Chlorine Gas Vent

Chlorine Gas Vent is a geyser that emits Chlorine Gas and can be found in Swamp and Caustic Biomes. Both biomes can generate at most one exposed Chlorine Gas Vent, and if a map does not roll one, a second Natural Gas Geyser may appear in its place. Like all geysers, it has active and dormant cycles, and its eruption cycle can continue across those state changes until it finally becomes both idle and dormant at the same time.

Its output is useful because chlorine has several niche applications and also provides a natural sterilizing atmosphere. Containers such as Storage Bins and Liquid Reservoirs placed in chlorine will disinfect the germs on their stored contents after about one cycle, and Duplicants passing through chlorine will gradually lose surface germs. Chlorine does not consume itself during this process, so a vent can serve as a fully renewable atmospheric source for sanitation and storage hygiene.

• Squeaky Pufts consume chlorine and excrete Bleach Stone, which is used by Hand Sanitizers and Waterweed. One vent can support about 1-2 Squeaky Pufts.
• Dasha Saltvines need a small amount of chlorine to grow, in addition to being fertilized with Sand. One vent can support roughly 11-23 plants continuously, but the gas must be cooled before being supplied to them.
• Balm Lilies require a chlorine atmosphere, but do not consume chlorine, so they only need the gas to be present.
• Gas Grass consumes liquid chlorine and is only available through rockets. One vent can support about 84-168 plants continuously.

Chlorine Gas also interacts with germs and atmospheres in a few important ways. Floral Scent germs have a temperature range of -10°C to 100°C and a pressure range of 0 kg to 1000 kg. They are disinfected by solid, gas, oxygen, and liquid environments, and in practice they die much faster in Polluted Oxygen than in Oxygen. Floral Scent itself is associated with Bristle Blossoms and Buddy Buds, which spread nearby germs in gases, while Bristle Blossoms only spread Floral Scent when blooming. When slime is in a Floral Scent atmosphere, the resulting Polluted Oxygen does not contain Slimelung germ and instead contains Floral Scent germ.

For colony health, Floral Scent can trigger an allergic reaction: Allergic Duplicants gain +15% stress per cycle and +10 sneeziness for 0.1 cycle, while everyone else gets -5% stress per cycle during that period. Allergy Medication from the Apothecary prevents allergic reactions for 720 seconds, and the same medicine also cures them. Bleach Stone can further mitigate the effect. Infection chances are strictly binary and are not affected by immune-boosting effects.

Because chlorine is a stable, renewable gas source, a Chlorine Gas Vent is often worth capturing even when its output is not needed immediately. It can support sterilization, enable chlorine-dependent plants and critters, and provide a controlled gas pocket for industrial or agricultural setups.