I like the general intent, definitely. Would definitely need a bunch of new UI work to be clear. On the other hand, with that UI I think it at least would be clear, unlike for example several upgrades to the Binding Agent Organelle.
On the downside, the Binding Agent at first only allowing you to bind with one other cell seems a bit anticlimactic perhaps? Also, the amount of time you need to stay bound would have to be carefully balanced.
I have the feeling that “what you end Multicellular with determines what you start Macroscopic with, and what you don’t have will be more difficult to unlock” is just what I assumed from the start?
Funny idea related to this: once we have a lot more work on the Macroscopic Stage finished we could even consider just relaxing whatever restrictions we put in place now. Which would mean “sure you can rush through Multicellular with 20 cells and nothing else. Congratulations you now start Macroscopic as a slimy blob and if you want to go beyond that, you need to slowly catch up on things you skipped in the Multicellular Stage.”
But that’s future talk for when we know more about Macroscopic.
I agree this is a pretty solid list actually. It ensures that there is enough complexity for our Macroscopic Stage development to start with. But this is none-restrictive enough that I think plants, fungi, etc. could all be modelled through this.
One thing to note perhaps is that I see some players building unusually large cells and then running into “creature does not fit on the screen” problems at a lower number of cells. So, we could change this to something like: 10 cells + X total hex size. That way there is some leeway to reaching Macroscopic for large cells without getting horrifically stuck. Just from MP costs, getting to the required size by placing more cells would still be faster.