Suggestion: Irritation, Temperature Debuffs, and the Medicine Track

[JahwsUF]

Intro

So, we've had the Medicine skill track and attribute in the game for a long time now, but they haven't seen much use since the existing diseases were nerfed hard.  On the other hand... hypothermia seems to be a frequent hitter in my current Alpha-test playthrough, and I'm noticing some issues with that.  That said... Hypothermia seems... a little incomplete.

First off, my hats off to the team for the new debuff:  Irritation.  Very well executed... and the basis for my Hypothermia and Heat Stroke proposals.

But first...

Treating Irritation

When people in real life have irritated eyes, eye drops are a pretty useful treatment.  Of particular note for possible inclusion within ONI:  saline eye drops.

Reference based on a real-life version: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/323842#instructions

Suggested mechanics:

New item:  Saline Eye Drops

• Apothecary recipe:
  • 49 kg Water
  • 1 kg Salt
  • Oddly enough... 2 cups  = 96 tsp, implying a 48:1 ratio when following the recipe in the link!
• Immediately reduces Irritation by 15 sec
  • Two doses required to 'cure' a max-irritated Dupe
• Prevents Irritation for 1 cycle
  • Multiple doses do not stack.

The current state of Hypothermia

• Currently, Dupes catch Hypothermia for a fixed amount of time, regardless of whether or not their temperature actually recovers within that time.
• Dupes do not seem to re-catch Hypothermia unless something lowers their temperature again.  (Temperature's under 33 C?  No problem... until they enter sufficiently cold areas again.)
• Hypothermia applies significant debuffs... and that's it.  No health effects whatsoever.

Compare this against high heat levels:

• When Dupes enter areas over 75 C without sufficient protection, they tend to get Scalded before any 'disease'-like debuff is applied.  Which directly hurts their health.
• Honestly, it's rare that I see Heat Stroke; Scalding hits much more quickly.  That said, Heat Stroke also applies some debuffs.

A Hypothermia rework

1. Make Hypothermia a dynamic, adaptive debuff like Irritation.
   
   One really neat thing was added in the current alpha:  the "Irritation" debuff series.  Prolonged exposure to certain gasses causes minor and/or major irritation, with a variable duration affected by the Dupe's continued exposure.
   
   Similarly, Hypothermia should scale with a Dupe's internal temperature, becoming more severe as a Dupe's temperature drops.
   
   Suggestions (reference:  Wikipedia):
   • Mild Hypothermia:  32 C - 34 C
     • Current debuff, but at -3 per attribute instead of -5.
   • Hypothermia:  30 C - 32 C
     • Current debuff, but at -6 per attribute instead of -5.
     • Also adds -3 Athletics
     • Triggers a notification
       • Gives players time to remove Dupes from the cold before they reach Severe.
   • Severe Hypothermia:  < 30 C
     • Current debuff, but at -9 per attribute instead of -5
     • Adds -6 Athletics.
2. During Severe Hypothermia:
   • Begins taking regular "Too Cold" damage until Severe Hypothermia is downgraded.
     • Say... -2 health per 10 seconds?
3. Hypothermia (any grade) may be treated by various buildings.
   • There's no direct cure; treatment simply applies a large "Change per second" bonus the Dupe's body temperature.
   • New Medical Building:  Personal Heater (for lack of a better name)
     • 120 W (like the Space Heater)
     • Emits +4.5 kDTU/s
     • Changes a Dupe's body temperature by +1.5 kDTU/s.
     • Prevents "Too Cold" damage, regardless of body temperature.
     • Requires occasional interaction from a qualified Doctoring dupe, like with Flipping at the Compost
       • Perhaps Medicine Compounding?  (Apothecary-tier)
   • Additionally, for obvious reasons:
     • Hot Tub
     • Sauna
     • Beach Chairs (if paired with Sun Lamp)
4. Critters may also gain Hypothermia.
   • Starting at the moderate tier, critters will actively attempt to find an environment that will help balance their body temperature.

Heat Stroke

• A similar system to the suggestion above might be worthwhile for Heat Stroke.
  • Critters would also be affected by this and behave similarly.
  • Major Heatstroke would deal Overheated damage, to differentiate it from Scalding.
  • New Medical Building:  Ice Bath.
    • Literally inverts Personal Heater, requires Ice and medical oversight to run, does not emit heat.

Scalding... plus Frostbite

Scalding needs some tweaks.

• Consider the following:

For example, a Dupe shouldn't be Scalded when within their Comfort Zone. Yet this happens all the time!

At the same time, we don't have yet Frostbite, the cold-based equivalent to Scalding.  That should be added, too.

Suggestion:

Scalding and Frostbite should be caused by a combination of two factors:

• It should be based upon the total raw "change per second" to body temperature a Dupe experiences.
• It should also consider the Dupe's current body temperature, comparing it against their target body temperature.

The exact figures should be subject to playtesting and balancing, of course.  Though, I'm noticing a separate issue...

The "tolerance" numbers line up with the body temperature effects that I see, though not perfectly.  So, that "separate issue" is with the "tolerance" calculation itself.

Either way, these are environments where, if the "tolerance" numbers were accurate, I'd expect to see either Scalding or Frostbite take effect after a few seconds.