Research requirement challenge

[GhostEcho]

Research progress in Oxygen not Included is not that inspiring. You rush through large parts of it to get to specific benefits. The research activity itself is disconnected from other game mechanics and there is no variation, just more waiting.

I floated an idead to solve this on the feedback forum, and played around a bit. Turns out that it makes for a decent self-imposed challenge. 

The Research requirement challenge

There are specific requirements before you can start to research a topic. Each topic has different requirements. These are generally in the form of elements, critters or pressure/temperature conditions but can include novel things that you must achieve. They are intended to be thematic as well as a fun challenge.

Examples:

Computers - Smart Home ( Automation wire )
Requires: Tungsten, 1T

This forces you to forage the frozen biome early and refine Wolframite.

Gases – Improved ventilation ( insulated pipe, high pressure vent )
Requires: Gas pressure >= 5 kg

This is before you have access to high pressure vents (or automation), so you need to get creative.

Exosuits – Transit Tubes ( Transit Tubes )
Requires: Have a dupe fall from the space biome to the oil biome into your research room

Wheee!

 

The requirements

I’ve created requirements that seem fun to me. They are specifically tailored to the Terra asteroid, so they will not all work when you have different biomes. They should work regardless of seed, but I used: SNDST-A-728283593-0 for playtesting.

The requirements can be found here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1yhPK9nUCWjGIkPjl7tUpeknUyJoh1Q20J39djCVkYts/edit?usp=sharing

 

General gist of the things you will do
- create solutions before unlocking the buildings that solve this problem
- ranch a lots of different critters
- be forced in hostile biomes way before you have exosuits

In general it will mess with your routine and force you to think on your feet. [Edit] However, there is a hints/spoiler section with the requirements so you don't have to scour the interwebs[/edit]
 

I had a blast playing with these requirements, and I'm very curious to know if this amuses other players as well. I would love to have feedback on the requirements, themselves. Also, I'd like some input, not all high tier research topics have challenges yet .

 

P.S. There is a specific forum for save game challenges. This is not save game based, but I don't mind if this post is moved there.

[saphir_n2o]

The problem is your point of view. This forum is packed with people who are minmaxers (getting the optimum) out of every resource.

However, research is an essential factor that should not block beginners or casual players. Besides that, creating a solution before getting the required tools to solve them is really weird. Keep in mind that there are people out there who will want to play the game and not spend 80% of their time searching forums, websites and videos for outdated solutions.

[GhostEcho]

Ok, thats valuable feedback. The challenge as I defined it, is aimed at fairly experienced players. So maybe I need to emphasize this a bit more?

With respect to requirements being hard, and needing to do research online, I got you covered! There is a hints/spoilers section with each of the requirements. For the more exotic solutions, it links to the video explaining it. (I'll edit this in the original post)

 

That said: this challenge is definately opt-in and not meant for casual or beginning players. Heck, I don't expect them to read this forum  That is why I originally thought it would be a good idea to have this as an integral part of the game, and now I think it is a nice added challenge for experienced players who want something new.

[GhostEcho]

I finished most of the challenges, but got bored before reaching larger projects. Also I rewrote the requirements into a google drive sheet as I found that easier to use: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1yhPK9nUCWjGIkPjl7tUpeknUyJoh1Q20J39djCVkYts/edit?usp=sharing

[Bluefoxfire]

Could also have an upgrade system of sorts once you've researched everything that doesn't require data banks. Where there would be a resource requirement(either by type or specific), which when the conditions are fulfilled and it's started, dupes can then plug away at it just like other research stations.

By upgrades, I mean things like global increase in digging speed, atmo suit oxygen usage decrease, less mats needed for certain things, etc.