Building Adjacency Bonus Layouts: Optimal Hex Grids & Buffs
Complete Beyond These Stars building adjacency bonus guide: exact hex placement rules for +30% Water Pump & Woodcutter storage, +20% Hut happiness, and more.
How Do Building Adjacency Bonuses Work in Beyond These Stars?
Every structure in Beyond These Stars sits on a 6-sided hexagonal tile on Kewa’s back. Unlike grid-based city builders where placement only affects road distance, Beyond These Stars rewards precise hexagonal geometry with permanent Adjacency Bonuses that increase storage capacity, boost harvest yields, elevate Peep happiness, or slash industrial pollution—all without requiring extra workers or electricity.
Mastering these placement rules during your First 100 Minutes Walkthrough is the easiest way to prevent storage bottlenecks and keep your settlement thriving.
Complete Adjacency Bonus Reference Table
The table below lists the core adjacency and proximity bonuses verified in Beyond These Stars v1.0, including exact hex requirements and numerical effects:
| Building | Bonus Effect | Exact Hex Placement Requirement | Free Edges Left for Roads |
|---|---|---|---|
| Water Pump | +30% Storage Capacity | Placed on a coastal outcropping touching ≥3 Water hexes | 3 land edges |
| Woodcutter | +30% Storage Capacity | Surrounded by 5 living Forest hexes | 1 edge (for road) |
| Hut | +20% Peep Happiness | Directly adjacent to 2 Potato Patches | 4 edges |
| Burner Generator | -25% Pollution Output | At least 4 adjacent hexes left completely empty of buildings | 2 edges (1 road + 1 Smelter) |
| Fruit Plantation | +20% Harvest Yield | Placed within 4 hex tiles of a Watered Forest | All 6 edges |
| Decoration | Aura Happiness Buff | Directly adjacent to 1–3 Accommodation Buildings | Triangle vertex layout |
| Memorial Statue | Major Happiness Aura | Surrounded by up to 6 Accommodation Buildings | Ring road around outer edge |
| Powered Buildings | Wire-Free Power Conduction | Touching a Generator or another powered building | Variable cluster |
Detailed Hex Blueprints for Every Bonus
1. Water Pump: The 3-Water Peninsula Blueprint (+30% Storage)
When scanning Kewa’s central pond or glacier river, never place your Water Pump along a flat, straight shoreline (which only touches 1 or 2 water hexes). Look for a peninsula hex jutting into the water so that 3 of its 6 edges border water tiles.
- Why +30% Storage Matters: Water is consumed both by Peeps directly and by mid-game Drink Makers and Cleaners. Extra internal buffer prevents Peeps from going thirsty between carrier trips.
2. Woodcutter: The 5-Forest Pocket Blueprint (+30% Storage)
Because Woodcutters in Beyond These Stars harvest timber sustainably without chopping down trees, you want your Woodcutter nestled deep inside a forest indentation where 5 of its 6 hex sides touch Forest tiles, leaving the 6th side open for a dirt road.
3. Hut + Potato Patch Cluster (+20% Happiness)
In the early game, Huts house 5 Peeps and have low base comfort. By placing 2 Potato Patches in the center of a residential block and arranging 4 Huts around them so each Hut touches both Potato Patches, you grant +20% Happiness to 20 Peeps simultaneously using only 2 farms!
4. Burner Generator: The 4-Empty-Hex + Conduction Hybrid (-25% Pollution)
The Burner Generator emits Medium Pollution, which can slowly degrade nearby soil and hurt Kewa if unchecked. However, if you leave 4 of its 6 adjacent hexes completely empty of structures, its pollution drops by 25%.
Can you combine the -25% pollution bonus with the Touching Power Conduction Rule? Yes!
- Edges 1–4: Leave completely empty (grass/dirt/road).
- Edge 5: Connect your Ore Smelter directly to this hex edge.
- Outer Chain: Place your Toolsmith touching the Ore Smelter (not touching the Burner Generator!).
- Result: The Burner Generator still sees 5 empty adjacent hexes (exceeding the 4-empty-hex requirement for -25% pollution), while both the Ore Smelter and Toolsmith receive 100% wire-free electricity! Check our Power Grid & Conduction Guide for full diagrams.
Mid-Game Residential Geometry: Triangles & 6-Hex Rings
As your colony grows past 50 Peeps and upgrades from Huts to Houses (8 Peeps) and Apartments (15 Peeps), food alone will not keep Happiness maxed out. You must weave Decorations, Parks, and Memorial Statues into your housing blocks while staying within the 16-tile workplace commute radius.
Blueprint A: The 3-House Decoration Triangle
- Place a Decoration on a central hex.
- Place Houses on hexes North, Southeast, and Southwest of the Decoration (forming a 3-point triangle).
- Run dirt or stone roads along the Northeast, South, and Northwest hexes.
- Outcome: Every House has road access, open air for additional farm/park adjacency, and full Decoration happiness coverage.
Blueprint B: The 6-Apartment Memorial Statue Ring
- Place a Memorial Statue on the central hex of a flat, watered grass zone.
- Surround all 6 adjacent hexes with Houses or Apartments.
- Wrap a 12-hex perimeter road around the outside of the 6 residential buildings.
- Place a Doctor’s Office, Kitchen, and Market/Storage along the outer perimeter road.
- Outcome: Up to 90 Peeps (6 Apartments × 15 Peeps) receive the Memorial Statue’s happiness buff and live within 3 tiles of medical care and cooked meals!
For more ways to prevent strikes and exhaustion, read our Peeps Happiness, Sickness & Strikes Guide and browse the Complete Buildings List.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the 5 early building adjacency bonuses in Beyond These Stars?
Does a road tile block the Woodcutter 5-Forest adjacency bonus?
How do Decoration and Memorial Statue adjacency bonuses work?
Do empty tiles around a Burner Generator include roads?
Can powered buildings share adjacency for electricity and still keep pollution bonuses?
Gameplay Footage & Walkthroughs
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