SpreadsheetGamr

I've just caught up on this thread and... holy hell. I don't know how the devs have resisted making a comment. Can you imagine being a dev and fixing this bug by making a simple code change to the temp array calculations, pulling the rug out from all the insane creativity in this thread? That would be sad times! I don't know if you've settled on a name for this new monstrosity yet but when comparisons were drawn with the AETN I immediately thought of AETNext™. Borgie vs Magma was hilarious, thanks @TripleM999 This was off the deep end, even for you, @mathmanican

Assuming it wasn't intentional, this is exactly the type of emergent gameplay a designer would hope for. It requires creativity on the player's part and looking at what the player stands to gain from it is up to a maximum of 75% metal cost reduction on power transmission costs. That's why for me, this one is a non-issue. Anybody care to compute the minimum distance for break even?

This is a thread fundamentally about game balance in a game that has a lot of emergent gameplay. Simulation games often attract this kind of critique. But there is a gulf between real world and a game. The real world can be an inspiration for game mechanics, but the rules of the real world are subordinate to gameplay. That is, if you want to have a mushroom give you a free life because that makes the game better, by all means make your game do that. Trying to justify gameplay mechanics as either balanced or imbalanced based on real world physics is missing the point. Well, I avoid stuff that's not on your list such as indefinite food storage in CO2. I use a single, powered refrigerator for food storage. I wouldn't use liquid reservoirs in chlorine gas to remove germs from the water smh. A lot of things on your original list I don't have a problem with though. Beyond that, I try to get duplicants with a variety of negative penalties (flatulent, snore, etc). I use the natural boundaries of the starting biome as my oxygenated base meaning I don't do exactly the same thing with my base every time (different size & shape).

The implication is that it would mess with building atmospherically controlled rooms, f ex. vacuums.

I agree with Lacost and I think that's the best general direction - atmo suits need some more consequences. A lot of the game's mechanics are bypassed when people build atmo suit docks at the bedroom exit. I'd like to see a small variety of suits for different circumstances. Especially one for higher temperatures that could be more bulky. One thing not touched on is that wearing atmosuits prevents dupes from creating CO2. That's another avenue for possible penalties, a low-tech suit might emit CO2 while a high tech one might bottle it and empty at the dock.

Any plans to revisit the medical/disease systems? Are you happy with the current balance of that stuff?