Episode 1 of Season 1 is a stream and a fresh start. The commentary says this is not the first try at the game, and that earlier colonies had trouble keeping everyone alive. Three duplicants land, a first floor gets dug out, and by the second night the colony has an outhouse, two wheel generators and a machine making oxygen, but no food source yet.
Three duplicants
The crew screen offers three: Nisbet, a Level 1 Architect who is an Early Bird with a Small Bladder; Leira, a Level 7 Artist; and Joshua, a Level 5 Scientist and Quick Learner. Basket keeps them as rolled, "just to try and keep the randomization," and names the colony BasketCase.
The first jobs are digging. The duplicants clear a long strip for a floor of sandstone tiles, and a ladder goes down toward a pool of water "so we can access this water when we need to." In the Jobs screen, art is switched off for everyone except the artist, and research for everyone except the scientist.
Air and an outhouse
There is no copper yet, "all sandstone," though some copper ore shows up above the base. The oxygen overlay shows that the air is fine for now. The commentary says a rock nearby gives off oxygen, but warns it will run out.
The game warns "Colony requires toilets," and one duplicant badly needs one. An outhouse goes in a separate space with its priority raised. Digging up top opens a vacuum pocket and turns up chlorine.
Wheels for power
Once copper comes in, power is next. The commentary calls the Manual Generator "basically a hamster wheel": duplicants run laps on it. Two go in on a lower floor, with wire run under it. A Tiny Battery is placed too, but late in the video it still waits on copper ore.
An Algae Deoxydizer follows, to turn algae into oxygen, along with storage. Power and oxygen both get priority 8.
Running for nothing
On Cycle 2 the game adds "Colony requires a food source." Food buildings need more raw resources first. Duplicants take turns on the wheels, which power the Algae Deoxydizer directly, and its card shows it using algae and emitting oxygen. Soon its card reads "Max Gas Pressure," and the duplicants keep running anyway. "Seems like a bad choice." The batteries get a higher priority, so the power can be stored, and beds go on the list for the night.
Where it ends
Night falls, and the duplicants head off to sleep. Small critters come up out of the ground. The commentary says they eat what lies around and leave coal behind, and watches one eat two piles of sandstone. The video stops there, early on Cycle 3, with all three duplicants alive.