Alright so I am back at it again with thermosynthesis, and have a new idea on how it could work.
Basically, the thermoplast will include it’s own “compound bar”. This bar represents the player’s current temperature gradient (I dont actually know anything about temperature gradients) which they have to fill to as close to the indicator line as they can to obtain optimal energy generation. The scaling for this will work similar to photosynthesis in that the bar represents 100%, and the further away from it you are the less you get.
Being in locations under 75C will not fill this bar and will instead slowly drain it, while locations above 75C will slowly fill the bar. As a result, the player must seek out both hot and cold waters whenever needed in order to maintain their gradient and produce energy.
I would like to know what everyone thinks of this!
Edit: To continue with this, the rate of losing/gaining heat in your gradient will be relatively steady and slow (Something like a 0.01 increase/decrease), hopefully so that balancing the gradient is not a tedious act of traveling back and forward between temperatures. I also went ahead and settled with thermoplasts producing glucose as that seems more likely.
Thermoplast:
0.09 CO2 & 1 gradient = 0.12 Glucose
Thermosynthase:
0.09 CO2 & 1 gradient = 0.04 Glucose
Note that the 1 here means 100% which is the value tied to the position of the indicator line. Being below the line means you have less than 100%, going past the line will inverse the increase and again reduce the percentage of glucose you produce.