The opening cycles
Oxygen Not Included is a simulation puzzle. Your first colony lives or dies on three loops: oxygen, food and waste. Set those before anything fancy.
The building database lists 24 structures. Start with the ones that make air and water.
Dig with purpose
Do not dig everywhere. Open a safe pocket, seal the bad gas, and expand only when life support is steady.
Watch the meters
Oxygen, food and bathroom needs all fall. A missed loop cascades into a dead duplicant, so automate early.
Learn by failure
Early colonies fail. The second one keeps the lessons and drops the mistakes.
Plan the power
Machines need a wire spine. Lay it before you switch on the first refinery.
Use the lists
The critter database shows 16 species that can help or hurt. Scout it before you ranch.
Seal the bad gas
Carbon dioxide sinks and sits low. Trap it or vent it, or your duplicants breathe it and slow down.
Build the air first
Oxygen comes before everything else. A diffuser and a vent turn a pocket into a home.
Expand when stable
Only dig wider once the three loops hold. A stable small base beats a wide dead one.
Keep a buffer
Store spare oxygen and a little food. A small buffer turns a bad cycle into a calm one.
Watch the heat
Digging exposes warm rock. Insulate the base so heat from below does not cook the farm.
Learn the loops
Every system feeds another. Master oxygen and water first, then the rest of the base follows.
Buildings to place first
- Printing Pod (cat Buildings, effect Light Range: 5 tiles)
- Plumbing (Building)
- Decor
- Cell of Interest
- Stations (Building)
- Rocket
- Base (Building)
- Utilities (Building)
- Power (Building)
- Building
- Refinement (Building)
- Overheating
- Radiation Sensor
- Rocketry (Building)
- Piping
- Ventilation (Building)
- Furniture (Building)
- Great Monument (cat Buildings)
Critters you will meet
- Shine Bug
- Critter
- Drecko
- Plug Slug
- Hatch
- Egg
- Critter Morphs
- Pacu
- Puft
- Gassy Moo
- Morb
- Shove Vole
- Pokeshell
- Slickster
- Pip