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This article has not been revised for the current version (U51-600112). It was last updated for U47-562984. It may contain inaccuracies. |
Pokeshell is a critter that lives in the Tide Pool Biome. They can live in both air and liquid and can be domesticated. They will consume both Rot Piles and Polluted Dirt at 70 kg/cycle, with Oakshells and Sanishells also consuming Slime.
Behavior[]
Pokeshells drop a Molt when they die, which can be turned into Lime or Lumber with the Rock Crusher. This is the primary renewable source of Lime for Steel production. Normally, they are as non-hostile as other critters. However, once they are subjected to a room with finite size and laid an egg in their reachable path, they will turn red and aggressive. When this happens, they will forage without producing material, attack any Duplicant or critter in their way (shown as "protecting" in status tab), and beat them to death without exceptions if left unattended. They calm down and return to pink and innocent eyes again when they are timely wrangled and relocated to a different room, their eggs are extracted, or they hatch.
Variants[]
Pokeshells have 3 variants, determined by what liquid they live in. Each Pokeshell has a different drop upon growth and death, but all consume polluted dirt and produce sand.
Pokeshell[]
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The default Pokeshell consumes Polluted Dirt or Rot Pile and excretes Sand, and sheds shells that can be processed into Lime. There is no way to increase the chance of Pinch Roe eggs.
Oakshell[]
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Any Pokeshell variant living in Ethanol will have increased odds of laying a Oak Pinch Roe, which hatches into an Oakshell.
The Oakshell produces shells that can be processed into Lumber instead of Lime and can also consume Slime, in addition to Polluted Dirt and Rot Piles but execretes half as much Sand as other morphs.
The primary reason for ranching Oakshells is to produce lumber, especially when water for arbor trees is in short supply. Oakshells can consume polluted dirt, a byproduct of the ethanol distillery, and are therefore a "free" addition to an existing arbor tree - ethanol distillery- petroleum generator - polluted water loop. Oakshells are an alternative to wild arbor trees to make the ethanol loop water positive. Each arbor tree requires 7,5 kg/cycle of polluted water to become water neutral (rest of the water is produced by a petroleum generator when processing the tree's own products). An oakshells water contribution can be calculated by =(Oak pinch roe cahnce)*15.9835 kg/cycle. An Oakshell with 94,2% chance of oak rinch roe eggs can support water for two domestic arbor trees, when all the lumber from both trees and the oakshell is burned as ethanol in the petroleum generator. The leftover polluted dirt after feeding the oakshells will be more than enough to provide dirt for the trees, and feed a small number of extra critters.
Each Oakshell lays an egg once every 6 cycles, and each egg will produce a small oakshell molt (10kg lumber) and an oakshell molt (500kg lumber). If oakshells could have 100% chance to lay oakshell eggs, their lumber production would be 85kg/cycle. However it is impossible for groomed oakshells to get 100% oakshell egg chance, because the grooming station (or the critter fountain) cannot be placed underwater, and oakshells will slowly revert to laying pokeshell eggs when outside of ethanol. It is possible to get between 67-90% chance for oakshell eggs depending on the ranch design.
On first glance, Oakshells seem to be inefficient in producing sand from polluted dirt, considering that they only produce half the sand as the other variants. However depending on chance of laying eggs, an Oakshell can produce close to 85 kg/cycle of lumber, and one third of that (28,33) can be returned as polluted dirt from the ethanol distillery. Therefore, when part of an ethanol loop, the net polluted dirt consumption of any given oakshell is actually lesser than the other variants. Oakshells net consumption depends on the oakshell egg chances and would be 51,3 and 44,5 kg/cycle of polluted dirt for 66 and 90 percent chance of laying an oak pinch roe, respectively. So an oakshell with 66% oak pinch roe production will have worse conversion rates compared to other variants at 43.8% , however an oakshell with 90% chance of laying oak pinch roe eggs will actually have a similar conversion rate at 50,5%. The breaking point for reaching 50% sand efficiency is around 90% oak pinch roe chance, which is achieveable for older Oakshells who live in an ethanol ranch. There is a theoretical benefit to keeping oakshells glum and fully immersed in ethanol before starting to groom them, so that the inital 66.6% chance is elevated before feeding them fully, however since laying pokeshell eggs is not a complete loss (lime is useful in most cases) this has little practical use. However they still produce half the sand on a per critter basis, and if large amounts of sand production is needed, other variants will be preferable.
Oakshells can be a way of providing a small amount of renewable power but they are generally worse than other critters, sage hatches can be fed instead of oakshell with the polluted dirt. 100% oak pinch roe chance would mean 50kg/cycle of ethanol, and a net of 26kj/cycle of power (since ethanol distillery uses up 24kj for that amound). So their net power production is 26kJ*(oak pinch roe chance)/cycle. Even consdering the net consumption reduction from recycling the polluted dirt, sage hatches are a more efficent way of providing power, and they produce more per critter. Oakshells should not be use used solely for power, but their power production is a useful bonus when they are ranched for their other products (sand/lumber/polluted water).
Oakshells, like other pokeshell variants can make use of the underwater water fort, and using this building seems to help their egg chances by making them spend more time underwater (under ethanol in this case).
Oakshells can also be starvation ranched, but they will frequently produce pokeshell eggs, making this setup unsustainable without a fed "breeder" ranch covering the deficit of oak pinch roes from the starvation ranches. However with the right ratios, the polluted dirt from processing the lumber from the starvation ranches can feed the breeder ranch. Assuming they maintain the starting egg chance, every three starvation ranched oakshell will replenish (on average) two of their population, and will require 1 oak pinch roe from the breeding ranch). It is difficult for starvation ranched oakshells to increase their oak pinch roe chances, as they will live a short amount of time. If the breeder ranch can get 80% average oak pinch roe chance, the cost of putting out one oak pinch roe is 336 kg of polluted dirt per egg (again on average, and you may get fewer or more eggs at any give time). If you factor the maintenance egg cost for the breeder ranch (1/15 eggs needs to go back to the breeder ranch) the cost is raised to 360kg. So for every egg replenishment that the starvation ranch will require, the ranch needs to put out 1080 kg of lumber. Which means 2,12 oak pinch roe for every one that needs replenishing, or above 67,9% chance. The problem with sustaining this setup is that due to randomness, sometimes the ranch will provide fewer oakshell eggs than average, crashing the entire production chain without using up outside sources (more polluted dirt or slime).
Sanishell[]
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Any Pokeshell variant living in Water will have increased odds of laying a Sani Pinch Roe, which hatches into an Sanishell.
The Sanishell does not produce any shells, but instead removes germs around it (for example in polluted water). It can consume Slime, like the Oakshell, but produces 50% mass as Sand which is double the amount of the Oakshell, the most efficient way to turn Slime into Sand.
Upon death the Sanishell drops 4,000 kcal of Raw Shellfish, which can be cooked into 6,400 kcal of Cooked Seafood. This is equivalent to the drops of 4 Pacu, therefore farming Sanishell for Surf'n'Turf production is a good option. A wild unfed Pacu reproduces once during its 25-cycle lifespan, so a ranch of unfed Pacu will produce 1 Cooked Seafood every 25 cycles per Pacu in the ranch. A fed and groomed Sanishell can reproduce every 6 cycles, producing 4 Cooked Seafood at that time, so a single fed and groomed Sanishell provides the equivalent meat output of 16.67 wild Pacu (less whatever percentage of the Sanishell's offspring are not themselves Sanishells). A fed Pacu generates an egg every 1.5 cycles, so a fed and groomed Sanishell is the equivalent of 1 fed Pacu in terms of meat output. However, a fed Pacu require 140 kg of Algae per cycle, while a Sanishell requires only 70 kg of Polluted Dirt, Slime, or Rot Pile. If the Pacu's Algae diet is sourced from an Algae Distiller, that Pacu would require 420 kg of Slime per cycle, 6 times as much as the Sanishell, so Sanishells are substantially more resource-efficient for a given level of meat output, at the cost of rancher labor (and potentially, injuries, depending on timing and automation).
Breeding Morphs[]
The volume of liquid required to change a Pokeshell's reproduction chance is 350 kg. The is the same level at which buildings flood. To operate, the Grooming Station must be placed out of the liquid, meaning the Pokeshells spend some of their time not in liquid. If an Oakshell or Sanishell spends less than 3300 seconds (5.5 cycles) of their first 6 cycles as an adult out of liquid, they have a chance to produce default Pinch Roe eggs.
As a result, all groomed Oakshell/Sanishell ranches will produce some Pokeshells, and automated systems should account for this. On the other hand, Pokeshell ranches can be setup to never produce Oakshell or Sanishell roe, since they live outside liquids, and a small layer of liquid to prevent any offgassing will not change their reproduction chance if kept under 350 kg.
A red, cramped pokeshell in killer mode found in his native biome. Notice his egg on rightmost of the tide pool chamber.
Feeding troubles[]
Rot Piles, Slime and Polluted Dirt are messy food sources, sublimating into Polluted Oxygen and thus naturally uncommon and transitory. Which makes feeding domestic Pokeshells quite a task. Note, however, that if groomed, Pokeshells will live long enough to reproduce once even if not fed. As their lay rate is the same whether fed or not (as long as they're tame and groomed), ranches of unfed, but groomed, Pokeshells can be quite efficient (though you'll need to feed them to increase the size or quantity of those ranches)
Water Sieve[]
The most basic source of Polluted Dirt would be Water Sieve hooked up to a bathroom or an appropriate geyser. However, it makes Pokeshells compete for your dirt income and ties their population to your colony size. What is worse, one constantly running Water Sieve can't quite completely feed one Pokeshell.
Ethanol Distiller[]
Ethanol Distillers provide a reliable source of Polluted Dirt. Since each Pokeshell needs 116 g/s of Polluted Dirt, an Ethanol Distiller running can feed nearly 3 domesticated Pokeshells.
The Oakshell's molt can be directly processed into Lumber to supply the Ethanol Distiller, so it's worth examining if this can be self-sustaining. An adult Oakshell reproduces every 6 cycles if kept fed and groomed. While some of these will be other types of roe, if kept in Ethanol, most will be Oakshell. If retained until adulthood and then killed, these offspring's molts can be converted into 510 kg of Lumber each (or 85 kg Lumber per cycle per breeding adult). An Ethanol Distiller will process that 500 kg Lumber into 166.67 kg of Polluted Dirt (1 Ethanol Distiller can handle the lumber output of the offspring of 7.2 breeding Oakshells), in addition to 83.33 kg Carbon Dioxide and 250 kg Ethanol (it would require at least 28.8 breeding adults to power a single Petroleum Generator full time on this Ethanol). This is 28.3 kg of Polluted Dirt per cycle, with the breeding adult in question consuming 70 kg per cycle. As such, an Oakshell's own molt can provide at most ~40% of its own Polluted Dirt diet. However the setup can be somewhat sustainable with a mix of fed and starvation ranched Oakshells (as discussed above).
In addition, the ethanol loop's other outputs can be put through the water sieve/carbon skimmer (this requires more sand than the Oakshells themselves produce). An adult Oakshell with 100% chance of laying oak pinch eggs would evetually produce -per cycle- 14,16 kg of CO2 from an ethanol distiller, and the resulting ethanol would produce 10,62 kg of CO2 as well as 15,94 kg of polluted water. 24,78 kg of carbon dioxide can be put through a carbon skimmer to convert 82,6 kg of water into polluted water. The total sum of 98,5 kg of water can be put into the water sieve consuming 19,7 kg of sand, and producing 3,94 kg of polluted dirt. Although this is still not enough to feed the Oakshells on their own output, it means the sand output of the Oakshells is enough to clean up their own waste products from the ethanol loop.
Rotting food with Polluted Water[]
Pokeshells can be kept in Polluted Water, which increases spoiling time of submerged food. Therefore any unedible, but abundant food items can be thrown (via Automatic Dispenser or Conveyor Chute) into the pool to rot and feed the crabs.
- However, since most food items only weigh a kilo and they take time to be obtained, this method is not feasible without devoting a lot of space for farms.
Pacu cleanup[]
Due to their ability to live underwater Pokeshells can augment a Pacu farm, serving as the second stage of processing. Each Pokeshell will require 2 Pacus to satiate it. Needless to say they will go through Algae reserves even faster.
- However, the Pokeshells would leave their molts underwater, which can be problematic to retrieve. In addition, if kept in normal (clean fresh) water, over time the Pokeshells will turn into Sanishells, losing their Lime output but increasing the amount of seafood produced.
Outhouse Cleanup[]
Pokeshells can be used to eat up polluted dirt emptied from outhouses to supply sand for deodorizer, serving as a medium for temporary clean oxygen solution in remote regions, or during early game. For each cycle, all Outhouses in a room needs to be visited by Duplicants at least 8 times in sum and emptied timely to satiate a Pokeshell. They can be kept in their innoctous mode for decacycles before laying an egg (Critters typically lay eggs by 2/3 of their life. Check age to avoid putting a egg-laying prone crab in dupe's frequent outhouse). However, once a Pinch Roe is laid, it's imperative to send dupes to attack the angry pokeshell in protecting mode to prevent harm.
Keeping crabs wild[]
A reasonable alternative to domesticating Pokeshell is simply to wrangle all the wild Pokeshell in the map to a single room of decent size where they will remain a perpetual source of Pokeshell Molt for a supplemental amount of Lime. Be careful to disallow access to this room using door permissions so duplicants do not accidentally run into a mass of murderous Pokeshells if there are any Pokeshell eggs in the room.
Once domestication time comes, it is still better to start with one Pokeshell, and keep the rest of wild population self-sustaining.
Tips[]
- The roof or floor segments made out of unpassable Pneumatic Doors can help with the safe egg extraction.
Feeding Pokeshells with Polluted Dirt is easier in the DLC, due to the existence of asteroid types that have a lot of Polluted Dirt seams.
