I was thinking some more about the Nutrient Cost trait.
One of the stated reasons for its introduction is
On the other hand, one of the stated reasons for the implementation of time-based reproduction in a simultaneous thread is
These two developments seem to be at odds with one another.
Do we want to punish large cells with a slow and tedious reproduction process?
Then why is the reduction of this tediousness a stated goal of another change which we‘re simultaneously discussing?
My Pitch:
Overpowered strategies have to be nerfed/punished.
But a very long and tedious reproduction process isn‘t a fun way to be punished.
That‘s why we have increased osmoregulation cost for large cells. Having to fight increasingly hard for your survival as you get bigger is a more engaging way of being punished. If we feel like large cells are still too overpowered, we have to hit them with even larger osmoregulation costs instead of large reproduction costs.
On the contrary, the reproduction costs of larger cells may be too great, as was voiced in the ‚Revamping Compound Clouds‘ thread. We need a scientifically plausible way to reduce the reproduction costs of larger cells (and maybe increase them for smaller cells, as Nick also stated in said other thread).
What are Reproduction Costs
A cells nutrient reproduction costs are what is needed to duplicate all of their organs. So their reproduction costs are equivalent to all the nutrients already present in their body.
Where are the nutrients in their body?
As Nick said in the OP, a large part of a cells nutrients are bound in their organelles. The further upgraded an organelle is, the more nutrients it contains.
The part of a cell where the least amount of nutrients is stored is probably their cytoplasm, given that water is by far cytoplasms main component.
Compared to the cytoplasm, a cells membrane probably contains quiet a few nutrients. The square cube law dictates that the smaller a cell is, the more of its total mass will be made up by its membrane. Simultaneously, cytoplasm will consitute a smaller part of its total mass.
The larger a cell is, the less of its total mass will be made up by its membrane. If we take into consideration that all of our organelles include a layer of cytoplasm around them when placed, the larger a cell is, the more of its total mass will be constituted by cytoplasm.
tl;dr: Consequentually, the square-cube-law could punish larger cells regarding their energy upkeep, but it could actually alleviate their painfully high reproduction costs.
Each hex placed could for example decrease osmoregulation costs by 0.97 or something like that.
I‘m curious to hear what you guys think of this controversial suggestion.