Water logistics: finite coolers, boiling ratios, and the Water Filter

Start with the correct model

A Water Cooler is storage, not an infinite spring. Its current capacity is 4,500 mL, and it can be moved and refilled like a deployable liquid container. A Water Bottle carries 1,000 mL. Treating a cooler as infinite makes a base plan look stable until cooking or farming quietly empties it.

Clean Water is used for drinking, soups, and agriculture. Tainted Water is widely available but should be purified unless the character has the Lead Belly trait. The practical question is therefore not only "where is water?" but "how much clean water is stored, what is consuming it, and how will it be replaced?"

Use separate reserves for drinking and production. A player who spends the last clean water on soup should not discover the shortage immediately before a portal run.

Capacities and conversion ratios

Boiling a full 1,000 mL pot of Tainted Water produces 250 mL of clean Water. That is a 4:1 input-to-output ratio and a 75 percent volume loss. To obtain 1,000 mL for a full pot of clean water, boil four full pots of Tainted Water.

The Water Filter changes the logistics. It has 10,000 mL capacity and converts Tainted Water to Water at a 1:1 ratio without delay. It must be deployed and filled from another liquid container; it is not filled directly from an inventory source. Once available, it is the efficient choice for bulk purification.

The Moisture Teleporter adds 90 mL of Water to nearby valid containers at the start of each in-game hour. That can offset routine use, but it is too slow to replace a missing expedition reserve on demand.

A staged water plan

Stage 1: protect found clean water

Collect Water Coolers rather than salvaging them. Place one near the base's drinking and cooking area, then record mentally that it holds at most 4,500 mL. Craft or collect Water Bottles and keep at least one filled bottle outside the cooking inventory.

At this stage, avoid using every clean container for farming. Drinking is the hard failure condition; a delayed crop is easier to recover from than an empty expedition bottle.

Stage 2: establish a boiling fallback

Store Tainted Water separately from clean Water. A Cooking Pot holds 1,000 mL, so four boiling cycles are required to replace one full 1,000 mL bottle or pot. The conversion is inefficient, but the input can be collected from standing Tainted Water sources.

Label or physically separate the clean and tainted side of the setup. The game mechanic does not require this layout; it is an editorial safety rule that reduces accidental drinking and makes the 4:1 workload visible.

Stage 3: switch bulk production to the Water Filter

When the Water Filter is available, route Tainted Water through it at 1:1. Keep boiling equipment as a fallback rather than the main production line. A full 10,000 mL filter represents ten Water Bottles of clean capacity, but it still has to be replenished from an input source.

Stage 4: use passive generation as margin

Place a Moisture Teleporter where its 90 mL hourly addition reaches the intended container or garden plot. Count it as background replenishment. Do not subtract expected future generation from the water carried on a trip.

Mission and base decisions

The exact number of bottles for a long mission depends on character traits, server settings, route length, and other consumables. This guide therefore does not invent a universal "hours per bottle" claim. It gives container amounts and conversion ratios so the reserve can be chosen for the actual run.

Traits change demand, not container capacity

Naturally Moist makes the character thirsty 20 percent slower and costs four trait points. Lead Belly costs eight points and allows drinking Tainted Water without becoming sick. Neither trait makes a Water Cooler hold more than 4,500 mL.

Lead Belly can remove the purification requirement for personal drinking, but clean Water is still relevant for other systems. Naturally Moist lowers the rate at which the personal reserve is consumed; it does not solve cooking or farming demand. Choose traits for the whole character build, not solely to avoid organizing water.

Recovery checklist

If the base runs dry, stop production use first. Check every cooler and bottle for remaining clean Water, reserve one portable amount for the next collection trip, and then use the best available conversion method:

1. Collect Tainted Water in suitable liquid containers.
2. Use the Water Filter at 1:1 if it is unlocked and deployed.
3. Otherwise boil full 1,000 mL pots, remembering that each yields only 250 mL.
4. Refill the protected drinking reserve before restarting soups or agriculture.
5. Investigate which recurring use emptied storage and allocate a separate container for it.

The durable fix is not a claim of infinite water. It is a visible reserve, known container capacity, and a replacement method whose ratio you have actually budgeted.