Exactly what I thought of too. In before the appropriate survivalist meme, at least.
On the one hand, most Roguelikes make some assumptions about play to make things easier for the player and limit micromanagement (you see in every direction around you, you experience a Critical Existence Failure at 0 HP and are always fully able to fight otherwise, everything else is in league to try and kill you, etc). But Cataclysm actively goes against some of these as part of its atmosphere; the Pain mechanic in particular means that you’re not fighting at full capacity just because you’re at high health. You have to eat somewhat healthily, you can catch diseases, and so on.
Still, I can see it actively getting in the way of the game while you’re on a long excursion (labs, ant tunnels, triffid groves, to name but a few). It adds realism, but then again, so would adding the need to shave, cut hair, shower, wash clothes, wash your hands before eating, and so on and so forth. There was a recent discussion in a Github issue about a complicated nutrition system measuring body fat and protein and all kinds of other things to make the nutrition system more realistic, but it also made it way too complicated (especially with how scarce certain food can be in an apocalypse). At some point, a balance has to be struck between realism and abstractions made in the name of fun/streamlining.
I, for one, would prefer not to see female characters without the right clothing leaving blood trails behind them once a month or so…
Probably this, or an option that defaults to False in the options menu. Making realism an adjustable setting would let new players avoid being overwhelmed by having so much to take care of right off the bat, while letting more experienced players offer themselves a greater challenge. Kind of like how the different difficulty levels of Survival mode require you to take care of more and more needs.
