Pointless Challenges Inc. presents: Three Dupes, no pod - locavore, carnivore and super sustainable (normal hunger difficulty)

[SomeRandomFinn]

The few times I’ve done an achievement run I’ve been bothered by having to accept a bunch of dupes I didn’t really want, just to have enough mouths for the carnivore achievement (to consume 400 000 calories of meat in the first 100 days).

It took a few years, but finally I thought to wonder: Can one be picky with dupe selection and still get the carnivore achievement? (Preferably while also getting locavore and not failing super sustainable in the process.)

It seemed a pointless enough question that it was worth looking into.

 

I didn’t want to actually kill off any dupes (I did that last time I did a pointless challenge. Leira's and Harold's screams still haunt my dreams). So three dupes it would be, then – the fewest you can have without resorting to unpleasantness. (Though – spoiler alert – there would be plenty of that to come.)

Increasing hunger difficulty seemed like it would make it easier rather than more difficult, so I left the hunger difficulty at normal. Turning off the printing pod as soon as the game started seemed like it would be a completely pointless way to add some additional difficulty to the challenge. So I did.

In dupe selection I picked one dupe with Mechatronics Engineering unlocked and one dupe with Critter Ranching unlocked right from the start. Dupes with a skill unlocked at the start had the added benefit of their both having bottomless stomachs, meaning they would consume 1,5K calories each per day instead of the standard 1K calories each.

With two bottomless stomach dupes and one normal that put me at 4K calories consumed per day. Given that carnivore requires 400K calories of meat during the first 100 days that meant that I would be fine as long as all three dupes consumed nothing but meat from the first cycle until the 100^th. Which they of course couldn’t do, since it would take a fair while to get the necessary research done and the ranches up and running.

 

So from the first time the dinner bell rang, every single calorie consumed that wasn’t meat I would have to make up for later. Those of you who care about the well-being of your dupes may want to stop reading here. Because as you might have guessed, the solution to the problem (or "problem") is, of course, the binge eater stress response.

When a dupe with the binge eater trait reaches 100% stress they eat a bunch of extra calories. According to the wiki they eat two thousand calories three times in a row, so six thousand calories. After that their stress drops to 60%. Six thousand calories is a fair few. But given that it would be dozens of cycles before I would be ready to have them all comsume nothing but meat, six thousand extra would be nowhere near enough.

 

When I chose her, Bubbles had no idea I picked her not just because I wanted a digger/builder, but because I wanted a digger/builder who was also a binge eater. She had two jobs: first, to dig and build all the basics that needed digging and building. And then to alternate between the hamster wheel and binge eating. Which meant, once we entered phase two of the plan, I had to make sure Bubbles was having a very, very bad day. Every single day.

It was perhaps cruel and unnecessary that she herself had to build the instruments of her torture. The bed in the area with all the shine bugs? She built it. The ceiling light above the bed, with the motion sensor that made sure the light turned on whenever she tried to get any sleep? She built it. The liquid lock that made sure the 15kg of gas pressure in one part of the base didn’t even out into the rest of the base? She built it. The door set to only allow her into the pressure chamber? She built it. The ladder in the puddle of dirty water that existed only so she could run up and down the ladder to get both wet and have her ears pop? She built it. There was more, but you get the picture.

It turns out, if a dupe gets no room bonuses, is wet, their ears are popped, and they don’t (ever) get a good nights rest, they will go from 60% stress to 100% roughly every 1,5 cycles. Which, as it turns out, means you have plenty of time to get locavore and carnivore, even when leaving the door open for super sustainable. (The achievement triggered on cycle 91 for me.)

Above: Bubbles, finally getting a good night's sleep. (Her previous bed, upper left, is slated for demolition)

 

So, now comes the important question: What can we learn from all of this? Nothing. (If there was something to be learned from it then it wouldn’t be pointless. And what would be the point of a non-pointless challenge?)

 

Postscript: Now that carnivore is done, Bubbles, Nails and Gossman have moved on to the slow grind towards super sustainable. After more than a month of eating off the floor, Bubbles has been allowed back into the Great Hall. She has a fully carpeted, personal shower and bedroom (without sensors or lights). There is also a newly built hospital to handle her therapy, should she feel she needs it. But she would prefer to just put the whole ordeal behind her.

Edit/addition: Thanks to Redditer Hypatiaxelto for their insights regarding causing stress.