Extreme Biomes

[Mringasa]

I'd like to actually try one of these out, but which one is better for a person experienced in the game mechanics who hasn't done one before? Hot or Cold?

[Markus Reese]

Both are similar in tactics, but extreme heat is a bit more manageable with dusters etc vs cold and limiting parkas and frostbite. Snow also slowing down pawn movement. Both use similar survival tactics. Desert is a bit trickier to cool with needing to vent AC vs cheaper heaters.

[Thaxlsyssilyaan]

I would add that cold biome allow food preservation for free, while food may rot fast in desert.

[glass zebra]

Deserts have very little soil and stuff to graze on but you can set up hydroponics outside and usually at least grow some around the hills. In general it's harder and more resource and power intense to cool stuff. This is true for both your rooms and your people.
Colder biomes have free freezers and free enemy raid slowing but also slow you down on outside work and need a very quick focus on clothing, if you wanna do something outside (though the clothing is cheaper, easier to make and more efficient than the heat resistant ones). But you don't need to do something outside, especially now, since fungus is added.
In the very extreme, there is also very little fauna, so stuff like manhunter pulse and animal pulser quickly become nothing more but a short distraction.
Are you talking about tundra / desert or even considering boreal / savanna?

[Mringasa]

I'm looking at Ice Sheet or Extreme Desert.

I'm reasonably comfortable in both the normal Desert and Tundra regions, so going to try one of the more extreme versions of those. Have to pare down my mod list though, I use a good number of extra plant life mods, and those will mostly be useless.

I really just wasn't sure which one was going to be a bit easier to manage for my first time running in one of them. Both seem a bit daunting tbh, and taking a mature colony into one isn't going to provide the same type of challenge as a start.

[glass zebra]

Those two basically just have a tiny bit of soil around the hills and it's all stoney soil and basically like 5 animals tops. Extreme (hot) desert will always give you nice caravan speed year around, while sea ice will likely give you the ability to just use simple meals for caravans, with a reduced speed.

[RCMidas]

Extreme Desert will be barely different to normal Desert, in terms of difficulty jumping, and Ice Sheet will be the opposite version of that. It is recommended that you consider being a cannibal colony in Ice Sheet though - the Ideology DLC can help with that.

Also, build around geothermal vents in Ice Sheets for warmth.

[Markus Reese]

Originally posted by Mringasa:

I'm looking at Ice Sheet or Extreme Desert.

I'm reasonably comfortable in both the normal Desert and Tundra regions, so going to try one of the more extreme versions of those. Have to pare down my mod list though, I use a good number of extra plant life mods, and those will mostly be useless.

I really just wasn't sure which one was going to be a bit easier to manage for my first time running in one of them. Both seem a bit daunting tbh, and taking a mature colony into one isn't going to provide the same type of challenge as a start.

I definitely think extreme desert. The risks from frostbite outweighs heat stroke and heat protection gear like dusters offer many side benefits. It also kinda depends on whether tribal or standard start. Is harder for tribal to heat manage off start with wood difficulties, but can use geothermal heating in the extreme cold.

Having played both, I cannot say one over the other is easier. Just different advantages and risks.

One other tradeoff is permanent extreme cold can get lower than comfort more than extreme heat gets above, depending on map settings. As for growing in sun, hydroponics need temperature brought down to sungrow, same way a room needs to be heated.

There is a strategy to this. A certain percentage of roof can be removed to vent some heat, but not equalize to outside. So can spread em about with some roof vents. A bit more potential HVAC energy cost, but not reliant on sunlamps.

Edit: As above post also mentioned, geothermal heating. Building a base to capture geothermal heat and insulate, I find to be a fun but of change to base building. Geothermals in soil actually make good indoor tree farms in extreme colds.

[Mringasa]

I almost always start Tribal, just because it feels more fulfilling to grow from a bunch of unlettered savages into a group of spacefarers.

Think i'm going to try the heat first off. I've lost fingers and toes to frostbite before, and that gets annoying real fast when you're a full tier away from replacement parts. I do find it easier to manage heat vs cold too for some reason.

Thanks for all the input! This should be a fun time.

[glass zebra]

With tribals, desert is definitely easier. You can just plant berries around all the hills (cooking without wood is a problem. You might need all spare wood for a cooler to not die). In ice sheets, you would have to do stuff to be able to get food in the first place.
Though your start will be rough, since I remember not having enough food before the first berry harvest was ready.

[Naryar]

I've had my first tundra run. To be honest it is less hard than I expected, just switch your wood uses with steel, but I have a feeling Tunneler helps a lot with food.

Both have pros and cons. Cold makes your outside growing less prevalent, but gives you free fridges in summer and part of fall/spring, and winter slows down pawns on map with a cold enough climate. Hot has normally better animals to tame. Cold biomes are NORMALLY less prone to disease unless you pick up swamps.

[glass zebra]

Originally posted by Naryar:

Hot has normally better animals to tame. Cold biomes are NORMALLY less prone to disease unless you pick up swamps.

The extreme biomes are both less prone to diseases. Just the highly vegetated ones are. And extreme deserts often has a single animal and sometimes zero on them. Sometimes you get a dromedary, sometimes two iguanos or a scarab. That is basically it.

[Yaldabaoth]

Originally posted by RCMidas:

It is recommended that you consider being a cannibal colony in Ice Sheet though - the Ideology DLC can help with that.

Bah, penguin ranching!

[Mringasa]

Originally posted by glass zebra:

Originally posted by Naryar:

Hot has normally better animals to tame. Cold biomes are NORMALLY less prone to disease unless you pick up swamps.

The extreme biomes are both less prone to diseases. Just the highly vegetated ones are. And extreme deserts often has a single animal and sometimes zero on them. Sometimes you get a dromedary, sometimes two iguanos or a scarab. That is basically it.

Less diseases is going to be nice. I enjoy running in swamps, but the disesase frequency in them is horrendous.

Anyone with experience with Dub's Bad Hygeine know how rough that is on an extreme biome? One of my "must have" mods for a run, but I can give it up if it's going to be impossible to get water for needs.

[Naryar]

Originally posted by Mringasa:

Originally posted by glass zebra:

The extreme biomes are both less prone to diseases. Just the highly vegetated ones are. And extreme deserts often has a single animal and sometimes zero on them. Sometimes you get a dromedary, sometimes two iguanos or a scarab. That is basically it.

Less diseases is going to be nice. I enjoy running in swamps, but the disesase frequency in them is horrendous.

Anyone with experience with Dub's Bad Hygeine know how rough that is on an extreme biome? One of my "must have" mods for a run, but I can give it up if it's going to be impossible to get water for needs.

I've literally never had any lack of water issues with the bad hygiene mod, then again, all I embark on is boreal forest, arid shrubland, and recently tundra. Can't tell about desert, but I assume there is water on it for game balance, if only because people would be unable to wash with the mod.

[ACS36]

Originally posted by Naryar:

I've had my first tundra run. To be honest it is less hard than I expected, just switch your wood uses with steel, but I have a feeling Tunneler helps a lot with food.

Both have pros and cons. Cold makes your outside growing less prevalent, but gives you free fridges in summer and part of fall/spring, and winter slows down pawns on map with a cold enough climate. Hot has normally better animals to tame. Cold biomes are NORMALLY less prone to disease unless you pick up swamps.

Yeah, don't use tunneler. It's OP as hell in the early game and trivializes difficulty. not only that but mountain bases do as well even without tunneler.