District Heating
There are already suggestions to add settlement heating in some form to the game, as well as seasons. I'm not quite happy with the current suggestions, so here's mine.
I suggest that there should be a service building called "district heating substation" or similar to place adjacent to the settlement. It should have a storage for heat, just like the thermal storage, consume steam (high, low and super) and turn it into heat + depleted steam using the same recipies. Just like the thermal storage, it should require workers and consume maintanance and electricity.
Only housing level 2 and up should consume heat, so the building should ideally unlock at the housing level 2 tech. The UI for the building should (aside from the obvious) show the current settlement's heat demand, as well as that for the other seasons. There should be edicts to reduce heat demand at the cost of unity.
Comments: 1
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16 Apr
Rolling StenI expect this is somewhere near equator, so not much seasons there. That's also why farms works all the time. Adding seasons could increase difficulty.
I also expect that electricity is used as a heating (and for cooking of raw food), so we already have that.
But it is strange as people do not require drinking water, clothes or room accesories (they are only provided for unity) or any services/schools. It seems to me they would just snatch some small amount of wood/coal not noticable in industrial usage for heating/cooking.
But if heating would be required, steam is not that great as you waste water for that - that building could use electricity or burnable resources instead. Also you wouldn't wanted to have steam running through houses (too dangerous) - that's why hot water is used instead.