcher without stopping essential food or medicine.
- Provide access and usable temperature/cleanliness. Watch points rise to distinguish slow work from no progress.
- After completion, find unlocked buildings in Architect. Separately choose the next topic and meet new construction/operating requirements.
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| Purpose | Representative research / baseline cost | Bench / prerequisite | Next action |
|---|---|---|---|
| Store variable power | Battery: 400 points | Electricity; simple bench sufficient | Build batteries and connect surplus generation |
| Increase daytime generation | Solar panel: 600 points | Electricity; simple bench sufficient | Check placement and plan nighttime supply separately |
| Make clothing | Complex clothing: 600 points at Industrial baseline | No prerequisite, simple bench; initially unlocked for Crashlanded | Prepare tailor bench, textiles, Tailor and clothing bill |
| Process stone | Stonecutting: 300 points at Industrial baseline | No prerequisite, simple bench; initially unlocked for Crashlanded | Chunk → stonecutting bill → finished-block stockpile |
No matching entries in this table. Shorten the query or clear it to restore all entries.
Costs use an Industrial start. Tribal costs and initial research differ. DLC research and an unverified complete tree are outside scope.
Final checks when materials exist but production fails
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| Reason for stoppage | Target / area / materials | Action | Version difference / exception |
|---|---|---|---|
| Insufficient quantity | Single versus 4× bill, nutrition and material types | Test one single bill with matching ingredients | Do not give every food the same item count |
| Ingredient excluded | Details: material, durability and search radius | Include only the intended material | No need to allow every valuable material |
| Wrong job category | Craft, Tailor, Cook or Research? | Enable the matching category under Work | DLC/mod jobs and machines differ from the base table |
| Earlier bill never ends | Order and Do forever | Raise needed bills and suspend unnecessary endless work | Suspending does not require deleting the bill |
| Another worker's unfinished product | Creator and current assignee | Check creator availability and bill restrictions | Unfinished clothing cannot always be continued by anyone |
| Completed item does not increase count | Output destination and counting restrictions | Haul into stock and check whether the target counts it | Avoid endless uncounted Drop on floor production |
| Stone output differs from an old video | Version, difficulty and bill units | Compare current table with one completed batch | 1.6.4850 fixed butcher-yield settings incorrectly affecting stonecutting |
| Work is slow, not stopped | Current job, material distance, bench temperature and worker state | Improve one source of delay at a time | Older low-temperature thresholds differ; prioritize bench status |
No matching entries in this table. Shorten the query or clear it to restore all entries.
Separate no hauling, no production and no collection to identify the fix before adding another identical bench.
Frequently asked questions
Why will a high-Crafting colonist not make clothes?
Skill differs from Work category. Assign Tailor; check bills, ingredients, worker restrictions and unfinished-product creator.
Do 100 stone blocks require 100 bill cycles?
Normally one chunk makes 20 blocks: 5 cycles makes 100. With a stock target, X means finished blocks.
Why can I not force research by right-clicking?
Choose the topic under Research and progress through Work assignment/priorities. Check prerequisites, bench suitability and competing jobs.
Why do new batteries not add power?
They do not generate and start empty. Create surplus generation on the same grid and watch Stored increase.
Why will a powered electric stove not cook?
It also needs Cook, a bill, ingredients and suitable bill restrictions. Open Bills and test one single-meal cycle.