Learn essential Oxygen Not Included strategies for oxygen generation and management. Master temperature control, food production, dupe management, and power systems for a thriving colony.
This guide covers the basics of Oxygen Not Included, focusing on crucial early-game management aspects like temperature, food, dupes, power, and ventilation. It offers practical tips to help new players establish a stable base and avoid common pitfalls.
Starting your base:
It's recommended to utilize the game's overlays (found in the top right) rather than simply digging out the entire surrounding area. These overlays provide vital information about temperature, power, and other environmental factors.
Temperature
Temperature management is critical. Pay attention to the Temperature Overlay to identify hot and cold spots. Locate living quarters and farms in temperate zones. Extreme temperatures can prevent plants like Meal Lice and Bristle Blossoms from growing, and can cause dupes to become scalded, requiring medical attention and halting productivity. The Thermal Comfort Overlay helps identify areas safe for dupes.
Different materials have varying thermal properties. Granite and sandstone offer decor bonuses, making them suitable for sculptures, paintings, and tiles in high-traffic areas. Igneous rock is a good choice for greenhouses as it's not thermally reactive. Abyssalite is even better but less common. Keep heat-generating structures like power generators and batteries away from greenhouses.
Food
Early game food options include Meal Lice from Mealwood seeds, which are easy to obtain but require dirt and have low food quality. As dupes get promoted, their food expectations rise, making Meal Lice a source of stress. Bristle Berries, grown from Bristle Blossom plants, provide better food quality and more calories but require water and light, making a coal generator and hydroponic farm tiles beneficial. Fried Mushrooms, made from fungal spores, offer good calories and food quality, requiring polluted water and immersion in carbon dioxide.
Food left on the floor can rot due to germs. To prevent this, ensure greenhouses are filled with carbon dioxide, as germs need oxygen to survive. Storing food in ration boxes within an ice biome or immersed in CO2 further reduces decay.
Dupes
Avoid recruiting too many dupes early on. Aim for a minimum of 3 and a maximum of 6 until you have sufficient resources to support more. This prevents issues like insufficient oxygen and food. Building rooms like barracks (for stamina regeneration) and latrines (for stress relief) is important for dupe well-being. Managing dupe stress is a significant challenge.
Power
While not detailed in this section, power is mentioned as a necessity for lighting greenhouses and is generated by structures like coal generators.
Ventilation
Ventilation is listed as a key aspect of base starting but is not elaborated upon in the provided text.
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