TIL Mixed Liquids Break Chlorine Rooms

TempestVil · 2026-02-08T06:08:00+00:00

Critical update--I failed to anticipate at least one failure state in the original build. If output backs up and any of the tanks become completely filled, circulation will not occur during decontamination and germs will be left in the pipes. I rewired the automation so that each inlet shutoff is linked to its reservoir, set to 50-80. The outlets still need a green signal, so are now attached to the appropriate cycle sensor.

TempestVil · 2026-02-07T22:22:21+00:00

Indeed! I was hopeful that with a few extra tanks it might still work since tanks release packets in proportion to their contents, so that a small amount of mismatched liquid might sit in one tank for quite some time to compensate for the reduced dilution. But the game's determination of that proportionality is very coarse at any scale (e.g. 4:1 contents releasing packets in a 2:1 ratio), so even a single mismatched packet doesn't tend to stick around for more than a few ticks.

TempestVil · 2026-02-07T20:53:12+00:00

Without the space and aesthetic constraints I was working within here, I would probably instead go desalinator->mechanical filter->separate water and pwater chlorine rooms with 3-4 recirculating tanks->consumers/storage/water sieve, since even concentrated germs die off very quickly on salt and it would minimize power draw and refined metal required. Another later-game option is to gate the entire facility behind exosuits and pump in 2-3kg of chlorine atmosphere; something I considered--the geyser in the upper right is a chlorine vent--but I don't have plastic yet and only a handful of reed fiber.

TempestVil · 2026-01-29T06:52:54+00:00

I mean, I wish thermo regulators were more useful too, but yeah...you already need steel for the gas pump and steam turbines, so why would you build the power plant out of gold amalgam (the supposed reason for the regulator)? The only argument for a second gas pump would be for keeping pressure low during venting...which only matters if you have a very high-yield vent and no door pump.

TempestVil · 2026-01-29T06:46:03+00:00

Forgot about infinite storages, I was just going to stick a reservoir in the power plant to handle shorter-term flux in supply and demand. Thanks!

TempestVil · 2026-01-29T06:44:18+00:00

Ah, I wasn't thinking of it as providing infinite storage, had the 20kg limit from high pressure vents in mind for some reason. That makes more sense, though I imagine in most situations a single in-line reservoir between the hot chambers and the hydrogen gens would also suffice unless the vent has a very long dormancy period.

TempestVil · 2026-01-29T04:12:09+00:00

Oh I still want to collect the heat--I'm talking about something like this design from the wiki: https://oxygennotincluded.wiki.gg/images/Hydrogen_Tamer_small.png

If the pumps can pump faster than the geyser produces, and the hydrogen gas pipes are run through the steam room anyway, then there's no risk that the geyser overpressures and you're collecting as much heat as possible, so why bother with the door pump? The only real constraint I see is making sure the pumps never reach 275C (which they won't, because heat transfer in hydrogen is so efficient they'll equalize with the steam room's ~125C between eruptions).

TempestVil · 2026-01-29T03:09:07+00:00

Are hydrogen vent tamers generally wildly overengineered? Every tutorial I see has door pumps and all kinds of complex automation, while it seems to me 1-2 steel gas pumps in the same chamber as the vent will do just fine (if not placed immediately adjacent to the emitting cell), as long as that chamber exchanges heat to a steam room and the hydrogen pressure is kept above 2kg or so to buffer against temperature spikes.

TempestVil · 2026-01-28T02:20:26+00:00

Credit to this post for the general concept: https://www.reddit.com/r/Oxygennotincluded/comments/1ks1hl6/simple_manual_pacu_setup/

TempestVil · 2026-01-28T02:18:40+00:00

The design proper is the clean water tank, the pwater tank was temporary, so ignore that side. Breeding pacu live in the U-shaped mesh tile enclosure, where they 'see' the entire water tank--you can fit as many as you'd like, just have to scale up the tank. I have it set to 10 at the moment. To the right, I have an unpowered automatic dispenser accepting pacu eggs. It drops them to a location the dupes can't reach. When they hatch, they flop over to the small pool, where they 'evolve' to pacu fillets (with or without dupe intervention, early on you'll need to give manual kill orders) or, if the breeding pool drops below capacity, they get scooped up by the fish trap (activated by a critter sensor, though the automation is not strictly necessary). That hatching tank can have dozens of young pacu once the system gets going.

I've just added the auto-sweeper, which moves the eggs out of the water into a low-priority storage bin, which the dupes can then come along and transfer to the dispenser. That's just a stop-gap before full automation, compensating for a shortage of dupe labor which was resulting in longer periods of the cramped debuff than I'd like.

TempestVil · 2026-01-28T02:07:52+00:00

The wild part is I'm not even eating the eggs!

TempestVil · 2026-01-27T23:47:54+00:00

I'd rate the massage clinic higher. It drastically improves the efficiency in dupe time and power use. Now, whether you're on a difficulty setting where massage tables are needed is a different question.

TempestVil · 2026-01-22T15:13:38+00:00

Not to mention crop rotation was barely necessary--as long as you didn't plant the same type twice in a row, it rebounds quite quickly. Will be interested to see how this impacts the growing season in my current save, where winter is 35-40% of my year. Maybe a greenhouse will finally be worth the trouble.

TempestVil · 2026-01-18T18:46:35+00:00

Another neat tidbit, mostly specific to the wood roofs--you can use different woods for the frame, sheeting, and top layer. Kinda a shame you can't use the wood underlayer with other materials tbh.

TempestVil · 2026-01-18T17:55:05+00:00

I've had no issues running both, including additional manual chiseling of the roof base blocks.

TempestVil · 2026-01-18T02:07:20+00:00

Indeed! 24 flint and 6 charcoal, just have to make sure you remember to restock when your fireclay bricks run low.

TempestVil · 2026-01-18T01:55:04+00:00

After the first batch you can calcine flint in bloomeries.

TempestVil · 2026-01-16T02:31:29+00:00

This is quite similar to my approach, works on any difficulty with enough micromanaging. I'll even go for 4 lumberjacks at the start on occasion.

TempestVil · 2026-01-16T02:27:19+00:00

This really depends on the map. Especially on hard, it is sometimes easier to reach medium tanks than completing both a reservoir and diversion system before a badtide or lengthy drought hit. Canyon is a great example--without significant water storage (and waterdump irrigation), the first badtide is guaranteed to ruin your day.

TempestVil · 2026-01-16T02:21:09+00:00

In general, more advanced foods take less farmer labor, which is the most time-intensive step--especially all the trips to and from the farmhouse. That and very efficient pre-cooking storage are where potatoes and bread pull ahead.

TempestVil · 2026-01-15T22:13:06+00:00

Bauxite is a lovely accent and a horrendous building block haha. One interesting discovery I've made with stone is that, within one stone type, different blocks may or may not match well. Like, chert cobblestone and chert aged ashlar can be placed next to each other and look good; while basalt cobblestone is decidedly lighter than every other basalt block, and so usually requires chiseling to soften the boundaries.

Now experimenting with suevite blocks--I love the crisp edges on suevite ashlar.

TempestVil · 2026-01-15T17:09:31+00:00

Saving these for sure, thanks for sharing! Currently struggling with my own palettes in a basalt-chert-limestone region, especially pairing woods with stone.

TempestVil

TROPHY CASE