Welcome to Oxygen Not Included, a challenging singleplayer sandbox survival game where you manage a colony of clones, called Duplicants, deep within an asteroid. Your goal is to build a self-sustaining base, ensuring your Duplicants have oxygen, food, and everything else they need to survive and thrive, all while battling the harsh environment and your own mistakes. It's a game of intricate systems, trial and error, and often, hilarious disaster.
This guide will help you navigate the complexities of colony management. We’ll cover essential strategies for expansion, automation, and resource management, including detailed breakdowns of useful critters and plants. You’ll also find a comprehensive achievement guide and plenty of tips and tricks to help your Duplicants survive for years of in-game time, avoiding the common pitfalls that lead to a colony’s demise.
Walkthrough
Master Oxygen Not Included with our comprehensive strategy guide. Learn tips, tricks, and walkthroughs for Colony Imperatives, Critters, Plants, and Achievements.
Walkthrough
Master Oxygen Not Included with our comprehensive strategy guide. Learn tips, tricks, and walkthroughs for Colony Imperatives, Critters, Plants, and Achievements.
Space Exploration & Rocketry — Oxygen Not Included Guide
Learn the essentials of Oxygen Not Included's Space Exploration and Rocketry. This guide covers starting your base, managing temperature, food, dupes, and power for survival.
This guide provides essential tips for Oxygen Not Included, focusing on starting your base and managing key survival elements. It covers temperature control, food production, managing your duplicants (Dupes), and power generation.
Starting your base:
Use the overlays in the top right of the screen to manage your base effectively. Avoid digging out everything indiscriminately.
Temperature:
- Monitor the temperature overlay to identify hot and cold spots.
- Locate barracks and bedrooms in temperate areas, away from heat sources.
- Ensure greenhouses maintain optimal temperatures for crops like Meal Lice and Bristle Blossoms; even a 1°C deviation can prevent growth.
- High temperatures can cause Dupes to get scalded, requiring medical attention and halting productivity. Use the Thermal Comfort Overlay to see areas safe for Dupes.
- Different materials have varying thermal properties. Granite and sandstone offer decor bonuses, suitable for sculptures and tiles. Igneous rock is good for greenhouses due to its low thermal reactivity. Abyssalite is even better but scarce.
- Keep heat-generating elements like power generators and batteries away from greenhouses.
Food:
- Early game: Mealwood seeds produce Meal Lice (600 kcals, -1 food quality). They require dirt, which is not fully renewable. Suitable for Dupes with low food expectations.
- Mid-game transition: Bristle Blossoms produce Bristle Berries (2050 kcals, 1 food quality when cooked). They require water and light. Use coal generators for power and consider hydroponic farm tiles to automate watering.
- Mushrooms: Grown from fungal spores, fried mushrooms offer 2800 kcals and 1 food quality. They require polluted water and immersion in carbon dioxide.
- Food preservation: If a greenhouse is full of carbon dioxide, food on the floor will not decay as germs need oxygen. Storing food in ration boxes in an ice biome also reduces decay.
Dupes:
- Limit the number of Dupes. Aim for a minimum of 3 and a maximum of 6 initially to ensure sufficient food and oxygen.
- Build rooms for Dupes: Barracks increase stamina regeneration, and latrines reduce stress.
- Manage Dupe stress carefully, as it can significantly impact productivity.
Mid Game: Expansion & Automation (Cycles 51-200)
Master Oxygen Not Included's mid-game (Cycles 51-200) by focusing on base expansion, efficient automation, and resource management. Learn key strategies for survival and growth.
Mid Game: Expansion & Automation (Cycles 51-200)
Master Oxygen Not Included's mid-game (Cycles 51-200) by focusing on base expansion, efficient automation, and resource management. Learn key strategies for survival and growth.




Advanced Oxygen & Water Loops
Learn advanced strategies for managing oxygen and water loops in Oxygen Not Included. Optimize your base, manage temperature, and ensure dupe survival with expert tips.
This guide provides essential tips for managing advanced oxygen and water loops in Oxygen Not Included. It covers crucial aspects of base building, temperature control, food production, and dupe management to help you survive and thrive.
Key Areas Covered:
- Temperature Management: Utilizing overlays to identify hot and cold spots, understanding material properties (like granite and abyssalite) for construction, and strategic placement of heat-generating objects.
- Food Production: Transitioning from early-game Mealwood to Bristle Blossoms and Mushrooms, managing water and light requirements, and preventing food spoilage using carbon dioxide environments or ice biomes.
- Dupe Management: Avoiding overpopulation, understanding the importance of room bonuses (barracks, latrines) for stamina and stress, and the challenges of managing dupe stress.
- Base Building: Using overlays for efficient base design and understanding the impact of different materials on decor and thermal properties.
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