How do service buildings work and how do colonists use them?

I want to understand how colonists decide when to use a service building. For example: I know that colonist use a food service one time per day in order to feed themselves and not die of starvation.

I want to know both how much time (or how many times per day) colonists use services buildings according to their interests (and how they decide it). Also I want to know how much time it takes for a colonist to use a building (e.g: how much time do they take to dine, shop, game, etc).

My idea is to calculate the proportion of buildings to colonists (based on available slots in that building) per work shift.


There doesn't seem to be any truly scientific answer to this, yet. But from my experience it seems to go something like this:

  1. Every colonist needs food at some point during the Sol.
  2. Every colonist that needs medical care for whatever reason will seek medical care during a shift when they are not working.
  3. Every colonist idling (not working, eating, or seeking medical care) will randomly select from their list of interests and try to satisfy it.

I haven't observed anyone using more than one service per shift yet. I don't know if retirees use both of their idle shifts to seek out services, but I suspect they do.