Oxygen Not Included is a colony-building game with a ton of depth. At first, players only need to provide basic survival requirements like beds, food, and toilets, but as the base runs out of non-sustainable resources, they must find renewable alternatives. This will eventually lead to the need to understand how to make proper building setups and self-operating machines so that they don't rely on the Duplicant's assistance.
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Before reaching these mid-game issues, however, new players can refer to these Oxygen Not Included beginner tips to help them have a smoother sailing in the early game.
7 Choose Your Starter Duplicants (Dupes)
Lest You Want Natural Gas All Over The Colony
Press the downward arrow next to Reroll on top of the selection box, then Reroll to refresh the selection. Choose either 1 Digger, 1 Builder, and 1 Researcher, or 2 Diggers and 1 Researcher. This way, the colony begins with Duplicants that can dig quickly and unlock research trees fast. Next, here are some things to look out for:
- Conflicting Negative Trait and Interest: Sometimes Duplicants can have an Interest in one thing but also have a Negative Trait that reduces the very same stat.
- Good "Negative" Trait: Negative Traits like Kitchen Menace and Unpracticed Artist are considered Negative Traits, but they're actually positive, as they increase Food Morale and Decor Perception. Don't worry about the lost Cuisine and Decor stats—you only want one or two Duplicants with these Interests anyway. Similarly, other "niche" Interests include Plant Murderer, Critter Aversion, Unempathetic, Squeamish, and Slow Learner.
- Truly Negative Traits: Beginner players should avoid Traits like Flatulent, Allergies, Anemic, Narcoleptic, Trypophobia, Unconstructive, and Undigging. These traits will greatly affect your gameplay.
6 Plan Your Expansion Route
Fail To Plan Is Plan To Fail
In the Terra Asteroid, players will start in the middle of the map. The first thing the colony should look out for is clean water—there should be three or four pools in the area. Collect the clean water into one big water reserve by letting gravity do its job. If water ends up puddling on the ground, use the Mop command to dry it off and avoid constant Soggy Feet status on the Duplicants. Before digging up, however, make sure to plan your expansion route. You want to touch the fresh water, but avoid the polluted water and Slime tiles. Be wary of leaking polluted oxygen and Slimelung germs as it'll negatively affect the Dupes.
Don't Starve Together: All Crock Pot Recipes
Crock Pot in Don't Starve Together can turn ingredients into a cooked dish with extra restoration properties, but only if players know the recipes.
When sending the dig command, note that a Dupe can dig/build up to four tiles high, jump one tile horizontally, and climb two tiles vertically, so considering most buildings need four tiles, make sure to dig four tiles high each time. Leave one row for walking, and make sure to build a Tile if there's a gap more than one tile wide. Building Tiles help the Dupes move faster, but don't sweat it in the first few cycles. Another tip is to freely use ladders to reach places. Dupes can "walk" on ladders like a normal tile, making it a great way to increase mobility and reach.
While planning the colony's layout in ONI, consider a vertical layout instead of a full horizontal layout. For example, building a ranch in a vertical layout is a great way to optimize ranching time.
5 Build Rooms For Morale
Closed Space In Space
Every Duplicant has a Morale count that can affect their Stress level. The easiest way to gain Morale in the early game is by building Barracks, Latrine, and Great Hall rooms. To build a room, make sure the space is enclosed with tiles or doors. Go to Room Overlay (F11) to see the rooms a colony can build and their requirements.
For the aforementioned three rooms, here's what players need:
|
Room |
Requirement |
|---|---|
|
Barracks |
12 to 64 tiles in size, at least one Cot, no industrial machinery |
|
Latrine |
12 to 64 tiles in size, at least one Outhouse and one Wash Basin, no industrial machinery |
|
Great Hall |
32 to 120 tiles in size, at least one mess table, one recreational building (like a Water Cooler), and one fancy decor item (like a plant inside a Flower Pot), no industrial machinery |
Although Cot is only two tiles high in size, it's best to keep bedrooms at four tiles high, so it's easy to switch to Luxury Barracks later on.
A Wash Basin is a must-have to remove Germs from using the Outhouse. When building a Wash Basin, make sure to place it by the exit and change the usage direction by pressing on the building, then Set Direction to point to the door. It's best not to have two exits to avoid having multiple Wash Basins (you can make two entrances and set the door directions to forbid dupes to exit from it).
4 Don't Hoard Duplicants From Printing Pod
Care Packages Are Good Too
Every few cycles, the Printing Pod is ready to print. Here, players can either print a new Duplicant or choose a care package. Although having more Dupe is great to make work faster, players must remember that more Dupe requires more Oxygen and food. Therefore, it's important not to hoard Duplicants. Settle with 10 in the early game, then take five more in mid-game as the colony gets comfortable with resources.
Don't Starve Together: 7 Easiest Crock Pot Recipes
There are plenty of amazing Crock Pot food in Don't Starve Together, but these are the easiest ones to make, especially in the early game.
If the Printing Pod didn't give a good selection, players can save and then load their game to refresh the options. Beginner players don't have to feel bad about save scumming as it'll help a lot until they understand the game better.
3 Avoid Microbe Musher
Unless You're In A Pinch
Microbe Musher is an easy food source in Oxygen Not Included, but players should only use it in an emergency. In the early game, players can do things like:
- Digging Muckroot plants: Muckroots are a one-time food source and don't regrow, making it safe to dig.
- Look out for buried objects: Tiles with cracks hide an object, which may be Muckroots.
- Activate auto harvest on wild plants: Wild plants take longer to grow than domesticated ones, but require no Dupe involvement. Choose Harvest Plants in the bottom-right corner (or press Y), then enable harvest on the plant. Don't dig the plant to keep it growing.
Players can also keep some wild plants to create a Park or Nature Reserve. Placing these in the middle of the base and "forcing" the Duplicants to walk by it as they work is a neat way to boost Morale.
Next, make a small Mealwood farm to keep food going. It's best to make the farm below the main area so that carbon dioxide can pool inside it and Mealwood can maintain the required air pressure. Just remember that Mealwood won't grow if it's too hot, so use Insulated Tile to maintain temperature inside and remove heat from outside.
2 Learn In Sandbox Or Debug Mode
Draw Layouts Freely
Oxygen Not Included requires a lot of trial and error, so it's a good idea to play in Sandbox or activate Debug Mode to learn. To activate the sandbox, go to New Game > Game Settings > Check Sandbox Mode.
Norland: Beginner Tips For The Colony Sim
Norland beginners should heed the following tips for an easier experience when first starting the game.
If players wish to have a half-normal, half-sandbox experience, then they can start a game normally and then activate the Debug Mode. The easiest way to do this is by typing kleiplay in the main menu, then entering the game. Once inside, press CTRL + F4 to enable free building. Debug Mode enabled this way can be deactivated by restarting the game.
1 Find Alternatives For Oxygen Early
Oxygen Not Included
At the start, players can use either the Algae Terrarium or Oxygen Diffuser to generate oxygen. This is great for the first few cycles, but eventually, the colony will need to find alternatives as the Algae stock runs thin. The best way to generate oxygen is by utilizing Electrolyzer using the Self-Powering Oxygen Module (SPOM) layout. This consumes clean water in exchange for oxygen and a self-powering machine via Hydrogen Generators.
Players can also collect polluted water (make sure it's not infected by germs), then use the polluted oxygen it emits to feed a Deodorizer, which will turn the polluted oxygen into fresh oxygen.
There's a myth that mining Oxylite tiles will reduce the total Oxygen they emit, but this has been addressed as false. Digging Oxylite will make it emit Oxygen more slowly, while digging around Oxylite tile to expose it (but not digging the Oxylite tile itself) will make it emit Oxygen faster.
- Released
- May 18, 2017
- ESRB
- t
- Developer(s)
- Klei Entertainment
- Publisher(s)
- Klei Entertainment
- Engine
- Unity
WHERE TO PLAY
- Genre(s)
- Simulation, Survival, Management
