They're Everywhere!

[GuyPerfect]

With the ability to see germs through a filter comes a unique brand of paranoia previously reserved for those recently protected by the witness relocation program; those who believe the same government that can't get its budget in order is competent enough to spy on us all; and, when under a certain influence, Kurt from the apartment downstairs after he accidentally passes a stopped school bus (from either direction). But it's different in Oxygen Not Included: I don't have to wonder when they're out to get me--I can see when they're out to get me!

In the early cycles of the game, before the asteroid gains sentience, germs can be a bit of an issue. Food Poisoning specifically, and a not-insignificant issue at that. Every Duplicant comes with his or her own Food Poisoning generator that is activated via an Outhouse. Take the browns to the super bowl just once and you're completely covered head-to-toe with the little yellow speckles. Service or deconstruct an Outhouse or Wash Basin and you gain a vector through which Food Poisoning can propagate to the environment. Stick it in a Bottle Emptier and you too can have a ready source of disease-ridden yuck in your plumbing system, whenever you want! Food Poisoning is adept at stealth and infiltration and, like Kurt when he invites himself over, never wants to go away.

The Problem

I don't object to the presence of Food Poisoning or the ways it can be spread. All of that seems fairly reasonable to me and genuinely adds value to the game. What I take issue with is that it isn't early-game friendly: there isn't any apparent way to prevent it or deal with it after it begins to spread. Given that the very first notification you're given is "Colony requires toilets", I think the problem is one that merits some further consideration.

Placing toilets behind Wash Basins prevents Duplicants from returning to the encampment or work areas with germs on them. This is the most obvious preventative measure and, for the most part, does a good job of keeping Food Poisoning out of the picture. But it's not a universal solution, nor should it be.

On surfaces:

• Duplicants are armed with a state-of-the-art, high-powered, rapid-fire nano-artillery laser battery rifle capable of vaporizing surface germs on contact. If it's on a floor or wall or ladder or Building, the usual Disinfect action can take care of it.

In the water:

• Food Poisoning loves water. Dumping germs into water will cause the population to quickly spread to every corner of the container and get all over the place if that water is later used by Duplicants. And it doesn't have to be from potty byproducts either: even running waste water through a Water Purifier and back into a pool of clean water will do an excellent job of contaminating that entire pool of clean water.
• Food Poisoning dies off at something like 40~50 °C. A Liquid Tepidizer can be used to raise the temperature of the water to germ-killing parameters. The resulting hot water can then be cooled and stored in another container somewhere. Given the specific circumstances required to get germs in water in the first place, I actually think this is a reasonable approach to purify it.

In the air:

• Once an Outhouse or Wash Basin is serviced, a germ-ridden, oxygen-contaminating resource is produced that can get out of control if not dealt with properly. At first I believed that Polluted Oxygen was itself the source of germs, and that purifying it with a Deodorizer would fix the germ problem. What a fool I once was.
• Food Poisoning doesn't do well in Carbon Dioxide or Chlorine, so those elements (you'd better believe that Carbon Dioxide is an "element" in this context) can be introduced in areas where Food Poisoning has begun to spread. This is not the preferred solution, however, since as long as it doesn't smell too bad, one should never be required to hold one's breath while on the can.
• Can a Space Heater be used to heat up air enough that it kills germs? Never tried it, personally. If it works, then you've got a closed chamber with a lot of hot air in it that you have to deal with. You'd have to systematically quarantine and purify all of the air in your colony in order to clean up a volume with germs in it.

On resources:

• A contaminated resource cannot be Disinfected with the laser rifle. It can be placed in an Ore Scrubber, but that's by no means an early-game solution.
• I guess you could put it in a Storage Compactor that's in a chamber filled with Carbon Dioxide or Chlorine? Haven't tried it, and there's no simple way to determine exactly which storage unit to use when Sweeping something.

I can hear you now: "Just wash your hands after you poop and you won't ever have any Food Poisoning on your stuff. By the time you encounter any Slimelung, you'll already be in a position to have an Ore Scrubber at your disposal." Eloquently spoken, my friend. I like your style. Thing is, sometimes fate conspires to contaminate something. Maybe a Duplicant wandered in to deliver some Polluted Dirt to a Composter and all of the Wash Basins just happened to be in use on the way back. Maybe some Fertilizer came out of the Composter and got Sweep'd after using the Lavatory but before washing the hands. Sometimes the friggin' idiot briefly stops at all Wash Basins on the way out and never completely gets himself cleaned off. On paper, these things shouldn't ever happen, but in practice they can happen even when you're otherwise prepared for them.

When a contaminated resource is stored in any sort of container, that container produces surface germs that can then spread to Duplicants accessing the container and so-on. Hopefully the Auto-Disinfect will prevent that, but you never know. The item just sits there, unable to be cleaned, until an Ore Scrubber is built.

The Solution... ?

Surface germs and germy water aren't really a problem. Sure, they occur, but they're easy enough to deal with (well, the water thing is easier to prevent at least). That leaves us with germy air and contaminated resources. But what could be done to aid in early-game Food Poisoning management that won't also trivialize mid-game Slimelung management? Another expertly-spoken bit of dialog, my friend. We must have tea sometime.

The answer is simple. Introduce some sanitation options that only apply to Food Poisoning:

• Resources can already be cleaned with an Ore Scrubber, but you shouldn't have to maintain a population of Food Poisoning until you get one. What if Wash Basins and Sinks would clean the Food Poisoning off of anything the Duplicant happens to be carrying? I mean, that's what I do before cooking with potatoes for the same reason, so I wouldn't say it's out of the question.
• For air, I think Deodorizer is a bit too simple of a solution. Instead, I'm thinking an Air Sanitizer that you can hook up with Gas Pipes. Germy air goes in, Food Poisoning-free air and, like, Polluted Dirt come out. Same as Water Purifier, but for gases... and also germs. Granted, it takes more setup because you'll need to do the research and get the ducts all laid out. But it's not too difficult to contain a region of contaminated air long enough to get a Gas Pump in there to evacuate it and have it cleaned.

Also, the designated Sweep thing:

• Introduce a mechanism for instructing a particular Sweep action be delivered to a particular storage container, or even left on the ground. That way, contaminated resources can be identified and dealt with on a case-by-case basis. Even without the proposed update to Sinks and Wash Basins, this would allow me to move my yucky stuff somewhere else, like a quarantine or a Chlorine chamber.

Further reading:

• Amazing way to use germs as a resource!
• Never wash your hands again with this one simple trick.
• Ever wanted to keep Slimelung as a pet?

[The Plum Gate]

Setting up that first bathroom after having dug out the 20 tons of asteroid is a booger to deal with whence they first lay turd - micromanaging their every move around the area until the restroom is clear of debris is feat in itself.

A wonderful post - I personally give my food poisoned pit the ice bucket challenge with some germ-free polluted ice in a in a storage compactor set to a 600kg payload. Occasionally I'll use the pit as an exosuit to living quarters transfer area - or any area to pass germy slime to - it too dies off in the cold.

As for the germy O2 coming out of the fertilizer pile, the deodorizer seems to work best, and they don't go up to it that often to begin with, food posining is usually dead in the air - heck, I could just store the poo in the water there too. I would set that up so that it doesn't outgas, but a water layer would just freeze into ice.

edit - a note on the cut in the ladder: it is there to prevent them from spreading germs on the first rung - this prevents them from picking them up when they go down into the pit and can pass by everything without touching anything but the cold ladder. the upper portion usually has germs on it from outhouse duty.

...

 

Right now, the only food poisoning germs I have are in the compost heap or on the outhouse itself. Ice locker shown, slime locker in the middle, spare on the right. water forms an airlock - still have to deal with PO2, but hey, no germs at least. The water is around 18F or -7.7C. Middle locker can be reached from both sides. without soggy feet or danger of passage from one side to another.

Feed the effluent to the plants from showers and toilets if need be, otherwise it's pretty easy to chill a small basin down to the point where the germs all die off. No electricity needed.

 

[GuyPerfect]

That's an incredibly clever solution to the Food Poisoning problem, moreso than the "move a bunch of Hatches to the toilet area to eat all the stuff that comes out" approach I've been using. It's a relatively-self-sustained manner of purifying germy water, and I gotta give you props for coming up with it.

[WanderingKid]

On ‎9‎/‎27‎/‎2017 at 2:20 PM, GuyPerfect said:

 Given that the very first notification you're given is "Colony requires toilets", I think the problem is one that merits some further consideration.

You mean they DON'T use their T-Shirts and socks as toilet paper?  Oh, whoops.

[Reaniel]

Food poison germs doesn't grow in PO2.