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Everything About Water
By muti
This guide is not only about water (and liquids in general) but also what it has interactions with.

Note that this is a semi-beginner's guide and this guide includes Spaced Out DLC content.

✨Don't forget to rate the guide and ask me your questions! Let me know your recommendations. What would you like to see in this guide?

All the GIFs and screenshots in this guide have been captured by me.

NOT COMPLETE YET!
   
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Created by
muti
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Category: Gameplay Basics, Modding or Configuration, Secrets, Walkthroughs, Workshop
Languages: English
Posted
Updated
30 Jun, 2024 @ 3:52am
15 Jul, 2024 @ 8:40am
4,616 Unique Visitors
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Guide Index
Overview
1. What is Water? 
2. Why is Water? 
✨Oxygen 
Algae Terrarium 
Oxyfern 
Electrolyzer 
✨Energy 
Steam Turbine 
Hydrogen Generator 
Natural Gas Generator 
✨Cooling 
✨Food 
✨Research 
✨Morale 
3. How to water? 
✨Direct Ways 
✨Indirect Ways 
Mods I Like To Use (Unrelated) 
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Comments
1. What is Water?
Water is an inorganic molecule with a molar mass (n) of 18.01528 g/mol and composed of 2 hydrogen (n=1.00794 g/mol) atoms and an oxygen (n=15.9994 g/mol) atom.

These masses indicates the average mass found in nature


Water molecules create hydrogen bonds with each other. That's why it has a significantly high boiling point which is 99.35 °C.
2. Why is Water?
You may ask "Your duplicants don't even need to consume water. What is the big deal?"

So let's learn why water is the most important resourse in the entire game!

Fasten your belts! It is going to be a fast trip.
✨Oxygen
Oxygen and polluted oxygen are breathable when above 50 g/tile. However, if your dupes breathe too much polluted oxygen in, they will get yucky lungs which will increase their oxygen/polluted oxygen consumption rate by 30 g/s and this effect will last for 0.2 cycles (120 seconds). Your dupes need to breathe it, y'know.

There are tons, I mean tons of way to produce oxygen in Oxygen Not Included which are:
  • Oxylite (is not a production but can be used in many ways, so I included it)
    This is the first oxygen resource you will use at the beginning of a new colony.
    You can later on produce oxylite by operating Oxylite Refinery or you can ranch Dense Pufts which will inhale oxygen and will excrete 95% of mass consumed oxylite.
    It is an important resource for space exploration. You can use it as an oxidizer for Petroleum Engine, Hyrogen Engine and Solid Fuel Thruster. And you can even put it into your Solo Spacefarer Nosecone or Spacefarer Module which is not very ideal in my opinion. I prefer using oxygen diffuser.

  • Oxygen Diffuser
    This will be your second oxygen resource if your cluster has abundant amount of algae around.
    Using oxygen diffuser is not very ideal as its oxygen production/algae consumption is low and it is the most heat generating building in the game. If you forget an oxygen diffuser running for so long, you can exhaust your algae source and heat your base up.

  • Space Missions (not really production but transportation)
We can transport oxygen from asteroids by doing space missions. All we need is Gas Cargo Canister

  • Rust Deoxidizer

  • Deodorizer

    Water Realted Oxygen Resources Are:

  • Oxyferns

  • Algae Terrarium

    and most importantly:

    • Electrolyzer!
Algae Terrarium
Our next and first water based oxygen resource is Algae Terrarium.

Outputs are always 30 °C unless the input is hotter.


Its requirements are:
  • Algae: 30 g/s
  • Water: 300g/s

and its effects are:
  • Oxygen: 40 g/s
  • Polluted water: 290.33 g/s
  • Carbon dioxide: 333.33 mg/s

and lastly the storage capacity of an algae terrarium is:
  • Algae: 90 kg
  • Water: 360 kg
  • Polluted Water: 360 kg

You can use a light source for +10% efficiency! This doesn't make it produce oxygen faster. It makes it produce more oxygen!


This resource requires a lot of duplicant occupation.

Here is how you can decrease the labor by shipping and automation:

  • Algae can be delivered to the algae terrarium by Auto-Sweeper

  • Water can't be. However, you can submerge the algae terrarium into the water. It doesn't flood or get overpressured by gases. You can automate the system by just adding a Hydro Sensor to the base (or wherever you want water to rise). If you rise the water 2 tiles or above, carbon dioxide will not be absorbed.
    Be careful! You can overpressure your tiles!

    It happens because the upper tile and bottom tile merge for a second for oxygen to be emitted. Thus, a single tile with over 1750 g mass will damage a sandstone tile

  • The emitted polluted water will be automatically bottled but an Auto-Sweeper can't sweep bottles. So, here your duplicants need to carry the bottles to a pitch pump (or wherever you want them to carry)


The presense of carbon dioxide is not required for algae terrarium to work.
Oxyfern
This one is pretty much straightforward.

Oxyferns turn carbon dioxide into oxygen. They absorb the carbon dioxide at the bottom square and emit oxygen at the top square



The domesticated oxyfern requires 19 kg water and 4 kg dirt per cycle, produce 4.012 times more oxygen and consumes 3.999 times more carbon dioxide. So, a domesticated oxyfern will produce 18,78 g of oxygen and delete 375 g of carbon dioxide per cycle

  • A domesticated oxyfern can feed 0.313 normal dupes at best

  • A duplicant with diver's lungs treat will need 2.396 oxyferns and a duplicant with mouth breather treat will need 6,390 oxyferns

It is better to plant oxyfern at the bottom of the base because it doesn't grow without carbon dioxide which means no oxygen.
Electrolyzer
An electrolyzer is a 2x2 building that converts 1kg of water into 888 g oxygen and 112 g hydrogen per second when run at 100%. It overpressures when a gas with over 2 kg mass is in its 2x2 area.

  • A 100% efficient electrolyzer can feed up to 8.8 dupes which don't have the trait mouth breather or diver's lungs.
  • A 100% efficient electrolyzer can feed up to 11.73 dupes at maximum and 4.4 at minimum.

When water at a temperature of 70°C or lower is utilized in an electrolyzer, the resulting gases always have a temperature of 70°C. However, if the input water is hotter than 70°C, the output gases will be at the same temperature as the input water. Therefore, a recommended approach is to first cool down hot machinery or tiles by circulating water through them. Once the water temperature is increased, it can then be used in the electrolyzer to produce hydrogen and oxygen.


Electrolyzer output locations

The squares shown will help us build our very first 100% efficient electrolyzer!

Added thanks to @prince.mandor: The shown squares are not the exact output squares. The oxygen output square and hydrogen output square can be reversed or their locations can be changed depending on the blueprint you use!



Let's talk about another important property of liquids in Oxygen Not Included.

Liquids do not mix! That is why we can mix two different liquids to make something like this:


Hydra


Hydrogen is stored in the left square and oxygen in the top square.

"But you just said hydrogen is spawned at the top left square of the electrolyzer and now there is a water. How come it is stored in the square on its left" you may ask! Idk it just gets pushed by the liquid i think. But it works!

I used petroleum and crude oil but you can use polluted water, salt water, brine, naphta, super coolant and water. You shouldn't use ethanol as its boiling point is 78.4°C. It is always okay if you feed the electrolyzer with water at a temperature of 70°C or lower but it is so close to boiling, I wouldn't risk it.

And here is the liquid layers:

Usable liquids for Hydra



You may have encountered some problems with this so called "Hydra", such as:

  • Your electrolyzer may have flooded.

Let me explain it briefly. Every liquid has a maximum mass in a square, like water and polluted water are 1000 kg. 35% of this maximum mass is called the flooding limit. You need to keep it less than 35%. Such as; if you pour water on top of a electrolyzer such that every square it occupies is heavier than 350 kg, it will flood.



  • The liquid on the hydrogen output square may be "jumping" and therefore your hydrogen chamber also fills with oxygen

It happens because the hydrogen chamber is not purely hydrogen and other gases are disturbing the flow or your hydrogen chamber was vacuum at the beginning. You need to (if not) vacuum the chamber and fill it with hydrogen even if it is 0.1 g of hydrogen.

"your hydrogen chamber was vacuum at the beginning" This one doesn't cause problem everytime.
✨Energy
Water based energy production is one of my major energy production in almost all of my bases, which will sound odd to most of the advanced players but hear me out.

I am not only talking about Steam Turbine here. I consider Hydrogen Generator a water based generator.

I may use a hydrogen geyser but its main source of hydrogen will be an electrolyzer as I will be merely using the geyser for Hydrogen Generator

Okay. Let's start then!
Steam Turbine
Hydrogen Generator
Natural Gas Generator
✨Cooling
Our bestie for this part of the guide is good old Aquatuner ans water is one of the best coolants for Aquatuner in Oxygen Not Included. Aquatuner basically take the -not heat but- temperature out of a coolant!

What I mean is a coolant with a higher specific heat capacity (which means how much energy we need to increase the temperature by 1 degree) and another coolant with a lower specific heat capacity will cool down the same! And the formula we are going to use is:

"Specific Heat Capacity" x 14 = "Heat Moved"

The reason why we multiply the specific heat capacity with 14 is that aquatuner cools down every liquid 14 celcius when passed through it.

Aquatuner does not produce its own heat and like any other machinery. It works by taking the heat from any liquid that piped in and it will heat up depending on the liquid piped into it. The forumla for the self heating is:

("Heat Moved" x 5) / (1,200,000 x "SHC of metal used") = "Self Heating"

Like aquatuner, metal refinery ignores thermal conductivity as it is also changes the temperature of any liquid that piped into it. So using polluted water is the most economy-friendly option possible.

Everything is fine as long as you don't evaporate the liquid inside the pipe.

Let me share the possible coolants best to worse:

  1. Super Coolant (Freezing point: -271.15 °C, Boiling point: 436.85 °C) (SHC: 8.440)

  2. Nuclear waste (Freezing point: 26.85 °C, Boiling point: 526.85 °C) (SHC: 7.440)

  3. Polluted Water (Freezing point: -20.65 °C, Boiling point: 119.35 °C) (SHC: 4.179)

  4. Water (Freezing point: -0.65 °C, Boiling point: 99.35 °C) (SHC: 4.179)

  5. Salt Water (Freezing point: -7.50 °C, Boiling point: 99.69 °C) (SHC: 4.100)

  6. Brine (Freezing point: -22.50 °C, Boiling point: 102.75 °C) (SHC: 3.400)

  7. Ethanol (Freezing point: -114.05 °C, Boiling point: 78.35 °C) (SHC: 2.460)

  8. Naphta (Freezing point: -50.15 °C, Boiling point: 538.85 °C) (SHC: 2.191)

  9. Petroleum (Freezing point: -57.15 °C, Boiling point: 538.85 °C) (SHC: 1.760)

  10. Crude Oil (Freezing point: -40.15 °C, Boiling point: 399.85 °C) (SHC: 1.690)



The only reason why polluted water is better than water as a coolant is because its freezing is 20 °C lower and boiling point is 20 °C higher than that of water. They have the same specific heat capacity and thermal conductivity.

Nuclear waste would make a great coolant for cooling down extreme temperatures.
✨Food
These are the foods that require (kinds of) water


Amari is not the brightest among his peers but he gets the job done!


  • Mush Bar, Liceloaf and Tofu: produced at microbe musher

  • Bristle Blossom and Sleet Wheat: These plants require water

  • Bug Bucket and Pincha Pepperplant: These plants require polluted water

  • Water Weed: This plant requires salt water

This teaches us that we shouldn't filter our water if we have an excess amount.

And this part of the guide is pretty much over.
✨Research
Super computer uses water for Advanced Research and every point requires 50 kg of water which means you need 164,000 kg of water to complete every Advanced Research in the research tree.

This transportation of water to the Super Computer requires duplicant occupation.

So, building a Super Computer close to a water source with a pitcher pump is a good idea.


✨Morale
  • A latrine increases the morale by 1, while a bathroom increases it by 2

  • Using hot tub increases the morale by 5

  • Using sauna increases the morale by 2

  • Taking a shower increases the morale by 3

  • Drinking espresso increases the morale by 4 and grants +1 athletics

  • Drinking juice increases the morale by 4 and grants +1 strength

  • Drinking soda increases the morale by 4 and grants +1 science

  • Using water cooler increases the morale by 1

3. How to water?
There are some direct and indirect ways of access to water.

Indirect ways require melting, vaporization, freezing or using water sieve
✨Direct Ways
We don't have a lot of options when it comes to directly accessing water.


  1. The first one is using the water around the starting cluster.

    There are plenty of water around your cluster depending on the cluster you selected.
    The best asteroid for pure water is the Terra and Terrania Clusters


  2. Filtering Polluted Water using a Water Sieve.

    Filtering can be the major water source in some cases. Such as selected cluster, such as Squelchy and Quagmiris Cluster


  3. Melting ice and snow

    This one is pretty much straightforward. You can use ice and snow to cool things down and get water afterwards. You can build Tempshift Plates using ice and an easy sewer system under the area of favor.
    Not really a sewer but the only limit is your imagination at this point



  4. Desalinater

    It will turn brine and salt water into water and salt.
    • Brine will yield 70% water and 30% salt in mass

    • Salt water will yield 93% water and 7% salt in mass


  5. Space missions

    We can get water from space missions by building a Liquid Tank to our rocket!


  6. Gulp Fish
    They will convert polluted water into water


  7. Using vents

Not really efficient but it has its own charm

    • Cool Steam Vent

      The output is 1.5 kg/s steam at 110 °C
      You can cool it down until it condenses at 97.4 °C and then feed it to the electrolyzer. Eventhough the output oxygen will be 97.4 °C, it is much more easy to cool down oxygen then water. You don't even need to cool down the oxygen! It is just a waste since the dupes will just delete the heat by inhaling oxygen as they have a steady body temperature.

    • Steam Vent

      The output is 0.75 kg/s steam at 500 °C
      Accessing water through steam vent is not really efficient but you can create a mechanised airlock
      metal tile automation system to heat up your steam turbine. But be careful! You may overheat your steam chamber and break things if you are not using steel yet.


✨Indirect Ways
By "Indirect ways", I mean 2 step productions.

The first step is to produce or get Polluted Water, Salt Water or Brine.

The second step is convertion.


Let's start with Polluted Water

Polluted water emits polluted oxygen when the pressure is belove 1800 g/tile.
5 times a second it has a 1% chance of converting 0.1% of the surface cell's mass and it emits polluted oxygen to its above, not to the adjacent tiles.
Liquid Reservoirs do not emit polluted oxygen

  • So, if you don't want to lose your precious polluted water


    • You can overpressure it

    • You can keep the surface light (as in mass)

    • You can pour a less dense liquid, like water


  • You can also use polluted water for food production.


    • Pincha Pepperplant requires 35 kg/cycle of Polluted Water.

    • Bog Bucket requires 40 kg/cycle of Polluted Water.

    • Arbor Tree requires 70 kg/cycle of Polluted Water.

    • Thimble Reed requires 160 kg/cycle of Polluted Water.

    • 120 g of Ferilizer can be produced with 39 g Polluted Water + 65 g Dirt + 26 g Phosphorite with 10 g Natural Gas emission

We can finally talk about how to obtain Polluted Water

  1. Lavatories

    Lavatories will convert 5 kg of Water into 11.7 kg of Polluted Water.
    I know it is not much but what can I do? It is a passive production though.


  2. Natural Gas Generator

    It produces Polluted Water: 67.5 g/s and Carbon Dioxide: 22.5 g/s per Natural Gas: 90 g/s
    This is a heat-multiplying machinery with a specific heat capacity (SHC) output to input ratio of 1.5
    Polluted Water is produced with minimal temperature of 40 °C if the input Natural Gas is 40 °C or colder. Likewise for Carbon Dioxide with minimal temperature of 110 °C


  3. Petroleum Generator

    It will convert 2 kg/s of Petroleum/Ethanol into Polluted Water: 750 g/s and Carbon Dioxide 500 g/s and it deletes 750 g of mass.
    The temperature of output of Polluted Water and Carbon Dioxide is the same as Natural Gas Generator's.

    (I can write about heat deletion of petroleum generator which is very nerdy and boring to read)


  4. Algae Distillers: Slime

    Converts Slime: 600 g/s into Algae 200 g/s and Polluted Water 400 g/s
    Polluted Water is not directly released.
    Because of the high ratio of SHC output/SHC input, which is approximately 15, It is also considered as a heat-multiplying machinery.


  5. Duplicants: Vomitter Response

    If your duplicant gets too stressed, it may vomit. It will make your base a mess. But here you go, you got polluted water!


  6. Vents

    • Polluted Water Vents: Average 3 kg/s at 30 °C

      It contains food poisining germs. You can feed this germy polluted water to Pincha Pepperplants, Arbor Trees and Thimble Reeds. However, feeding it to a Bog Bucket will result in a germy food. Unless you cook it, it will give your dupes food poisining.

    • Cool Slush Geysers: Average 1.5 kg/s at -10 °C

      It is a germ free liquid because of its cold temperature.
      You need to heat this liquid up to use water sieve, as water sieve doesn't change the the input temperature. Because it will break the pipes by solidifying.

Mods I Like To Use (Unrelated)
These are the mods I use, some of which are awesome (❤️) and some of which are a must (⭐️).


This section is going to be split into groups of 10, as Steam doesn't allow previews of links after the 10th one.
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5 Comments
< >
MagicalKarma456 29 Aug @ 10:25pm 
most informing thing about this is that the mouth breather needs six thousand three hundred ninety oxyferns
colt2013tx 21 Jun @ 1:00pm 
thumbs up, I give you michalangalo award
muti  [author] 10 Jul, 2024 @ 8:52am 
@prince.mandor yes, my explanation lacks information. It is to build the next blueprint. I will try to change the explanation. Thank you
prince.mandor 10 Jul, 2024 @ 7:03am 
Electrolyzer description is wrong. Both gases spawned at top-left corner of electrolyzer
Avo 1 Jul, 2024 @ 7:34am 
Fabulous