I think the reason this approach resonates with me is related to the concept of sequential product making and the fact that it teaches right away the idea of transforming one oil refinery product into another one that will be necessary for late game anyway and which will come with AOP.Katharsas wrote: ↑Sat Jul 27, 2019 12:36 amOnly produce light oil in the first receipe?IronCartographer wrote: ↑Fri Jul 26, 2019 9:13 pmAnother nice solution avoided the elimination of the 3-output problem, but...didn't fully remove the complexity wall (since it requires cracking), despite also succeeding at enabling non-blocking chemical science until the player figures out advanced oil--and leaving the current chemical science recipe.
That is actually a SUPER elegant solution. It allows you get started with a LITTLE bit of cracking without having to balance (but a new player could just mind-map this like a normal processing step like any other simple in->out receipe), while he later realizes what cracking is actually used for (balancing the outputs from advanced receipes). Since he already has done a little bit of cracking (only light to petro), it won't overwhelm him then (and he will understand heavy to light).
It also preps the novice player to the idea that considerable amount of “land area” will be needed for oil refining in general, unless you like to rebuild your production several times (which I believe is a major frustration for a new player in refining, especially that there is no storage for fluids in your inventory when you break things down).