Zones and stockpiles¶
A stockpile zone is a patch of ground you mark for storage. Colonists haul loose items into it. A stockpile is just a designated area, not a building, so you can place one anywhere, including inside a temperature-controlled room (a freezer, for instance, is a stockpile in a cooled room).
Creating a stockpile¶
Open the Architect menu with Tab and type "stock" to jump to the stockpile zone. Press Enter to start placing it.
A stockpile uses the filled rectangle shape, since you want the whole area covered. Set the first corner with Space, move to the opposite corner, Space again, then Enter to create it. The mod announces the size, for example "12 by 12 stockpile zone created." To make a non-rectangular stockpile, press = to add another rectangle to the same zone before confirming.
Inspecting and configuring a stockpile¶
To see a stockpile's settings, move your cursor onto it and press Enter. This opens the stockpile's inspect view, the same inspect screen used for any selected object. Inside the inspect view you will find "Storage settings" as one of the options. Press Enter on it to open the storage settings.
Storage settings contain three main controls.
Priority¶
Stockpiles have a priority level. When an item could go into more than one stockpile, colonists fill the higher-priority one first. This steers items toward the storage you intend for them.
Be careful with food and freezers. It is tempting to set a freezer higher than a general dump so food always ends up cold, but once the freezer fills, the overflow spills into the warm pile and spoils. Size your freezer for the food you keep rather than relying on priority to protect it.
Allowed items¶
A list of every item type, grouped by category, with each item toggled allowed or forbidden. It is a tree view, so Right arrow expands a category, arrow through its contents, and toggle individual items. There are shortcuts to clear everything (allow nothing) or allow everything, which you can use as a starting point before fine-tuning. A common setup: clear all, then allow only the one category you want this stockpile dedicated to.
Durability and quality filters¶
A durability (hit points) filter lets the stockpile refuse items below a percentage of their max condition. Quality filters work similarly when they appear.
Checking what is stored¶
Storage settings control what a stockpile is allowed to hold, not what is in it. To see what your colony actually has in storage, press I to open the inventory screen, which lists every stored item across the whole colony regardless of which stockpile holds it. To find where a particular thing is sitting, use the scanner.
Learn more¶
See Stockpiles on the RimWorld wiki for strategy on how to organize stockpiles effectively.