PR Machine: Zombie Limit, Upgrades and Newspapers

PR Machine I uses charged hypno-devices only. Upgrade to Machine II to use newspapers. Starting a PR recipe temporarily raises the supported zombie count; the excessive-zombie penalty can remain if your population still exceeds the effective limit.

FIND YOUR NEXT CHECK

Check capacity before preparing another PR run.

Separate an active capacity increase, a missing machine upgrade and preparation for the next run.

Your own reports, saved in this browser

YOUR NEXT STEP

What do you need to check?

Use the machine’s displayed state; this planner does not simulate the remaining time.

Follow what you observe

Changing an earlier answer clears the later branch. Your observations guide the next check; they do not prove a single cause.

What do you need to check?

Use the machine’s displayed state; this planner does not simulate the remaining time.

What do you need to check?Choose your observationIt will not take newspapersThe penalty remainsPrepare the next run

Read all possible checks

• It will not take newspapers: Check the machine level and the selected recipe. Machine I uses charged devices; newspaper recipes need an eligible upgraded machine.
• The penalty remains: Check whether the PR recipe is active. Next check
• Prepare the next run: Use the recipe and newspaper-quality table below. Prepare the next inputs and check the supply day; do not restart a still-active multi-week run just because a week passed.

Is the PR run currently active?

Materials on hand do not mean the capacity effect has started.

Is the PR run currently active?Choose your observationYesNo / the run endedNot checked

Read all possible checks

• Yes: Compare population with the displayed effective capacity. Next check
• No / the run ended: Check the eligible recipe and its inputs before starting a new run. An ended run removes its capacity addition.
• Not checked: Read the machine’s active state before adding more supplies.

Does zombie population exceed effective capacity?

Use the current total shown in your game, not only the addition listed for one recipe.

Does zombie population exceed effective capacity?Choose your observationYesNoNot checked

Read all possible checks

• Yes: The active addition may be insufficient. Compare eligible higher-capacity recipes and their inputs before expanding.
• No: Check the displayed effect and other sermon conditions; this path does not prove why a penalty appears stale.
• Not checked: Record current population and effective capacity, then compare them.

Progress controls need JavaScript.

Reset these observations

Reset this task?

This clears this guide's checks, quantities, observations and history.

Keep my progressReset task

What the machine changes

The inspected rules compare your current zombie count with the resurrection area's total capacity. A PR recipe adds capacity when it starts and removes that addition when it ends. This is a temporary increase to the population supported without the excessive-zombie penalty.

To look for the limit, check the resurrection area of the morgue. A player report places it in the upper-right display, but does not specify platform or build. The official 1.005 notes specifically report adding a missing zombie-limit hint at the Resurrection Table on PlayStation. We have not verified that newer interface in play.

Unlock the machine through Gunter

1. Follow Gunter's Astrologer quest line until he asks you to test a Hypno-device. The configured prerequisite is the earlier quest to bring the Astrologer's zombie home.
2. Buy an uncharged Hypno-device from him. The quest text directs you to his Tower, then to the Abandoned Tower to charge it.
3. At the Formulation Bench, use the charging recipe: one Hypno-device plus one Faith. Starting the quest unlocks that recipe. Return one charged device to Gunter.
4. Hold the requested sermon. The completion of the ceremony quest spawns PR Machine I and starts the PR tutorial. Gunter's follow-up dialogue places the newspaper/device board near his house at the port.

This route is reconstructed from the quest conditions, expressions and English quest/dialogue text. Its requirements have been rechecked against the installed game files, but the route has not been replayed in a live save. For the ceremony's separate attendance requirements, see sermons and Faith.

Why Machine I does not accept newspapers

Newspapers are not ingredients in the first recipe. Its two-device recipe remains available on higher machine levels, but the newspaper recipes unlock through the machine levels below. Adding a larger pile of paper cannot substitute for upgrading.

Open the machine's crafting selection and look for its upgrade recipe. Each upgrade is configured at the current machine and replaces it with the next level on completion. Check the upgrade before starting a PR run: a player report says the running machine prevented access to that menu, and running upgrades are not verified here.

Five PR recipes and newspaper quality

On a narrow screen, scroll the table sideways to see capacity and duration.

The ordinary newspaper group accepts quality tiers 1, 2 and 3 (bronze, silver and gold). The good-newspaper group accepts only tiers 2 and 3 (silver and gold). These are allowed ingredient groups, not an instruction to bring every quality. The final recipe requires 100 individual gold-quality newspapers; its tier suffix means quality, not three newspapers.

These additions are recipe effects, not the final limit of every save with its perks and other capacity changes. The displayed weeks come from localization. Raw recipe duration and station tick-period fields are different values; they are not converted here into real minutes or independently verified week lengths.

Why the penalty may remain after starting

1. Check that a PR recipe actually started and is still active, rather than just checking materials on hand.
2. Compare the current zombie count with the effective capacity. For example, if the effective limit is 10 and the count is 12, the inspected comparison still applies the penalty. A +10 recipe does not guarantee that every save has a total limit of 10.
3. Check whether the run ended and its capacity addition was withdrawn. Choose an eligible higher-capacity recipe when the current one is insufficient.
4. If the issue is low sermon attendance or church quality, diagnose it in the sermon guide; those are separate checks. If a worker is idle, use zombie troubleshooting.

Supply day and maintaining capacity

The tutorial and availability message identify Gluttony Day as the PR supply day. Keep the inputs for your next chosen recipe ready, then check the machine and active capacity at renewal. Higher recipes display multiple weeks; do not infer that you must restart an active multi-week run every week.

Capacity is withdrawn by the recipe's end expression. The configuration also contains a weekly end-of-Wrath-Day check for the PR duration counter. With timing not verified during play, use the displayed machine state and calendar rather than a real-time countdown from raw tick values.

Stacking, ending a run early and upgrading during an active run have not been verified. Plan upgrades before the next run and retain the next batch of charged devices and the required newspaper quality.