Recommendations for players coming into EU

[WanderingKid]

Update: With the new changes, I recommend you fire off the Morale Helper.  +20 morale for 5 cycles is staggeringly good for getting your base into the new alignments.

I will say off the bat I am not an expert with the EU yet, so I hope this to be a general discussion to fill in the blanks of any knowledge that can be useful.  It's mostly to help those who are coming into EU without having enough familiarity yet when it goes live after the stream.

First and foremost, your upper most profession becomes your desired value for Morale.  Morale is a combination of other values for different things, such as different rooms, food preferences, volume of décor, and if they get a chance to relax and unwind.  If a dupe has no recreational activities (which you won't have if you're just upgrading to EU) in your established base, I hope you've got a lot of pepper bread and BBQ around.

So, the meat.  The first thing you'll see when you fire up an old game, hopefully before you dupes have lost their minds and are banking around the world like pinballs, is that your dupes all go eat together and then go poop together.  This is because your dupes are now on shifts.  Upper left corner, near the day/night cycle on the rock you'll find a button with a stopwatch.  It opens up this:

The purple lines on the schedule on the top is the default schedule.  I don't find it to be the best engagement you can have.  Dupes typically need to reduce their bladder by the end of the shift, so I find it best to use the bathroom for at least 1 square before they do anything else.  3 squares of leisure mean if they're really hungry, they should have enough time to fully eat their meal and get at least one session of downtime in.  Sleep will carry over from two squares if a dupe is extremely tired and they run the end of their downtime heavily into one or possibly both squares.

Downtime, Bedtime, and Bathtime currently will all let a dupe head for the can at a reasonable time.  They can still make an early 'emergency' kind of pit stop during the shift if they run into trouble.  However, if your dupes run out of stamina during the day, they just crash out on the floor.  So it's best to make sure they can get a sleep cycle in.  Bathrooms can be hard to come by, so make sure you have enough and start staggering the shifts if you're having trouble keeping up on the toilets.  Outhouses can take a while to clean.  Also, as typical, you want to do a 'top down' mining path so your debris falls out of the way so the décor doesn't brick.

Next up, the jobs list you're used to will now look like this (If anyone has a better full sized image then the mess I made of this, please let me know?):

The Morale value is a significant change from what has been previously done in ONI.  As I mentioned, getting morale up can be a bit harsh.  Some general concepts I would recommend:

• Don't force your way into the upper end jobs quickly.  I have been having a lot of success with using dupes as Miner/Builders or Builders/Suppliers if they have Trypophobia.
• You have enough time at the low end to get things done.  You don't have to hurry ridiculously as long as you leave some stopgaps in place to keep you from specializing too quickly.
• The specialist list makes sense if you think of how things typically progress.  What it doesn't easily allow for is specialized dupes who show up out of order.  Trying to get a rancher on cycle 10 started is probably not going to end well.  If you're forced to get one earlier than they're useful (cooks, artists, ranchers, etc) leave them jobless with low morale requirements, or let them get gofer done so they can drag stuff around easier until you're ready for them.
• Normal tiles affect décor because the foot of your dupe is almost always on the floor.  (Thanks @Grimgaw)
• Low Morale, as an example having 3 Morale with a 4 expectation, is a 5% stress value.  This is not enough by itself to typically take your base out.  However, having 3 morale with an 8 expectation will drive your dupe insane in short order.  It ramps up fast.
• The first 3 days are pretty much a gimme to get you started with the new hope stress benefit.

Some general information for early and midgame morale...  In the early game you should expect -1 for food and -1 décor for most of your dupes.  To satisfy their needs:

Morale 2:  Early Miners, Architects, and Gofers

• Being a dupe (+1)
• outhouse + Basin (+1) (Enclosed with doors)
• Barracks (+1)  (Also enclosed with some doors)
• Downtime (+1)  (Hanging out at the printing pod satisfies this.)

Morale 4: Early Research, Farmers, Engineers (Manual Generators)

• Morale 2 +
• Average or Above Average Décor for your Researcher and Engineers.  Stuff a couple Bluff Briars near the workstations.
• Farmers are a bit more tricky, they're going to get obliterated by mealwood.  So the easiest way to get that boost up will be to aim for Morale 8.

Morale 8: Tier 2 Miner/Builder/Gofers and Plumbers... and saving the Farmers from going crazy.

• Morale 2 +
• Water cooler off the Printing Pod for Socializing (+1)
• The Great Hall needs a building with 20+ décor.  It's not an aggregate, it's each single building value that has to have that value, and a patch note mentions that you need at least 3.  It stays as a Mess Hall otherwise.  However, even the mess hall alone gives you +3 Morale.  It's +6 if you get it up to the new room type Great Hall.   If you have a +3 skilled dupe, flick them into artists for a short while to catch up the décor where you really need it.  (Typo and patch note fixed)
• NOTE: I'm seeing that the Mess Hall bonus seems to disappear if they don't eat, even if they socialize in the Mess Hall.  That's a 1.1 cycle bonus.  Being in the Great Hall isn't enough to trigger the bonus.  It shows up as soon as they sit down to eat, so I can't currently confirm if the Great Hall counts as a meeting area too.  Additionally two masterpiece portraits and a Bluff Briar worked to switch from mess hall to great hall but only after I reloaded, so I'm not confident about what was needed. 

So, you should be able to get by on this for the opening cycles:

Morale 12:  Scientists, Ranchers, Next level farmers, cook/artists leveling

• With a décor of 0 because a lot of your guys are out at dark places, you should be able to clear 10-12 morale, and some extra with décor to boost it at times.
• Negatives: -1 Grisly Meal.  Eat that Mealwood.
• +1s: Duplicant, Comfy Barracks, Socialized, Downtime.
• Plumbed Bathroom.  +2.  You don't have to actually hook up the faucet, just shove one of each into the room.
• Great Hall: +6.  This is really easy to get and is a significant change.

Morale 16: Mechatronics, Seasoned Miners/Architects

• These guys are typically doing the worst work décor wise, so you'll need to adjust slightly.  It's time for food.  Don't get crazy, I'm talking fried mushrooms here.  That gets you +2 back from the 12 you had for your scientists. 
• The other two points you can either buy off with massage beds or do another décor spam drive to keep them at an average of 60-90 or so. 
• If you don't want to spend time, you can spend power.  Jukebot gives you +2 morale for the dance party.  I recommend unplugging it for 2 out of 3 cycles so you don't waste the power when it's not needed.

Morale 20:  Everybody!!!  DANCE DANCE FEVER!  I'm going to treat this as 14+, because all of the expensive ways out of the last edge of 16 are, well, expensive.

• I find Berry Sludge, Stuffed Berry, Pepper Bread and Barbeque to be hit or miss depending on how many pepper plants you can get.  Of course use the pepper bread for a boost if you have spare pinchas, but I don't rely on them until I've completely secured my water supplies.
• However, you can trade from 1 point fried mushrooms to 4 point omelets or frost buns relatively easily.  Frost buns are cheap and plentiful, and you can simply harvest them from wild sleet wheat.  Omelets from hatches make a fine meal too.  That gets us to 17.
• Plastic is probably not handy yet, so you won't be looking for the beds to make up the +1.  If you have a specific grump who could use the help, though, move them into some ruins if you can.
• Getting from 17 -> 20 however will most likely require an average of 30-60 décor to get the final 3+.  You'll have to make up the last few inches via décor or food values, or invest heavily into materials and power for a combination of video games and Jukebot. 
• The Expresso Machine EATS pincha peppers, so unless you just haven't seen sleet wheat for months, I'd save that for the highest quality BBQ or Pepper Bread, and skip the power cost morale machines altogether.
• If you need to, just eat the stress cost with the occasional massage.  It shouldn't make you stress more than your dupes.

[BlueLance]

I would have said it n much less words...."RUN"

But hopefully this will help many players old and new

[Oozinator]

Nice guide but i do not know if i like those gameplay changes. Seems like stretching everything again.I would never build an outhouse corridor like you. I use they in a corner, passage only from one side.

[Yannick Vachon]

Overall, it may be good to have rows of 5 tiles in height instead of 4 in this update. That way, even in your farms and in your bathroom, you can spam painting as a way of increasing the average decor value tat your duplicants see in a normal cycle. It will not save them toward mealwood but it should help when facing mushrooms and bristle berries plants, at least for a while.

[Oozinator]

Just now, Yannick Vachon said:

Overall, it may be good to have rows of 5 tiles in height instead of 4 in this update. That way, even in your farms and in your bathroom, you can spam painting as a way of increasing the average decor value tat your duplicants see in a normal cycle. It will not save them toward mealwood but it should help when facing mushrooms and bristle berries plants, at least for a while.

Yes, feeling the same, but 5 tiles high as standard sucks to build..

[Carnis]

So far, this is seeming like the least thought update.

Earlier, you beat stress by snazzy suit/painting spam.

Now you can define stresslevel to minimal by keeping to low tiers.

Tenured scientist is not really needed, its nice to know dormancies, but that doesnt seem worth The +120% stress/cycle.

I might have to execute My scientist to avoid rerolling colony & that feels wrong.

[Grimgaw]

The food part of morale isn't done yet. Once it's implemented you won't see the difference between CU and EU.

3 hours ago, WanderingKid said:

Normal tiles do not affect décor because the head of your dupe is almost always one square too high.

@WanderingKid As you can see below, the decor is measured from bottom tile of a dupe.

Spoiler

 

[chemie]

Food is the most broken part of how they did this.  The buff only lasts one day but the calories means they dont eat every day.  Same for mess hall and great hall bluffs.  Only applies when they eat.  Big disconnect on calorie duration vs morale duration.

[WanderingKid]

47 minutes ago, Grimgaw said:

 

@WanderingKid As you can see below, the decor is measured from bottom tile of a dupe.

  Reveal hidden contents

 

My mistake.  I'm not sure why I was getting stuck on that.  The value is right there in the tooltip for décor.  Thanks for that.  Main post altered.

[Oozinator]

34 minutes ago, chemie said:

Food is the most broken part of how they did this.  The buff only lasts one day but the calories means they dont eat every day.  Same for mess hall and great hall bluffs.  Only applies when they eat.  Big disconnect on calorie duration vs morale duration.

You are right and i don't like it.

[Tobruk]

Can we finally have daytime sleep schedule?

[heckubis]

2 minutes ago, Tobruk said:

Can we finally have daytime sleep schedule?

yes you could have 4 sleep schedules if you wanted

[Sevio]

So I'm wondering if I might be facing some impending doom with my colony. I've trained my 7 dupes up to tier5 in cosmic so they will need +16 morale. I've done some preparation when I saw this but I'm not sure it will be enough.

I've upgraded the mess hall with some +24 decor paintings so it will hopefully qualify as a Great Hall. I've added a 3rd lavatory and I'm hoping that will be enough for 7 dupes, if necessary I could always stagger their shifts. I've been upgrading decor in the main elevator shafts and most areas that they're likely to pass through on the way to jobs outside the colony.

I should have room to build some recreational stuff around the printing pod and in a dedicated room somewhere, but of course I can't do that until EU hits.

I don't have barracks (can you stuff more than 1 dupe in a barracks?) and my dupes are all sleeping in a row of cots next to each other in the open, although they have decent decor there.

My food sources are about 50/50 fried mushrooms and barbecue made from naturally dying critters across the map and naturally growing pincha peppernuts. I haven't invested in anything better, and the mushroom farm is submerged in carbon dioxide which might stress out my farmers, although everyone is proficient at it so the stress might be divided up between them.

Is there anything else I can/should do to prepare?

[Grimgaw]

@Sevio Sounds good!

If it's still true that tamed creature lays one egg (if not overcrowded, outside of stable and no food) adding one shine bug per 24 tiles of room or corridors, might pump up those decor numbers.

[chemie]

10 minutes ago, Sevio said:

So I'm wondering if I might be facing some impending doom with my colony. I've trained my 7 dupes up to tier5 in cosmic so they will need +16 morale. I've done some preparation when I saw this but I'm not sure it will be enough.

I've upgraded the mess hall with some +24 decor paintings so it will hopefully qualify as a Great Hall. I've added a 3rd lavatory and I'm hoping that will be enough for 7 dupes, if necessary I could always stagger their shifts. I've been upgrading decor in the main elevator shafts and most areas that they're likely to pass through on the way to jobs outside the colony.

I should have room to build some recreational stuff around the printing pod and in a dedicated room somewhere, but of course I can't do that until EU hits.

I don't have barracks (can you stuff more than 1 dupe in a barracks?) and my dupes are all sleeping in a row of cots next to each other in the open, although they have decent decor there.

My food sources are about 50/50 fried mushrooms and barbecue made from naturally dying critters across the map and naturally growing pincha peppernuts. I haven't invested in anything better, and the mushroom farm is submerged in carbon dioxide which might stress out my farmers, although everyone is proficient at it so the stress might be divided up between them.

Is there anything else I can/should do to prepare?

Snazzy suits.  Barracks can be in rows of cots so a few doors and done.  Water cooler in mess hall.  Should be fine.

[Sevio]

1 minute ago, chemie said:

Snazzy suits.  Barracks can be in rows of cots so a few doors and done.  Water cooler in mesh hall.  Should be fine.

I've always ignored clothing but this sounds like a good reason to start using some of that fiber I've been collecting. Thanks!

[ToiDiaeRaRIsuOy]

My recommendation is add every steam exe file to your firewall to block the update until they made it more reasonable.

[chemie]

23 minutes ago, ToiDiaeRaRIsuOy said:

My recommendation is add every steam exe file to your firewall to block the update until they made it more reasonable.

There are easier ways to block updates, like using that specific existing option in steam.

45 minutes ago, Sevio said:

I've always ignored clothing but this sounds like a good reason to start using some of that fiber I've been collecting. Thanks!

I have always used snazzy suits (warm and cold are useless since dups won't swap when needed) but that because fatalistic kind of requires them until you metal tile spam.

[WanderingKid]

1 hour ago, Sevio said:

So I'm wondering if I might be facing some impending doom with my colony. I've trained my 7 dupes up to tier5 in cosmic so they will need +16 morale. I've done some preparation when I saw this but I'm not sure it will be enough.

Is there anything else I can/should do to prepare?

With only 7 dupes you should probably be alright.  You're probably looking at the 24+ tier though with high tier jobs, just fyi.  The great hall needs a water cooler as well, so stuff one into there.  3 lavatories should be fine, I use 5 outhouses because my usual target is around 24 dupes and that'll work fine in 4 or 5 shifts.  I recommend if you're simply not able to get the dupes through all the cycles (bathroom, food, leisure, sleep) just break them up in to groups of 3-4.

You can build plenty of beds into a single barracks.  I recommend groups of 8, 4 high, spam with pictures.

You food actually is waiting on an update... I won't know until they get those bugs fixed.

For mushrooms, here's a design I've been adjusting that is working rather well for the mushrooms to keep them in CO2 but your Dupes in breathable air.  If that helps:

Things to do before the EU patch hits:

• Sweep debris from high traffic areas to reduce décor drops for the average.
• Try to keep other stress items (such as low oxygen) down. 
• You'll have about an extra -5-10% leeway with the new stresses due to random conversations for your dupes.  Try to make sure they don't end up alone all the time.
• Be prepared to take about 2 cycles dedicated to honing your base design.  Save the game before you start so you can see if a particular dupe is having an unexpected issue so you can recover the save and try to fix it before they join the loony brigade.

 

[SamLogan]

4 hours ago, Yannick Vachon said:

Overall, it may be good to have rows of 5 tiles in height instead of 4 in this update.

In fact, that's exactly, the opposit. 80% of the "room overlay" ask for 64 tiles if you want to maximize your rooms, and 5 isn't a multiple of 64.

The standard should stay as 16x4 tiles.

[Yannick Vachon]

1 minute ago, SamLogan said:

The standard should stay as 16x4 tiles.

As of before the update from yesterday, you are right. But now, with the fact that decor is an average of the whole day, then it means farms and washroom with decor as well. And to do those, it means 5 tiles high for a few of them. You may not build everything with 5 tiles high in mind but if you like symmetry in your base, you may want to do so.

[WanderingKid]

4 minutes ago, SamLogan said:

In fact, that's exactly, the opposit. 80% of the "room overlay" ask for 64 tiles if you want to maximize your rooms, and 5 isn't a multiple of 64.

The standard should stay as 16x4 tiles.

Not to put too fine a point on it, the standard is whatever seems to work best, at least to me.  12x4 does not let me art spam. 8x5 does, and I just have to shave off a few squares.  Depending on just how the averages end up working out, I may take out one of the outhouses when I switch to lavatories to shove some more statues or bluff briars in. 

I typically build mess halls at 3x20, but I wanted this to be as easy as possible for identifiability... and for when I start stapling in the med bay.  For me, the room and intents tend to define my standards.

[Grimgaw]

Statues fit in most farms. Having more smaller farms doesn't make them less efficient.

[WanderingKid]

Just now, Grimgaw said:

Statues fit in most farms. Having more smaller farms doesn't make them less efficient.

I've found that once you get out of mealwood, the farms seem to be fine as long as you have breathing room.  It's just early game mealwood farms that assault the senses.

[Grimgaw]

With food fixed I sincerely doubt the game will change at all.