Let there be Light!

[ASirrelle]

I highly expect you guys to do some, if not all, of these things, but here are some suggestions I have on Light.
I feel that light is currently under used, having it affect plants is pretty neat, but other than that you don't have much of an incentive to use it.
Now, if duplicants were affected by light and darkness that's when light as a concept becomes more interesting...

Have it effect FEAR.

This would mean introducing another percentage gauge, so I guess it depends on how many of these you really want kicking around! If you want to try and reduce that it could always be tagged onto Stress.

How FEAR would effect Duplicants:

The more Fear they have, the less likely they are to perform tasks. They may refuse to fight, if their fear is too high, they even me be too scared to go to bed or even the toilet. Or maybe it goes the other way? They refuse to get out of bed, or lock themselves in the toilet.

Fear can be controlled in a few ways; having light around (which is emitted from the portal by default), having comforting decor (plants, paintings, but not the creepy kind, etc), or good old fashioned medication!

Fear could also induce their stress responses, causing them to pee, vomit, cry, or become destructive.

Fear/Light related traits could also be added to duplicants.
For example, being scared of the Dark might mean they flat out refused to go somewhere without light, or they become more stressed when they're in dark places.

How to fight the Darkness.

As I said before, upon starting the portal will provide you with all the light you need to keep the fear at bay. However, when you start expanding your base and digging tunnels this will start becoming an issue.

"I can put lights around my base, but are you saying I need to track them all the way down a tunnel?!"

Lights, at present, don't use a huge amount of power to maintain, and perhaps something like the Christmas lights above might not be a bad idea to explore? They could be placed as a type of electrical wire, that flickers out when the power dies.

It would be awesome if you could farm these little guys! (The Shine Bug)
As they're a bug, and you already farm Meal Lice, it seems like a no brainer to make these guys farmable.

Then, with research, and the Textile Loom,  you could fashion lanterns for the duplicates to carry with them when exploring the dark depths away from your base.

How Light effects other creatures...

In my mind there could be two extra creatures that are primarily effected by Light; One that runs from it, another that runs towards it.
It would be kinda neat, thinking about it, if the one that was afraid of light was a creature similar to the one in Don't Starve. I think it would fit nicely in this context and would be a nice homage to another game made by your studio.

It seems to fit nicely that the one that goes towards light would be a moth like creature, flying would be nice, but if so I suggest it to be non-aggressive as it might have a strategic advantage in combat, as it stands at present.  It should more be annoying, perhaps it would eat your crops and food, if left unprotected, and on doing so create more moths.
Ooo, perhaps it would leave eggs on a Meal Lice plant that continues to grow until on harvest this little menace pops out!

~~

Let me know your thoughts, and it'd be great to hear what everyone else thinks!
I only picked this up again recently, so it's possible some of this stuff is already in there

[doomeris]

game going to be more harder early..

[The Plum Gate]

6 hours ago, doomeris said:

game going to be more harder early..

if there were direct and inderect light instead of the all or nothing we have now, then this might not be such a bad idea.  ..they could just add glow in the dark suits to the wardrobe.

[Audrey]

How about glowing gem resources you can dig out and use to build tiles?

I think the game has enough things dependent on electricity, but I like the idea of light being more of a variable.

[dosman22l]

i think, its so hard at start, remember you need research it.. i wrote a post with a similar idea.

[chaos0720]

These ideas definitely need to be implemented by end game. If not, it'll be weird that decor affects the dups, but lighting doesn't. If the dups have no light, how can they see the decor, therefore how could it reduce their stress/meet their expectations?

[ASirrelle]

On 04/09/2017 at 3:34 PM, doomeris said:

game going to be more harder early..

 

On 05/09/2017 at 1:47 AM, dosman22l said:

i think, its so hard at start, remember you need research it.. i wrote a post with a similar idea.

I'm thinking that the fear of darkness builds up gradually, dependant on how much time your Dups spend away from light. In the early game light is automatically generated from the portal, so there will always be a constant glow of light.
Also, correct me if i'm wrong, you can research lamps pretty early on, if you don't start with them, and if you come across wild Shine bugs these will also help reduce your fear.

Additionally, researching electric (christmas/twinkle) light cable can be an early research, so should hinder you're expansion too much. It also adds an extra layer of strategy to what you prioritise with research.

~~

On 05/09/2017 at 0:28 AM, Audrey said:

How about glowing gem resources you can dig out and use to build tiles?

I think the game has enough things dependent on electricity, but I like the idea of light being more of a variable.

I like the idea of glow tiles, that's pretty neat.
They could also be weirdly radioactive, making the Duplicates sick with prolonged exposure, but maybe have this as a minor affect, similar to eating raw lice meal. You could use the ore scrubber to get rid of this negative effect, also maybe have hazmat suits craftable in the textile loom.
A Hazmat suit might also protect Dups from the ill effects of Chlorine and hydrogen gas, but maybe makes the Dup's wearing it slower. I wouldn't have it affect Oxygen, ie it doesn't give them any more breathable air.