Cycle 287: The Unexpected End

[NXG]

In the end, the thing I ran out of that killed me was completely unexpected. I still had plenty of oxygen, enough water to make alot more, an endless slime supply, an efficient power system, temperature controls, and unlimited food. The thing that killed me was sand or "filtration mediums". Without sand, you cant filter air or water, and so once my supply was exhausted from the map, so began the slow decline. Sand is currently the only filtration medium, and is non-renewable. The only sand that spawns is that which spawns around your starting area. I would love to see more types of filtration mediums soon, perhaps a renewable type that is grown organically, a way to remove and then purify contaminated sand, or a rare permanent filter that never needs replacing that could be re-acquired by deconstructing whatever its inside of. Currently the only way I can forsee to make a game last much longer than this is if your lucky enough that your map spawns enough Pufts that you could maintain an Algae Deoxydizer. What changes or additions would you like to see to maintain sustainability?

[littled3mon]

I have personally thought that a machine that lets you convert sandstone into sand would be cool

[NXG]

23 minutes ago, littled3mon said:

I have personally thought that a machine that lets you convert sandstone into sand would be cool

A thought I had as well. Maybe just a crushing machine of sorts that lets you break down materials into simpler forms. Metals to thermite, Minerals to filteration mediums, organics and seeds to fertilizer.

[dunny]

I like the idea of growing organic filtration mediums as in sponges or sponge like creatures.

If Mealworms live there naturally and water exists there is ample possibility for sponges or sponge ancestors (like sponges, but even less of a cellular organism since 'organelles' are free floating and not in a cell)

 

anyway they're some of natures best filterers, mushrooms potentially could yield filtration medium as well

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceramic_water_filter

clay based pathogen water filter 'from the stoneages' *cough* i mean quite some time ago when life was ****ty

[NXG]

19 minutes ago, dunny said:

I like the idea of growing organic filtration mediums as in sponges or sponge like creatures.

I think sponges are a great idea, seems to fit the aesthetic very well and could potentially have other uses like absorbing up liquids. I can already imagine the art for it.

[mrCarlton]

you don't need to filter oxygen to survive, and you can boil contaminated water to make steam to clean it without filters.

But a stove or something to make boiling water easier would be nice.

[pariah01knight]

As a wastewater engineer who specializes in ag waste systems, including sand filtration systems, it would be nice if the sand filtration worked more like the real world. What I mean is that sand cannot become fertilizer. It is inert and has no value to the plant. Most large scale operations that use sand for filtration have a sand separator that removes the sand from the waste so that the sand may be reused. A good system can see a 90+% recycle rate on the sand. This would also greatly decrease the need for more sand and add another item to the research and build categories.

There are two common ways to separate out the sand from the waste. The first is impractical for this game and that is to have a 400' long sand settling lane where the sand settles out of a flow of wastewater. The second is to have a screw press that pushes the sand out after it has been washed/flushed of the waste.

Just my 2 cents. (As a licensed professional.)

[NXG]

6 hours ago, mrCarlton said:

you don't need to filter oxygen to survive, and you can boil contaminated water to make steam to clean it without filters.

But a stove or something to make boiling water easier would be nice.

Didn't know it was possible to boil yet, I tried turning chlorine into a liquid by lowering its temp below -50F but nothing happened. Figured its not implemented yet or I did something wrong. How did you manage to get it hot enough to make steam and what process did you use?

[Apsmar]

16 hours ago, pariah01knight said:

As a wastewater engineer who specializes in ag waste systems, including sand filtration systems, it would be nice if the sand filtration worked more like the real world. What I mean is that sand cannot become fertilizer. It is inert and has no value to the plant. Most large scale operations that use sand for filtration have a sand separator that removes the sand from the waste so that the sand may be reused. A good system can see a 90+% recycle rate on the sand. This would also greatly decrease the need for more sand and add another item to the research and build categories.

There are two common ways to separate out the sand from the waste. The first is impractical for this game and that is to have a 400' long sand settling lane where the sand settles out of a flow of wastewater. The second is to have a screw press that pushes the sand out after it has been washed/flushed of the waste.

Just my 2 cents. (As a licensed professional.)

I agree with that line of thought. I am not against seeing a loss of resources as you need some loss to push you into a further tech or exploration.  Right now some of the loss of resources seams a little to fast.

[Lampostsamurai]

19 hours ago, NXG said:

Didn't know it was possible to boil yet, I tried turning chlorine into a liquid by lowering its temp below -50F but nothing happened. Figured its not implemented yet or I did something wrong. How did you manage to get it hot enough to make steam and what process did you use?

there's some oddities with state changes at the moment, for example, I have a game where some carbon dioxide and oxygen just Deposed for no reason, and have stayed solid.

 

That said, I imagine he pumped contaminated water into a insulated room running thermocoolers that pulled steam into the intake, turning it back into water  at the exhaust.

[pastapliiats]

On 2/23/2017 at 10:29 PM, NXG said:

I think sponges are a great idea, seems to fit the aesthetic very well and could potentially have other uses like absorbing up liquids. I can already imagine the art for it.

Sponges are already in the game! Albeit they only appear in dupes' hands when mopping up contaminated water.

[Ecu]

Technically speaking, you can boil contaminated water to create steam and cool the steam to make clean water.  You can also super cool contaminated oxygen to produce liquid oxygen which when warms a bit will evaporate back into clean oxygen.  These require a reasonable amount of setup, however, by the time you run out of sand, you should be able to establish these systems.

However, because water is not endless (and in fact piping causes a loss of resources currently), your system will not be sustainable endlessly.  Pufts could be used to generate new water, however, they can die due to temperature and are not guaranteed in large numbers.  As such they are probably not the most reliable endless source of water.  Similarly speaking, you will eventually run out of minable slime.

You could however, create an isolated solitary wing of your settlement where you keep a few duplicants that are vomiters.  These duplicants could be left extremely stressed and without toilets.  Their vomit/waste being used to generate fluid to be processed and utilized by the main settlement.  An ugly but effective solution, given the current game mechanics.

[ShaTiK]

27 minutes ago, Ecu said:

You could however, create an isolated solitary wing of your settlement where you keep a few duplicants that are vomiters.  These duplicants could be left extremely stressed and without toilets.  Their vomit/waste being used to generate fluid to be processed and utilized by the main settlement. 

Words of a true gamer. I bet if you have played Gnomoria, you used "gnome press" at some point.

[Ecu]

Just now, ShaTiK said:

Words of a true gamer. I bet if you have played Gnomoria, you used "gnome press" at some point.

Never played Gnomoria.  However, there just really isn't a good alternative way to generate water endlessly and in reasonable quantities to support a solid sized primary settlement.  When piping, building, and even doors all destroy gas/liquids...you need solid generation systems to combat them.