Ultimate difficulty QOL suggestion

[The Toob]

Hello devs,

I have clocked about 1200 hours into this game, and I have a minor suggestion for the ultimate difficulty, which I have played almost exclusively.

Stop using average colonist values for status maluses. Stop using average colonist values for status maluses. I dont know what design decision led to this, but as a game mechanic it is very frustrating to deal with.

Example 1: You have a colony with 300 people, where 5 of them somehow drop to about 20 nutrition while the other stays at 100. The average nutrition now says that the colony has 90+ nutrition, and hence add a 4 malus (or is it 5?) to a total of -14 each day. This includes the malnourished colonists, which are in the risk of dying of malnutrition, while actually being served way more food than required. You can be overfed and still die due to starvation. One can argue that the more nourished colonists get a larger cut of the food, but that is also stupid in a strictly controlled futuristic colony.

Example 2: You have a colony of 300 people. You feed them by using only high tier food, sporting a total of 26 in nutrition and hydration: seaweed, water and 4 high morale foods. For a total of +13/+13. This colony is perfectly balanced and ends up with the entire colony at 80 nutrition and 80 hydration for the entire population... Then you hire a new dude. This dude uses the same average values as the rest of the colony, and hence is already at equilibrium when he is hired. Hence his stats will permanently be 50/50 until you hire enough people to upset the balance and push them to 51, or until something horrible happens which upsets the equilibrium. The only way to get out of this and get him to the same level as the other guys is to change the food menu back and forth between nutrition and hydration so people cap out on 100 of one, which the other decreases, and then reversing it in a pendulum motion between hydration and nutrition.

Every colonist should be treated as a separate entity. If you have a colonist at 50 nutrition and a daily waste of 10, and you feed her 15 units, it should go to 55, no matter the stats of the other colonists. If the same colonist has 90 and a daily waste of 14, she should go to 91. Simple and personal.

This problem has been persisting in this game and I have always hopes that you would correct this, because this is unlogical and horrible to deal with at ultimate difficulty, and only in a frustrating way. I didnt have high hopes for the Beta, but this game is released now and has been for quite some time.

And before people say that this is a part of the difficulty: No. Being hit by early storms you have no way to generate the electricity to protect from is difficult. Being hit by 4-6 storms at the same time is difficult. Surviving for extended periods of time in early game without being able to leave the dome is difficult. Losing your last ship is difficult. Balancing the influences in the early game is (somewhat) difficult. Dropping down to 20 morale before you can produce your first morale food is difficult. Having all the drones that you need when you need them is difficult. Balancing food can be difficult. Strategical building placement for energy management is difficult.

Swinging the nutrition and hydration balance to introduce new colonists is dumb.


Also I want to take the moment to thank for a nice game in general. It is not as extreme from a survival perspective as the beta, but it is still a nice micromanagement and city builder game, except for the frustration above.

[Nexcentric Games]

Hi The Toob,
Initially it was done like you suggest, in an individual basis, however it had some issues as well like making impossible to know what would be your next cycle colony progress. After our own tests and general feedback we went for this solution favoring the ability to provide you with precise info on your colony's progress.
On the other hand, you may use medicine (ok, up to a maximum of 50 stats) to individually treat a colonist.
In any case, I have added your suggestion to our feature request list.

Thank you for your feedback ;)

[The Toob]

Thanks for the answer. At first glance it sounds like it shouldnt be hard to implement, seeing as the game should be able to track individual stats and use them for the calculation instead. I do know though that codes can be very wierd and intertwined after a while, so I do see your perspective as well.