Ration Box

Ration Box is a storage building used to hold food. It prevents hungry critters from eating the stored food, but it does not provide any preservation bonus on its own. Food placed inside still spoils according to the surrounding atmosphere and temperature, so a Ration Box in warm or polluted conditions will not keep meals fresh for long.

Spoilage is influenced by the gas around the box. Cold environments slow decay, while Carbon Dioxide, Hydrogen, Chlorine Gas, and vacuum stop spoilage entirely. Polluted Oxygen is especially bad for stored food, accelerating decay by 13% per cycle even when the food is kept in a cold area or a Refrigerator. Because of this, the box is best treated as a secure container, not a preservation method.

A common way to extend food life is to place Ration Boxes in pits filled with Carbon Dioxide. Since Carbon Dioxide is heavy, it settles downward and is easy to maintain in a low-lying storage area. This lets players protect food from critters while also minimizing spoilage without needing much infrastructure. Ration Boxes can also be renamed.

Several foods do not spoil at all and can serve as emergency reserves: Nutrient Bars, Muckroot, and Hexalent Fruit. These are useful backups when normal stored food is at risk of rotting.

The starting Ration Box is made of Sedimentary Rock. Destroying it can be useful early in the game, since it gives access to Sedimentary Rock before the usual Granite barriers are removed. That can matter for early Stone Hatch farming setups, where Sedimentary Rock is often needed for storage filters or Critter Feeders.

• The box protects food from being eaten, but does not slow spoilage.
• Cold gas slows decay; Carbon Dioxide, Hydrogen, Chlorine Gas, and vacuum stop it completely.
• Polluted Oxygen accelerates food decay by 13% per cycle.
• The starting box is a source of Sedimentary Rock if demolished early.
• The delivery tile of interest is the bottom-left square.