Why still no Air Lock module after several years?

[Technoincubus]

It's been several years of ONI being played and developed and we still have no airlock modules. Why?

Everyone knows how to exploit game liquid mechanics to create an airlock. Why can't we have a dedicated airlock building? If people use workarounds to make an airlock via liquid since early beta, then it is oblvious that it is better to make this exploit a feature. Give us a power consuming building that we can spend resources on.

It's like situation with Supply depot from Starcraft. Everyone used them as a makeshift walls\blockers in SC1 and in SC2 Blizzard made supply depots a feature, allowing them to retract and allowing units to pass.

Yeah, you can make a "correct" airlock, with dupe and athmo sensor and pumps but we all know hat everyong is using liquid locks becasue they are basically free of charge and only downside is dupe stopping for getting wet animation, which is endlessly cheaper than making airlocks via doors and pumps.

[Yunru]

Because dedicated buildings suck, and you should feel bad for recommending one :P

[AncientGammoner]

18 minutes ago, Yunru said:

Because dedicated buildings suck, and you should feel bad for recommending one :P

You should feel bad for putting someone down for having an opinion.  In my opinion they are 100% right as well, liquid locks are game mechanic cheesiness.

There is a mod that does airlocks quite well and something similar should really be in the base game:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2094698134

[Gurgel]

I think regular airlocks would be boring. It is one of the unique characteristics of ONI that many things are done in bizarre ways and the airlock issue definitely qualifies. 

[The Plum Gate]

Probably because they like for us to get out of our comfort zone and manage the spaces we create in a way that we are comfortable with.

[Gurgel]

2 hours ago, The Plum Gate said:

Probably because they like for us to get out of our comfort zone and manage the spaces we create in a way that we are comfortable with.

I am not sure I can parse that, but I completely agree!

[The Plum Gate]

Yes, it is rather poorly worded.

But I think they want us using the equipment they give us to do those things. It's fairly easy to set up a room where you just manage the gasses at the door. The case in which you don't want to lose gasses to space is the one where you use the duplicant checkpoint and evacuate the room, etc. Othwrwise people are going to simply keep using viscogel as airlock doors.

I can see brine / water locks working in some cases.  

 

[Hellshound38]

You can build airlocks just in like in real life using pumps, multiple sealed doors and timers.... I don't understand how you prevent air from passing between rooms without a very complex system or a dense liquid water lock.

I mean a real vacuum chamber would take up half the asteroid. https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_1281.html 

[Xenocent]

there is a mod for that i've been use it for all my base

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2094698134

[NewWorldDan]

Ah the two types of base building gamers.  Those that hate all the messy awkwardness that interferes with their beautiful elegant base, and those that think all the chaos is what makes the game interesting.  I'm in the latter group.  I don't want easy asteroids.  I want the most horrifically messy swamps filled with all kinds of nastiness that takes all of my creativity to survive.  Airlocks?  I'll bend the game mechanics to my will, thank you very much.  Fortunately, there's a mod for nearly everything you want in the game and this is no exception.  

[avc15]

It's an engineering game, adding dedicated buildings removes the need to engineer things. Unless said dedicated buildings have significant drawbacks. (petroleum refinery anyone)

What would be an appropriate drawback for a dedicated airlock building? High power use? Wasted gases? Time& checkpointing?

[Gurgel]

9 hours ago, The Plum Gate said:

Yes, it is rather poorly worded.

But I think they want us using the equipment they give us to do those things. It's fairly easy to set up a room where you just manage the gasses at the door. The case in which you don't want to lose gasses to space is the one where you use the duplicant checkpoint and evacuate the room, etc. Othwrwise people are going to simply keep using viscogel as airlock doors.

I can see brine / water locks working in some cases.  

Actually, at the space border I usually just use two powered automated doors some tiles apart. Yes, that means some loss of gas, but it has never been a problem. 

You are right on the philosophy though. Some games give you complex elements for everything, ONI does not. I find this makes things much more engaging, because you do not only work on "architecture" level, but also on implementation level because some devices you need to build for yourself from basic blocks. That makes the game multi-level and encourages you to really understand all abstraction levels and be competent on them. You know, just like in the real world where you occasionally have to whip out the stick welder or angle grinder to make a tool you cannot buy in the form you want it!

7 hours ago, NewWorldDan said:

Ah the two types of base building gamers.  Those that hate all the messy awkwardness that interferes with their beautiful elegant base, and those that think all the chaos is what makes the game interesting.  I'm in the latter group.  I don't want easy asteroids.  I want the most horrifically messy swamps filled with all kinds of nastiness that takes all of my creativity to survive.  Airlocks?  I'll bend the game mechanics to my will, thank you very much.  Fortunately, there's a mod for nearly everything you want in the game and this is no exception.  

Completely agree. I am very much in the second camp too. I have no issue with people being in the first camp, but that _is_ what mods are for. 

Pre-fabricated components? Who uses those? My own stuff is much better! (Or not. Oops, Meep has peed in the fresh water _again_ and what is that alert about some dupe suffocating???)

[Sasza22]

We have a non leaking airlock if we use transit tubes. The simpliest setup with 2 stations and a tupe through the wall is basically an airlock for just under 2kW and a bit of plastic. The only issue here is size. We can`t make that more compact. That`s why i wish we got a special visco gel door building that can be placed both vertically and horizontally. Since it`s an end game thing it could get some "magic" properties.

[Pyrex042]

13 hours ago, NewWorldDan said:

Those that hate all the messy awkwardness that interferes with their beautiful elegant base, and those that think all the chaos is what makes the game interesting. 

It's not just about elegance vs. chaos.  It's about the real time I have available to spend playing the game.

I know how to build SPOM's.  I've built many SPOM's in different designs.  Building a SPOM isn't hard, doesn't take that many materials, doesn't take up that much space, and is no longer a challenge.

So instead (at least in the base game) I use the Advanced Electrolyzer mod and move on to a more interesting challenge.

Same thing with liquid locks.  All they really are is time consuming.  So why not have a late-game actual-airlock?  

[babba]

12 hours ago, avc15 said:

It's an engineering game, adding dedicated buildings removes the need to engineer things. Unless said dedicated buildings have significant drawbacks. (petroleum refinery anyone)

What would be an appropriate drawback for a dedicated airlock building? High power use? Wasted gases? Time& checkpointing?

On the other hand I find it nice to also have Klei cutie designed elements or machines which can be placed to make things look like a nuke bunker with a touch of Star Trek.

I find the best of both worlds a good solution, prefab items with drawbacks and the gameplay option that players can construct their own stuff to achieve a function and purpose.

Catering for every type of player 

[Yunru]

15 minutes ago, Pyrex042 said:

Same thing with liquid locks.  All they really are is time consuming.  So why not have a late-game actual-airlock?  

They do; that's what viscogel is for.

[Drowsy Corgi]

21 hours ago, The Plum Gate said:

Probably because they like for us to get out of our comfort zone and manage the spaces we create in a way that we are comfortable with.

You have mastered the talking of the progressives. Are you working in PR for any liberal org?

[Technoincubus]

The point is that liquid airlock is ridiculously easy to make. it requires zero research, next to no worktime. It is endlessly easier than any air tube or pump solutions.

Dedicated airlock can use resources, resin or fibers or else. And power. Why can't we have such building? Yyou want challenge? Noproblem - don't use it! Problem solved.

But current situation is akin to what we had prior to food change, when mealwood requird no fertilizer and there were no morale so you could sustain any base with mealwood only. It is working? Sure. But it removed any need to make other food completely.

[babba]

17 minutes ago, Drowsy Corgi said:

You have mastered the talking of the progressives. Are you working in PR for any liberal org?

ONi forum public relation activity is a matter of progressively improving the game together with Klei. Progression can be joy, but radioactive decay can also be fun.

[fredhp]

A feature ONI lacks is "blueprints" - there is no logic in repeat 23424 times the same thing.

[The Plum Gate]

10 minutes ago, fredhp said:

A feature ONI lacks is "blueprints" - there is no logic in repeat 23424 times the same thing.

Unless there's a poi light bulb in the way...

[fredhp]

Just now, The Plum Gate said:

Unless there's a poi light bulb in the way...

..... another feature lacking is a "delete anything except the printing pod" tool...

 

[RonEmpire]

Transit tube is essentially an airlock. 

[RageLeague]

Liquid lock comes with a hefty price of the soggy feet or sopping wet debuff, depending on the implementation. In addition, you cannot use liquid locks to seal rooms and form specialized rooms.

[babba]

Imagine this airlock, animated with the lid slinging open in the game and a dupes head popping out

Space design themed items could make the games rocket inside look less like a flying zoo