Suggestion for Klei: Expand Shove Vole Diet to Solve Late‑Game Mineral Overflow

[june999]

Dear Klei Developers,

I have a gameplay balance suggestion for Oxygen Not Included regarding the Shove Vole and late‑game resource management.

Right now, Shove Voles only eat Regolith, but they have an extremely high consumption rate of 4800 kg per cycle—far more efficient than any Hatch at disposing of massive piles of rock. In late‑game play, players are flooded with endless Sand, Igneous Rock, Sedimentary Rock, and Granite from volcanoes, digging, and industrial builds. These materials pile up in huge quantities and have almost no useful consumption channels.

Stone Hatches simply cannot keep up with this volume. They eat only about 140 kg per cycle, meaning one Shove Vole can replace roughly 34 Hatches for rock disposal. Meanwhile, Regolith is limited to the space biome, so Shove Voles cannot be used as a general‑purpose mineral sink across the whole asteroid.

My suggestion: Add Sand, Igneous Rock, Sedimentary Rock, and Granite to the Shove Vole’s diet.

 

This change would:

• Let Shove Voles become the ideal late‑game solution for overflowing common rocks
• Preserve their role without breaking balance (keep the same 50% conversion to Dirt)
• Complement rather than replace Hatches: Hatches still produce Coal / Refined Metal, while Shove Voles handle bulk mineral destruction
• Fit their high temperature tolerance, making them perfect for processing hot Igneous Rock from volcanoes

Thank you for making such a deep, creative game. This small tweak would greatly improve quality of life for long‑term players struggling with endless late‑game rock piles.

Best regards, A long‑time ONI player

[Shinkarr]

The other way to dispose minerals is to crush them into sand and filter lots of polluted water. Two water sieves saturating one liquid pipe require 1200kg/cycle. Polluted water easily made from normal water by carbon skimmer. CO2 made by almost everything. E.g. ethanol distiller plus petroleum generator burning ethanol.

Also one can just temporary increase number of hatches to consume all that rocks.

What bothers be more is there is no resource sinks for steel, niobium, thermium, and nuclear waste. Also arbor acorn. No way to dispose them. 

[JRup]

You do know that encouraging shove-voles is asking for trouble. 

 

13 hours ago, june999 said:

In late‑game play, players are flooded with endless Sand, Igneous Rock, Sedimentary Rock, and Granite from volcanoes, digging, and industrial builds. These materials pile up in huge quantities and have almost no useful consumption channels.

Um, no. Just don't dig out the map, preserve nature and all that jazz. Sand has its uses and rocks are good fodder for stone hatches... (Yes, late game dweller here.)

 

13 hours ago, june999 said:

Stone Hatches simply cannot keep up with this volume

This only means you need more stone hatches.

Or, just pile the resources somewhere convenient and out of the way to keep feeding them...
 

The only "immediately" renewable type of stone is igneous rock. And that is after going through the trouble of making a regolith melter... Stone hatches may seem slow but they're still an effective means of disposal. Then again, you'll be left with a lot of coal...

 

11 hours ago, Shinkarr said:

What bothers be more is there is no resource sinks for steel, niobium, thermium, and nuclear waste. Also arbor acorn. No way to dispose them. 

Steel and thermium you make as needed. Niobium is not as plentiful but can and should be put to good use in decorative applications for that powerful +50% bonus.  Nuclear waste is, well, waste - crush or vent into space, I guess.

Arbor acorns, that's just asking to mess with the pip union. We all know how that goes.

Spoiler

They can be composted. (Gets stared at by pips...)

 

[Shinkarr]

25 minutes ago, JRup said:

Niobium is not as plentiful but can and should be put to good use in decorative applications for that powerful +50% bonus. 

You have to do something with it it the long run. There is whole volcano. 

26 minutes ago, JRup said:

Niobium is not as plentiful but can and should be put to good use in decorative applications for that powerful +50% bonus. 

Many people suggested adding auto-composting solution.

[MinhPham]

That's weird, i never had a problem with having too much resources, i had to build a regolith melter just to feed the stone hatches.

I'm okay with having too much money too, if that also a problem i'm willing to help 

Edited June 27 by MinhPham