Terrariums still a thing?

[GoHereDoThis]

Just coming back to this game after some time away and just wanted to ask if using algae terrariums were still a thing?  In my previous builds, I'd always make one but experimenting with different base designs now and it seems the default map is smaller (narrower) than I remember.  Maybe even not as deep too.  So I just used the diffuser and when I ran out of algae (not digging out biomes), I just made a SPOM.

[beowulf2010]

2 hours ago, GoHereDoThis said:

Just coming back to this game after some time away and just wanted to ask if using algae terrariums were still a thing?  In my previous builds, I'd always make one but experimenting with different base designs now and it seems the default map is smaller (narrower) than I remember.  Maybe even not as deep too.  So I just used the diffuser and when I ran out of algae (not digging out biomes), I just made a SPOM.

Short answer? Yes. Terrariums are still a thing. 

Long answer: Terrariums' best use is to convert clean water to bottled polluted water and let the bottled polluted water offgas to produce oxygen. 

There are a few of us that run bases for 100's of cycles off of bottled polluted water offgassing. (From terrariums, forced mopping operations, or just dismantling full liquid reservoirs) 

If you're curious, I can try to screen cap what I do later on tonight. 

[DarkMaster13]

If you consider the above strategy an exploit or otherwise don't want to use it, terrariums are only really used if you desperately need to remove some CO2.  They don't produce enough oxygen when running normally to justify the dupe labor and amount of water turned into polluted water.  Better to use a diffuser.

[mathmanican]

5 minutes ago, beowulf2010 said:

(From terrariums, forced mopping operations, or just dismantling full liquid reservoirs)

In my most recent base, I decided to just build a conversion chamber that connected the PO2 from the slime biome to my O2 production center. Some airflow tiles, with a layer of water on them, makes a great gas separation chamber. 

Spoiler

Here's my cycle 60 snapshot from the game folder, as I know you like to look at bases @beowulf2010.

 

[Zarquan]

28 minutes ago, DarkMaster13 said:

If you consider the above strategy an exploit or otherwise don't want to use it, terrariums are only really used if you desperately need to remove some CO2.  They don't produce enough oxygen when running normally to justify the dupe labor and amount of water turned into polluted water.  Better to use a diffuser.

I have to say, I disagree with calling polluted bottle offgasing an exploit.  If this mechanic, which was specifically programmed in by the developers, is unfair, then literally everything is arguably an exploit.  I mean, how exactly does a diffuser extract oxygen from algae with no waste?  Sounds like an exploit to me /s.  Now, putting the bottles in a skim of water to trick the bottles in to offgasing when they should be overpressure is another matter.

Additionally terrariums are the most resource efficient oxygen generation.  A terrarium consumes 300 g/s water and 30 g/s algae and produces (with a light) 44 g/s oxygen and 290.33 g/s polluted water.  If you clean the polluted water, that leads to a net water cost of 9.67 g/s water.

If you gave these to a diffuser and an elecrolyzer, you would get 35.9 g/s.  But with terrariums, you get 44 g/s, which is a significant increase and is useful of you are low on water in the early-midgame.

[beowulf2010]

1 hour ago, mathmanican said:

In my most recent base, I decided to just build a conversion chamber that connected the PO2 from the slime biome to my O2 production center. Some airflow tiles, with a layer of water on them, makes a great gas separation chamber. 

Yeah, I've done that a few times as well. That thin layer of liquid in the mesh tiles on top of airflow tiles works amazingly well for keeping PO2 out while converting it to clean O2. Last time I did this I pumped all the polluted water I could find into an airflow tile topped infinite liquid storage to produce the PO2. 

And thanks for the pic of your base. You're right, I love looking at what other people do. (Only cycle 60? Wow, I play slow... )

[Neotuck]

4 hours ago, GoHereDoThis said:

Just coming back to this game after some time away and just wanted to ask if using algae terrariums were still a thing?

I usually try to build one of these in the middle of my base by cycle 50.  Once you have enough polluted water bottles off-gassing this becomes more water to oxygen efficient than any SPOM I've seen.  Haven't needed to build an electrolyzer until I was ready to build hydrogen rockets.

Note: The atmo sensor is set to 2000g

[beowulf2010]

Heh, now I don't have to post my usual terrarium setup as mine is based on Neotuck's. 

[Empy3]

I just used them in a new (to me) base design on my most recent playthrough to provide both oxygen and coal for my base for a few hundred cycles with minimal Dupe effort. I never installed an oxygen diffuser and didn't get around to putting in an electrolyzer system until around cycle 300 (and really only then because I found a PW geyser and didn't really know what else to do with the surplus of water), and really never had more than about 4 terrariums running at a time. Even then, there were a lot of stretches where I had none running at all and it took many, many cycles to deplete the oxygen in my base to a point where I had to go turn some back on because of the incredible amount of offgassing PO. I'd guess that I still have around 5 tons of algae left over from my starting zone at this point in my game, and haven't yet bothered to get a slime distiller going in spite of having plenty of the stuff.

All the hatches in that screenshot are wild, I just dumped them above the terrarium rooms as I found them (I deconstructed the critter drop a while ago) and let them eat the clay the the deodorizers spit out. I also relocated a couple of wild shine bugs to each room when they first dropped their eggs to increase the terrarium output when they did happen to be on. It made for very short errands for Dupes who needed to refill my coal generator, and I ran exclusively on coal for about the first 300 cycles with no problem and no effort allocated to finding extra deposits beyond whatever I happened to dig out in the process of going somewhere else.

[GoHereDoThis]

I used Neotuck's design for almost every base I built but that was when I was building a symmetrical base and would site the terrariums in the center.  On my most current map, the portal seems to be at the bottom of the starting biome and I come across pockets of chlorine and hydrogen a few levels down so I didn't want to build a terrarium setup.  Might be time to re-think my design.

Thanks guys, glad to know terrariums still work as before.

[Gurgel]

They are still useful to create oxygen pockets before you have moved to exosuits. I find that this happens later and later, the longer I play. 

[GoHereDoThis]

Oxygen pockets?

4 hours ago, Neotuck said:

I usually try to build one of these in the middle of my base by cycle 50.

Is it beneficial to be building in the middle of the base?  CO2 moves down and right, it seems, so why not put it as far down the base as you can and put it on the right side?

[Neotuck]

5 hours ago, GoHereDoThis said:

Oxygen pockets?

Building a terrarium far away from the base where there is no oxygen so dupes have a place to breathe while they dig or gather resources 

5 hours ago, GoHereDoThis said:

Is it beneficial to be building in the middle of the base?  CO2 moves down and right, it seems, so why not put it as far down the base as you can and put it on the right side?

Building in the center is more about even O2 distribution around the base without using vents.  As for the CO2 build up that depends on how much CO2 you wish to get rid of, I like to build dust cap farms under it as I move away from mealwood.

[Prince Mandor]

12 minutes ago, Neotuck said:

Building a terrarium far away from the base where there is no oxygen so dupes have a place to breed while they dig or gather resources

Place to breed... Sometimes auto-correction makes it perfect :)))

[Neotuck]

2 minutes ago, Prince Mandor said:

Place to breed... Sometimes auto-correction makes it perfect :)))

damn, I hoped I corrected that fast enough so no one would notice LOL

[GoHereDoThis]

I would've thought further out, your dupes would be using space suits to dig and so wouldn't need O2 generation in the area.

As for the location, the design kinda means the base has 2 stairwells, I was trying to make a base with just one.

[Neotuck]

2 minutes ago, GoHereDoThis said:

I would've thought further out, your dupes would be using space suits to dig and so wouldn't need O2 generation in the area.

As for the location, the design kinda means the base has 2 stairwells, I was trying to make a base with just one.

As a sandbox game there is no wrong way to build a base, just look for ways to make your own design more efficient.  While it's true spacesuits are ideal for exploring far from base, the terrariums are a cheap alternative if you are trying to reach resources early game

[Gurgel]

3 minutes ago, Neotuck said:

While it's true spacesuits are ideal for exploring far from base, the terrariums are a cheap alternative if you are trying to reach resources early game

For variable values of "early game". In my last base, I went to suits around cycle 2000. The better you get at this game, the less need to hurry

 

[Neotuck]

12 minutes ago, Gurgel said:

For variable values of "early game". In my last base, I went to suits around cycle 2000. The better you get at this game, the less need to hurry

True, there is little reason to rush the game once you have a sustainable source of oxygen and food.  I've made it past cycle 800 using only hamster wheels by going slow and being energy efficient 

That base relied heavily on dupe labor, but they were some 'Spartan' level dupes.  I kept them well exercised! 

[mathmanican]

4 minutes ago, Neotuck said:

exorcised!

I think autocorrect is on a roll here.  Another perfect fix. I'm going to have to find a way to keep evil spirits away from my dupes...

[Neotuck]

2 minutes ago, mathmanican said:

I think autocorrect is on a roll here.  Another perfect fix. I'm going to have to find a way to keep evil spirits away from my dupes...

DUCKING HELL!!!

I need to stop typing posts from my Apple iPhone

[GoHereDoThis]

LOL on the autocorrect issues!

I usually do the initial expansion out very early as I like to situate my heat-producing machines outside the main base.  Next expansion is to get fiber for the suits and usually end up with a couple of dupes sick with Slimelung.  Make the suits and no issues after that, cycle 100 or 150 at the latest, I have suits. 

[psusi]

I don't go for the central industrial mass terrarium setup like that, but I do place one or two here and there around my base and once the polluted water gets big enough, I disable them and just live off of the polluted oxygen for a while.

[beowulf2010]

8 hours ago, Gurgel said:

For variable values of "early game". In my last base, I went to suits around cycle 2000. The better you get at this game, the less need to hurry

Ain't that the truth... 

[GoHereDoThis]

How do you clear out the PO2 later on?  I would like to be able to remove the PO2 bottles that are no longer off-gassing but keep the ones that still are.  Is this possible?