Guide to First Rocket Launch - Vanilla

This guide outlines how to achieve your first rocket launch in Oxygen Not Included (ONI) vanilla version, within two hours. The guide assumes no DLC, no mods, and difficulty settings on the Terra asteroid. While the overall strategy is similar for set and random seeds, random seeds might require extra adaptation.

End goal

To launch the rocket, you need to complete the following objectives:

• Reach the surface – Clear a path upward, preferably straight and with minimal obstacles. Avoid liquids, gases, structures and indestructible tiles if you can.
• Research – Complete all necessary research.
• Steel – You'll need to refine 2400 kg of steel for rocket components. If no steel is found naturally, you must refine 4800 kg of fossil into lime.
• Steam – Generate 643 kg of steam for the rocket by heating water.
• Pilot training – Efficient pilot training is key and often determines the overall completion time. Tips for making this process faster are included below.
• Survival – Throughout the run, ensure a steady supply of food and oxygen for your duplicants.

Starting the game

World generation

Random seeds can introduce variability, but they also add resource challenges and obstacles. Story traits may complicate the path with additional barriers but can also increase the likelihood of resource abundance (e.g., steel or fossil).

Example seed used in this guide: SNDST-A-5581703-0-D3-0

Starting duplicants

• Researcher – Must have the exosuit training skill; this is required for efficient pilot training.
• Builder – Ideally has superhard digging (tier 2) to bypass abyssalite efficiently.
• Third dupe – Choose a strong operator, digger, or generalist to complement your starting team.

Game load

Start the timer, press Begin on the dialog and speed up the game. Mark tiles for digging and plan your base layout.

Base building

Ladders

Build a ladder system near a water source to support your laboratory. Position it to allow expansion of 20-30 tiles. Find a place where the ladder doesn’t intersect with any visible obstacles.

Latrine

Start with 1-3 outhouses and a wash basin. Upgrade to a morale-boosting setup (walls, door, and 4-5 outhouses) as needed.

Oxygen generation

Once you have sufficient metal ore, construct an oxygen diffuser, manual generator, and battery near your laboratory.

Laboratory

Place the laboratory above the water source. To improve its effectiveness over time, you can enclose it with doors and add a light source, which will boost research efficiency. Include a storage bin with dirt to enhance supply efficiency. Start with Meal Preparation research and proceed to Internal Combustion (Coal Generator).

Pilot’s quarters

To focus the researcher on training, provide a compact workspace:

• Sleeping Quarters – A 3x4 room with a cot.
• Mess table – Positioned with quick access to food and morale-boosting facilities.
• Personal latrine – Include a wash basin and outhouse.

Great Hall

Build above the pilot’s quarters for morale bonuses. Include a flower pot and disabled water cooler to meet requirements.

Barracks

Provide cots for sleeping, free from shine-bugs to avoid disruptions. Expand as needed for new duplicants.

Administration

Priorities

You should set the priorities of your duplicants early to prevent inefficiencies. Limiting your pilot to research helps them level up quickly. They can be a backup operator in case power runs out, and a supplier for when the research stations run out of dirt or water. Your builder should prioritize building, and the other dupes should have this task prioritized low. Your third dupe could do the rest at the start, but make sure key facilities are running. If you F9 for germ overlay you should also disable disinfect.

Schedule

Minimize downtime and sleep to optimize productivity. Use split schedules to accommodate shared facilities like the latrine.

Resources

There are some resources that you must watch out for, so you don’t run out of important resources. You can pin these so that they always show. These are the resources I like to keep an eye on, especially in random worlds:

Duplicants

Recruit based on needs:

• Builders – Aim for 2-3 builders. If your start builder had tier 2 digging, you can upgrade your second builder with tier 1 digging. That way your builders can get through the world by themselves without having to wait for a skilled digger.
• Diggers – Pick a digger early. If you play on a random seed, you might want more diggers to help you explore and look for fossils.
• Suppliers – Someone with good strength and athletics will help your researcher with supplying the research stations. They are also good at keeping your oxygen production going, and you need them for your outhouses. Prioritize life support, toggling, tidying, supplying and storing.
• Operators – You should aim for 1-2 operators. Before you start steel production, you might have too few tasks for two operators, but make sure you don’t run out of power.
• Cook – You could finish the run without any cook; however, it can help a lot to have someone designated to cook if you’re low on food. They should be designated to both cooking and farming.

Mid game

Food

Start farming after completing food research. Use 40-60 farm tiles, adjusting for duplicant needs (4-5 tiles per dupe).

Power

Upgrade power with jumbo batteries and a coal generator. Place algae terrariums near the generator to manage carbon dioxide, and add deodorizers to clean polluted oxygen as needed.

Research

Follow this general research order:

• Interior decor – Light source for the laboratory and flower pot for the great hall
• Advanced research – Water cooler for great hall and the supercomputer for more advanced research.
• Decontamination – Deodorizer to clean polluted oxygen and Airflow tile to help the carbon dioxide sink.
• Plumbing – When the water in your laboratory starts running low, you will want to refill it from another water source.
• Smelting – Kiln for your refined carbon and rock crusher for your copper and lime. Fire pole to decrease travel time back down in your colony. Metal refinery for your steel production.
• Advanced power regulation – Heavy-watt wire for your steel production.
• Liquid tuning – Liquid tepidizer needed for steam production.
• Hazard protection – Exosuit forge to produce the atmo suit.
• Introductory rocketry – All the rocket parts. Automation parts are also acquired.
• Monuments – Optional, but unless your researcher is already a pilot, they need something to research. Pick this so you won’t have to select any more research.

Oxygen

I’ll show three different methods I produce oxygen. The first is oxygen diffusers, which was our initial oxygen production. Second is to build algae terrariums where there’s a lot of carbon dioxide. Below your base will be a good place for them. If you build them in water, or let the water come to them, you will save some time delivering water because they can take it from the environment. The third method is to use deodorizers to clean polluted oxygen. Your dupes could breathe polluted oxygen though, but if you want to avoid yucky lungs, we need to clean it. Build them close to sources of polluted oxygen. If you find a source of polluted water in the world, you could place them there before you open a path to the polluted oxygen emitted from the water.

Water

Use liquid pumps to refill your laboratory before it runs out. Supplying water from a distant pitcher pump takes time. There should be enough water sources to take from, but keep in mind that we need one for steel production.

Pilot

Lock the pilot in their quarters to focus on research. Allow periodic access to the printing pod. Prepare an atmo suit using two reed fibers from thimble reeds or farming. Once you can build the rock crusher, place it down and queue up 14 copper. 14 will be enough for the exosuit forge and the atmo suit, but remember to deconstruct the forge when you’re done because we need that copper for our automation later.

End game

Steel production

• Use a kiln for 5 refined carbon.
• Process 48 fossils for lime in the rock crusher.
• Refine 24 steel and 17 iron for the rocket.
• Power setup: Two coal generators, jumbo battery, heavy-watt wires.

Steam production

• Build a storage bin near the site for storing construction materials.
• Use gold amalgam for the pumps and tepidizer.
• Speed up the heating process by adding the automation entities AND, NOT, BUFFER and two switches. Connect them by following the image below.
• Make a temporary bottle emptier and bring water (800kg).
• Power the setup with heavy-watt wires.
• Vacuum the chamber with insulated pipes to a temporary gas vent once ready.
• Monitor your gas pump so they don’t stay over 125 degrees for too long.

Rocket

• Build a telescope and supply oxygen.
• Build the rocket parts, prioritizing the steam engine.
• Pump steam into the engine once ready. Assign your best builder to expedite construction.

Other tips

• Use construction material choices based on proximity.
• Store key resources (food, fossils, dirt) near consumers.
• Submerge bleach stone and slime in liquid to prevent off-gassing.
• The game is paused on skill and research view which is bad for speedrunning.
• Use diagonal paths to redirect nitrogen and chlorine away from key areas.
• Lock your pilot in their quarters, but ensure access to food and the printing pod as needed. Add sandstone tiles for a run-speed bonus and consider a second research station to optimize pilot training.

Good luck

Speedrunning ONI is both challenging and rewarding. Learn from each failure and refine your strategy. Use this guide to aim for a personal best, and don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions. Good luck and happy speedrunning!