Oxygen Not Included - space colony sim from Klei

[Average Manatee]

Same. Though in my case I never even shot my first rocket because fuelling up the fucking steam engine was just way too much of a hassle than I could bother with.

What annoyed me the most was just how long everything took once your base got big. The pathing AI does not prioritize so that it does nearby tasks at the same time well, so every big project feels like I should walk away from the PC for 15 minutes and come back to whatever I built being finished. Then you find out 1 small thing is wrong and it takes 2 minutes to fix, then there's another thing and another thing. It's like playing factorio but with only 10 construction bots watching them slowly pave the ground. Sure you could go to 20 but then you have to literally double everything else about your base and that'd take several hours (and with a 2x size base half that efficiency gain gets eaten up by more travel time).

 

[Perkel]

Same. Though in my case I never even shot my first rocket because fuelling up the fucking steam engine was just way too much of a hassle than I could bother with.

What annoyed me the most was just how long everything took once your base got big. The pathing AI does not prioritize so that it does nearby tasks at the same time well, so every big project feels like I should walk away from the PC for 15 minutes and come back to whatever I built being finished. Then you find out 1 small thing is wrong and it takes 2 minutes to fix, then there's another thing and another thing. It's like playing factorio but with only 10 construction bots watching them slowly pave the ground. Sure you could go to 20 but then you have to literally double everything else about your base and that'd take several hours (and with a 2x size base half that efficiency gain gets eaten up by more travel time).

I noticed that problem too. By default everything has 5 priority which means everything is as important as everything else. So taking out polluted water from some shit plant is as important as building wall that you need in order to stay alive. Then only job priorities take over. In theory it should work ok but it doesn't unless you completely switch off someone jobs.

Priority system also is neat trick to get your storages sorted out. For example you might have main grenary which needs to always be filled full and then excess food you can send to different places. So you set your main greenary to 9 while rest with lower numbers.

The other issue with pathing is that people like to do something for a second and suddenly go somewhere else to other end of base. Obviously again priority system is at fault here but also stuff like materials and such.

What i do now is that before i make some bigger construction i make first storage and send materials first then i plan and set priority to 6 (1 above 5 default) and voila everyone works correctly.

Also it definitely helps if you have exclusive 1 man for delivery and storage. This is the easiest to setup and 1 man is usually enough to store/supply everything correctly while rest are focusing on their tasks. Athletics focused person would also run fast as hell which mans it will store everything fast.

The other timewaster seems to be doors. Even best ones have some downtime before pop can move through it, get 5-7 doors between point a and b times pops number and it quickly adds up. So set up pop detectors hooked up to doors so everytime pop is near door, doors automatically open up before pop goes through it meaning 0 downtime.

 

[Average Manatee]

I just have 95% of doors open all the time. Only exceptions are doors keeping critters in their pen or airlocks to the outside of the base that need to be there to keep temperature/atmosphere stable. When it comes to delivery and storage the problem is that even if dupes can carry a million kg of stuff they never seem to actually do so. They carry enough for a few tiles of stuff and then run back for more. It'd be way better if every room pooled its resource requirements and sent a single request.

Having watched a bit of youtube gameplay the solution seems to be "play 300 hours first, then its quick when everyone has 20 athletics score". To the point where some people just force new dupes to run on a manual generater for 30 hours before they start using them. Of course you also want to automate as many basic tasks as possible, which requires a lot of tech which also means a lot of waiting around once you've gotten your base stabilized to slowly improve its efficiency.

That said my experience was pre-DLC where maps were way, way larger and therefore run time to projects in the corner of the map was like 3x as bad. It was also on higher difficulty/harder biomes where a significantly greater % of your dupe time is eaten up by basic survival tasks. On the new DLC on normal settings it might play a lot better.

 

[Raghar]

That said my experience was pre-DLC where maps were way, way larger and therefore run time to projects in the corner of the map was like 3x as bad. It was also on higher difficulty/harder biomes where a significantly greater % of your dupe time is eaten up by basic survival tasks. On the new DLC on normal settings it might play a lot better.

They just need plastic pipes, then they can DRAIN electricity by using fast transit.

 

[Perkel]

I also noticed that design of base matters a lot. I learned already this in dwarf fortress which has similar issues. Basically you want your pops to live where they work and all of their resources needs easily available best in same room. Let them do their work first and then in their "free time" do something else if they can.

 

[Space Satan]

fucking FINALLY

Features

• All versions
  • Added search function to the Build Menu.
  • Added list view option to the Build Menu.
  • Added a new Disconnect tool.
  • Added Supply Closet music and new UI sfx.
  • Added new cosmetic skins.

Changes and Improvements

• All versions
  • Drywall can now be rotated.
  • Dream Journals can now be stored in any storage that allows inedible solids.
  • Mouse wheel no longer zooms in/out when not over the game window.
  • The link to the Klei Rewards website will now produce a warning if logged into a different account than is being used in the game.
  • Restyling a spawned-in Duplicant's outfit now initially opens up the "Duplicants" screen instead of the "Outfits" screen.
  • Updated data communications message inside the game.
  • Tool tooltips now display the tool's name.
  • Renamed Plan 1-15 and Overlay 1-15 as build menu category names and overlay category names respectively.
  • Modding:
    • Added additional body parts to the Personalities.csv.
    • Remove Klei Item clothing symbols from the Accessorizer. Klei Item clothing and suits now override animation symbols using the WearableAccessorizer. The default body slots are still on MinionIdentity; they have not been updated from the initial change in the Hot Shots update.
    • Increased tag bits to 320 as we've seen some reports of running out.
    • Fixed a freeze on start up caused by adding a modded story trait.
    • Fixed an issue which prevented modded story traits from spawning in worldgen.
    • Fixed a crash that could happen when loading a save with a modded story trait of a disabled mod.

Fixes

• All versions
  • Equipping a suit at a dock no longer plays the yellow alert sound when the suit was previously marked as yellow alert.
  • Fixed a bug where sometimes critters would get stuck in their "Waiting to be Groomed" state.
  • Fixed a crash that could happen if a critter is being groomed and the room size changes.
  • Fixed OSX restarter.
  • Fixed an issue where the restarter would crash in some updates.
  • Geotuner
    • Fixed Geotuner listing uncapped geysers which have not been revealed yet.
    • Fixed a minor visual bug where switching geysers when not operational could cause geyser’s “going up” animation to snap back instead of rising smoothly.
  • Rooms
    • Fixed missing Private Bedroom string when hovering over Morale.
    • Renamed Morale tooltip from “Bedroom” to “Luxury Barracks” to match the correct room name.
  • Mysterious Hermit
    • Fixed retrieve mail animation not playing correctly.
    • Improved robustness of knocking sequence from errors.
    • Updated Mysterious Hermit’s bio.
    • Mysterious Hermit completion popup no longer displays dead Duplicants.
    • Fixed a bug where on load, items stored in the Gravitas Shipping Container would not be listed in the resources list.
    • Duplicant knocking on the door no longer prioritizes knocking over dying.
  • Somnium Synthesizer
    • Fixed Pajamas looking incorrect when climbing ladders and sliding down fire poles.
    • Fixed the Pajamas disappearing as the Duplicant folds them.
    • Potential crash fix getting Pajamas from Pajama Cubby.
  • Critter Flux-o-Matic
    • Fixed a crash that could happen if a critter dies near the Critter Flux-o-Matic.
    • Critter Flux-o-Matic no longer crashes when scanning a Beetiny.
  • Tools
    • Empty Pipe tool now works with Conveyor Rails.
    • Empty Pipe tool now has an "All" filter.
    • Empty Pipe tool no longer queues up empty actions on empty pipes or conveyor rails.
    • Fixed an issue where using the cancel tool on a critter marked for capture would throw an error.
  • Fixed issue causing Printing Pod to stay selected after viewing the Choose a Duplicant screen.
  • Fixed a bug where Duplicants stored un-spiced food in Refrigerators marked as "Spiced Food Only" when loading a save with a Refrigerator previously marked as "Spiced Food Only."
  • Fixed missing space in the Repair Atmosuit option of Exosuit Forge.
  • Fixed a bug where a save seed shown in the escape menu in-game wouldn't include the story traits selected when the world was created.
  • Fixed a bug where some meters in some rocket modules would be left behind in place when a rocket is in mid-air, launching to space.
  • Fixed a bug where Oxidizer Tanks were having two meters (overlapping, therefore not visible except when one was left behind on Rocket launching) to display info about their storage.
  • Fixed a bug where increasing the capacity of the Oxidizer Tank would not update the meter visually and would not create a refill chore until reloading the save.
  • Fixed a bug where Oxidizer Tanks that consumed a portion of their content in space missions would not initialize a refill chore request when the rocket returns.
  • Fixed tooltip positioning errors caused by variable UI scales and/or screen resolutions. Adjusted some tooltip anchor positions.
  • Under-construction backwall tiles no longer count for the Private Bedroom's room requirement.
  • Fixed crash that could occur when opening Colony Summary screen after unlocking a new achievement.
  • Fixed visual masking issue for Colony Summary achievements.
  • Fixed a bug where some medical buildings displayed the wrong string when requesting a medicine supply.
  • Removed deprecated buildings from database.
  • When a Duplicant no longer has the "Balloon Buddy" status item, the balloon they were holding should now disappear.
  • Reduced memory requirements for a few large textures.
  • Fixed issue where sensor side screen buttons would continue to modify values next time the screen was opened on the Steam Deck.
  • Fixed warning message on unbound controls appearing when using default controls.
  • Deleted the circle shape that was appearing on blank canvases.
  • Fixed Conveyor Meter animation playing too fast.
  • "Balloon Buddy" and "Serenaded" status items should now accurately report how much time is remaining for them.
  • Fixed some strings containing invalid characters.
  • Fixed tool cursor icons staying visible while using a tool with a controller.
• Base game only
  • Fixed an issue where sometimes the game would incorrectly try to load the Spaced Out! DLC when it is not installed.
  • Fixed main menu "Activate DLC" button's overly large hitbox.
  • Fixed Mission Control Station’s "No Eligible Rockets in Range" tooltip displaying the wrong string.
  • Unassigning a Duplicant to the Command Module now correctly cancels the errand of a Duplicant on their way to the module.
• Spaced Out! only
  • Worldgen: Squelchy Asteroid now starts with random geysers like the other Classic-style asteroids.
  • Fixed a bug where replacing one rocket module with another wouldn't return the materials of the replaced one.
  • Fixed a bug where other asteroids could be seen on the top edge of certain asteroids, under the red-lined world limit.
  • Fixed a bug where falling water occurring at the bottom rows of an asteroid could sometimes be visible in the top red zone of another asteroid.
  • Fixed missing Rocket Restrictions screen title, which is visible only when a rocket is launching.
  • Fixed Starmap Location Sensor automation port's strings using the Cycle Sensor's strings by mistake.
  • Fixed a bug where meteor shower background effects would also appear in other asteroids located below the one with the active event in the grid.
  • Fixed performance when a Solar Panel Module is selected.
  • Fixed a visual bug where some dig actions icons could be seen in the red zone of other asteroids.
  • Fixed a visual bug where the red-lined world limit on some asteroids was misplaced, making it look as though objects could be built beyond the world’s limits.
  • Fixed Radiation build menu missing a shortcut.

Changes since the last Public Testing update

• Changes
  • Added universally available "Fresh White" drywall skin.
  • Added Buildings filter layer to the Disconnect tool.
  • Updated Chinese localization.
• Fixes
  • Fixed alignment issues of mods which add tools.
  • Fixed Mysterious Hermit's leg and arm skin color being set incorrectly on saves played during the initial public testing release.
  • Fixed a potential crash on the Exosuit Forge sidescreen.
  • Fixed tool cursor icons staying visible while using a tool with a controller.

 

[Hellraiser]

So you mean the disconnect tool? It's nice, but the last few updates are kind of meh to the point I stopped following it.

My hype levels for updates are in the negatives ever since they abandoned plans to do a second expansion. I'd like to see either combat or dynamic chemistry (fires and other reactions, substances dissolving in other substances like salt in saltwater), although the latter would probably kill performance even more. Maybe they could still do combat as part of their current update model, but stuff like fire is probably off the table.

 

[Hellraiser]

Well, it seems their chinese overlords made them flip-flop on the free updates rather than DLC thing:

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/457140/view/4139441932569176778

When we were originally considering making more DLCs back in early 2022, we had just come off a three-year-long haul on Spaced Out!, and our ideas for future DLCs were all on a similar scale. Trying to make them work for both the base game and Spaced Out! was daunting.

But over the past year, DLC ideas just kept coming—many of them focused on content that would be a more natural fit with the base game, Spaced Out! DLC, and each other.

So after a year of smaller free updates, we're switching back to paid DLCs that'll allow us to take our derpy little colonists into wild new uncharted corners of time and space.

Our plans for these modular DLCs center around new asteroids packed with new biomes, critters, plants, buildings, elements, lore and blueprints (aka cosmetic skins).

At some point, we may make systems changes. If that happens, those changes will likely be added (for free) to any existing versions of the game that you may own.

Except they're not going to be expansion packs with new systems like Spaced Out was, but rather paradox style DLC milking. Also who the fuck cares about the lore in this thing, I mean seriously? The lore is not a excuse plot?

I would have preferred to have new systems like fire (I mean some materials tagged as flammable in the game, so this was considered at some point), spontaneous chemical reactions from mixing elements. Or a more autistic radiation system where you can have natural nuclear reactors. I know the performance wasn't exactly stellar in spaced out*, but I need more systems to abuse in my weird science sandbox.

Doubt the game will see such things now, unless Klei really cares and is trying to work around what the chinese overlords want "a milk with DLC, but add major systems for free" approach. Or actual combat/base defence (building traps to drown invading evil dupes or something would have been fun, dumping evil dupes into lava pits or nuclear reactors).

*it got way better when I got a new PC with a high-end CPU, even when I modded-in an almost base game sized starting asteroid to one of the moonlet DLC clusters. Still I can only imagine the performance impact if the game would need to check every tile for things like neighboring substances and temperatures to trigger some specific chemical reaction (although TBH it already does do the latter with phase changes). Maybe if the game didn't run on unity...

 

[Hellraiser]

Well the first of the new "modular" (read: milking) DLCs was revealed today:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2952300/Oxygen_Not_Included_The_Frosty_Planet_Pack/

The Duplicants find themselves out in the cold, trying to keep the colony - and themselves - alive in a world of ice and snow!

In The Frosty Planet Pack, you'll excavate the frigid landscape of a brand-new starting planet to explore new biomes, master thermoregulation and harness new technology to build a megacolony that can truly conquer the elements.

Investigate brand-new biomes bound by relentless cold, gathering useful new building materials. The only thing cooler than a snow fort is a snow fort in outer space! Unless the room gets warm enough to melt the floor, that is.

Get up close and personal with curious critters who have useful things to teach colonies about adapting to this glacial environment.

Discover new elements and unlock new buildings that help manage frozen resources, keep Duplicants warm enough to do their favorite activities (i.e. work) and produce delicious, nutritious meals.

Harvest peculiar cold-resistant plants not found anywhere else in the universe, and devise ways to use them as sustainable sources of food, oxygen, and fuel for your industrial ambitions.

Customize your colony with a selection of new cosmetic skins that make everything from clothing to furniture feel cozier and more rustic.

Plunge into the deepest depths of the frosty planet's core to find an abandoned engineering project left behind by mysterious predecessors. Restore it to its former glory, and it could be really... power-full.

New technology to master, biomes to explore and critters to meet - break the ice in The Frosty Planet Pack!

As expected it is just more critters/plants/materials/buildings with an icy theme and some new starting planet (which, unless they coded truly new unique biomes you could probably mod in yourself, although those xml files are a bit shit to work with resulting in trial and error). Not the worst idea*, but as I already mentioned it's not exactly new simulation systems adding FUN or autism potential.

There's also some secret gadget somewhere deep on it that probably works like all the other stuff they implemented in the free updates (that dream machine, the fossils etc.) and that similarly I would just ignore.

*Although ever since reading the descriptions of Ganymede in Caliban's War, I really am fond of the concept of building colonies under the surface of frozen worlds where only a layer of insulation protects the inhabitans from the deadly cold.

 

[Average Manatee]

From my experience in this game it's heat which is a problem, cold biomes are a boon. Your dupes will warm the place up just existing