[Game Update] - The Aquatic Planet Pack DLC Beta - 731233

[JarrettM]

Hey friends, 

It's time to start public testing for The Aquatic Planet Pack DLC!

This paid DLC plunges Duplicants into a whole new asteroid flooded with marine-themed biomes, critters, plants, ranching buildings, and elements. Plus, Duplicants can now learn to swim! 

We teamed up with long-time ONI modder Aki on parts of this DLC, which makes it extra special for all of us. 

Dive in on the public_testing branch on Steam—this free testing period is open to anyone who owns the base game there.

New items and changes listed under "All versions" in the patch notes are compatible with old and new bases, but it's always best to back up your saves before you start. Just in case! 

New asteroid
The new starting world has four new biomes, each with its own ecosystem. The Beach biome is home to the Gum Palm, as well as edible Sodicanes and Mussel Sprouts. New critters here are the Slogo snail and Blowter fish. The Reef biome features a Pearl-producing giant clam, Starnacle and Petta Pouf plants, Beakon and Blowter fish, oxygen-producing Flue Coral, and Seaquines. The latter can be milked at the new Aquatic Milking Station for Ovolene, which can in turn be processed into morale-boosting Caviar. 

In the Kelp Forest biome, Tower Kelp plants nurture tiny Kelpole critters - both can be harvested for Nori, an ingredient used at the new Sushi Bar. Orehulls also live here, and can be sheared for Iron Ore. The Abyss biome contains Glo Squids along with strange native plants Tublias, Pinpokets and Bulblooms.

We added many new elements, including Rubber, which is used to craft the new 4kW Insulated Conductive Wires, Rubber Boots that protect workers from Soggy Feet, and Gaskets that prevent unwanted liquid leakage. Rubber is produced at the Vulcanizer using Latex from the Gum Palm tree. 

We've added new geysers: Tidal Springs in the Beach biome, and Thermal Gas Fissures and Polluted Brine Vents in the Abyss biome. 

There are diggable natural backwall tiles throughout the new asteroid. 

New buildings
Some of the new buildings include: submersible versions of the Grooming, Shearing, and Milking stations that expand the possibilities for aquatic ranching; a Tidal Turbine that enables hydropower generation, and Marine Drills to harvest built-up minerals from the Abyss geysers. 

The new Aquatic Critter Fountain and Fish Pick-Up are available in the base game too, as part of substantial improvements to aquatic ranching. (More on that in the Critter Changes section.)

There's also a Breathing Station to replenish submerged Duplicants' oxygen levels between tasks.

Duplicant changes
When a Duplicant suffocates, they will no longer die instantly. Instead, they become incapacitated. Other Duplicants will now take those incapacitated crewmates to an oxygenated area and perform CPR on them. Various effects have been adjusted, including Minor/Major Eye Irritation, Soggy Feet, and Sopping Wet. 

Duplicants can now learn Basic Swimming and Divemaster skills, enabling them to hold their breath longer and better tolerate the chilly temperatures associated with traveling through liquid.

Critter changes
The Reproduction speed bonus for Tame and Happy critters is now proportional to the specific happiness level that the critters are experiencing. Happier critters lay more eggs, even happier critters lay even more eggs!

Pokeshells got a boost: Pokeshells' and Sanishells' consumption rate per cycle has been reduced. Pokshell Molt mass and Sanishell sand conversion rate are increased. They—and other non-fish aquatic critters—no longer include fish when they're calculating overcrowded conditions.

We retuned Pacus (including all morphs) to mitigate how overpowered they were previously. They now produce less meat, smaller eggs, and the eggs that do get laid will not drop Lime when crushed. (Apologies, it had to be done.) 

The Fish Feeder now has less impact on critter happiness, which is balanced out by the new Aquatic Critter Fountain. 

Other cool stuff
We fixed some bugs! And we added two new Duplicants: one new starter called Kai, and one Unknown Duplicant who is available to join the colony upon completion of the asteroid imperative. 

We made upgrades to liquid presentation. For example, Salt Water is now blue with small crystalline specks, and magma and molten metals have a new texture that more closely mimics what we'd expect to see in the real world 

New bubble mechanics represent actual material flow and illustrate gas moving from underwater sources to the surface of a pool.

What's next

We'll be working on this DLC throughout the public testing period, and prepping over 100 cosmetic blueprints for the release. As usual, this DLC will be accompanied by a free update for all versions of the game.

Your playtesting feedback helps us ensure the final version of this DLC offers the best experience possible. Let us know what you think here, and report bugs here.

Thank you so much for getting The Aquatic Planet Pack truly shipshape before it goes on sale!

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

Features

• All versions
  • Added bubbles that carry gasses to the surface of liquids before entering the sim.
  • Liquid visuals have changed to have more texture/colors, and objects inside liquids are easier to see.
  • New Buildings
    • Aquatic Critter Fountain
    • Fish Pick-Up
  • Other
    • Added Plastic Gasket object and recipe. Most buildings that required Plastic as a secondary construction material now take Gaskets instead:
      • Dehydrator
      • Rehydrator
      • Liquid Meter Valve
      • Gas Meter Valve
      • High Pressure Gas Vent
      • Milking Station
      • Drillcone
      • Oxylite Refinery
      • Conveyor Meter
      • Steam Turbine
      • Uranium Centrifuge (SO!)
      • Wall Toilet (SO!)
• The Aquatic Planet Pack
  • Added Swimming.
  • Added Swimming skill tree with Basic Swimming and Divemaster skills.
  • New Duplicant: Kai
  • New Duplicant: Unknown Duplicant (asteroid imperative)
  • Beach starting biome
    • Sodicane plant
    • Gum Palm plant
    • Mussel Sprouts forage plant
    • Husha Cups decor plant
    • Slogo critter
    • Beached vista
  • Reef biome
    • Beakon fish
    • Blowter fish
    • Clampum plant
    • Starnacle plant
    • Seaquine critter
    • Flue Coral plant
    • Petta Pouf decor plant
    • Tidal Spring geyser
    • Reef vista
  • Kelp Forest Biome
    • Orehull critter
    • Tower Kelp plant
    • Kelpole critter
    • Kelp vista
  • Abyss Biome
    • Glo Squid
    • Tublia plant
    • Pinpoket plant
    • Polluted Brine Vent
    • Bulbloom decor plant
    • Gildgo critter (Slogo morph)
    • Thermal Gas Fissure
  • Food
    • Edamame
    • Tobiko
    • Nigiri
    • Sushi Roll
    • Uni
    • Nori
    • Mussel Tongue
    • Calamari
  • Buildings
    • Sushi Bar
    • Aquatic Grooming Station
    • Aquatic Shearing Station
    • Aquatic Milking Station
    • Breathing Station
    • Vulcanizer
    • Tidal Turbine
    • Wide Hydroponic Farm
    • Wall Planter
    • Mini-Fridge
    • Insulated Conductive Wire and Bridge
    • Marine Drill
    • Glass Backwall
    • Glass Ceiling Light
  • Other
    • Caviar can be used as a garnish at dining tables as an alternative to Table Salt.
    • Natural backwall (not exclusive to this DLC).
    • Finding Minnow imperative.
    • Scramble DLC settings for new Biomes and DLC.
    • 3 new clusters (base game, Classic Style in Spaced Out!, and Spaced Out! style).
    • Rubber Boots, which protect Duplicants from Soggy Feet.
    • Swimwear, which adds insulation and protects against liquid debuffs.
    • Polluted Brine Vent.
    • Added Rubber Gasket object and recipe as an alternative to the Plastic variety.
    • Ovolene-to-Caviar recipe added to Gleaner.
    • 2 new songs added to the game.
  • New Elements (not exclusive to this DLC)
    • Pearl
    • Rubber
    • Siltstone
    • Mucin, Solid Mucin
    • Zinc Ore, Zinc, Liquid Zinc, Zinc Gas
    • Corallium
    • Coquina
    • Basalt
    • Gum Wood
    • Ovolene, Frozen Ovolene
    • Ink, Frozen Ink
    • Latex
    • Polluted Brine
    • Galena

Changes and Improvements

• All versions
  • Duplicant changes
    • Duplicants now become incapacitated when they suffocate, instead of instantly dying.
    • Duplicants will perform CPR on incapacitated crewmates when they have suffocated.
    • Eye Irritation now produces a Stress penalty instead of Athletic penalty.
    • Duplicants now have a stamina debuff when moving through substantial liquids.
    • Breath is now displayed as a simple integer rather than a percentage (like Health).
    • Flatulent Duplicants will produce bubbles when farting in liquid.
    • Added Stamina penalty to Soggy Feet and Sopping Wet effects, and reduced Stress penalties.
    • Duplicants with low breath consumption and high Breath will not show a pained expression while submerged in liquid.
    • Fleeing Duplicants now trigger a red notification.
  • Critter changes
    • Eggs from any Pacu species no longer drop eggshells.
    • Reduced Pacu Egg mass and its Raw Egg kcal yield.
    • Reduced Pokeshell and Sanishell food required per cycle.
    • Increased Pokeshell Molt drop mass.
    • Increased Sanishell’s sand conversion rate.
    • Wild Critters will now display Happiness, Critter Metabolism, Body Temperature, Reproduction, Brackene Supply, and Accu-moo-lation values in the Condition Panel of the Details Screen.
    • Reduced the strength of the Wildness reduction effect provided by the Fish Feeder.
    • The Critter Feeder now provides a comparable Wildness reduction effect to the Fish Feeder.
    • Eating from the Fish Feeder no longer provides critters a Happiness bonus.
    • The Reproduction speed bonus for Tame and Happy critters is now proportional to the specific happiness value they have.
    • The threshold for the "Mood: Happy" status item has been adjusted to +1.
    • Pacu Treat provides a Happiness bonus to Pacu. Many seeds can be converted to Pacu Treats at the Microbe Musher.
    • Non-fish critters no longer include fish in their overcrowding calculations.
    • Pacu Fillet is now named Fish Fillet, to more accurately reflect the fact that it can be produced by aquatic critters other than the Pacu.
    • Unhappy Shine Bugs no longer produce light.
  • Tepidizer changes
    • Tepidizer no longer has a maximum liquid temperature.
    • Added “Turbo Mode”, for Tepidizer to operate at higher wattage, produce more heat, and boil small amounts of the fluid it’s immersed in. Heat Production status info and Power requirement will adjust automatically to reflect turbo mode being toggled on/off.
  • Buildings
    • Space Heater's Heat Production status info and Power requirement now adjust dynamically to reflect the wattage currently selected on its Power Consumption slider.
    • Fish Release can now be placed several tiles above the liquid's surface and still function. Art has been adjusted accordingly.
    • Fish Feeder and Fish Release buildings are no longer breakable by liquid pressure.
    • Mucin can be used instead of Water in the Plant Pulverizer's Brackene recipes.
    • Mucin can be used as an alternative to Water in Mush Bar and Liceloaf recipes.
    • Added Corallium to the Lime recipe at the Rock Crusher.
    • Significantly reduced Beach Chair work time.
    • Consolidated the “Transparent” and “Glass” building material categories into a single "Glassy" category. Valid materials include Glass, Diamond, Pearl, and Amber. Solid resin and Solid Sap no longer belong to these categories.
    • Building a Critter Fountain now requires Glass, in addition to its normal Refined Metal requirement.
    • Desalinator can now process Polluted Brine into Polluted Water.
    • Renamed the Brackwax Gleaner to simply Gleaner, to allow for additional liquid conversions to be performed by this building.
    • Renamed the Water Fort to Aquatic Critter Condo to be easier to find in the build menu.
  • UI/Database
    • Ctrl-F on the Research Screen will focus the Filter search bar.
    • Added Table Salt to the sandbox spawn menu.
    • Added SFX when Database, Research, and Build menu search bars gain focus.
    • Dig Tool now has a checkbox filter for uprooting plants and digging natural backwall.
    • Added a new building category "Submersible" for buildings that can operate in liquid without flooding.
    • Added mood-related molting information to database entries for Oakshells and Slogos.
    • Improved element conversion information display for buildings that accept more than one type of input: Input options are now displayed under the heading "Inputs" in the Requirements section. Outputs are shown under their input heading in the Effects section.
  • Algae now dissolves into Oxygen when submerged in Water and exposed to sufficient light.
  • Underwater objects now become more visible when they are closer to the center of the camera frame.
  • Skills
    • Added a 3rd-tier Cooking skill called Fine Dining.
    • Renamed Grilling II to Enhanced Seasoning.
    • Moved Gas Range and other advanced cooking stations into Enhanced Seasoning.
  • Waterweed:
    • Removed fertilization requirement.
    • No longer wilts when fully submerged in liquid.
    • Increased the Irrigation mass requirements.
    • Water, Salt Water, and Brine, are now all valid irrigation liquids.
    • Minor art revisions.
  • Sounds
    • Added sound for mining guns being used while submerged in liquid.
    • Polluted Water, Salt Water, and Brine have new sound ambiences.
  • Recipes that are POI-unlocked can now appear in fabricator sidescreens, even if their required resources haven't yet been discovered.
  • Mesh Tiles previously allowed only sunlight to pass through them - they now also allow light from other sources to pass through.
  • Changed the UI color of Brackwax to be more similar to the color of the pickupable.
• Spaced Out!
  • Wall Toilet construction material has changed to Metal and Gaskets.
• Prehistoric Planet Pack
  • Jawbo is now attracted to Fish Trap lures.
  • Jawbo Eggs now produce 1kg of Eggshell when cracked, instead of 2kg.
  • Jawbo Fillet gives Radiation Resistance effect.

Fixes

• All versions
  • Fixed inoperational Liquid Shutoffs sometimes allowing liquid to pass through on load.
  • Fixed a bug where Duplicants were not fleeing after being attacked.
  • Doors saved in an open or opening state will once again close upon load if they are set to Auto. Airlocks now update their temperature at the end of an open animation, in sync with the change in their sim state.
  • Fixed a bug where save files with long names in multibyte languages would not permit manual saves.
  • Fixed a bug where emptying a liquid bottle from a Bottle Filler sometimes showed a liquid color that didn't match the liquid that the Duplicant was trying to pick up.
  • Fixed visual bug on the Bottle Filler building where the Duplicant’s picked up bottle didn’t match how much liquid it contained.
  • Recover Breath chore’s safety query now checks adjacent cells for oxygen as well, not just the cell the Duplicants would stand on.
  • Duplicants recovering breath while on a ladder now play the correct animation.
  • Fixed a bug where reactions were not playing correctly.
  • Removed the "Copy of " text in Schedule screen default schedule title UI.
  • Luxury Barracks now provide +100% Stamina per cycle, as do the Barracks. Added Stamina information to the Room overlay tooltip.
  • Worldgen:
    • Fixed large entities overlapping, such as Oil Reservoirs in the Trapped Oil and Deep Oil world traits.
    • Fixed an issue where Boulders, Geodes, and Large Glacier world traits were generated incorrectly. This slightly changes the worldgen seeds with those world traits, but geysers are largely unaffected (exception: Oil Reservoirs spawned as part of Irregular Oil and Trapped Oil traits).
  • Fixed a bug where deceased Duplicants mourned themselves.
  • Fixed issue where buildings that had been renamed would lose their custom name when applying a different cosmetic blueprint or when loading the save.
  • Fixed building placement preview disappearing when panning the camera.
  • Fixed a typo on the repair string for Worn Oxygen Masks.
  • Corrected the aspect ratio of the ESC menu's DLC toggle art.
  • Status items on emptying pipes in colonies lacking a Duplicant with the Plumbing skill will now update correctly once a Duplicant gets that skill.
  • Rays from light sources now apply the intended color tint. This makes some colored lights a little more vibrant.
  • Fixed a crash that occurred when loading a save file that had a DLC monument blueprint applied but did not have the DLC installed.
  • Pacus now have more flexibility for navigating stacked insubstantial liquids.
  • Desalinator now only displays conversion information for the element currently being processed.
  • Fixed Aquatic Critter Condo not displaying a status item when not submerged in liquid.
  • Fixed large aquatic critters going to the incorrect cell for the Aquatic Critter Condo.
• Base Game only
  • Tonic Root database entry is no longer mistakenly locked behind the Spaced Out! DLC.
• Spaced Out! only
  • Fixed swamp starting template containing a sandstone tile.
  • Meteor Blaster no longer reveals the identity of the targeted unidentified incoming meteor shower.
• The Frosty Planet Pack
  • Fixed Wood Heater not playing sound.
• The Bionic Booster Pack
  • Added a new skill badge for the Improved Hardware skill.
• The Prehistoric Planet Pack
  • The Smoker's errand type is now a Cook Supply type.
  • Fixed Jawbo missing fish bag symbol.

Modding

• Added startingMinions to cluster file format to define up to three starting Duplicants. See Ceres, Prehistoric, or Aquatic clusters for examples.
• Converted ElementLoader to use VYaml. Speeds up launching the game by 2s.
• KAnim symbols with the “_sh” postfix will have a shine effect applied to them. These symbols are greyscale, with black being zero shine and white being 100% shine.
• Deprecated Mob.Location rule Water. It now behaves the same way as Liquid.

 

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 branch 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 Testing branch, it cannot be reopened again in the previous Live branch or previous builds.

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 branch 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 Game Versions & 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 Installed Files tab and press Verify integrity of game files.
• Your game will be updated to the the new beta version.
• Launch and play Oxygen Not Included

View full update

[pether]

Teaming with Aki was the best decission you guys made in recent years. And the bar was high!
I am so hyped!!!!

[Primalflower]

YAAAAAAAAAAAAA

[DSTUser]

The Peak is overwhelming and i cant wait to play this, Klei picking up Mod Devs like Aki is a really good move!!! Fitting for this to go into testing right after Subnautica 2 dropped lol

[fullerfamily]

THANK YOU!!!!! I am stuck home with eye surgery this weekend!

[tHe_silent_H]

"Babe, wake up, new Oni content just dropped"

[june999]

nice

[Tenedas]

gave up hope yesterday and started a colony, classic murphy's law. Glad it worked this time too tho 

[BezKa]

THAT LOOKS AWESOME!!

It really looks like the packs should be able to replace the "classic" asteroids from Spaced Out. I hope that'll be possible someday!

Hope I get the chance to check it out sometime soon <3

 

[goboking]

4 hours ago, JarrettM said:

magma and molten metals have a new texture that more closely mimics what we'd expect to see in the real world 

New bubble mechanics represent actual material flow and illustrate gas moving fr

Lava looking like uncongealed cherry Jell-O always bothered me, so I'm glad to hear this. 

[creamizzing]

good news : newDLC

bed news : oh no pacu!!!! TTTTT

Edited 4 hours ago by creamizzing

[goboking]

Since a new update is imminent, I hope it's not bad form to take the opportunity mention how awesome a wild/tame only toggle for stuff like incubators and egg crackers would be.  

[Carib94]

Just want to say Thank You devs for all the hard work that you do for this game. Even more so that you collab with one of the top Modders in the community Aki. THANK YOU!!!!

[Talic]

AMAZING THANK YOU KLEI!!! Really appreciate all the updates. 

[Tigin]

7 hours ago, JarrettM said:

Pokeshells got a boost: Pokeshells' and Sanishells' consumption rate per cycle has been reduced.

I'm not sure if this landed or is outdated. I still see pokeshells eating 70kg/cycle, although I see the 6x (!!) drop rate of their molts (60kg) now. 

[Simonova]

Be sure to drink your ovolene!

[sakura_sk]

I don't think I see a log about this

[Genryu_Strike]

Please add a way to obtain Polluted Brine outside of Geyser/Space POI. It is required for one of the new "plant" so it should be renewable.

 

Edit : Also, is there a way to get any kind of Gasket early? The Tidal Turbine requires it but the earliest it can be obtained is at least after Research Tier 4 to produce Rubber or Plastic.

Edited 1 hour ago by Genryu_Strike

[Szczuku]

Kind of a bummer that neither this nor the Jurassic dlc got the animated shorts build-up of the Frosty dlc, but this is still very cool nonetheless. A proper water world is very much something that was bound to happen

[tHe_silent_H]

57 minutes ago, Genryu_Strike said:

Please add a way to obtain Polluted Brine outside of Geyser/Space POI. It is required for one of the new "plant" so it should be renewable.

 

Edit : Also, is there a way to get any kind of Gasket early? The Tidal Turbine requires it but the earliest it can be obtained is at least after Research Tier 4 to produce Rubber or Plastic.

needs to be an emulsifier recipe for sure. For the gasket I believe a nearby poi(with beach chair) spawns with a freebie. also a good time to mention that the food tab is getting a bit overcrowded and could use a new pen(ranching tab)

Edited 33 minutes ago by tHe_silent_H

[Babxbba]

Just finished to do for the first time an automated omelette farm on experiment's planet, obviously using pacus.

But it's a small price to pay for a new dlc *_*