# Commitment How involuntary psychiatric commitment actually works in play: how a colonist becomes a ward patient, what the treatment station does, how a room turns into a ward, who does the counselling, what the treatment buys, and what happens if you commit someone and then forget about them. Every def and class name below is the real one from the mod source. The `Ward_` prefix marks a def; the C# class names are the workers behind them. --- ## The loop in one paragraph You **arrest** a colonist (or otherwise take a prisoner) and set their interaction mode to **psychiatric care**. You build a **treatment station** in their cell, which turns the room into a **psychiatric ward**. A warden walks over, sits, and **counsels** them; each session adds a little `Ward_UnderTreatment` severity, which **lowers their mental-break threshold**. That severity **decays** at 0.15/day, so the effect fades unless wardens keep attending. Counselling also gives a small mood lift (`Ward_Counselled`). Neglect a committed patient — leave them with no active treatment hediff — and once a day they gain `Ward_Neglected`, a mood *penalty* that drags them back toward the break that got them committed. Treat them and they stabilise; forget them and they don't. That feedback loop is the entire mod. --- ## Step 1 — Becoming a ward patient Commitment reuses vanilla's arrest → prisoner transition. You don't invent a new pawn state; you take a prisoner (arrest your own colonist, or a raider) and then flip on a **non-exclusive interaction mode**. ### `Ward_PsychiatricCare` — the interaction mode | Field | Value | Why | |---|---|---| | Def type | `PrisonerInteractionModeDef` | A Def, not the compiled `GuestStatus` enum — that's the whole point | | `defName` | `Ward_PsychiatricCare` | | | `label` | "psychiatric care" | Shown in the prisoner's interaction dropdown | | `listOrder` | `150` | Sits between vanilla's `ReduceResistance` (100) and `Release` (200) | | `isNonExclusiveInteraction` | `true` | **Stacks** with recruit/convert/work instead of stealing the radio button | | `mustBeAwake` | `false` | You can flag a downed or sleeping patient for care; the *work giver* decides when to actually treat | | `allowOnWildMan` | `false` | A wild man isn't a commitment case | | `allowInClassicIdeoMode` | `true` | Available without Ideology's ideoligion system | **Non-exclusive is load-bearing.** Vanilla's recruit/convert/enslave/release/execute modes are mutually exclusive — you pick one from a radio group. Psychiatric care is modelled on vanilla's own *Bloodfeed* and *Study* modes, which are toggles layered *on top* of the exclusive choice. So a patient can be set to **recruit AND psychiatric care at once**: you counsel the sad colonist toward stability while also chipping at their resistance. It also means Ward doesn't have to ship a cross-product of `workAndPsychiatricCare` variants to coexist with *Prison Labor*'s work modes — both just toggle on. The harness proves this on a live pawn: after `ToggleNonExclusiveInteraction(Ward_PsychiatricCare, true)` and then `SetExclusiveInteraction(AttemptRecruit)`, **both** modes report enabled (`live.stacksWithRecruit = True`). --- ## Step 2 — The treatment station Flagging a patient for care does nothing on its own. Treatment happens *at a station, in the patient's own room*. Without one, a patient flagged for care in an ordinary cell simply goes untreated — which is the point of the neglect thought (Step 6). ### `Ward_TreatmentStation` — the building > *"A desk, a chair bolted to the floor, and a locked cabinet of sedatives. A warden set to > psychiatric care will use it to counsel patients held in this room."* | Field | Value | Why | |---|---|---| | `defName` | `Ward_TreatmentStation` | | | Parent | `BuildingBase` | Ordinary passable furniture | | Cost | **40 Steel + 2 Industrial medicine** | Deliberately cheap | | `WorkToBuild` | `1600` | A quick build | | `MaxHitPoints` | `120` | | | `researchPrerequisites` | `MedicineProduction` | The one research gate | | `size` | `(2,1)` | A two-tile desk | | `graphicClass` | `Graphic_Single` | One texture, not a rotation set — nothing to keep in sync | | `designationCategory` | `Misc` | | | `passability` | `PassThroughOnly`, `pathCost 60` | Pawns squeeze past it; it doesn't wall a cell | | `Flammability` | `1.0` | It burns | **It's cheap on purpose.** The real cost of running a ward is not the 40 steel. It is the **warden hours** you spend counselling and the **labour you give up** by not putting the patient to work. The building is just the gate that says "this room is set up to treat people." --- ## Step 3 — The room becomes a ward Once a treatment station stands in a room that already holds prisoner beds, the room's *role* changes from prison cell to psychiatric ward. ### `Ward_PsychWard` — the room role | Field | Value | |---|---| | Def type | `RoomRoleDef` (`workerClass` is a public field — no patch needed) | | `defName` | `Ward_PsychWard` | | `label` | "psychiatric ward" | | `workerClass` | `Ward.RoomRoleWorker_PsychWard` | | `relatedStats` | Impressiveness, Cleanliness, Space | Vanilla already ships `PrisonCell`, `PrisonBarracks` and `Hospital` on exactly this rail; the ward is the fourth sibling. The scoring worker, `RoomRoleWorker_PsychWard.GetScore`, is where the care goes: ``` score = 0 if stations == 0 OR prisonerBeds == 0 score = 1_000_000 × prisonerBeds otherwise ``` Two design decisions are baked into that formula: - **Gated on a station.** The score is **zero** unless the room actually contains a `Ward_TreatmentStation` *and* at least one prisoner bed. This is deliberate: without the gate, any ordinary prison cell full of prisoner beds would start scoring as a ward and quietly steal the `PrisonCell` role from vanilla — a compatibility bug dressed up as a feature. Build the station and it's a ward; don't and your cells keep their vanilla role, untouched. - **1e6, not a hard-coded constant.** Vanilla's room roles score in the `~1e5` range. The ward must *outscore* `PrisonCell` for the same room or it would read as a cell block. Multiplying by 1,000,000 clears that range without pinning to a magic number a future RimWorld patch might move. (The harness's `FakeDLC` fixture deliberately adds a greedy competing role at `1e5 × beds`, and the ward still wins the room.) **Crucially, it is still a prison cell.** Re-labelling the role does not release anyone. `Room.isPrisonCell` is a cached field set only when the room's shape changes — never derived from the role — so a ward is a prison cell *and* a ward simultaneously. Containment, food delivery, and prison breaks all keep working. This is the pair of claims the harness holds together: `room.roleIsWard = True` **and** `room.stillPrisonCellAsWard = True`. --- ## Step 4 — The warden does the work ### `Ward_WardenPsychiatricCare` — the work giver | Field | Value | Why | |---|---|---| | `defName` | `Ward_WardenPsychiatricCare` | | | `giverClass` | `Ward.WorkGiver_Warden_PsychiatricCare` | A **new** class extending `WorkGiver_Warden` | | `workType` | `Warden` | Assigned like any other warden work | | `verb` / `gerund` | "treat" / "treating" | | | `priorityInType` | `70` | Above chat (60), below feeding — an untreated patient deteriorates, a bored one doesn't | | `requiredCapacities` | Talking, Hearing | A mute or deaf warden can't counsel | The class extends `WorkGiver_Warden` and its `JobOnThing` refuses the job unless **all** of these hold: 1. The pawn is a prisoner of the colony being taken care of (`ShouldTakeCareOfPrisoner`). 2. `IsInteractionEnabled(Ward_PsychiatricCare)` — asked, not "is this *the* mode," because the mode is non-exclusive and the patient may also be set to recruit or forced labour. 3. The patient is **awake, not in a mental state, and not downed** — counselling someone mid-break or unconscious isn't counselling. 4. The warden can reserve the patient. 5. A `Ward_TreatmentStation` exists **in the patient's own room** (not `PsychologicallyOutdoors`), is reservable, and isn't forbidden. You can't treat someone through a wall from the station two blocks over. **Being a new class is the entire compatibility story** (see The Compat Harness for the proof): - *Custom Prisoner Interactions* prefixes/postfixes the **named** vanilla warden givers (`_Chat`, `_Convert`, `_Enslave`, `_ReleasePrisoner`). It literally cannot see `WorkGiver_Warden_PsychiatricCare`, so it can't break it. - *Prison Commons* postfixes `WorkGiver_Warden.ShouldSkip` on the **base** class. Ward's giver inherits that method and doesn't override it, so Ward respects prison-commons areas **for free**, without Ward knowing Prison Commons exists. ### `Ward_ProvidePsychiatricCare` — the job | Field | Value | |---|---| | `defName` | `Ward_ProvidePsychiatricCare` | | `driverClass` | `Ward.JobDriver_PsychiatricCare` | | `casualInterruptible` | `false` | > Note: the `JobDef` and the `PrisonerInteractionModeDef` deliberately have **different** defNames. > `[DefOf]` binds fields to defs by name, so two defs sharing one name couldn't both be reached from > the `WardDefOf` class. The driver, `JobDriver_PsychiatricCare`, walks the warden to the patient and runs a counselling toil: - **Session length:** `SessionTicks = 1200` — about **20 in-game minutes**. - The wait toil uses `activeSkill = Social` and shows a progress bar; it fails out if the patient despawns, is forbidden, falls asleep, or enters a mental state partway through. - On completion it applies treatment, grants the counselled mood memory, fires a `DeepTalk` social interaction (so the relationship builds and the *next* session lands harder), and awards **60 Social XP** to the warden. --- ## Step 5 — What treatment buys: `Ward_UnderTreatment` Each completed session adds severity to a single hediff. The severity is **skill-scaled**: ``` gain = 0.20 + (wardenSocialLevel / 20) × 0.30 → range 0.20 .. 0.50 per session ``` | Warden Social skill | Severity gained per session | |---|---| | 0 | 0.20 | | 5 | 0.275 | | 10 | 0.35 | | 15 | 0.425 | | 20 | 0.50 | The floor is deliberate: even an unskilled warden buys **0.20** per session. A bad ward is *neglect*, not *zero* — a clumsy counsellor is still worth something. Severity is capped at `maxSeverity = 1.0`. ### The hediff | Field | Value | Why | |---|---|---| | `defName` | `Ward_UnderTreatment` | | | `hediffClass` | `HediffWithComps` | | | `label` | "under psychiatric care" | | | `isBad` | `false` | It's a good hediff; won't be treated as an injury | | `scenarioCanAdd` | `false` | Can't be granted by scenario editor | | `maxSeverity` | `1.0` | | | **Decay** | `severityPerDay = −0.15` | Roughly a week from a full course back to nothing, unattended | | **Effect** | `MentalBreakThreshold −0.10` (stage 0) | A *negative* offset means the pawn breaks at a **lower** mood — i.e. **breaks less often** | **Decay is the mechanic.** Because severity bleeds off at 0.15/day, a patient treated once and then ignored slides right back. Sustained treatment keeps the hediff topped up and the break threshold suppressed; stopping lets it fade. Treatment is a *programme*, not a one-time cure. (The `MentalBreakThreshold −0.10` value is a first-guess, not yet playtested — see the "unplaytested" caveats in the README.) --- ## Step 6 — The other half: neglect A ward you don't staff is not a neutral place to keep someone. It is a *worse* one. Without a cost, "arrest the sad colonist and park them" would be a free way to remove a problem pawn from play. It isn't free. ### `MapComponent_WardNeglect` Once per **in-game day** (`CheckIntervalTicks = 60000`), this component scans every spawned prisoner of the colony. For each prisoner flagged for `Ward_PsychiatricCare` who does **not** currently have a `Ward_UnderTreatment` hediff, it grants the `Ward_Neglected` thought. The absence of the treatment hediff is the signal *by design*: because the hediff decays on its own, its absence means **no warden has been near this patient in days** — not merely that they aren't being counselled at this exact instant. ### The two thoughts | Thought | Mood | Duration | Stack | Meaning | |---|---|---|---|---| | `Ward_Counselled` | **+6** | 2 days | up to 3 | "Someone sat with me and listened. It helped, a little." | | `Ward_Neglected` | **−8** | 3 days | up to 4 | "They locked me in here for my own good and then forgot about me." | Neglect is asymmetric — a −8 penalty stacking four deep (−32) badly outweighs three counselling lifts (+18). That's intentional: a neglected patient's mood falls, which raises their break risk, which is exactly the crisis you committed them to avoid. The ward can *manufacture* the break it was built to prevent. Staff it, or don't build it. > **Known rough edge (from the README's "Open" list):** neglect currently keys off "no > `Ward_UnderTreatment` hediff." A patient treated once a week technically dodges the neglect thought > on the single day the hediff expires. A real last-treated timestamp would be cleaner. Documented, > not yet fixed. --- ## How it stacks with recruitment (and everything else) Because `Ward_PsychiatricCare` is non-exclusive, it layers onto whatever else you've set: | You want to… | Set | Result | |---|---|---| | Just stabilise a broken colonist | Psychiatric care | Wardens counsel; break threshold drops | | Talk a captured raider down *and* recruit them | Psychiatric care **+** Attempt recruit | Both run — counselling lifts mood while resistance is chipped | | Convert *and* treat | Psychiatric care **+** convert | Both toggle on | | Work a patient *and* treat them | Psychiatric care **+** Prison Labor's work mode | Both apply. Working a fragile patient is bleak — and it's your call to make | The last row is the darkest option the mod exposes, and it exposes it on purpose: Ward doesn't forbid working a patient, it just makes the trade-off visible. Because a ward patient is a genuine vanilla prisoner, everything the wider Institution suite does to prisoners applies to them unchanged — a committed patient can be classified, disciplined, paroled, searched, and can conceal or improvise contraband. Ward writes no integration code for any of that; the patient satisfies "held pawn" and the rest follows. See **Home** for the suite map and **The Compat Harness** for how all of it is verified in one running game. --- ## Quick reference — every Ward def | defName | Type | Class (if any) | Key numbers | |---|---|---|---| | `Ward_PsychiatricCare` | PrisonerInteractionModeDef | — | non-exclusive; listOrder 150 | | `Ward_TreatmentStation` | ThingDef | `Building` | 40 steel + 2 medicine; WorkToBuild 1600; MedicineProduction research | | `Ward_PsychWard` | RoomRoleDef | `RoomRoleWorker_PsychWard` | score = 1e6 × prisonerBeds (station-gated) | | `Ward_WardenPsychiatricCare` | WorkGiverDef | `WorkGiver_Warden_PsychiatricCare` | priority 70; Talking + Hearing | | `Ward_ProvidePsychiatricCare` | JobDef | `JobDriver_PsychiatricCare` | 1200-tick session; +60 Social XP | | `Ward_UnderTreatment` | HediffDef | `HediffWithComps` | +0.20–0.50/session; −0.15/day decay; −0.10 break threshold | | `Ward_Counselled` | ThoughtDef | `Thought_Memory` | +6 mood, 2 days, stack 3 | | `Ward_Neglected` | ThoughtDef | `Thought_Memory` | −8 mood, 3 days, stack 4 | | — | MapComponent | `MapComponent_WardNeglect` | daily scan (60000 ticks) | --- ## Part of the Institution suite Institution: Ward is one mod in the **Institution** suite of RimWorld 1.6 mods — Ward, plus **Institution: Core**, **Institution: Contraband**, **Institution: Justice**, **Institution: Gangs**, and **Foul Play**. Each stands alone; together they interlock. A committed patient rides the same prisoner rail the rest of the suite polices, so a psychiatric ward is also a secure context where a patient can conceal and improvise contraband exactly as a prisoner can. ## AI disclosure This mod was developed with substantial assistance from Claude (Anthropic), including the compatibility analysis, the def and C# implementation, and the test harness.