Best way to make more algae and oil? Also, I need help with plastic

[minespatch]

So I've figured out rooms and plumbing but now I'm confused by two things: Algae and oil regeneration.

So I know I can make alternative algae with that slime machine but if there was a way to make algae naturally with the environment, what should I do?

How do I find or make oil? I want to make plastic but that machine keeps breaking if I place water in it.

[Technoincubus]

Slime:

Establish a morb-puft farm. You can automate morb production and place about 6 puft in a ranch. They will produce some slime that you can use for aglae conversion, plus some nice eggs.

Plastic:

Place 3 metal tiles under plastic refinery. And then build a hydrogen+3 wheezworts under that 3 tiles so machine would be cooled fast.

[minespatch]

7 minutes ago, Technoincubus said:

automate morb production

So if I make a room with tasteful memorials with corpses buried in, that can lead morbs to them?

[Kabrute]

dead dupes don't draw morbs, they spawn from uncleaned latrines, takes 1.5 cycles roughly

[hawking]

You will need to dig down to the bottom of the map if you want oil. 

1 minute ago, minespatch said:

So if I make a room with tasteful memorials with corpses buried in, that can lead morbs to them?

I'm pretty sure morbs don't spawn that way anymore

 

[Kabrute]

to make plastic I usually breach the oil biome, one of those overloaded pockets, I put a pump down ahead of it and pump the oil to a refinery, that goes direct to the plastic press.  The press sit in water as a cooling aid but I usually put a thermo sensor right next to it set to the ambient temp before starting up the press, this way it doesn't overheat.

[Technoincubus]

Use outhouses build on 2 vertical automated airlocks. Link them via automation to a switch or a clock. Make them go full and when you open airlocks up and then close them outhouses are "reset" and you can get another morb after 900 seconds..

[QuQuasar]

1. I believe algae should be treated as a finite resource. While you *can* make more with a distillery, it's quite expensive and I'd much rather use the slime to feed mushrooms.

Algae only has two uses: you can burn it for oxygen, which is inefficient/labour intensive compared to electrolysis, and you can use it to expand your pacu aquarium and create an everlasting source of meat and eggshells.

2. Oil is down. Go down. For plastic you'll need cooling as well, so I suggest finding a low lying ice biome to put a refinery and polymer press in.

Or you can build a glossy drecko ranch. Both are viable options.

[PhailRaptor]

58 minutes ago, minespatch said:

So I know I can make alternative algae with that slime machine but if there was a way to make algae naturally with the environment, what should I do?

There are only 2 ways to get more Algae.  The first, as you already know, is to process Slime in the Distiller to get Algae and P-H2O.  The other is to use a Rocket to go to the Organic destination, where one of the things you can receive is Algae.

That said, it is widely believed in the community that Algae production is an extremely weak industrial pathway, and generally not worth pursuing.  Pufts have way too low of a conversion rate of P-O2 to Slime, which is then cut again further by the lowish ratio from the Distiller.  Meanwhile, Rockets are an extreme commitment of resources for a payoff that is quite variable.  It's quite difficult to support even a small Pacu farm using Pufts.

1 hour ago, minespatch said:

How do I find or make oil? I want to make plastic but that machine keeps breaking if I place water in it.

There are quite large reserves of Oil already sitting waiting down in the Oil Biome across the bottom edge of the map.  But it's very hot down there due to nearby magma, so you'll need to prepare before hand.  Additionally, there are 1 to 3 Oil Reservoirs spread through the Oil Biome, where you can produce Oil by pumping in water.  You can also feed CO2 to the Slickster critters, which will produce Oil.  Like Pufts, though, the rate of production leaves something to be desired.

By "that machine" I assume you mean the Polymer Press?  The idea is usually to dribble just a bit of water or other liquid on the floor below it to aid in heat transfer out of the machine.  But the thing is that you also have to be cooling that liquid.  It's a lot of heat that you need to deal with.  As Technoincubus described, you'll probably want to build the Press right on top of some Metal Tiles, and on the other side of those Metal Tiles create a small room with some Wheezeworts in Hydrogen.  You may also want to use Automation to limit how often the Press is running if you're still having problems with overheating.

Alternatively, you can set up a Drecko Ranch, and feed them Mealwood or Bristle Blossom to breed for Glossy Dreckos.  You can Shear the scales off, producing Plastic.  The possible rate is somewhat lower than you'd be able to achieve from the Polymer Press, but it's a much smaller industrial system you need to set it up and keep it running.

3 minutes ago, minespatch said:

So if I make a room with tasteful memorials with corpses buried in, that can lead morbs to them?

No, Morbs were reworked quite some time ago.  They are spawned from Outhouses that have not been cleaned for some time.  You'll have to rig a system where your Dupes will use Outhouses as much as possible until they are full, but then use Automation to lock some doors or some such to prevent Dupes from reaching it to clean it.  You also cannot use Ranchers to Wrangle Morbs like other critters, so it would be beneficial to have your Morb Spawning system set up in a location close to where you intend to use them and their P-O2 product.

[RonEmpire]

Honestly,  Dracko farm is my best Plastic maker.    I haven't even touched the oil that I'm stock piling yet.  Seems like too much involved.   I have like 2 glossy dracko farm room going.   Pretty good supply for less the cost involved

7 minutes ago, QuQuasar said:

1. I believe algae should be treated as a finite resource. While you *can* make more with a distillery, it's quite expensive and I'd much rather use the slime to feed mushrooms.

Algae only has two uses: you can burn it for oxygen, which is inefficient/labour intensive compared to electrolysis, and you can use it to expand your pacu aquarium and create an everlasting source of meat and eggshells.

2. Oil is down. Go down. For plastic you'll need cooling as well, so I suggest finding a low lying ice biome to put a refinery and polymer press in.

Or you can build a glossy drecko ranch. Both are viable options.

I have to agree, the Algae route with morphs, pufts is rather annoying and laggy.   You literally need tons of morbs (making them isn't the hard part),  its they don't produce enough oxygen to make it worth the lag.

I posted a screen of my puft/prince/morb setup-  let me find it and post it below.
 

(scroll through to find my reply.  it has a screen shot on how I setup my puft farm and morb).  

(it is setup for 3 rooms, prince makes puflets and puflets make prince-  since the rule associated to what they produce when they're in the same room changes the outcome of their eggs.   the top room is for dense and squeeky.) 

Farming Algae was mainly for Fish Farm breeding.
 

[minespatch]

Thanks guys. I'm trying to make a ranching route and currently my quest in being a puft rancher got stalled since incubators need plastic, so today was my education in making plastic. So I need to focus on going down for oil and do more water refinery with the polutted water. This last week has been very educational on the game, so big thanks guys.

[cremisi]

1 hour ago, RonEmpire said:

Honestly,  Dracko farm is my best Plastic maker.    I haven't even touched the oil that I'm stock piling yet.  Seems like too much involved.   I have like 2 glossy dracko farm room going.   Pretty good supply for less the cost involved

 

I have to agree with this.

Water (used for Bristle Berries) for Plastic and Phosporite is not half bad.

 

So much plastic...don't know what to do with it...

[ToiDiaeRaRIsuOy]

4 hours ago, minespatch said:

So I've figured out rooms and plumbing but now I'm confused by two things: Algae and oil regeneration.

So I know I can make alternative algae with that slime machine but if there was a way to make algae naturally with the environment, what should I do?

How do I find or make oil? I want to make plastic but that machine keeps breaking if I place water in it.

Honestly, you are better off with a couple of glossy drecko farms for plastic. I know mine did serve me very well.

[minespatch]

33 minutes ago, ToiDiaeRaRIsuOy said:

glossy drecko farms for plastic.

My last two bases were mainly wooly dreckos. So how do I get glossy?

[ToiDiaeRaRIsuOy]

Just now, minespatch said:

My last two bases were mainly wooly dreckos. So how do I get glossy?

You need to feed the drecko's mealwood/bristle berry plants instead of the regular balm lily/peppernut plants. This will increase glossy drecklet eggs chances. Note that the glossy drecko will only eat mealwood/bristle berry. So you will need to be a bit creative with your ranch as you'll need CO2/O2 for the plants and hydrogen for the glossy drecko to grow its scales.

[SchlauFuchs]

What I found as a creative solution is to have a mealwood farm with proper O2 atmosphere being connected with an always open door from above with a ranch that has hydrogen. The Dreckos are free to roam between the two rooms, and the Rancher is able to deal with that.

[cremisi]

40 minutes ago, ToiDiaeRaRIsuOy said:

You need to feed the drecko's mealwood/bristle berry plants instead of the regular balm lily/peppernut plants. This will increase glossy drecklet eggs chances.

Only Mealwood increases the chances to lay an egg.

But once you get at least one, it's fine to feed them Bristle Berry plants.

[RonEmpire]

You really don't need a whole lot of plastic.  

Unless you plan to tube transit your entire base  or make tons of plastic ladders,     The Glossy critter can make enough for your comfy bed, and high pressure vents.

[Technoincubus]

in the end you will need A LOT of plastic to interconnect your base via tubes

[ToiDiaeRaRIsuOy]

1 minute ago, Technoincubus said:

in the end you will need A LOT of plastic to interconnect your base via tubes

No you don't. Forward pocket colonies work very well.

[RonEmpire]

1 minute ago, Technoincubus said:

in the end you will need A LOT of plastic to interconnect your base via tubes

and a LOT of power.  so I wouldn't even worry about that until you have a surplus of power

 

[clickrush]

3 minutes ago, Technoincubus said:

in the end you will need A LOT of plastic to interconnect your base via tubes

This is why I usually start producing plastic early on. One tube costs 50kg and one press produces 500g/s, meaning it needs to run 100s just for one tube piece. Same goes for refined metal and glass. You want to start stockpileing those refined materials way before you need high quantities of them.

[ToiDiaeRaRIsuOy]

4 minutes ago, clickrush said:

This is why I usually start producing plastic early on. One tube costs 50kg and one press produces 500g/s, meaning it needs to run 100s just for one tube piece. Same goes for refined metal and glass. You want to start stockpileing those refined materials way before you need high quantities of them.

A full ranch of glossy drecko's produces more without the need of the whole oil shenanigans and without a need for cooling. Plus way earlier to access.

[clickrush]

Just now, ToiDiaeRaRIsuOy said:

A full ranch of glossy drecko's produces more without the need of the whole oil shenanigans and without a need for cooling. Plus way earlier to access.

I don't think so. Dreckos have a slow reproduction rate and get super old. You need to build a ranch with two gas layers (hydrogen plus for example CO2), Meaning you sometimes or even often need to create a vacuum first which takes a long time regardless of the method. Also you need a lot of glossy dreckos to catch up with the production of even a single polymer press.

In comparison you need a single pump, some wiring and piping and some basic cooling for the polymer press to work. If you want plastic fast and in large quantities you definitely go with the press. Not to mention that you set yourself up for adding a petroleum generator early on like this.

[Djoums]

46 minutes ago, clickrush said:

I don't think so. Dreckos have a slow reproduction rate and get super old

Setting up a polymer press is definitely more straightforward but it doesn't give you more plastic than a full drecko ranch.

Best case scenario each drecko produces 150Kg every 3 cycles from scale growth + 150Kg every 9 cycles from eggs. Let each one hatch and mature naturally before shearing the new guy and killing it for meat (they deserve it, they know what they did).

That's ~530Kg of plastic per cycle for a full stable. Now in practice you don't get perfect scale growth but it's safe to assume you're getting at least half of it, for more than 300Kg of plastic per cycle. Similar output as a polymer press running 24/7, power and oil free.

As for the gas, you can build your stable in oxygen within your base then pump some hydrogen to fill its upper half. Not super optimal but you don't need vacuum or complicated stuff.