Geotuner

The Geotuner is a laboratory device used to amplify an analyzed geyser. Once a geyser has been surveyed with Field Research, a small device appears on its sprite and the geyser can be selected in the Geotuner’s side screen. From there, a Duplicant with Field Research can spend the required resource to store amplification data for that geyser.

When the targeted geyser erupts, it receives the stored amplification data. Each Geotuner increases the geyser’s output by 20% and also raises the temperature of the produced material, with the exact temperature increase depending on the geyser type. In some cases, this extra heat can push the output above a phase-change point, causing the geyser to produce the phase-changed material directly instead of the original product.

Geotuners do not need to be placed near the geyser they affect, so they can be built wherever is most convenient. However, they must be inside a Laboratory room to function.

A few important operational details affect how they are used:

• Only geysers that have been previously selected in the world appear in the Geotuner UI, even if they are buried, fully excavated, dormant, or not yet analyzed.
• Unanalyzed geysers appear greyed out and cannot be selected.
• Hovering over an analyzed geyser shows the temperature increase, output increase, and the resource type needed to complete the geotuning.
• The exact amount of resource required is only shown after selecting the geyser.
• Each Geotuner can target only one geyser at a time.
• A single geyser can receive bonuses from up to 5 Geotuners at once.
• The UI also shows how many Geotuners are currently targeting each geyser.

The resource cost and resulting boost vary by geyser type. Most common vents and geysers use one of a few resource categories, and the output increase is measured against the geyser’s average eruption rate as well as its active output. Geotuning also imposes an additional power/heat planning consideration, since the boosted output is hotter and therefore more difficult to handle if the base geyser was already near a melting or boiling threshold.