No Water Locks

[G-Force]

Does anybody else play without building water locks to trap gas or create vacuum rooms? I personally don't like the aesthetics or concept of them and am curious if anybody else agrees.

I like to use pumps and filters to control what is in a room. I'd prefer a higher tier object that could function as an airlock instead.

[FDru]

I try to avoid them but with some recent changes to the way gasses settle, it's difficult to maintain a gas airlock and many of the other types cost power which make them a very unattractive option.

[Xuhybrid]

If "airlock" doors were actually airlocks, i'd use them. You are pretty much required to use them for certain areas unless you want any old gas leaking all over place.

[L37]

One advantage of liquid locks is reliability. Every other system possible is not 100% reliable or is incredibly slow. I've tried doing it and did not like the rsults.

Also, there is such high-tier object, and it is visco-gel. Mechanically it is just the same liquid lock, 100% reliable and all that. Aesthetically thogh it is totally different and IMO quite nice, it looks more like some sort of sci-fi forcefield or more realistic plasma window...

[G-Force]

I didn't know about visco-gel, thanks! I was thinking something more mechanical but that's cool too. I'm just getting back into the game. My new colony is close to cycle 600 and I haven't built a molecular forge or even a rocket yet.

Maybe I'm really slow but I probably put too much effort into base design. I always have to sweep all debris too. It's a problem.

[Chompman]

If they made other systems more reliable then water locks but not nearly as costly as they currently are in the terms of power or large amount of space some require it would be nice but sadly that's not really in the game yet.

Until you get much further in the game these water locks are simply to effective and cheap to ignore and they make sense as they work in the real world too so make sure your dupes like getting wet early on.

[Angpaur]

Originally posted by Chompman:

Until you get much further in the game these water locks are simply to effective and cheap to ignore and they make sense as they work in the real world too so make sure your dupes like getting wet early on.

Exactly this.
I also don't like water locks but its simplicity and effectivness just beats everything else. And the wet debuff is no longer an issue when you have atmosuits.

[SKull]

I like them because it's basic physics applied. But obviously you can't use them in flatulence only colonies, so that's my exception. Otherwise, why would I not use the one perfect solution available?

[rattopi]

I only use them early, and then switch into double airlocks with pumps and filters near the atmos checkpoint for that sweet scifi aesthetic. Quite a lot of work but I don't care.

[Strygald]

I don't use waterlocks, I use fancy transit tube access stations, paired on either side of a wall .. uses a lot of power but to me the goal of the game isn't about doing things as efficiently as possible, it's about making an extravagant colony where every dupe lives in disgusting comfort and opulence!(a stark contrast to eking out an existence in the beginning)

[AlexMBrennan]

water locks [...] make sense as they work in the real world

Have you ever seen a barometer? Could you explain what force is keeping the water down in this example:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1661561607

Magic?

[Doombunny]

I do not use water locks, it feels like an exploit to me.

[FDru]

Originally posted by AlexMBrennan:

water locks [...] make sense as they work in the real world

Have you ever seen a barometer? Could you explain what force is keeping the water down in this example:

Seems like a quirk with the game engine. As vacuum usually does get filled with whatever gas or liquid is near it. If there was more water pressure I think it would fill it like it's supposed to.

[L37]

Liquid/gas simulations are extremely simplified, so some quirks can happen. In this case though i think if you wait long enough those space will get filled.
As for waterlock itself - it would perfectly work in reality, it just has a lot of downsides and other designs are much more viable in reality than in ONI.

[SamuraiJones]

in my first couple bases I used complicated airlocks with vaccum pumps and chlorine chambers... but it just took so much plumbing, I eventually gave it up for the generic waterlock.

I've thought about reconsidering, now that we've got air bottlers to let dupes move and sort gases by hand, but never got around to it.

[intenselygoodtime]

Originally posted by Doombunny:

I do not use water locks, it feels like an exploit to me.

Ditto.