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Physics, Conservation of energy and molar mass


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From a development point a view... All the information on the aforementioned items should be easily and readily accessible online. If your intention was to make a game that follows the laws of physics then you need to make sure when dealing with the gases that things such as the "Air scrubber" which IRL would be an "Oxygen Scrubber" would remove the Carbon in CO2 and output O2 which when dealing with a gas you'd need to use the molar mass. Any amount of gas you'd remove the appropriate molar mass of Carbon for the total mass of CO2 gas and output the O2.

"Air Scrubbers" In game merely eliminate CO2. Where the Fk does the O2 go??? Conservation of energy. A lot of mass is lost in the conversions between different states of matter in this game and this is what causes the sustainability issues. If you upheld conservation of energy properly you'd be able to sustain your dupes indefinitely on limited supplies because it's a closed system ALL matter and energy would merely change states over and over in a never ending cycle.

Currently, The NUMBER ONE issue with this game is we lose matter/energy through improper conversions. This is my overall point. It doesn't need to be done as in real life but conservation of energy is key here. Sustainability is possible through conservation of energy ^^

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I think every game struggles to find the right balance between fantasy and realism, fun and tedium, convenience and inconvenience. I don't think any game can be said to be really "real". There's always compromise and room has to be allowed for artistic license to be made. I think what matters most is if I can suspend my disbelief enough to accept the limitations that exist in a game and make the most of what IS there and not what isn't.

For example, I know that explosions and lasers don't make a sound in space, because there's no air for sound pressure to propagate through, but It's fun to hear "Pew-pew!" sounds and such in the movies. If I worry about too many details, I won't enjoy the ride, so to speak.:D 

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True but sustainability is a major issue here because of the fact there are limited resources. They seem to want to follow the laws of physics to a degree. I can help! Every 44 grams of CO2 processed = 12 grams of Carbon removed and 32 grams of O2 freed! Using the air scrubber as it is, that would remove 44 grams CO2 and 12 grams H2O, produce 32 grams O2 and 24 grams of contaminated H2O!!! Your conservation of energy has been maintained! ALL HAIL MINALIA! MISTRESS OF MATH!

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Quote

 I think what matters most is if I can suspend my disbelief enough to accept the limitations

In a game where the one most obvious gameplay goal is achieving sustainability, and where 80% of the mechanics are about resource conversions back and forth and where the motif and theme are all a cramped closed cave system, I cannot suspend my disbelief of proper closed loop sustainable conversions and conservation. It would mean forgetting my only primary goal, which is basically equivalent to not playing. It would also mean all my dupes dying, since to ignore this and suspend disbelief would require ignoring all my systems failing due to their unsustainability that I'm ignoring...

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I agree too. If the goal is to create interesting gameplay, then the challenge could be moved to other mechanisms than inconsistent physics.

For example, CO2 scrubbers require power, which must be generated, and the power generation may generate other types of waste to worry about, such as additional heat or more CO2. 

I don't think interesting gameplay that compels players to expand and explore has to be sacrificed to have consistent physics. Rather, it just requires tweaking of the gameplay design and resource cycle.

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i think the physics of a closed system plays a bigger role in the game design than you are giving it credit. it's not just something that would be neat, but it will actually make the creation of a sustainable colony feasible because resources are just arbitrarily lost in this current build, so you will always run out, no matter what.

this would make the game a lot more complicated but i think it will also give it a lot more depth and would be a pretty novel idea that goes beyond being terraria + rimworld

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Its mainly difficulty based IMO; losing resources makes it harder and forces you to explore and expand into dangerous areas. That said, I already think energy loss and decay will be enough of an issue on their own. Batteries lose power, food decays, Dupes waste energy through heat and work - there's already losses in conservation built in. Everything eventually gets turned into heat radiation in a sense. Heat deaaaath~

Mostly I want to know where that 50kg of water went into the liceloaf.

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