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Rarely will a colony management or simulation game add a feature that changes how the entire game is played. Even rarer is when that feature is a seemingly small change.Oxygen Not Includedmanaged this feat, however, with the introduction of Bionic Duplicants.
A variation on the standard Duplicant, your colony’s hardworking humans, Bionic Duplicants have different needs and equally different strengths. With how much they shake up the standard survival formula, it’s best to go in prepared. Otherwise, those new Bionic Duplicants will power off before you get to really enjoy them.
How To Unlock Bionic Duplicants
Bionic Duplicants are part ofthe Bionic Booster DLC Pack. As such, you will need toown and download that DLCfor these variants to appear in the game.
Once that’s settled, Bionic Duplicants willappear in two ways:
They can bemanually selected during the new game Duplicant selection screen. On this screen, randomizing a Duplicant has a chance of having one be Bionic. Alternatively, you canselect the filter box in the upper right corner of each Duplicant and select the bionic option. This will ensure all randomly generated options for that selection will be Bionic.
The other way for them to appear isthrough the Printing Pod. Like in any game, the pod will regularly offer the chance to print out either resources or another Duplicant. Bionic Duplicants have a chance of spawning here.
How To Keep Bionic Duplicants Alive
Like any good Duplicant, you need to keep Bionics alive. But HOW to do that isvastly different from the standard version.
Bionic Duplicants don’t eat. Instead, theyconsume battery power at a rate of 120 kJ a day.
To support this, Bionic Duplicants canretain up to four power banks inside of them. Each consumable power bank can contain up to 120 kJ of power, totalling 480 kJ between recharges.
There arethree consumable power banks, each with 120 kJ of power but with different crafting requirements.
200kg metal ore
crafted from any standard ore at a Crafting Station
200kg Abyssalite
Crafted at a Soldering Station
Rechargeable via a Power Bank Charger
A fourth power bank exists, called theAtomic Power Bank. This late-game optioncannot be used for Duplicantsand is intended as a power source for machinery.
Given the relatively low cost of entry, we recommendstriving for Eco Power Banks quicklysince metal ore, while plentiful, is considered a non-renewable resource for most of the game.
Instead of a bladder,Bionic Duplicants have a Gunk meter. Generating25 percent a day, once this meter hits 100, the Duplicant willvomit out 80kg of a purple liquid called Gunk. To avoid that, Duplicants will seek a method to remove the Gunk.
The ideal option is the Gunk Extractor, a simple machine they can use to drain all Gunk. Be sure to give the machine a liquid output, perhaps draining into a hole. When they use one of these, the machine will drain Gunk at a rate equal to their current gunk level (50 percent is 40kg, 100 percent is 80kg).
When no extractor is available,Duplicants will seek out Outhouses and Lavatoriesinstead. Using them, however, willcause the stations to become clogged, which requires a Duplicant to manually unclog it.
Early game, we recommend building an Extractor as soon as possible and having it drain into a small hole with a water pump in it. This is becauseGunk is needed for the next topic.
They Need Gear Oil
Bionic Duplicants require lubrication. This is tracked bythe Gear Oil stat. There are two methods of lubricating: using the Lubrication Station or crafting Gear Balm.
The ideal method is a Lubrication Station, which consumes200kg of either Phyto Oil or Crude Oilto fully refresh their gear oil stat. This also provides a small buff. But with both oils not being quickly accessible, this is amid- to late-game option only.
An early-game option isGear Balm, which is made inan apothecary station with 80 kg of Gunk and 200 kg of Water. This consumable item will fully restore the Gear Oil level when used.
Make sure you have a Duplicant with theApothecary Usage abilityand set their medicine priority high enough.
Gear Balm costs the same amount of Gunk that one Bionic Duplicant will generate. This allows you tocreate an Extrator-to-Gear-Balm loop that lubricates one Duplicant with just Water.
If they gowithout oil, they can still operate, but with amajor debuff, lower speed, and increased stress.
They Consume Oxygen Differently
Bionic Duplicantsstill consume 100g/s of oxygen, like regular ones. One minor change is thatthey do not exhume CO2. The biggest difference, however, is that theyonly stop to ‘breath’ once every four days or so.
Instead of consistently breathing, Bionic Duplicants willabsorb up to 240kg of oxygen at once, storing that in an internal tank until it runs out. Throughout the day, these Duplicants willbreathe from their internal tank instead. Once the tank runs low, Duplicants will seek out an oxygen supply and refill their tank all at once.
The benefits of this are thatthey can hold their breath for extremely long periods of time, like in a vacuum or underwater. The downside is that if you don’t have a high reserve of oxygen prepared,you might quickly find yourself running out come refill time.
Water stresses out Bionic Duplicants, so attempt to avoid submerging them when possible.
When given the option,Bionic Duplicants will seek out bottled tanks of oxygen to consume. you’re able to use this to prep large volumes of oxygen. When none are available, they will instead seek out wherever the oxygen is most dense and quickly absorbed from their surroundings.
Bionic Duplicant Sleep And Work Schedules
Bionic Duplicants do not have a standard daily routine. Instead, their productive time issplit up between three days: two days straight of work and one day of work and extended rest and relaxation.
While beneficial,Bionic Duplicants don’t require sleep. And with battery and oxygen reserves large enough to span four days, they can work uninterrupted for multiple days. On the third day, however,they will need extra time to recharge, refill, and relax.
They don’t sleep, insteadentering a “defragmenting” phase. This process bothreduces stress and generates Microchips. Said chips can be used tocraft Booster Packs, so it’s important that they do this regularly. This process alsoemits light, so be careful that it doesn’t bother non-bionic Duplicants at night.
The default schedule for Bionic Duplicants works great, butyou can change it to match the daily routine of everyone else. They’ll still work, just with less efficiency.
Boosters VS Skills
While Bionic Duplicants generate skill points to unlock skills,a majority of their abilities come from boosters, which they can install. Certain skills can upgrade the number of boosters they can have on at a time.
The main benefit of Boosters is the modular nature they offer. You canswap out boosters at will, so each Duplicant will only have the skills they need. You can also’skip' the skill tree by installing higher-tier boosters without needing the previous tiers(like going straight to Masterwork art)
Boosters are crafted at either theCrafting stationor theSoldering station.
Every Booster And Where To Craft It
Note that every Boosterincludes a +2 Athletics buffon top of the listed stat boosts, with the exception of the Suit Training Booster.
Abyssalite, Diamond, Obsidian, and Corium Mining
Electric Grill, Deep Fryer, Gas Range, and Spice Grinder Usage
Usage for all art block items, Masterwork quality art
+5 Creativity
Astronomy Booster
Mission Control Station, Orbital Data Collection Lab, Telescope, and Virtual Planetarium Usage
Reduce Exosuit debuff and Exosuit durability drain
Takingthe Schematics skillwill also grant Soldering Station Usage.
Bionic Duplicant Pro Tips
While this is enough to keep your Bionic Duplicants alive, a few pro-level tips and tricks can really improve your overall survivability. Keep these ideas in mind for your next game:
