This is a subject that has me bothering for a long time now. The cold/hot biomes are completely imbalanced. And I don't see the reason why. Both biomes should offer a challenge, which is increasing the more extreme we are, but currently the hot biomes are a lot more easy than the cold one. For no reasons.
First clothing, while in hot biomes you'll make duster and cowboy hat, most likely, the cold equivalent is the parka and tuque.
-duster cost less to make than parka (80 vs 120 ingredients, we are looking at a 33% cost increase)
-duster have lesser move penalty than parka (0.04 vs 0.05). You also need to add the snow move penalty. Thick snow is 52% move speed, while sand is only 76%. Overall, you are much, much slower in a cold biome.
-duster doesn't have work penalty. Parka does. Considering how much it would be a micromanagement tedium to remove the parka everytime they work, you can consider that a permanent penalty.
-tuque can only be made of non leather. Which make it harder to make in the beginning of the game, since you need to grow the plant, while you can make cowboy hat at any time.
-cowboy hat offer a boost in social impact. Tuque offer nothing.
-tuque are faster to make. But considering both are fast anyway...
On the subject of clothing, hot biomes win without contest. So much, that I don't use parka myself. They are terrible at everything. Instead, I use good quality jacket. I suppose they are mandatory early game and for extreme biomes, or if you plan on going into space, but I avoid them as much as I can. They are that bad.
Ironically, a few alphas ago, when I used parkas, I had numerous "slept in the cold" situation because my parkas where really good, dropping the temperature too much indoors. Don't know if it was fixed.
On the subject of the temperature effect itself. Skipping the hypothermia/heatstroke, since it's more or less equivalent.
-crops will die when temperature is somewhere below 0°c (about -10°c I think). Crops will not die when temperature is too high, they will slow down the growth, or stop growing. Meaning your crops are never at risk in a hot biome. Solar flare ? Who cares. Heat wave ? I can wait. Not to mention in a cold biome the early game is a rush for sun lamp, and enough power for it. In hot biomes, you can play the whole game without them. It is massive.
-animals will leave the biome in winter, for cold biome. Leaving only predator, that can, and will, attack your pawn SEVERAL time a day because they suddenly find themselves without food source. In autumn, consider yourself at siege by the fauna. This is due to the fact that grass will be covered in snow, and die. In summer it barely grow fast enough to sustain the new arrivals (I tend to have hunting frenzy in spring, before they can leave), and if you have a poorly timed cold snap, they will likely leave again.
In hot biome, this is less an issue. While desert have less animals, they usually don't leave.
About the biome itself.
-I think that part is fairly balanced. Cold biomes have less room to build due to lot of water, but more place to plant crop. Which is kinda useless because you need heater and sunlamp anyway. Hot biomes have less room for crops, more room to expand.
-trees are abundant in boreal forest, but they don't regrow easily, or even at all. A poison ship/alphabeaver will destroy the trees in a large area, and they will probably never regrow. Hot biomes have a few trees, but they regrow fast. Overall, in a hot biomes you need to plant them, so I guess it's a minor victory for cold biomes.
-agave/berries can be harvested all year long in a hot biomes. It is mostly a summer thing in cold biomes
-ambrosia sprout, mushrooms and seasonal plant is a clear win for hot biomes. They can safely harvest them. In cold biomes, it's unlikely they'll survive long enough to be harvested.
-caves are a mix of penalties/advantages in a hot biomes. In a cold biomes, it's only negative. The mushroom will never grow to be harvested, they'll die before. Leaving you only angry bugs, and a bit of jelly.
Electricity.
-cold biomes use heaters, which are less expensive to build and to run than the cooler. Also coolers need access to an unroofed area.
-on the other hand, you'll need sunlamp before the first winter. And they take a lot of electricity. A hot biome can mostly run without sunlamp for a while, in the case of the arid shrubland, you can run a colony forever without it.
Contrary to popular belief, cold biomes actually lose again. I'll take a real example. I have 2 colonies, one of 9 people, on a boreal forest, living under a mountain (no hydro, crops are in a "hidden" valley). The other, a 13 people colony on arid shrubland (no mountain). I have a mod for the regular lamp consumption, but it shouldn't interfere, since both biomes will use them in the overall same amount anyway (29 vs 28). Using the power tool from the manager mod.
My boreal one use 17.1kw during the day, vs 7.9kw for the arid one. That's more than double. And this is during summer, where my heaters are not even working at 50% capacity. The reason is the sun lamp (8.7kw by themselves, that's the entire arid electric consumption), but my heaters are also using more (2.1 vs 1.3), for some reason. Note that the amount of cooler/heater is close (cooler : 26 vs 23 heaters). I use a geyser for to help for the temperature though.
Conclusion :
Cold biomes are clearly harder than hot one. In fact, arid shrubland is barely harder than a temperate biome, perhaps even easier, while desert is certainly not harder than tundra, perhaps even boreal forest.
I think the biggest issue lies with clothing. It needs to be much closer in term of balance. Allow leather tuque, remove the work penalty on parka, and add a social impact on tuque. That would greatly close the gap.
Also, having crops dying when it's too hot would be a "good" thing. In real life, they die when it's too hot. Not because of the temperature itself, but due to the lack of water. Just try to grow something in a patch of gravel of a desert. Not going to work. In Rimworld ? No problem.
Finally, let the trees, especially cold species, grow when it's cold.
First clothing, while in hot biomes you'll make duster and cowboy hat, most likely, the cold equivalent is the parka and tuque.
-duster cost less to make than parka (80 vs 120 ingredients, we are looking at a 33% cost increase)
-duster have lesser move penalty than parka (0.04 vs 0.05). You also need to add the snow move penalty. Thick snow is 52% move speed, while sand is only 76%. Overall, you are much, much slower in a cold biome.
-duster doesn't have work penalty. Parka does. Considering how much it would be a micromanagement tedium to remove the parka everytime they work, you can consider that a permanent penalty.
-tuque can only be made of non leather. Which make it harder to make in the beginning of the game, since you need to grow the plant, while you can make cowboy hat at any time.
-cowboy hat offer a boost in social impact. Tuque offer nothing.
-tuque are faster to make. But considering both are fast anyway...
On the subject of clothing, hot biomes win without contest. So much, that I don't use parka myself. They are terrible at everything. Instead, I use good quality jacket. I suppose they are mandatory early game and for extreme biomes, or if you plan on going into space, but I avoid them as much as I can. They are that bad.
Ironically, a few alphas ago, when I used parkas, I had numerous "slept in the cold" situation because my parkas where really good, dropping the temperature too much indoors. Don't know if it was fixed.
On the subject of the temperature effect itself. Skipping the hypothermia/heatstroke, since it's more or less equivalent.
-crops will die when temperature is somewhere below 0°c (about -10°c I think). Crops will not die when temperature is too high, they will slow down the growth, or stop growing. Meaning your crops are never at risk in a hot biome. Solar flare ? Who cares. Heat wave ? I can wait. Not to mention in a cold biome the early game is a rush for sun lamp, and enough power for it. In hot biomes, you can play the whole game without them. It is massive.
-animals will leave the biome in winter, for cold biome. Leaving only predator, that can, and will, attack your pawn SEVERAL time a day because they suddenly find themselves without food source. In autumn, consider yourself at siege by the fauna. This is due to the fact that grass will be covered in snow, and die. In summer it barely grow fast enough to sustain the new arrivals (I tend to have hunting frenzy in spring, before they can leave), and if you have a poorly timed cold snap, they will likely leave again.
In hot biome, this is less an issue. While desert have less animals, they usually don't leave.
About the biome itself.
-I think that part is fairly balanced. Cold biomes have less room to build due to lot of water, but more place to plant crop. Which is kinda useless because you need heater and sunlamp anyway. Hot biomes have less room for crops, more room to expand.
-trees are abundant in boreal forest, but they don't regrow easily, or even at all. A poison ship/alphabeaver will destroy the trees in a large area, and they will probably never regrow. Hot biomes have a few trees, but they regrow fast. Overall, in a hot biomes you need to plant them, so I guess it's a minor victory for cold biomes.
-agave/berries can be harvested all year long in a hot biomes. It is mostly a summer thing in cold biomes
-ambrosia sprout, mushrooms and seasonal plant is a clear win for hot biomes. They can safely harvest them. In cold biomes, it's unlikely they'll survive long enough to be harvested.
-caves are a mix of penalties/advantages in a hot biomes. In a cold biomes, it's only negative. The mushroom will never grow to be harvested, they'll die before. Leaving you only angry bugs, and a bit of jelly.
Electricity.
-cold biomes use heaters, which are less expensive to build and to run than the cooler. Also coolers need access to an unroofed area.
-on the other hand, you'll need sunlamp before the first winter. And they take a lot of electricity. A hot biome can mostly run without sunlamp for a while, in the case of the arid shrubland, you can run a colony forever without it.
Contrary to popular belief, cold biomes actually lose again. I'll take a real example. I have 2 colonies, one of 9 people, on a boreal forest, living under a mountain (no hydro, crops are in a "hidden" valley). The other, a 13 people colony on arid shrubland (no mountain). I have a mod for the regular lamp consumption, but it shouldn't interfere, since both biomes will use them in the overall same amount anyway (29 vs 28). Using the power tool from the manager mod.
My boreal one use 17.1kw during the day, vs 7.9kw for the arid one. That's more than double. And this is during summer, where my heaters are not even working at 50% capacity. The reason is the sun lamp (8.7kw by themselves, that's the entire arid electric consumption), but my heaters are also using more (2.1 vs 1.3), for some reason. Note that the amount of cooler/heater is close (cooler : 26 vs 23 heaters). I use a geyser for to help for the temperature though.
Conclusion :
Cold biomes are clearly harder than hot one. In fact, arid shrubland is barely harder than a temperate biome, perhaps even easier, while desert is certainly not harder than tundra, perhaps even boreal forest.
I think the biggest issue lies with clothing. It needs to be much closer in term of balance. Allow leather tuque, remove the work penalty on parka, and add a social impact on tuque. That would greatly close the gap.
Also, having crops dying when it's too hot would be a "good" thing. In real life, they die when it's too hot. Not because of the temperature itself, but due to the lack of water. Just try to grow something in a patch of gravel of a desert. Not going to work. In Rimworld ? No problem.
Finally, let the trees, especially cold species, grow when it's cold.