# About the oxygen levels

**URL:** https://community.revolutionarygamesstudio.com/t/about-the-oxygen-levels/4172
**Category:** Microbe Stage
**Created:** [January 9, 2022, 5:22pm UTC](https://community.revolutionarygamesstudio.com/t/about-the-oxygen-levels/4172 "2022-01-09T17:22:44Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![Atoon](https://thrivecommunity-cdn.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/community.revolutionarygamesstudio.com/atoon/32/7236_2.png) [@Atoon](https://community.revolutionarygamesstudio.com/u/Atoon)
#### Post date: [January 9, 2022, 5:22pm UTC](https://community.revolutionarygamesstudio.com/t/about-the-oxygen-levels/4172/1 "2022-01-09T17:22:44Z")

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So at the start of the game it’s the beggining of life in this planet, right? 21% of oxygen being in the atmosphere feels a bit too high considering that life is just starting and no multicellular life such as plants exist to synthesize carbon dioxide into oxygen. So is it going to be lower and increase when the different species of cells start reaching the surface and photosynthesizing or is it going to stay how it is?

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### Author: ![OoferDoofer](https://thrivecommunity-cdn.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/community.revolutionarygamesstudio.com/ooferdoofer/32/9337_2.png) [@OoferDoofer](https://community.revolutionarygamesstudio.com/u/OoferDoofer)
#### Post date: [January 9, 2022, 5:49pm UTC](https://community.revolutionarygamesstudio.com/t/about-the-oxygen-levels/4172/2 "2022-01-09T17:49:52Z")

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[Quick Question Thread](https://community.revolutionarygamesstudio.com/t/quick-question-thread/153)

Until the devs create the planet generation, i think it will stay the same

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### Author: ![Deathwake](https://thrivecommunity-cdn.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/community.revolutionarygamesstudio.com/deathwake/32/12307_2.png) [@Deathwake](https://community.revolutionarygamesstudio.com/u/Deathwake)
#### Post date: [January 9, 2022, 6:04pm UTC](https://community.revolutionarygamesstudio.com/t/about-the-oxygen-levels/4172/3 "2022-01-09T18:04:41Z")

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I’m pretty sure oxygen levels are barely implemented and with time will either be changed to change with time or biome, that or the devs will point out it’s not going to change anything.

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### Author: ![Atoon](https://thrivecommunity-cdn.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/community.revolutionarygamesstudio.com/atoon/32/7236_2.png) [@Atoon](https://community.revolutionarygamesstudio.com/u/Atoon)
#### Post date: [January 9, 2022, 7:34pm UTC](https://community.revolutionarygamesstudio.com/t/about-the-oxygen-levels/4172/4 "2022-01-09T19:34:01Z")

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yeah seems about right

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### Author: ![hhyyrylainen](https://thrivecommunity-cdn.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/community.revolutionarygamesstudio.com/hhyyrylainen/32/32_2.png) [@hhyyrylainen](https://community.revolutionarygamesstudio.com/u/hhyyrylainen)
#### Post date: [January 10, 2022, 9:53am UTC](https://community.revolutionarygamesstudio.com/t/about-the-oxygen-levels/4172/5 "2022-01-10T09:53:02Z")

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Having changing patch compound levels affected by species is being worked on:

> <https://github.com/Revolutionary-Games/Thrive/pull/2753>
>
> \*\*Brief Description of What This PR Does\*\*
> 
> This PR adds production/consumptio…n on gas compounds in patches depending on population in them.
> It also paves the way for further dynamism in patches composition.
> 
> Planned changes:
> \- \[x\] Add compound amount manipulation infrastructure (patch volume...)
> \- \[x\] Have input/output of processes from microbes affect the world
> \- \[x\] Add a save upgrader
> \- \[x\] Add gas output to microbe processes (to avoid depletion)
> \- ~~\[\] Add patch volume in GUI (larger patches are more stable) & translation support~~
> \- \[x\] Add constant input to patches for balance
> \- \[x\] Balance production factor to get an interesting/not game-breaking evolution of patches
> 
> \*\*Related Issues\*\*
> 
> Closes #570.
> 
> \<!-- List all issues this PR closes here with the closes syntax: 
> https://docs.github.com/en/github/managing-your-work-on-github/linking-a-pull-request-to-an-issue#linking-a-pull-request-to-an-issue-using-a-keyword
> If this is not related to an issue, it should be described in more detail why this PR is needed here instead.
> \--\>
> 
> \*\*Progress Checklist\*\*
> 
> Note: before starting this checklist the PR should be marked as non-draft.
> 
> \- \[x\] PR author has checked that this PR works as intended and doesn't
> break existing features:
> https://wiki.revolutionarygamesstudio.com/wiki/Testing\_Checklist
> (this is important as to not waste the time of Thrive team
> members reviewing this PR)
> \- \[\] Initial code review passed (this and further items should not be checked by the PR author)
> \- \[\] Functionality is confirmed working by another person (see above checklist link)
> \- \[\] Final code review is passed and code conforms to the 
> \[styleguide\](https://github.com/Revolutionary-Games/Thrive/blob/master/doc/style\_guide.md).
> 
> Before merging all CI jobs should finish on this PR without errors, if
> there are automatically detected style issues they should be fixed by
> the PR author.

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### Author: ![Chlorocyte](https://thrivecommunity-cdn.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/community.revolutionarygamesstudio.com/chlorocyte/32/6416_2.png) [@Chlorocyte](https://community.revolutionarygamesstudio.com/u/Chlorocyte)
#### Post date: [March 5, 2022, 9:18am UTC](https://community.revolutionarygamesstudio.com/t/about-the-oxygen-levels/4172/6 "2022-03-05T09:18:50Z")

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I didn’t read the dev post (and tbh I never really check the dev forums) and I’m not up to date, but does this mean that, in the future, the planet will start at 0% atmospheric oxygen? Because it should. Or at least start with \<4% at most, I guess; though I read somewhere that early earth had 0.001% of the amount of oxygen that we have today.  
If I recall correctly, a rocky planet cannot have atmospheric oxygen as it is continually depleted by metals forming metal oxides. Oxygen could only mean something is continually producing/replenishing it - either by some unknown chemical/geological process, or by living things (like cyanobacteria).

Also: glycolysis doesn’t require oxygen, what does is oxidative phosphorylation - the one that occurs inside mitochondria and other similar bacteria, among other forms of electron transport chain. And although it is one of the earliest metabolic pathways to evolve, glycolysis (from “metabolosomes”) is a complex system and therefore it shouldn’t be one of the first options when starting out, when simpler methods (of energy production) are readily available like chemolothotrophy (e.g. from rusticyanin).

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### Author: ![hhyyrylainen](https://thrivecommunity-cdn.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/community.revolutionarygamesstudio.com/hhyyrylainen/32/32_2.png) [@hhyyrylainen](https://community.revolutionarygamesstudio.com/u/hhyyrylainen)
#### Post date: [March 5, 2022, 11:10am UTC](https://community.revolutionarygamesstudio.com/t/about-the-oxygen-levels/4172/7 "2022-03-05T11:10:13Z")

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> [@Chlorocyte](#):
>
> and I’m not up to date, but does this mean that, in the future, the planet will start at 0% atmospheric oxygen?

Yes, having the great oxygenation event in the game is planned.

> [@Chlorocyte](#):
>
> Also: glycolysis doesn’t require oxygen, what does is oxidative phosphorylation - the one that occurs inside mitochondria and other similar bacteria, among other forms of electron transport chain. And although it is one of the earliest metabolic pathways to evolve

I _think_ the current design evolved from earlier implementations in the game. Way back we didn’t have prokaryotes in the game so we naturally didn’t have organelles for them. So when they were added counterparts for most eukaryotic organelles were added to make the prokaryotic gameplay possible. So the metabolosomes using the same inputs / outputs is a natural outcome of that process (I’m not saying we can’t change it now, just trying to shed light on _why_ it probably is that way). At least that’s how I remember things happening.