[Game Update] - The Bionic Booster Pack DLC Beta - 644175

[JarrettM]

Hi everyone, 

It's time to start beta testing our next DLC, The Bionic Booster Pack!

This paid DLC takes colonies off the grid, with new portable power banks, new bionic Duplicants, new buildings (including remote operation buildings), a new airborne workbot, new elements, more than 70 new cosmetic blueprints, and more. 

Power up your outer-space adventures by playing this DLC on the public_testing branch on Steam. This free testing period is open to anyone who owns the base game on Steam. 

The Bionic Booster Pack is compatible with old and new bases...but remember to back up your saves first! 

New power buildings
The new Power Banks enable colonies to store electricity and build standalone power grids for isolated areas of their base: produce single-use power banks at the Crafting Table, slot them into a Compact Discharger or Large Discharger, and use them to run connected machinery. The new Soldering Station crafts Eco Power Banks, which can be recharged indefinitely at the new Power Bank Charger. 

New bionic Duplicants 
We've added six new Bionic Duplicants, who can work almost non-stop as long as they have a steady supply of Power Banks. (And occasional access to oxygen.) 

There's also a new bionics-only Skill Tree, boosters that grant skills and attributes, new Overjoyed and Stressed responses—electricity-enhanced Duplicants can be pretty shocking when they're stressed—and new Gunk Extractor and Lubrication Station buildings to keep their internal machinery running smoothly.  

Other cool stuff
The new Remote Worker Dock houses a workbot that can operate nearby machinery based on instructions sent from an assigned Remote Controller anywhere on the asteroid. An adorable new airborne drone called Flydo helps with storing and supplying, while the new Data Miner building manufactures Data Banks. New elements Phyto Oil and Gunk are very slippery, and may cause workplace accidents if left on the ground.

There's a new Robo-Pilot module for Spaced Out! DLC, and a Robo Command Module for the base game. 

The Supply Closet is stocked with 70+ new cosmetic blueprints for everything from the Printing Pod to conductive wires and automation buildings. 

Anything else? 
As ever, we're actively working on things behind the scenes during this time. That includes polishing up this DLC, as well as tackling QoL bugs from our previous free update.

We always appreciate your input, and it's especially helpful now! Send us your feedback here and report bugs here.

Thank you, each of you, for helping us polish up The Bionic Booster Pack before it goes on sale.

Here's what you'll find in the DLC so far: 

Features

• The Bionic Booster Pack
  • Added “Bionic” Duplicant model and six new Duplicants of this type.
  • Added Bionic Duplicant-exclusive vital conditions: Gear Oil, Gunk, Power Banks, and Oxygen Tank.
  • Added 16+ bionic Boosters for upgrading Bionic Duplicants' abilities and attributes.
  • Added unique Bionic Duplicant Skill Tree.
  • Added Bionic Duplicant-exclusive Stress response: Stunner.
  • Added Bionic Duplicant-exclusive Overjoyed responses: Flash Mobber and Rainmaker.
  • Added Metal, Eco, and Nuclear Power Banks for storing electricity and powering Bionic Duplicants and Flydo.
  • Added Power Bank Charger building for charging Eco Power Banks.
  • Added Large Discharger and Compact Discharger buildings for discharging Power Banks into electrical grids.
  • Added Gunk Extractor building.
  • Added Lubrication Station building.
  • Added Gear Balm object and Apothecary recipe.
  • Added Data Miner building.
  • Added Remote Worker Dock and Remote Controller buildings.
  • Added Soldering Station building.
  • Added Flydo robot.
  • Added Robo-Pilot module for Spaced Out! and Robo Command Module for base game.
  • New lore entries.
  • Added 70+ new cosmetic skins 
    • Printing Pod
    • Clothing
    • Display Pedestals
    • Atmo Suit
    • Conductive wires
    • Automation gates, wires, and ribbons
  • Added new elements: Phyto Oil and Gunk.

Changes and Improvements

• All versions
  • Pressing the research button in a fabricator sidescreen recipe now highlights the target tech in the research screen.
  • Added current schedule shift indicator to Duplicant Errands sidescreen.
  • Plastic Monomer codex entry now lists the elements in the category.
  • Egg Shell, Pokeshell Molt, and Regal Bammoth Crest are now listed in the database under Industrial Ingredients.
  • Changed the way Duplicants with Atmo Suits find safe areas when idling. They will now move to better available cells if their idle one is inconvenient.
  • The Overjoyed state can now be triggered at any point of the cycle, instead of only after sleeping. Probability of triggering has been adjusted to maintain a similar average occurrence.
  • Equipment already assigned to other Duplicants is no longer shown in a Duplicant's equipment assignment sidescreen. Assignable buildings, such as beds, are still shown regardless of current assignment status.
  • Added a "Camera: Return" button in the UI that appears whenever a user action triggers an auto camera movement, which will pan the camera back to its previous location.
  • Small adjustments to fabricator recipe effects text indentation.
  • Care package item benefits are shown in the care package's UI.
• Spaced Out! only
  • Duplicants in suits can now find a safer area to idle, when they are idling in a radioactive zones.
  • Duplicants wearing Lead Suits will now consider dangerous radiation levels when looking for a safe place to idle.
• The Bionic Booster Pack
  • Added Minion Model filter toggles to Minion Selection Screen.
  • Added Phyto Oil recipe to the Plant Pulverizer.

Fixes

• All versions
  • Fixed memory leak in multithreaded code. 
  • Potential fix for some “AmountInstance”-related crashes.
  • Potential fix for some Duplicants flickering their current errand.
  • Fixed Duplicant interests for Tidying and Operating displaying twice the amount of strength. Only the first interest will display the strength now.
  • Fixed an issue where the Canister Filler building would sometimes be displayed half a tile to the right. 
  • Fixed some layering issues with the water of the Lavatory.
  • Fixed an issue where full bottles taken from the Canister Filler or Bottle Filler sometimes got stuck as unfetchable until save/load.
  • Fixed a bug where Duplicants wearing an Oxygen Mask were not considering heat or liquids when looking for safe places to idle.
• Spaced Out! only
  • Fixed an issue where the ladder on the Ladder Bed would sometimes disappear.
• The Frosty Planet Pack
  • Fixed an issue where the contents of a Geo Vent could save incorrectly.

 

What is public testing?

"Public testing" means players get to test-drive new content early and give us feedback and suggestions before it goes live. Because this is an unfinished and in active development version of the game, it's pretty likely you'll encounter bugs, crashes or balance issues while playing these builds. We'll try to fix any problems that crop up as quickly as we can, but it's possible you'll lose progress in your games while playing on the Testing branch.

Regarding performance, the Testing beta has additional debugging tools enabled to help us track down crashes. This makes the game run more slowly than the live version of the game.

Please also be aware that once a save is loaded in the public_testing beta, it cannot be reopened again in the previous "Default" beta or previous builds.

What do I do if I find a crash or a bug?

Post it up on the Bug Tracker and we'll fix it as soon as we can. If you can attach a copy of your save file to your report, that helps us even more as we can pinpoint the source of problem more quickly.

Do I have to play the public testing build?

Nope! If you'd prefer to only play a stable build, you can continue to play in the current Default branch until the game launches in full. Playing the Open Testing build isn't necessary, but it helps us a lot to receive your feedback and reports - if you're interested, try it out!

How do I become a public tester?

There's no sign up or registration for becoming an open tester. If you own Oxygen Not Included and want to join the Testing Branch, all you have to do is play the Open Testing build on Steam.

How do I play the public testing build?

You can switch your beta on Steam using the instructions below:

Spoiler

How to change branches in Oxygen Not Included (Steam)

• In Steam, click on Library > Games.
• Scroll down to Oxygen Not Included.
• Right-click and select Properties.
• Go to the BETAS tab.
• In the dropdown, select the name of the branch you want to play. In this case, the branch name is "public_testing"
  • This branch does not require a password.
• In that same Properties window, go to the Local Files tab and press "Verify Integrity Of Game Cache."
• Your game will be updated to the the previous branch.
• Launch and play Oxygen Not Included

View full update

[ALCRD]

*rubs his palms together*

Neat.

Time to get rid of the weakness of the flesh.

[Tigin]

There’s a certain irony to using one of the only nonrenewable resources in SO (abyssalite) to make renewable eco battery packs

[StarvingAngler]

They gotta make renewable abyssalite sometime soon. Like seriously, I don't think there is any other resource in spaced out that is not renewable other than abyssalite.

Also, am I the only one who hears the Lab Rats intro sequence whenever thinking about the Bionic Booster Pack?

[Talic]

Thank you for the new DLC and the constant updates, can't wait to play it!

[sakura_sk]

is there an atmo suit and atmo boots missing from blueprints? The two new atmo suits don't seem complete. Also the collar of the bionic helmet doesn't go on top of the suit

[Henlikuoth]

49 minutes ago, sakura_sk said:

missing

I assume many new skins are intentionally left out of the beta.

According to the text above, it is supposed to be 70+. I haven't seen nearly as much. 

[Knurek]

5 hours ago, JarrettM said:

we'll fix it as soon as we can

Yeah, sure. Whatever you say.

I'll start testing right after bugs from previous dlc are fixed.

Edited November 29, 2024 by Knurek

[axxel]

So, you won't need normal duplicants anymore if the bionic dupes can supply themself, did I get that right?

[theldo123]

11 minutes ago, axxel said:

So, you won't need normal duplicants anymore if the bionic dupes can supply themself, did I get that right?

You can start with all bionic dupes and they can supply themselves. They have their own hassles to deal with, but they're not too much harder than regular dupes.

[Carib94]

I played a bit not too much tho. 1st the Remote Controller is 4th tier research basically mid to late game machine and I gotta say it is quite useful. Tho i wish it was possible to remote control across planetoids but the fact that it can remote anywhere on the planet is good enough for me. Being able to use the remote robot to do task in high temps areas because you need steel to make the robot and it doesnt overheat(it can melt tho), and it can do pretty much all task you can make it. Ranching, Farming, Industrial Machinery, etc it can do it so long it is within its range(25 tiles long is its limit), and you can have more than 1 remote robot in the same room/area.

The Data Miner takes a whooping 2k Kilowatts of power to make data banks out of plastic, can we bump that down to the usual 1,200kilowatts? XD.

As for the Bionic Dupes they are quite nice but power hungry ill say(HAHA), i dont recommend getting too many of them until you get a lot of power supply to top up eco power banks. yeah you can make the metal power banks but all that metal ore is better off being use for more refining, tiles, buildings, and conveyor rails. The new schedule block was basically made for these bionic dupes since those guys can work for 2 and a half days straight without rest(or maybe more than that actually.). They are indeed excellent for hot, cold, and unbreathable gas areas like caustic biomes and oil biomes they will excel there and with them you can explore and access a lot of areas mad early. Ill say Bionic dupes are very good as diggers/builders/mechatronics. Dont see a reason to have a normal dupe as a digger now that bionics can do more digging overall. Now them getting wet with water does short circut them but doesnt deals dmg but make their stress levels rapid to 100% Stress when they are in water or walk on water for too long way worst than soggy feet jesus, Overall they are nice dupes, that have their own lil thing you got to look at.

As for the Flydo, the small flying robot that does supply/storing task. It is cute and all but because it flies, the pathfinding in the game will slow down games FPS to no end if they have too many of them also this robot also eats Power banks that your bionic dupes need. I recommend to get just at least 2-3 of these guys if you want them. They fly quite decently when doing a task so I guess they are IGHT.

Lastly the Small Discharger I believe should generate 100kwatts of power instead of 60kwatts. Havent tried the Robo auto pilot rocket module yet.

 

Overall Im liking this DLC so far.

[StarvingAngler]

22 minutes ago, axxel said:

So, you won't need normal duplicants anymore if the bionic dupes can supply themself, did I get that right?

Technically true, but it may be nicer to have normal dupes, espicially at the game start. I have not been able to test much, so this will be from my little knowledge. Bionics have a gunk amount instead of a bladder. Although they can degunk at a normal toilet if required, I believe it puts the toilet under a lengthy out of order task. The proper degunking station requires research and liquid piping. Bionics also constantly use up oil. If they run out of oil they significantly slow down, and potentially other things, I have not fully tested. Oil can be replenished with gear balm, where you will get one gear balm at the start of the game per spawned bionic, and more can be made at the apothecary by recycling gunk and 200 kg of water. Oil can also be replenished at that oiling station, which requires research and either crude oil or phyto oil (obtained by using the plant pulverizer on slime). Bionics also require power banks, they start out with four and the printing pod will print out an additional five per each bionic printed. Bionics consume 200 Watts per day, which is equivelent to one power bank a day. More power banks can be constructed at the crafting station with metal ore, with later game tech options providing a far more efficient uranium ore craft and at the new soldering station a rechargeable power bank. Bionics also consume oxygen at the same rate as normal dupes, but might only be able to refill on bottled oxygen (untested). Bionics also freak out in water and have a unique skill system. They don't get skills like normal dupes, and instead require boosters to be made to replicate dupe skills, early game boosters at crafting station and later game at soldering station. All boosters also require biochips, which are produced by bionics when their schedule is set to sleep, as they do not have ordinary stamina and do not need to sleep.

Although this seems like a lot of negatives, there are still numerous positives when compared to normal dupes. Unlike dupes which require bathroom, food, and sleep every cycle, bionics are effectively at a fourth of the rate, only needing to be degunked every 4 cycles and they can store 4 cycles worth of power banks and oxygen, and some non-booster skills they have can increase those numbers farther. Additonally, they don't need sleep and don't need to worry about poor breathability conditions, nor do they require ordinary food. Their booster system is also likely more modular than the standard skill system, albeit I have been unable to test that. They also might be germ proof, also untested.

In general, bionic dupes have considerable advantages over normal dupes, but normal dupes require less investment.

[Lillegre]

3 hours ago, Henlikuoth said:

I assume many new skins are intentionally left out of the beta.

According to the text above, it is supposed to be 70+. I haven't seen nearly as much. 

Look at all the logic / automation skins

[MeepMeep86]

Maybe I'm missing something, but how do you actually get bionic dupes? Just the 3 from the start and a chance from the printing pod?

[flamboyant wolf]

9 hours ago, StarvingAngler said:

 

Also, am I the only one who hears the Lab Rats intro sequence whenever thinking about the Bionic Booster Pack?

Nope 

[gigamoi]

I took a peek during lunch. Nice stuff so far.

 

That being said, I know this is the first beta version so things may change soon, but I'm a bit confused about what to do with gunk at the time. I can oil my dupes with crude or phyto oil using the dedicated building and that's fine and dandy but when it comes to gunk, I can either petro-boil it to petroleum, which is one way to deal with the stuff but requires high temps (Needless to say I wont set that up until very late game. I'd rather vent it to space and feed my dupes fresh crude in the mean time.), or use the apothecary to pollute some water in order to create a single use pack of lubricant out of it.

I suppose dupes can use those packs without the lubrication machine and the water can be sieved at no loss but, between the dupe labor use and lack of piping, the process is clunky. That seems fitting for early game but it begs the question: How do I create more of those packs if I don't have gunk in the first place? I know some are delivered with the dupes but what if they are gone for some reason?

The slime -> phyto-oil route seems ok to oil your dupes for when you don't have crude yet in early mid game, but as soon as you switch from using the lube packs to using the building, you have to either dump the gunk or use it to create packs your duplicants no longer need. Perhaps I can pipe their content back in the oiling building somehow but it is unclear how and the gunk recycling process remains dupe labor intensive. Perhaps the gunk should be directly sievable to some valid lubricant since you can essentially already do that through the apothecary. That would allow the oiling process to be mostly dupe labor free much like toilets are mid-game without the gunk just being nearly unusable waste. If you don't want the thing to mostly just be a cycle, allow us, at least, to refine it to petroleum in the refinery or something. Petro-boiling is hard on new players.

 

Also, do flydos obey door permissions? If they don't, they will be a hard no for me.

[sakura_sk]

24 minutes ago, gigamoi said:

Also, do flydos obey door permissions?

Robot sensor when?

Rovers and biobots ignore door permissions. I assume it would be the same for flydos

[JRup]

6 hours ago, StarvingAngler said:

Bionics also consume oxygen at the same rate as normal dupes, but might only be able to refill on bottled oxygen (untested)

They will gobble up available atmospheric oxygen when there's no canister filler ready for the task (it must have a ready made bottle as well).

41 minutes ago, gigamoi said:

Also, do flydos obey door permissions? If they don't, they will be a hard no for me.

Ah, our own little, flying delivery bots.

They do respect door permissions, but require manual battery replenishments. They can't pull off a BMO and swap batteries on their own or by means of an autosweeper or a dedicated dock (sweepy still wins out on this one, sorry bionics update).

They are made out of plastic, exclusively. So no melty environments for you, flydos.

My biggest gripe with them is that the "Move to" "Relocate" command is "lost" when they drop debris (which happens fairly often...) I mean, the task is still visible on the map but cancelling and re-issuing it is required for it to be seen as a valid task again. (or maybe a reload, but who does that?)

So, in short, flydos are materials delivery pets bots that require a happy environment that's enclosed to limit any kind of lag from all the routing.

[Tigin]

Will there be unreleased content/a new achievement for launch like FP?

[Lillegre]

Microchip crafting when sleeping seems broken, as it is not linked to any period of activity. My current META is to take a team of 3 bionics, immediately make a crafting station, 2 batteries, and a hamster wheel, then make them sleep for 24 hours, gaining 12 chips in the process. 

Is it intended that the gunk toilet is locked behind a research wall when the crafting station is not?

On the subject of toilets, if the bionic uses an outhouse, it blocks it (intentional, from what I see), but when you unclog the outhouse, the gunk is clean (no germs) and all the germs are in the dirt?  Intended?

 

[StarvingAngler]

1 hour ago, Lillegre said:

Is it intended that the gunk toilet is locked behind a research wall when the crafting station is not?

Very likely, considering that you can use normal toilets if forced.

Also, doesn't the crafting station technically require research (albeit a pathetically small amount)

[Lillegre]

39 minutes ago, StarvingAngler said:

Very likely, considering that you can use normal toilets if forced.

Also, doesn't the crafting station technically require research (albeit a pathetically small amount)

On a start with a bionic, you get the crafting station for gratis and then, the pod animates to provide 6 metal power banks and 1 gear balm per bionic (i.e. a 6 cycle supply / support per bionic).  I tried to capture it in this screenie, note the built  / working crafting station and the crafting station research being conducted (the "Employment" node)

4 hours ago, Tigin said:

Will there be unreleased content/a new achievement for launch like FP?

There is already a new room type not in test "Bionics Depot" (presumably bionics buffs requiring a gunk drainer, lube station and a soldering station? ), so there is at least that ^_^

[StarvingAngler]

2 hours ago, Lillegre said:

6 metal power banks

Actually I think its only 5

[Lillegre]

5 minutes ago, StarvingAngler said:

Actually I think its only 5

Is it a bird?  Is it a plane?  No!, it is Cptn. PEDANTIC!

 

[StarvingAngler]

Sorry, couldn't help it