Water Cooler

The Water Cooler is a drink-dispenser building that provides a morale bonus to duplicants who use it. It can be supplied with either water or Brackene, and the chosen liquid determines the benefit received: water grants +1 morale for 1 cycle, while Brackene grants +2 morale and a -15%/cycle stress reduction. In both cases, the user also receives heat resistance for 0.2 cycles.

A Water Cooler must be filled by a Pitcher Pump placed over a liquid body. Because it draws from the colony’s water supply, it is important to keep that supply clean: if the water contains germs, the cooler can give duplicants Food Poisoning. When used with Brackene, it functions as a stronger morale source and also helps reduce stress, making it the better choice when the colony can spare it.

In practical use, the Water Cooler is most useful in the early game as a simple morale tool and as a room-filler for a Great Hall. It can satisfy the recreational building requirement for that room, and it will still count toward the requirement even if disabled, which makes it a convenient way to preserve water while keeping the room bonus intact.

• Water Coolers are outperformed by most other drink-dispensing machines, such as Espresso Machines.
• Their main advantage is that they have the fastest animations among these machines, so duplicants spend less time using them.
• They can serve as an early Great Hall recreation building, and disabling one still preserves the room requirement.
• Keep the input liquid safe and germ-free, or the building can spread Food Poisoning instead of helping morale.
• Brackene is the stronger beverage option when available, since it grants more morale and adds stress relief.