Dupes in the Dark?

[PhailRaptor]

15 hours ago, SakuraKoi said:

19 hours ago, PhailRaptor said:

Could potentially make Shine Bugs much more relevant, though, if it were to be pursued.

Shine Bugs are too random to be viable, rooms would need to be quite small to work with a lure to the point where one might as well use a floor lamp.

My thought was that you would "leash" them, and force them to follow a Dupe around.  You would use this until you can get a working electrical grid of some sort, and start stringing up Floor Lights and Ceiling Lights in your traffic areas and frequent work areas, moving the Shine Bug leash stations or whatever as your construction projects change.

But, it all does seem very impractical, particularly since you'd need to start caring for Shine Bugs immediately to stabilize or grow their numbers, and you can't put a (now) Skill Point into Ranching until after you do Farmhand.  And even with a Lure, it's problematic to keep Shine Bugs reachable for any practical amount of time to tie a leash to them.

[goatt]

Dupes navigate by echolocating the ultrasound they emit, like the form of vision that bats rely on. I would suggest they run faster on floors that are shined by light, cuz light is better way to see. Maybe give a decor bonus buff to other decors, cuz light makes decor a lot more colorful to enjoy.

[Gus Smedstad]

9 hours ago, ChickenMadness said:

I always make it a rule in my games to put lights everywhere so the duplicants can see.

As I said, I've thought about creating that as a my own personal house rule, but I have trouble defining "everywhere."  Every place I've excavated feels excessive and possibly too expensive. Early in the game, when power is hamster wheels, lighting even all the work areas looks too expensive.

[DreamApart]

17 hours ago, Junksteel said:

Look how darker the game used to be. Those plans for lighting to be a complex mechanic seem to fit much better the old art. Maybe it's gone forever

 

Omg I need that version now!

On 2019/4/5 at 7:49 PM, Gus Smedstad said:

If light actually mattered to Dupes beyond a minor decor buff I think they'd need some non-electrical ways of making light. You really can't wire the entire asteroid for electricity until pretty late in the game, particularly when hamster wheels are your only source of electricity. Not to mention that miners would need some source of portable light.

A miner suit with a light on the hat. (with negative decor maybe)

[Junksteel]

30 minutes ago, DreamApart said:

Omg I need that version now!

Is it possible to play super old versions like this? It would be cool to check how it felt back then.

[impyre]

21 hours ago, blash365 said:

It is gone (most likely) forever. It was explained on the last live stream by klei.

The reason for the change was that the different gases could not be as easily distinguished with the old lightning.

It may well be the reason they've introduced the gas overlay, so that they have more room to play with lighting without having to worry about "can players see and identify gases".

An alternative approach may be a factorio-style lighting setup. Darkness doesn't affect the character at all, only solar panels and the player. You cannot see *anything* at night. Of course, you can make it less obnoxious in settings, but I usually leave it because it gives me a reason to use lighting and the base/factory looks pretty nice at night when everything is pitch black expect where you have lighting. It also has a nice falloff effect, so you have that sortof-lit area near the edge. In factorio the falloff is very gradual, so how close you put your lighting when trying to light up an entire path just depends on how dim you are willing to accept in the areas between. 

You could also go for a Kenshi-style approach to lighting. Player can see fine, it's a bit darker but not too difficult to see. Darkness affects efficiency of work done. Percentage of light (below 50%) is related to work effectiveness. So at like 25% light level, you take twice as long to do something. Anything above has no effect (except on plants/solar panels). You might clamp it to some non-zero value to prevent it stopping work entirely.

I like both approaches, but my personal favorite is the factorio style of lighting. It has the added benefit of resulting in a more realistic lighting setup, where you're unlikely to bother lighting areas that are infrequently traveled unless there's something there you want to be able to keep an eye on. (I would likely light up my water processing plant and my power plant.) Kenshi-styled lighting is the most "realistic" for gameplay and has the least impact on the player's ability to see the game, but it just doesn't feel as "fun" to me personally. Oh, I need power, and light, and oxygen to set up this work station, check, check, check. What's one more checkmark really? What does it really add to the gameplay? Of course, I think streamers probably hate the factorio style lighting. "Look at this guy streaming a black screen... tool". But then again, I don't stream so my opinion is limited on this perspective.

Spoiler

 

[chasinji]

5 hours ago, Junksteel said:

Is it possible to play super old versions like this? It would be cool to check how it felt back then.

yes, it is possible. BUT, it is not compatible with recent version of ONI due to different save file structure. that means it only playable in same oni version of its save file( or maybe someone can tweak it to be compatible). The earliest compatible old save file is Thermal Upgrade version with first ice biome appearence, no oil biome, only hatch and puft(it is still possible get the others from care package), no balm liliy, no germ in slime biome.There is only natgas and water geyser, nothing else. No space biome means we cant play around with rocketry(unless remove top undiggable neutronium barrier with debug). The map is already bright, unfortunately.

[lunazone]

The farthest back you can go on steam is the thermal upgrade, the other versions would have to be acquired through other means

[Junksteel]

57 minutes ago, Squeegee said:

the other versions would have to be acquired through other means

no cheaper solution that doesnt involve space materials? 

[ChickenMadness]

Would be cool if lights gave the duplicants a run speed boost. Speed boost because they're not tripping over rocks in the dark.

And the dog leash for shine bugs is a cool idea. You could have a shinebug ranch at the entrance to your base, with a shinebug dock. A cross between the grooming station and exosuit dock. The shine bugs fly to it and they follow the duplicant on a dog leash, until the duplicant returns to base and passes the docking station again.

And it gives the duplicant a run speed buff + work efficiency buff since they can see what they're doing lol. Also decor buff because they're cute.

You could also turn the shinebugs into stationary lightbulbs with a special wall tile. One side of the tile faces the shinebug ranch. The other side of the tile would be a different room. When the shinebugs don't need to eat and are 'idle' they can fly into the tiles like a rabbit hutch. and they end up lighting up the opposite side of the wall. It might also make the game less laggy by reducing the amount of critters flying around. Since they'll stay in the 'rabbit hutches' until they need to eat or be groomed.
There could be automated timers on the hutches to kick the shinebugs out as well on a schedule, for more creative automation builds.

So many cool things you could do with the shinebugs if there was a proper lighting system lol.