CO2 Strategies early game: just keep digging?

[aquaricorn]

I got around to cycle 27 feeling pretty good: lots of mealwood trees, all first-level tech researched, plumbing and air filters trying to keep people alive. The trouble is what to do about CO2! Watching the overlay the red just creeps up and up and up and my breathable air gets less and less. I have a few algae thingies (1 oxidizer and 2 co2 scrubbers) placed about and the air filter sucking out CO2 and filtering oxygen away from it, but at some point there's just too much CO2 with nowhere to go. I've watched it rise up to the first level of anything important and imagine it'll just keep going unless I figure out what to do about it.

Microcosm for the real world I suppose.

[MaebeKnot]

Carbon Skimmers make quick work of carbon. Can easily clean up after a coal generator and a good handful of dups producing CO2. Definitely not something you need very early or should rush though. Early game there are more important things to build and with just a few dups the Carbon Skimmer will be OP and barely have to run. Instead just keep digging but be smart about it. You will need to naturally dig down to make more rooms for your base. Expanding the base down will ensure your established rooms are staying CO2 free. Early game you will want to trap some CO2 to keep your food boxes in. CO2 or Chlorine is a cheap way of ensuring your food is refrigerated without a refrigerator.

I almost never use terrariums but I think that is largely a personal preference. I would rather save the water to split it into H and O2. The more I save, the more time I have to get a water geyser going. Sometimes I get unlucky and doesn't find one as soon as I would like.

[Strygald]

You shouldn't have that much by cycle 27... how many dupes do you have?

Simplest way to deal with CO2 that early:

- generate more O2, as the O2 increases in pressure it will push the CO2 downward and compress it more.

- build a bigger 'pit' below your base for the CO2 to move down into.

if i was to guess though, you aren't producing enough O2 which is causing the CO2 to expand upwards..

[aquaricorn]

One of the challenging enjoyments to this game is the trial and error; even with the youtube tutorials it's kinda a feel-as-you-go thing. I had oodles of food so got 7 dupes by Cycle 27 as I was hoping to start specializing jobs more effectively. Probably 7 is not the magic number. The CO2 pit-fridge is a pretty swell idea.

I do have a big pit for the CO2 and it's filtering up, my guess being that there's only so much O2 can compress or push it down before O2 starts to disappear. Perhaps one algae oxidizer isn't enough at this stage and scrapping the algae terrariums or whatever in exchange for the oxidizer is the way to go.

I have space to keep digging down but the dupes have to go through the CO2 mist to dig so it really crushes their spirits it seems. I guess though that's just how it is until you can better scrub the CO2

Has anyone tried making a sealed CO2 room that the air filter can pump the gas into, and if so is there an observable max capacity before ♥♥♥♥ breaks or explodes?

[Strygald]

Not enough O2 for sure...

The Deoxidizer can support about 5 dupes.. however as you keep digging out more space the Oxygen spreads out more while not much more is being generated as a surplus... so it gets thinner, which allows other gasses like CO2 to 'push back' against it and spread upwards more.

Now when you have 7 dupes with 1 Deoxidizer you are not generating enough O2 and also probably digging out a bigger and bigger space at the same time, causing the CO2 to billow up.

The Deoxidizer can generate O2 up to about 1200grams per game tile, which is what I aim for early game.

edit: i don't think gas pressure can break tiles, well maybe it can but the most i've seen is 1000kg of pressurized gas and that didn't affect adjacent solid tiles.

[MaebeKnot]

With the things already covered. If you are finding the CO2 is to high to your liking then it is time to build the Carbon Scrubber. Keep in mind, with the way the game calculates gas movement, you will often find CO2 builds up to the right of the Scrubber, higher then it does on the left of the scrubber.

Unless you are producing a LOT of CO2, then it wont take long for the scrubber to catch up. Then only need to turn on periodically because it's usually surrounded by O2.. Feel free to use automation if you would like more control over that periodical cycling.

[Sir Fluffykins]

Seems only people having fun, just use Debug to play with new items.

Actually playing the game takes forever and then problems pop up, which is fine, but I feel starting area is too closed in for trial and error.

[aquaricorn]

I feel like RNGesus decides if you have a decent starter map (or overall map) one way or the other. I am an unabashed re-roller in that regard.

Looks like some good feedback from folks so I'll give it a shot with another algae doohickey. Part of the trial and error is also figuring out about how many X you need for Y; how many plants to feed people, how many toilets, how many O2 creators and scrubbers and the like...no cow level.

[aquaricorn]

I'm thinking it's best to place a C02 storage fridge nearby a mess hall so the worthless dupes don't run up and down ladders. To accomplish that I figure to pump C02 up from the bottom pits into a closed-off space. Are there early-game materials that make gas containment easier? Double-thick walls, granite instead of sandstone...?

[BigFlop]

The easiest way I've found it to have an air pump at the bottom of the base and and vent into space. It doesn't take that long to dig up to space and the vent can also be used to dump hot air from other things

[CoolNitro]

Originally posted by aquaricorn:

I'm thinking it's best to place a C02 storage fridge nearby a mess hall so the worthless dupes don't run up and down ladders. To accomplish that I figure to pump C02 up from the bottom pits into a closed-off space. Are there early-game materials that make gas containment easier? Double-thick walls, granite instead of sandstone...?

For food storage simply make a room at least 4 open tiles high but instead of putting doors level with the floor build walls up 2 high on either side and either pump some co2 in or let it settle naturally, the co2 will say within the 2 high section covering food storage.

As for gas containment, its all about how each gas interacts with other gasses and how you layout your base, gas doesn't seep through walls so single layers work fine and meterials don't matter.

The most optimal main hub area setup is simply a square with 4 high floors and metal gas flow tiles every few blocks on each floor and on the bottom of that base you stick a carbon scrubber, so long as your o2 production keeps pressure high all other gasses should filter to the top or bottom naturally without interference or micromanaging.

Originally posted by aquaricorn:

Has anyone tried making a sealed CO2 room that the air filter can pump the gas into, and if so is there an observable max capacity before ♥♥♥♥ breaks or explodes?

Pressure cap for gas with a normal vent is 1800g but it will balance out to around 2000g per tile, if you use a high pressure vent it will be roughly 20,000g pre tile, the room it's self will never break you simply won't be able to pump any more pressure into it. There are some mechanics that allow for unlimited gas pressure to be forced into an area I won't say how but so far the only thing gas pressure breaks is dup eardrums.


I should note that once you start building bases with 4 high floors and a rough square shape its hard to change it, all of my hub areas start and end up looking nearly exactly the same which makes the first 100 cycles or so quite tedious for each new game.

[Ambrsale]

I think about co2 as a resource. I do not want to "remove" it with carbon skimmer. Just kepp collecting until 100-200 cycle, and plan to get oil layer with slicksters. Then I usually create on the bottom of the base automatic system for pumping co2 out to feed slicksters.

And a small bonus - molten slicksters(90+ C as I remember) consumes co2 and produces petroleum.