On Cave Colonies / Building Underground

[FlyingTurtles]

I think a good, temporary solution would be to have an option to make the map generator not generate those large chunks of mountain every time. This way, there would not be enough mountain to build an entire base in but you might be able to fit a room or two.

[Morrigi]

I am a strong supporter of the idea of 'more challenges', but they all need to balance. Building bases under ground shouldn't be hard just to stop building bases underground. Building bases under ground should be hard because building a base in general is hard.

Various stone types is a good place to start, which make it more interesting to begin digging out underground. Air circulation is another interesting thing that could be added, and have it affect both above and below ground structures. (After all, nothing says the air above ground actually as to be safe. Maybe you've landed on a moon with a mostly toxic atmosphere and need to maintain a sealed environment with scrubbing equipment? Best not to step outside without your space suit, or allow people to wander too far from a recharge/supply station/cart.)

I've also spent months at a time in confined environments and not seeing the light of day. In parts of Canada they also call that "Winter". I like to assume I've kept all of my sanity after those expeditions. But that does give us another point to expand upon that would add more flavour to the characters. Just think of having a claustrophobic crew member on a tainted air world? Would make the player have to work extra hard to provide things like 'artificial windows' and improved lighting to keep that character's sanity up.

Side note: The average human on earth can produce something like 1000 units of vitamin D a minute in good weather with a reasonable amount of exposed skin, and needs around 200 units a day to maintain good health. Peak production is found at a few narrow bands of UV light, and you can actually produce it in a safer and more controlled manner with artificial UV lights at those specific bands, rather than broader spectrum light as from the sun which will dose you in lots of radiation at a low efficiency level.

This.

Many people entirely fail to realize that it is possible to balance unbalanced features of a game by way of realism and still avoid punishing creativity.

Yes, living in an underground structure should be hard. Should there be a multitude of unforeseeable dangers that you have no way of protecting against or avoiding? No, that's bad gameplay. Should there be a way to surmount the challenges thrown at you while building an insanely fortified underground complex, with the necessary effort and knowledge? Absolutely.

[Produno]

Side note: The average human on earth can produce something like 1000 units of vitamin D a minute in good weather with a reasonable amount of exposed skin, and needs around 200 units a day to maintain good health. Peak production is found at a few narrow bands of UV light, and you can actually produce it in a safer and more controlled manner with artificial UV lights at those specific bands, rather than broader spectrum light as from the sun which will dose you in lots of radiation at a low efficiency level.

According to this, thats wrong. http://health.howstuffworks.com/wellness/food-nutrition/vitamin-supplements/how-much-vitamin-d-from-sun.htm

I also have really bad skin as a result of working nights, and it gets particularly worse in winter (when i see even less sun). The itching itself is enough to drive me crazy sometimes lol. I can only guess its lack of vitamin D but its definitly only occoured since i started working nights about a year and a half ago. Oh i also get alot of ulcers, which is apparently because of a low immune system, again meant to be linked to vitamin D.
Though for the point of the game i dont think this bears much weight, unless of course your colonists never see daylight, which i dont think happens..