by pistolshrimp » Mon Aug 03, 2020 5:08 pm
Day 3: Temperature/ Darkness Rework Part 2 - Temperature Benefits/ Spoilage/Fruit
What It Does: The primary goal of this temperature chance is to make Spring and Summer Zones relatively easier but less rewarding than the relatively harder but more rewarding Fall and Winter zones. This post will start to flesh out some of the mechanics of the Temperature rework that start to get it closer to that goal. It will also address Fruit which already needs balancing.
Spoilage: Spoilage already exists in the game for Fruit and Tulips, it would be modified to affect most unprocessed foods as well. Spoilage is now affected by Temperature. The Hotter the Temperature the faster food Spoils. For instance picked Fruit would spoil in a day on a Hot Spot in the Spring Zone, where as would last for weeks on a Cold Spot in the Winter. This would give a major advantage to living in the Winter where mid to late game players want to store food for gluttony sessions and while it would be a pain in the Spring Zone its affects would 'seem' less harsh to newer players who are not focused on major gluttony sessions.
Fruit: Currently Fruit require an Everbloom to Fruit. This requirement would be removed. Instead Fruit would constantly cycle through Fallow, Blossoming, Fruiting stages. Fruit trees however would have temperature thresholds (irl this is often called Hardiness). This would work in such a way that Fruit Trees in the Hardiness/Temperature range give the normal amount of Fruit, close to their range give less Fruit, and not close to their range would Blossom but never Fruit. Fruit Temperature ranges would be biased cold, so Winter Zones could generally support more Fruit than others, but no zone could have them all. This would nerf Fruit without killing its usefulness or introducing a tree disease mechanic which the devs kicked around for a bit. It would theoretically also open promote economy as players can still trade for the Fruit they can't grow themselves.
Domesticated Animals: Domesticated Animal sickness would be influenced by temperature, ie being left outside in the Spring zone would be less likely to cause sickness than being left outside in say the Winter. This gives newer players more leeway when learning the mechanics with Domesticated Animals, however on the flip side, Domesticated Animal productivity would scale with temperature. The colder the temperature the more productive the animal would be. This already exists in Sheep producing more wool in a Coldsnap, but would other animals would gain these benefits as well, more milk, more wool, more gelatinous lard. Additionally they would eat less. Theoretically the reward here is less animals are needed and therefore less grind.
Minor Things:
I also envision something like temperature affecting civilian chance bonuses, like the amount of extra coal from coal clamps, boards from logs, plants from pots, etc. The idea is the same as with Domesticated Animals, harder living but less grind.
New Structure: Root Cellar, a structure which would work like the opposite of an igloo, the inside would be cold, and therefore Foods could be stored inside to delay Spoilage. This would be to make Spoilage not prohibitive to late game players who would rather choose to live in the Spring and Summer zones.
Blossoming Trees can be picked for X Blossoms, ie Apple Blossoms, Pear Blossoms, etc. These would could as Any Flowers, be inspirationals and can be ground on a Grindstone for Blossom Nectar. This resets the Fruit Tree back to its Fallow stage. This allows for some benefit to be had from never Fruiting Trees.
Other Current Seasonal changes would be moved to temperature with the exceptions of bears and butterfies which would only spawn over hot spots. And the Sleds pull faster mechanic which would be removed.
Why it's Good for Salem: A start to nerfing Fruit, encourages economy, exploration, and rewards living in the harder areas by decreasing grind, while not overly punishing new or early game players.
Clarifications: I'll get to Darkness tomorrow, but the idea to remove it is that we don't need 2 mechanics which effectively do the same thing. I also have a sled re-work coming up down the line to address sled pull speed.
Dev Effort Required: HIGH.