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Guide:NPC Happiness EDIT

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The NPC happiness mechanic poses a complex puzzle to avoid paying excessively and Stand a Chance to Win
high prices. Many NPCs who like each others' company prefer different biomes, and
some NPCs like another but are disliked or hated in return. Additionally, purchasing
pylons in order to set up a network is impossible without putting thought into NPC
happiness.

There are several different ways to address the situation, this guide is intended to
Johannesburg
discuss them. The last section gives a single general solution for all NPCs, but before
that it is worth discussing more flexible strategies.

Basic constraints STORE

DIRECTIONS
INFO
The exact rules are listed on NPCs § Factors affecting happiness, but the issues can
be summarized (all of these factors combine):

NPCs get a 12% or 6% bonus for being in a loved or liked biome, or a penalty
for being in a hated or disliked one.
They get a similar bonus or penalty for being housed near another NPC they
love, like, dislike, or hate. Popular Pages
"Near" in this context means that their housing flags are within 25 tiles (50
feet) of each other. Wings

They get an "overcrowding" penalty for having more than two "nearby" NPC, no
matter the relationship. The penalty is 5% for each additional "nearby" NPC, i.e.,
Zenith
for the third, the fourth, etc. "nearby" NPC.
Conversely, they get a 5% "solitude" bonus for not having more than two NPCs
nearby, and having no more than three other NPCs (that is, the two Summon weapons
"roommates" do not count) within 120 tiles.

Note that this much larger range may sometimes represent over a full
Mimics
screen's width.

The above factors affect a variety of transactions with NPCs:

Vendor prices for selling their items will be lower if they are happy, higher if they Empress of Light
are unhappy.
Conversely, vendor prices for buying the player's items will be higher if they are
happy, lower if they are unhappy.
This does affect the Nurse's fees for healing and the Goblin Tinkerer's reforging
costs.
This also affects the Angler's quest rewards – if happy or unhappy, he will give
rewards as if the player had completed more or fewer quests, respectively.
This even affects the Tax Collector's revenue stream – if happy, he will not only
collect more money in a given time, but gather a higher maximum amount, and
the reverse if he is unhappy.

And two other factors come into play, but for these happiness is irrelevant – all that
matters is the NPC's presence:

NPCs also suppress enemy spawning nearby. In Normal mode, 3 NPCs "on
screen" are needed to completely suppress the spawning of enemies, which is
usually desirable for a town.
To remain functional, a pylon needs to have two NPCs housed within 169×124-
tile rectangle centered on the pylon.

Depending on game progress, there are also up to three town pets available. These
count as NPCs for pylons and enemy suppression, but not for crowding/solitude
calculations; while it is sometimes claimed that they can affect the happiness of
nearby NPCs, this is not the case either positively or negatively, rendering them
useful primarily for keeping a town eligible for pylons and enemy suppression when
other NPCs are not available (for instance, keeping a dog and cat in the same duplex
as the Nurse and Arms Dealer would prevent you from accidentally disabling their
pylon if you often relocate the two of them for boss fights), or for extending a town's
enemy suppression zone further without crowding its inhabitants.

Casual strategy
Some more general points to consider:

Empty houses are not considered – even if a given space could house an NPC,
if it does not, then it has no effect on NPC happiness.
Not all NPCs are created equal:

The Goblin Tinkerer is widely considered the largest money sink in the
entire game, so any discounts you can get from him will add up.
Similarly, the Tax Collector is an ongoing revenue stream, so you'll want to
keep him happy.
The Nurse's prices do not necessarily matter much, in the sense that you're
usually in no position to bargain when you need her services. However, if
you are likely to use her often, you should probably try to keep her happy.
While a Potion of Return can let you drop by wherever she is, this will not
be desirable during some boss fights, so if you are bringing her to the fight,
you might want to bring a roommate along to keep her happy.
If you rarely purchase from a given NPC or their wares are cheap (like the
Painter's), you will not have to care much about their happiness – and with
a little advance warning, you can move them into a better environment
when you do need to make a big purchase.
You want at least one vendor to be as happy as possible when buying your
items, and probably at least one for each of your major bases.
The Guide's happiness has no effect at all and can be disregarded entirely.

Examining the rules, it seems that a reasonable strategy is as follows:

Pick locations for your pylons (and perhaps some non-pylon bases), and loosely
cluster two or three "duplex" NPC homes at each of them, each duplex
separated by over 25 tiles.
The "duplex" part means that each of these homes would also include a "guest
room", a second housing-suitable space. This does not need to be filled up front,
but it lets you bring in a liked or loved roommate on short notice, and also serves
as ready housing for new arrivals until you pick a new spot for them.
This allows you to give all the NPCs some space, while making sure the pylon
stays live.
The third NPC, or a town pet, comes in handy in case you need to pull an NPC
elsewhere on short notice.

This general arrangement can evolve as new NPCs arrive, with the guest rooms
doubling as ready housing for newcomers. You can also pair off your more valuable
NPCs as desired without disturbing their neighbors, while leaving the less popular
ones on pylon duty or exile.

Calculated strategy
An "optimal solution" for pairing off all the NPCs is listed below, maximizing average
happiness across all NPCs. This includes all NPCs including Hardmode (except for
the Princess), and represents a single setup meant to be left unchanged. By nature,
such an optimization cannot take full account of issues such as easy access or pylon
placement, and this one is fairly simple – focused on average happiness, no priority
for the "important" NPCs mentioned above, and it assumes all NPCs are paired or
alone.

It is assumed that for each NPC A, there are at maximum two other NPCs within 25
tiles and there are at maximum three other NPCs between 25 and 120 tiles away.
The final values include the 5% bonus granted for this "solitary" setup.

Price
modifier
NPC A NPC B Biome
for NPC
A

Zoologist Golfer Forest 84%

Golfer Zoologist Forest 84%

Merchant n/a Forest 89%

Nurse Arms Dealer Desert 84%

Arms Dealer Nurse Desert 79%

Underground /
Tavernkeep Demolitionist Cavern / 84%
The Underworld

Underground /
Demolitionist Tavernkeep Cavern / 79%
The Underworld

Underground /
Tax Collector Clothier Cavern / 95%
The Underworld

Underground /
Clothier Tax Collector Cavern / 84%
The Underworld

Party Girl Wizard The Hallow 79%

Wizard Party Girl The Hallow 89%

Mechanic Goblin Tinkerer Snow biome 79%

Goblin Tinkerer Mechanic Snow biome 84%

Steampunker Cyborg Snow biome 84%

Cyborg Steampunker Snow biome 84%

Santa Claus n/a Snow biome 84%

Dryad Witch Doctor Jungle 84%

Witch Doctor Dryad Jungle 84%

Painter n/a Jungle 89%

Angler Pirate Ocean 89%

Pirate Angler Ocean 79%

Dye Trader Stylist Ocean 95%

Stylist Dye Trader Ocean 79%

Guide Truffle Glowing Mushroom biome 95%

Truffle Guide Glowing Mushroom biome 79%

Simple NPC Setup

Biome 1st set of neighbors1 2nd set of neighbors1

Forest Golfer Zoologist Merchant n/a

Goblin
Snow Biome Steampunker Cyborg Mechanic
Tinkerer

Desert Arms Dealer Nurse n/a n/a

Underground / Cavern /
Tax Collector Clothier Demolitionist Tavernkeep
The Underworld

Ocean Angler Pirate Stylist Dye Trader

Witch
Jungle Dryad Painter n/a
Doctor

Party
The Hallow Wizard n/a n/a
Girl

Glowing Mushroom biome Truffle Guide n/a n/a

Town pets can be placed anywhere. Placing them at the locations with only 2 NPCs
can help keep pylons powered in the event that one of the NPCs is somewhere else
or missing.

The Princess should be placed in the Forest2, Desert, Jungle2, The Hallow, or
Glowing Mushroom biome to avoid over crowding in the other locations.

1. There must be a 25 tile gap separating the 2 Neighbor groups.

2. The Princess would have to be placed near the Merchant or Painter respectively.

The above setup can be improved by putting nearby NPC's in different biomes.

1. Put the Nurse in a nearby hallow to the Arms Dealer. If there is none, make one
using seeds or a clentaminator. Just make sure it can't spread to the desert and
override it.

2. Put the Mechanic in an ice cavern biome, then put the Goblin Tinkerer in a regular
cave nearby.

3. Do the same with the Tax Collector and the Clothier, with the Tax Collector in the
ice caverns and the Clothier in the regular caverns.

4. Create a nearby snow biome to a desert or vice versa and put the Steampunker in
the Desert and the Cyborg in the Snow.

5. Put the Truffle in the Glowing Mushroom Biome with a nearby Forest for the Guide.

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Guides
V • D • E

​ Getting started • ​ Practical tips •

Basics ​Walkthrough (​ Game progression • ​ Progression graph) •
​ Mining techniques • ​ Invasion events

​ Class setups (​ Weapon playthroughs •

Setups Armor progression) •
​ Inventory management

​ Money • ​ Enemies • ​ Biome Keys or Key Molds •

Farming
​ Resources

​ Crafting 101 (Quick reference) • ​ Night's Edge •

Crafting ​ Frostspark Boots • ​ Terraspark Boots • ​ Cell Phone •
​ Ankh Shield • ​ Terra Blade • ​ Zenith

​ Arena • ​ Artificial biomes • ​ Bases • ​ Travel •

Building
​ Wiring

Surviving in ​ Corruption • ​ Crimson • ​ Desert • ​ Dungeon •

Environments ​ Jungle • ​ Ocean • ​ Underworld

Pre- ​ King Slime • ​ Eye of Cthulhu • ​ Eater of Worlds •

Hardmode
​ Brain of Cthulhu • ​ Queen Bee • ​ Lepus • ​ Skeletron •
Boss
​ Turkor the Ungrateful • ​ Wall of Flesh
Strategies

​ Getting started (Walkthrough) • ​ Maintaining purity •

Hardmode
​ Hallow • ​ Jungle Temple

​ Queen Slime • ​ The Twins • ​ The Destroyer •

Hardmode ​ Skeletron Prime • ​ Plantera • ​ Empress of Light •
Boss
​ Golem • ​ Ocram • ​ Duke Fishron • ​ Lunatic Cultist •
Strategies
​ Moon Lord

​ Blood Moon • ​ Goblin Army • ​ Old One's Army •

Events ​ The Torch God • ​ Pirate Invasion • ​ Pumpkin Moon •

​ Frost Moon • ​ Martian Madness • ​ Lunar Events

​ Setting up a Terraria server •

Multiplayer ​ Setting up Steam Multiplayer • ​ Capture the Gem •
​ PvP

​ "Beating" the Tutorial • ​ Completing the Bestiary •

​ Dungeon Guardian • ​ Expert Mode • ​ Hardcore •
Advanced ​ Hardcore Master Mode • ​ NPC Happiness •
​ Obtaining a Terraprisma • ​ Skipping ahead •
​ Teleporter network

Other ​ Ideas • ​ Vanity

Categories: Revised Guides Guides ADD CATEGORY

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