A space-driven city-building game, Oxygen Not Included asks the player to manage a group of people trying to survive in an unknown underground location. This group of people will have to perform a variety of tasks, from digging to producing oxygen, just to stay alive until another day and hopefully appear on the surface of the planet.
The base game has several research trees, connection features, and a variety of buildings. With many advanced content such as filtering polluted water, overheating, filtering carbon dioxide, etc., new players can easily get overwhelmed. In this article, learn tips for surviving the harsh environment of Oxygen Not Included.
First things to do in Oxygen Not Included
All players begin by being teleported deep inside a large asteroid. People will notice surface options, material data, and things that can be interacted with. However, do not pay attention to any of them. Instead, locate the nearest body of water and start digging toward it.
When accessing a water source, set up a water pump to benefit from it. Water is considered one of the most important resources of the game and gamers need to start collecting as quickly as possible.
While water usage will increase as you progress in the game, beginner players primarily use water to grow plants and complete advanced research.
Immediately after accessing the water source, start building the toilet area. Characters need a place to cool off, and if players don’t create a place to do so within the first few days, chances are they’ll get themselves wet.
This can expose the group to a lot of bacteria, hypothermia, and wasted cleaning time. So just prepare a restroom area first. If you want to move it later, you can destroy the buildings and rebuild it in a new location.
Pay attention to hygiene in the game
Hygiene is really important in this game. If this area grows too much bacteria, it can cause the characters to suffer from many diseases such as slimelung fungus or food poisoning, which comes with many different types of bacteria.
To prevent this, players need to place pharmacies everywhere. Ideally, these pharmacies should be located right in front of large germ centers such as restrooms, contaminated water dumps, food preparation areas.
Of particular note is the swamp biome, this area filled with slime and algae, becoming one of the most unsanitary. But more importantly, it contains the highly infectious slimelung pathogen, which quickly spreads through many areas and reduces yields.
Always exercise caution when building near a swamp biome, and make sure to take some hygiene measures against any characters that may approach it. Let’s build some medical buildings nearby and use manual airlocks. It is best for players to avoid this biome completely until exits are discovered.
Manage and specialize characters
If a character (known as a Duplicant) locks themselves in a small airless area, they will not move or dig their way out unless explicitly asked by the player. Literally, the characters will stand there, run out of oxygen and die.
So keep an eye on them while the base expands and don’t be afraid to bring in other Duplicants to assist. The game will also provide notifications if a Duplicant gets stuck or starts choking.
Another thing players need to keep in mind about Duplicants is that they can be specialized. As the areas start to expand and the quest list grows larger, things will run much more smoothly if players can assign specific tasks to each Duplicant.
If you don’t know how to delegate, navigate to the top right of the screen and click Priorities. This nifty little tool will allow players to dictate which tasks the Duplicant needs to do first, manipulating the character to complete their favorite quests. If the area is stable, players will need to prioritize quests based on Duplicant’s interests or skill sets to boost productivity.
Management and specialization of rooms
Players need to build places to eat, sleep, bathe, … for the Duplicants, and should not put them all in the same room. Instead, try creating separate rooms for different purposes as each room that meets certain criteria will receive a bonus. Some of these bonuses may include increased plant growth, increased morale, or increased resilience to stress.
Also, be sure to use plenty of storage bins. Any material left on the ground is classified as debris and this can reduce the decorative value of any room.
Storage bins help reduce this, and each bin is personalized to allow or not allow certain types of materials. This way, gamers can assign crates to certain materials like algae or sand.
People should also spend some time placing storage bins near machines that will use the material stored inside. For example, if there is a power plant filled with coal-fired generators, place a coal barrel nearby so that resupplying the generator can be done quickly.