Thoughts from a new player

[Ragnarok]

I thought I would share a few thoughts as a new player of Oxygen not included.

 

Firstly I say this as a lets play on you tube and thought “Hey that art style is just like don’t starve and that gateway looks very familiar”  I then see that it is a new game by Klei and download it.

 

Fast forwards 4 days and all of my waking hours have been consumed by the game (even some hours when I should be asleep).

 

I have started and quit over a dozen games with the loss of scores of duplicants.  Some games I give up on after a dozen or so cycles as I don’t have the experience to make them work.  Most however died out around cycles 80 to 120.  My first game got the furthest and I thought that maybe it was too easy.  I then decided to use a coal generator to power the airlock into a chlorine section and suffocated all of my dupes.  Another time I hadn’t noticed that the temperature was risen and all of a sudden I went from 54,000Kcal to zero as my plants wilted.  I couldn’t get any meaningful cooling sorted and everyone starved to death.  My latest death was in cycle 80, when my electrolyzer all of a sudden filled half of the colony with H2 (I swear when I saved it there was a small pocket in the caves at the top and next load it was filling my base).  I quickly tried to install a hydrogen generator and air pipes to pump the h2 up, but then my crops failed and one pipe bugged out and wouldn’t let any gas move through it. So I left the dupes to their fate and moved on.

 

This game has a steep learning curve for new players and doesn’t give out much advice. The only reason I know to do a few things is from watching videos of others and reading forum boards.  For example I didn’t know that building from different materials gave different bonuses.  When I first say the iron and copper when I selected a building to build, I thought I needed both resources.  I’m hoping for a better GUI in future to make it easier to understand what is going on.

 

The game is a punishing game, however I love it and keep coming back for more.  Each time I learn a new thing to watch out for (and then something else kills me).

 

Things I have learnt (which are probably wrong)

Build quickly in the starting biome

Get farming then advanced research quickly so you can grow food and delicate jobs

Don’t expand the dupe population too fast

Once you have a stable base, start digging exploration tunnels to find biomes beyond the surrounding slime and chlorine gas.

Watch the food

Polluted water is useful (though I’m not sure why)

Balance the power going through the wires (build lots of smaller circuits?)

Constantly check the overlay tabs

The game will give you a fanfare when the duplicator is ready or research is completed, but not when a dupe dies, so watch the population tab (In one game half of my dupes had drowned and I only noticed because the building rate had reduced).

[Lifegrow]

9 minutes ago, Ragnarok said:

This game has a steep learning curve for new players and doesn’t give out much advice. The only reason I know to do a few things is from watching videos of others and reading forum boards.  For example I didn’t know that building from different materials gave different bonuses.  When I first say the iron and copper when I selected a building to build, I thought I needed both resources.  I’m hoping for a better GUI in future to make it easier to understand what is going on.

This is always my fear for new players. The game was much more primitive when a lot of us started playing, and as such we've grown with the changes. I don't envy new players one bit truth be told  

Welcome to the community though bud, anything you're unsure of, just shout  

[BlueLance]

I think they are started to work on fixing this (With the new encyclopedia in game) and hopefully HOPEFULLY some tutorial or notification system, because material properties etc are currently learnt by experimenting or asking. 

As Life mentioned, people here are willing to help  and good luck  

[Neotuck]

I wouldn't mind making my own tutorial based on my own experience and from what I learned from other players

[Zarquan]

1 hour ago, Ragnarok said:

(In one game half of my dupes had drowned and I only noticed because the building rate had reduced).

I think the sound for a duplicant dying is quite distinctive.  I don't think I've ever missed it.

1 hour ago, Ragnarok said:

Polluted water is useful (though I’m not sure why)

Polluted water is important because you can convert it to clean water with a water sieve or by boiling.  This can go to your plants or electrolyzers.  Keep in mind that water sieves do not remove germs, so you can have clean water with food poisoning germs.

The only problem with a tutorial at this point is that it becomes obsolete in the next patch but the tutorial sticks around on Youtube unless the owner deletes it.  If you do make a tutorial, please put the update it applies to in the name of the video.

[travaldofan]

yeah i had lots of struggles, but game is really fun, always finding way to solve water heat food problems, anyway good luck!

Little tip use coal generator with smart batteries and make small circuit, so power and resource efficient, dont forget the ranch hatches!

[Kroning]

As for me, I played a lot Dwarf Fortress before. There are no tutorial, ingame advises. Just nothing. And it's very random.
Nevertheless, there are a lot of wikis (about DF) about it now. And that is just because how old the game is.

I suppose, DF is a hardcore. And ONI is trying to be everything for everyone. It is very hard. If it's simple - it's boring. When it's hard (like today) - it's starting to frighten newcomers. ONI is balancing and it's good.

Actually, I don't think we need more tooltips. The knowledge of using diamond for tempshift plates must come with experience. That's the game about, not about "here is the list you must do with proper material and designes".

Of course, it's just my humble opinion.

[SamLogan]

2 hours ago, Ragnarok said:

This game has a steep learning curve for new players and doesn’t give out much advice.

You have a HUGE encylopedia in the game, just click on the "Book" icon on each window from any objects.

 

[old_fantom]

I think there is something to be learned from watching others and listening to advice in the forums.  I don't recall who it was that put the "never power doors" mantra in my head.  It was good advice and sticks.  I learned a bit from others. I made Brothgar's self powering oxygen generating setup for many games.  But you develop your own style in this game and it can suit you.  I have a save game at about 1500 cycles right now.  I did not bust into the oil biomes until around 900.  I did not get my first exo suit until about that time.  I played 16 dupes from about cycle 50 to 1000 when I doubled up to 32.  I know there are others in the forums that are in exosuits getting oil as soon as possible and never run more than 8 dupes.  I like this game because I can play it my way and make it work.  

[PhailRaptor]

2 hours ago, SamLogan said:

You have a HUGE encylopedia in the game, just click on the "Book" icon on each window from any objects.

Being told to read a Calculus book doesn't teach you how to do Calculus.  At best it gives you the tools to teach yourself, which is not the same thing.

[KittenIsAGeek]

Your discoveries are pretty good.  Currently my beginning game scenario is to build a primitive restroom, set up an oxydizer, and research the first set of farming.  Then I research advanced research to get jobs and such going.  I'll finish off the first tier of all the research, then I'll get coal generators, the rock crusher, and smart batteries.  While doing all that research, I'll stay around 3 or 4 dupes, having the extras dig out some of the starting biome to build farms and sleeping area.

Generally by cycle 20 (it goes quick on turbo mode) I'll have a coal generator (or two) on a smart battery providing power to the base and I can continue on with whatever direction I want to go.  My advice is that coal generators on smart batteries rock.  They pair very well with a hatch farm, don't drown your base in heat or CO2 until your power grid is keeping them running continually.  They also scale well, especially with a power control station, as your power needs increase -- and by the time your CO2 becomes a problem, you can feed it to your slicksters for a nice bit of extra crude.