Events are one of the several options that can be activated via the 'Create New Prison' screen.
They were introduced in order to shake up the continuous nature of gameplay and increase both difficulty and unpredictability.
The Chief, as he appears when calling & notifying the player of the start of certain events.
Once activated, random events will start to occur as you play on. You will always be notified when an event has started, as you will receive a phone call from a staff member, e.g. the Chief, or from Mayor Calvin Heller.
There are circumstances in which events altogether will not happen. These circumstances include:
- When there is an ongoing riot in your prison.
- When you have less than 50 prisoners on-site.
- Events are disabled
There are also circumstances in which the likelihood of an event occurring is low. These include:
- When there have been recent deaths in your prison.
- When there have been recent prisoner escapes.
There are also a number of events which have a corresponding extreme version that has a small chance of occurring during gameplay. These extremities are, evidently, much harder to deal with than their normal counterparts. Events and their extremities are discussed below.
Power Station Fire[]
This random event involves a power station catching fire, usually from an abnormally large surge of electricity. This event will only occur if the power station is overworked above 80%.
EXTREME VERSION: This is where your power station explodes. A power station explosion will damage nearby infrastructure (buildings), objects and is capable of severely harming or even killing nearby entities. The power station itself will be completely destroyed. The extremity will only occur if the power station is overworked above 95%.
To prevent this, keep your Power Stations below 80% if possible. DO NOT place sprinkers above them, as this will cause them to explode if they haven't already. To limit the amount of casualties in the event of this happens, place your power stations somewhere entities usually don't go, to minimize the casualties from this explosions.
If you have the Going Green DLC, you can use Green Energy sources instead of power stations, thus negating this situation altogether.
Kitchen Fire[]
This random event involves one of your cookers spontaneously catching fire which, if not contained, will spread and cause damage to nearby equipment. Kitchen fires can be catastrophic during 'eat' regime times as it can lead to your cooks not being able to prepare enough food, thus leading to unhappy inmates.
It is advised that you install sprinklers above your cookers to deal with potential fires, and make sure you have a few extra cookers in case some are disabled.
Burst Water Pipe[]
This random event involves one of your water pipes bursting and thus causing water to flood the surrounding area. The solution to this event is to simply replace the burst pipe.
Be advised that free flowing water will spread across your prison. If it comes into contact with strong electrical appliances, it may cause them to malfunction or, in the case of a power station, explode,. It is recommended to place Drains nearby a power station to prevent them from being flooded, and don't place any pipes near a power station.
Bulk Intake[]
This random event involves a random number of prisoners, between 25 and 40, being transferred to your prison facility due to "troubles at a previous facility". They will arrive within an hour after receiving the phone call from the Mayor. This can be a troublesome event, especially if your facility does not have enough housing units for the new inmates.
Having 40 cells empty in case this happens is the most effective choice, however, it would be more profitable to let them live in a large Holding Cell until you have somewhere to put them.
EXTREME VERSION: If gangs are enabled, there is a small chance that all of the prisoners you receive will belong to the same gang which will undeniably be an extremely difficult factor to deal with, especially in terms of prison security.
Workshop Accident[]
This random event involves a prisoner, working in the workshop, getting severely injured (usually by cutting themselves on a workshop saw). A prisoner, in this situation, will receive the bleeding status effect where, if not given medical attention, will eventually die.
Ensure that a doctor or paramedic is deployed to treat them.
Subsidence[]
This random event involves a small section of your exterior wall or fence collapsing which will obviously enable prisoners to freely escape. The simple solution to this problem is to rebuild the collapsed wall/fence as quickly as possible. It would be wise to deploy patrolling security staff around the area whilst the wall is fixed.
Installing at least two sections of walls with a significant distance apart can keep your inmates inside until the wall is repaired.
Virus[]
This random event involves the sudden outbreak of a virus that initially starts with three prisoners and spreads to others via direct contact. Prisoners who are infected will, visually, appear green, vomit a lot and move slowly. Some inmates will attempt to transport themselves to a nearby infirmary if possible.
It is highly recommended that confirmed cases are temporarily isolated either in lockdown, solitary or a protective custody wing. A more extreme solution would be to bangup every prisoner until you feel that the virus is no longer a threat.
This random event will not occur if:
- There are less than 100 prisoners on-site.
EXTREME VERSION: An extremely severe outbreak will kill prisoners who are left untreated.
Mass Assassination[]
This random event involves the discovery of several inmates being federal witnesses in an upcoming court case. Said federal witnesses have been marked for death and thus, the remaining general population will attempt to murder them within the next few hours.
The federal witnesses will most likely be hidden with "???" so it is therefore imperative that you uncover their identities by using confidential informants and then isolating the individuals in a protective custody wing. If this is not possible, bangup every prisoner until the witnesses leave, and ramp up security using emergency services if necessary.
You must ensure the federal witnesses survive the next few hours before the federal court case. Once the timer depletes to zero, the surviving witnesses will leave the prison to attend the court hearing and will not return, most likely living out their lives in federal witness protection.
Be reminded that too many deaths is grounds for failure, if failure conditions are active.
This event will not happen if:
- there are less than 150 prisoners in a prison.
EXTREME VERSION: You have only 1 hour to identify the federal witnesses.
Mayor Demands[]
In these events, Mayor Calvin Heller is under political pressure to appear righteous in the eye of the general public. As such, he may call to demand certain changes to your facility to please the public.
The demand is only ever temporary, and has no lasting impact on your prison. You may revert the changes after completion of the demand, if you so wish. After 94 hours and 30 minutes (4 days), the Mayor will call back telling you that the temporary demand no longer holds and all changes can be reverted.
The possible demands are:
- TV Removal - all TVs in your prison, even those that aren't accessible by prisoners (i.e. in staff only areas), must be removed from the facility. You will receive a $10,000 fine every 6 game hours if this task has not been completed within the time given.
- Weight Bench Removal - all weight benches in your prison must be removed. You will receive a $10,000 fine every 6 game hours if this task has not been completed within the time given.
- Reduction in Food - the meal quantity & variety settings found under policy must be set to low. You will receive a $5,000 fine every 3 game hours if this task has not been completed within the time given.
- Removal of Visitation - all visitation rooms must be removed. The objects in said room don't have to be removed. You will receive a $20,000 fine every 12 game hours if this task has not been completed within the time given.
Try to have zero or a limited amount of TVs and Weight Benches in your prison to make it easier to remove all of them.
Prisoner Demands[]
In a similar fashion to the Mayor, your very own prisoners may become frustrated with certain tendencies that they will demand changes. There is no legality which obligates you to comply, but your prisoners will threaten violence if you refuse. However, complying immediately will most likely cause prisoners to demand other things sooner than usual.
The possible demands are:
- Less Work - prisoners will demand this if they are made to work 7 hours or more during the day. They will demand it be reduced only to 2 working hours.
- More Sleep - prisoners will demand this if they are only allowed to sleep for 6 hours. They will demand sleep time is raised to 7 hours.
- More Free Time - prisoners will demand this if they are only allowed 2 or less hours of free time. They will demand it be raised to 6 hours. (Please note that Work/Freetime DOESN'T count as free time.)
Contraband Surge[]
This random event involves the discovery of a corrupt, externally hired teacher smuggling in huge quantities of contraband for the inmates.
The simple solution to this event would be to order a prison-wide shakedown or, for the long-term, install metal detectors in high-traffic areas (e.g. Canteens) and hire more guard dogs to increase the detection of contraband.
This event will not happen if:
- there are less than 50 prisoners on-site.
Tree Fire[]
This random event involves a tree spontaneously catching fire which, obviously, can spread to nearby equipment/buildings. This event will only occur if:
- Weather & Temperature is enabled.
- The temperature outdoors is above 23°.
In order to deal with the burning tree, it is advised to call the fire brigade as outdoor sprinklers may be ineffective. If its a constant problem, consider removing all trees on-site altogether to prevent the chances of a fire.
Food Poisoning[]
This random event, similar to the Virus event, involves 20 prisoners getting sick after consuming contaminated food served by the cooks.
This event will not happen if:
- there are less than 100 prisoners on-site.
The simple solution to this event would be to hire paramedics to treat the large quantity of sick prisoners, as well as deploying doctors to them.
Agitating Radio[]
This random event involves a new radio host preaching hateful speech which agitates or 'riles up' all listening prisoners. The solution to this event would be to remove all radios for at least 72 hours, or simply leave the radios installed and deal with the chaos that unfolds afterwards.
Try to have zero or a limited amount of Radios in your prison to make it easier to remove all of them.
CI List Leak[]
This random event involves the unexplainable leak of all confidential informants. Their cover is blown and as a result, their lives are at stake.
This event will only happen if:
- You have 6 or more confidential informants.
Keyser Soze[]
This random event involves a high-profile gang case implicating a minimum security prisoner as a high ranking gang leader who has kept their identity secret but has now been rumbled.
This event may be incredibly problematic as it changes the reputation of an average minimum security prisoner to that of a legendary prisoner, which could lead to them wrecking havoc on your prison if you lack the necessary security features. Dealing with them would require you to unlock all security features (especially tasers), and to transfer them to an appropriate maximum or supermax security facility.
This event won't happen if:
- there are less than 50 prisoners on-site.
Preacher Conversion[]
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This random event involves a "charismatic" prisoner causing other inmates to become interested in religion and spirituality. This event is not considered problematic as such, but there will undoubtedly be a spike in spirituality needs, which, combined with a Corrupting Spiritualist event (seen below), can be detrimental to your facility . However, if you have the capacity to deal with these needs, this can actually be helpful, as the converted prisoners will now attend Spiritual Guidance classes and receive the "Calming" status effect.
This event won't happen if:
- there are less than 100 prisoners on-site.
Corrupting Spiritualist[]
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This random event involves the discovery of a corrupt, externally hired spiritual leader who has been riling up prisoners with hateful speech. There is no direct solution to this problem, though ramping up security using emergency services may help.
This event won't happen if:
- there are less than 50 prisoners on-site.
Weather Events[]
This cluster of events will only occur if Weather & Temperature is enabled. In turn, the following events are associated with the weather & temperature. There is no direct solution to these events.
- Torrential Rain - may occur if the temperature reaches 1°. Will trigger a spike in clothing needs due to prisoners getting wet outdoors.
- Heatwave - may occur in the summer when the temperature is above 20°.