Beginner's Guide: Duplicant Basics & First Steps

Duplicants are the characters you control in Oxygen Not Included; they perform every task (building, research, farming, hauling, managing rockets, etc.), have needs and health to manage, and improve through traits and attributes. Good early decisions about which duplicants to accept, how to arrange schedules and priorities, and how to meet basic needs will make the difference between a stable colony and a constant scramble.

What you get at the start

• The Printing Pod becomes available every 3 cycles and offers either 1–3 fixed duplicants or a care package. New duplicants from the Pod cannot be rerolled; you may reject all options and wait. The Pod emits light and provides useful early decor.
• Each printed duplicant comes with:
  • 1–3 Interests. These give starting attribute bonuses: +7 for one interest, +3 each for two interests, or +1 each for three interests. These bonuses are a hard minimum (they cannot go below those values).
  • Traits (positive and/or negative) that modify attributes, grant bonuses like extra skill points, or impose restrictions (e.g., disable certain errands).
  • A trait-based "Interest Attribute Modifier" that can add extra points to interests; if multiple interests exist, extra points are split randomly among them.

Attributes — what matters and how they scale

• Each duplicant has 11 attributes that determine how effectively they perform errands (Construction, Excavation, Machinery, Athletics, Science, Cuisine, Creativity, Strength, Learning/Research-related, etc.).
• Attributes can be trained by having duplicants perform related tasks. Training increases an attribute up to an additional +20 beyond starting values.
• Attribute effects are standardized (examples):
  • Construction: increases build/repair speed.
  • Excavation: increases digging speed and affects combat damage.
  • Science: increases research speed and speeds up overall attribute leveling.
  • Athletics: increases movement speed.
• Science does NOT change how many skill points a duplicant earns; it increases the speed at which attributes themselves level up.

Traits — picking duplicants and long-term effects

• Traits are permanent modifiers inherited at creation (some DLC content may add more).
• Positive traits grant bonuses (e.g., +3 Strength, +3 Medicine) or special effects (extra skill points).
• Negative traits give penalties and sometimes restrict errands.
• The game attempts to balance trait rarity when generating duplicants (positive traits tend to be offset by negative traits), but small deviations are common.
• Some traits interact with disease susceptibility (e.g., Germ Resistant or Biohazardous) and can affect illness chances.

Health and injuries

• Duplicant health is normally 100/100.
• Health thresholds apply status effects that reduce Athletics:
  • Below 85: Light Wounds (‑3 Athletics).
  • Below 66: Moderate Wounds (‑6 Athletics).
  • Below 33: Severe Wounds (‑9 Athletics).
• At 0, a duplicant becomes incapacitated and will die unless rescued within 120 seconds.
• Triage Cot and medical treatment accelerate recovery and reduce wound penalties.

Needs and survival basics

• Breath: duplicants gain or lose Breath at 0.9%/s depending on atmosphere. Activities are interrupted when Breath falls to specific thresholds; death follows after sustained suffocation.
• Stamina: base drain is per-cycle; sleep restores stamina with multipliers for Cot, Comfy Bed, Barracks, Private Bedroom, and other circumstances.
• Calories: max 4000 kcal; duplicants eat by default up to 1500 kcal/cycle and need 1000 kcal/cycle on average. Hunger interrupts sleep and triggers eating behavior.
• Bladder, hygiene, morale, and stress are separate needs managed by toilets, washrooms, decor, recreation, and scheduling.

Schedules and managing duplicant routines

• The Schedule screen divides the day into 24 blocks (each block = 25 seconds) and supports Bathtime, Work, Downtime, and Bedtime.
  • Work: duplicants prioritize tasks, only pausing for urgent needs.
  • Bathtime: prioritizes bathroom if Bladder > 40%, otherwise work.
  • Downtime: prioritizes bathroom, eating if calories are low, and leisure activities.
  • Bedtime: duplicants sleep to restore Stamina.
• The default schedule is 1 block Bathtime, 18 Work, 2 Downtime, 3 Bedtime. You can split schedules across duplicants to smooth peak demand for communal buildings (e.g., toilets, showers), which reduces queues.

Illness, germs, and disease

• Germs can be on a duplicant (surface contamination) or inside them (infection). Only internal germs cause illness.
• Two primary infection routes:
  • Breathing infected gas (e.g., Slimelung, Zombie Spores, Floral Scents) — inhalation copies all germs in the breathed gas into the duplicant.
  • Eating infected food — duplicates ingest germs present on food.
• After exposure, each cycle there is a chance to contract disease based on duplicant resistance and the germ type. Resistance modifiers include items and traits (examples: Vitamin Chews +0.5 resistance, Germ Resistant trait +1, Immuno Reducer −1).
• Food poisoning multiplies on food; Slimelung dies quickly on solids but spreads in gas.

Early priorities for beginners

1. Secure breathable air. Use natural Oxylite tiles temporarily and research oxygen production ASAP.
2. Provide food: harvest natural plants (Mealwood, Muckroot, Bristle Blossom) and conserve high-value food stores in the Ration Box and other emergency sources.
3. Ensure water for research and hygiene; protect clean water reservoirs from contamination.
4. Set up basic sanitation (toilets, wash basins) and a simple schedule that staggers Bathtime/Downtime to avoid congestion.
5. Get at least one duplicant with a decent Science attribute to speed early research (Research Station is required to progress).
6. Place decor boosters (a Flower Pot with a Bluff Briar is an extremely cheap early source of decor) near workstations like Research Station to keep duplicants happy.
7. Monitor health and injuries; use Triage Cot and basic medical care when available.

Tips for hiring and expanding

• When the Printing Pod offers new duplicants, consider the colony’s immediate needs (e.g., a digger, builder, or scientist) together with traits and interests. A high starting Science is very valuable early.
• Remember that interests determine which attributes get starting bonuses and slightly affect how quickly duplicants gain skill points for actions they’re interested in.
• Rejecting unsuitable duplicants is a valid option; the Pod will remain available until you accept or reject.

This covers the essential duplicant systems a beginner must understand to keep a colony alive and productive. Manage attributes and traits with long-term plans, meet core needs promptly, and use schedules and basic decor to maintain morale while you expand.