Meat Eaters
So as y'all might be aware, Meat is a less efficient resource than Fruits and Veggies, and it requires you to devote a lot more time to tending. This is especially notable in Five Day Rush, where the comparison between Hunters (which are hard to get) and Crystals (which are easy to get) is extremely one-sided (though the rarity of Honeys versus Rads is also important there). I have a few ideas of how that might be fixed:
- Allow more Hens/Roostros in a Coop before they stop producing stuff. 12 is actually very small, especially considering it takes so long to produce the Chickadoos (who still aren't food) and the other resources provide 15-20 pieces of food. I'd guess something like 20-25 might be good?
- When you feed Meat-eaters a Hen/Roostro, have them produce more Plorts, probably double. Maybe to compensate, have them eat less often? (say Largos eat once every 15 in-game hours instead of 12; that'd make it 1.6 times as many Plorts per hour)
Five Day Rush
This has the potential to be a pretty great mode, but it's hampered by having an easy-to-find best strategy: Mix Crystals with Rads and feed them lots of Oca Oca. Now, I've noticed that Oca Oca seems to take longer to either grow or regrow than most Fruits and Veggies (not sure which, since I haven't done a side-by-side comparison while using the Remove Crop trick) but that really just means you need more Gardens, which isn't a huge sacrifice. The Moss Blanket has Puddles, Booms, Honeys, and Hunters instead of Puddles, Booms, Rads, and Crystals, but Puddles are too slow and require too much space, Booms require Meat (though that might be ameliorated, as seen above), Honeys are substantially less common than Rads and Crystals, and Hunters are both hard to feed (especially given their favorite food is abnormally rare, even among Meat) and hard to Vac up (though their Plorts are easier to Vac up). Do remember that Hunters and Crystals are the only ones that give 60 Newbucks before the Ancient Ruins. Of course, the Ancient Ruins aren't worth unlocking, because Quantum Slimes don't net you anything better than Crystals and it requires three Slime Keys and six different types of Plorts. So here's what I've thought of:
- Change the prices the Plorts fetch in Five Day Rush, only. Phosphors are harder to raise than a lot of the others, so maybe bump them up to 30 or 35. Puddles should be bumped up to 60 or higher. Quantums should probably go up to 75, but the ones in the Glass Desert should probably not change, because at that point, you're probably abusing glitches and exploits. Well, aside from Fire Slimes, going up to 60 as well, just to match Puddle Slimes.
- Make Honeys more common, or fix it so Booms are as good a choice as Rads. Maybe make Hunters a touch more common, too.
- This is a problem in the main game, too (until you get the fourth Tank Booster), but for speed purposes, being able to have multiple tanks with the same item would be nice. It shouldn't eliminate the need for the first tank upgrade, but being able to carry more than 20 or 30 of the same type of Plort would be very useful, even if it cost an extra slot.
Supply and Demand
I've come to a point in my Adventure Mode file that I simply do not have enough space in the Refinery to store my Rock Plorts as I wait for the prices to go back up (and I can't produce enough gadgets to free up space due to limitations on Pink Plorts and Resources), and it's tedious to keep having to go to a Silo. Also, when I sell only some types of Plorts en masse, why are the other types going down in value? While I recognize that these may just be a consequence of me not playing optimally, I still have a few ideas.
- Just like there's a Refinery Link and a Market Link, have a Silo Link. If you don't press the button to select a specific Silo, shooting into it will first fill up any parts which have the item you shot in (starting from most-full to least, and if that's not enough, have it go in a particular order around the Ranch), and then will fill the first unfilled port (based on position again). The button would allow you to select which Silo port you fill or take from by bringing up the map.
- Maybe make a way to consolidate the Plorts into something like a jelly or puree which is a little more stable in price in exchange for being potentially less valuable per Plort. (e.g. Pink Jelly would give between 40 and 60 Newbucks per 10 Plorts?) You could show the current price in the upper-right-hand corner of the box at the Market or just have it all done in the Lab. With the latter you might even be able to create extra recipes, such as 3 Rad + 7 Phosphor for Power Jelly or whatever you'd call it.
- Have all of the Plort prices mutually independent. Or maybe have it somewhat realistic and have a fall in some Plort prices cause a slight increase in others. Of course, if you sold every type of Plort in one day, they'd still all fall.
General Stuff
- I'm not sure whether this is actually implemented or not, but just in case, I think that there should be a potential advantage to having the smaller Slimes, so my idea is to make them eat more frequently (say once every 9 in-game hours or 10 for Meat, making them give Plorts 4/3 times as often, or 1.5 times with Meat, but obviously not giving as many). This might influence Five Day Rush, too, though I doubt it.
- I cannot tell you how many times in Adventure Mode I have come across a Treasure Pod I couldn't open, and then forgot where it was by the time I got the upgrade. My request is that if you get close enough to one that you get the text about not having an advanced enough Treasure Cracker (or "Press X to Open"), it should be marked on the map, sort of like Gordos. I understand if y'all disagree on this one, though.
- Is it intentional that you often can't place Taming Bells near Feral Slimes outside of the Glass Desert? I know there are a few spots elsewhere, but those are normally at the boundary....
Edit: I forgot something! I'm using the Xbox version, and scrolling through the Achievements is extremely slow. That's a problem because that's the only way I can see how much of something I have completed.