Thermoplasts

[Buckly]

I think am “alternative photosynthesis” implementation is perfectly acceptable as a foundation, so feel free to settle for that if you feel pressed for time. Likewise, treating it as essentially photosynthesis in the eyes of autoevo should work fine.

Looking back at my latest designs, there’s a few things I feel I should revise as it seems that I posted it in a rush and failed to clarify many aspects of it.

• ATP production should remain constant so long as you balance the gradient between the two brackets.
• The brackets probably shouldn’t actually move, that might be a bit overwhelming to players, and we should try something simpler first.
• Ideally, the “storage value” of the gradient bar should remain constant, and independent from cell compound storage.
• Change in gradient should be a slow and gradual process, going into a cold region shouldn’t instantly drain it to zero and starve you. We should probably have a maximum delta value to prevent this.
• Placing more thermo parts should simply increase ATP generation, but we could have upgrades available to make them increase gradient change rate as well so players have finer control over the mechanic.

I should probably just update and revise my concept when I get the chance.

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@Oliveriver

Unfortunately, my issue with this system is that it’s not intuitive to the player. For them, there’s just an extra pink bar that goes up and down seemingly at random. To have something that players can have fun with, we need some visual indication of thermal gradients on screen.

Indeed, that was an issue we noticed, and is largely why thermoplasts ultimately got trapped in limbo in the first place. We sought to remedy this issue with a revised design and visible heat map when possible.

@Oliveriver

One big issue with this system - and a reason why it could take a long time to implement - is displaying all this information in the editor. What does the process display in the tooltip look like?

Excellent question, as the process of thermosynthesis is rather complex and unorthodox compared to your average cellular process, having much more to do with physics than chemistry. I pose the following;

+X ATP @ ∆Temperature

But perhaps that would be unclear to people unfamiliar with the concept.

@Oliveriver

How do you calculate the expected ATP balance when it can change so significantly in the environment?

ATP generation should probably remain constant in the ideal gradient range, and either just be set to zero or begin to quickly diminish when you leave the range. it will save us and the players both from headache.

@Oliveriver

IceDjuro’s thermoplast branch doesn’t really address these questions adequately either, since a “thermal gradient” compound is hard to wrap your head around.

It’s implementation as a compound was just a way to recycle existing mechanics for ease of implementation. It probably shouldn’t be presented as such to players…

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It makes me very happy to see you interested in implementing the thermoplasts, so thank you for bringing this up. I realize now that my concepts from the time are rather messy and unclear, so I definitely need to take the time to revisit and revise my concepts when I get the chance.

Thank you for picking this up!