(Spoilers) Steam puzzle controversy

[Smoke3723]

At least 2 other people on these forums have had trouble trying to complete the Steam Puzzle in the power plant BECAUSE they were treating it like a steam puzzle.  One thread is focussing on the walkthrough and the other has devolved into a shouting match.  Instead here, I want to discuss the problems I had with the steam puzzle and why.  (Disclaimer: some of this content originally appeared in another thread but it was lost amongst the name-calling.  I deleted my content from there and moved it here with some expansions; I don't mean to cross-post but I want to explain my gripe in a civilised manner.)

Fluid dynamics puzzles like this are amongst my favourites, but these pipes behaved completely differently.  It's like having a Sudoku where numbers can repeat along the same row or column: it looks familiar but you'll never find the solution because the design doesn't comply with the rules.  If you've never done Sudoku before you won't notice the problem, but if you're a fan of the genre you'll instead rage-quit and blame the guys who designed it for breaking the unwritten laws.

The issues I have are:

1. In real life, pressure gauges in the red warn the pipes are about to go boom.  At the very least this indicates the presence of steam.  Instead, in TLD red indicates the ABSENCE of steam -- something that took me >30 min to realise.
2. Having multiple parallel pipes will decrease the pressure for that stretch of the system before returning to its original value when the pipes reunite.  I got stuck trying to ensure only one route through the system was open and wondering why in Fluffy's name the pressure was decreasing in this closed system.  Only when I brute-forced the levers did I find the solution.

Does this mean we have to re-design the entire puzzle?  I don't think so.  Two cosmetic changes will keep everyone happy:

1. Have the dials labelled Steam Flow and the needle move between None and Max (or whatever).  The dials could be made slightly larger to accomodate ledgible text or some unique icon could be dreamed up (eg puff of steam for Flowing, crossed-out puff for Not Flowing).    This will clearly mark the needles are not behaving like conventional pressure gauges without breaking the existing puzzle.
2. For the parallel pipe sections, depict an Overpressure Failsafe Vent that will eject steam from the system if it exceeds x%.  This will signal to fans of the genre that pressure has to be split down parallel paths and then built up later in the system.

[Leeanda]

On 10/10/2021 at 12:02 AM, Smoke3723 said:

At least 2 other people on these forums have had trouble trying to complete the Steam Puzzle in the power plant BECAUSE they were treating it like a steam puzzle.  One thread is focussing on the walkthrough and the other has devolved into a shouting match.  Instead here, I want to discuss the problems I had with the steam puzzle and why.  (Disclaimer: some of this content originally appeared in another thread but it was lost amongst the name-calling.  I deleted my content from there and moved it here with some expansions; I don't mean to cross-post but I want to explain my gripe in a civilised manner.)

Fluid dynamics puzzles like this are amongst my favourites, but these pipes behaved completely differently.  It's like having a Sudoku where numbers can repeat along the same row or column: it looks familiar but you'll never find the solution because the design doesn't comply with the rules.  If you've never done Sudoku before you won't notice the problem, but if you're a fan of the genre you'll instead rage-quit and blame the guys who designed it for breaking the unwritten laws.

The issues I have are:

1. In real life, pressure gauges in the red warn the pipes are about to go boom.  At the very least this indicates the presence of steam.  Instead, in TLD red indicates the ABSENCE of steam -- something that took me >30 min to realise.
2. Having multiple parallel pipes will decrease the pressure for that stretch of the system before returning to its original value when the pipes reunite.  I got stuck trying to ensure only one route through the system was open and wondering why in Fluffy's name the pressure was decreasing in this closed system.  Only when I brute-forced the levers did I find the solution.

Does this mean we have to re-design the entire puzzle?  I don't think so.  Two cosmetic changes will keep everyone happy:

1. Have the dials labelled Steam Flow and the needle move between None and Max (or whatever).  The dials could be made slightly larger to accomodate ledgible text or some unique icon could be dreamed up (eg puff of steam for Flowing, crossed-out puff for Not Flowing).    This will clearly mark the needles are not behaving like conventional pressure gauges without breaking the existing puzzle.
2. For the parallel pipe sections, depict an Overpressure Failsafe Vent that will eject steam from the system if it exceeds x%.  This will signal to fans of the genre that pressure has to be split down parallel paths and then built up later in the system.

Firstly, my apologies for the fact that you felt that you had to move your comments!  Not my intention!

I agree about the labelling ,it would make it easier ! But I have to say that I (strangely) didn't have a problem with it until I started to treat it like a huge puzzle! ! Once I stepped back a bit  however I found it was a lot simpler!

[MrWolf]

8 minutes ago, Leeanda said:

But I have to say that I (strangely) didn't have a problem with it until I started to treat it like a huge puzzle! ! Once I stepped back a bit  however I found it was a lot simpler!

Same here, I didn't really have a problem with it.  A couple trial and errors, and I got right through it.  I think it works fine the way it is.  I didn't try to apply any real life logic to it, just moved a couple levers and watched what happened.

I'm easily amused - I liked watching the ice melt on the pipes and around the control room door.  I wonder if there will be some element of that in survival.  I doubt it, but it would be fun to have to thaw something out in order to access a room.

Edited October 12, 2021 by MrWolf

[Bimbobjoejr.]

For me, it was just confusion. I could see how the puzzle was supposed to work, and I got through the first section with only a couple of errors, but at the second part, I got confused with some of the pipes towards the end. How I thought I should have gotten enough pressure to a valve, and it would still say it's frozen. The second section was the only one that tripped me up, but I still knew the premise of the puzzle. But I get why people disliked it, and I think the changes suggested above would improve the QoL for the puzzle.

[SpanishMoss]

I understood the puzzle fairly well, except for the first time when I tried to solve it. The puzzle was bugged and unsolvable, so it took me 20 minutes of trying to get no where, until i reloaded a save and restarted the game and that fixed it. As for the color of the dials, I also initially thought it was backwards, until I saw that where the levers were frozen, it was red, thus meaning red=no steam.

[mfuegemann]

I do think, there is too much read into the puzzle design. If all should be accurate - where does the steam come from after weeks? How on earth is the heated steam travelling in a pressurized pipe with still some valves closed? And hence how can those valves be de-frosted in such a short time?

Just act and monitor the outcome. This helped me solve the puzzle. And one more thing: try to have fun playing the game.

[Lord of the Long Dark]

Here I’ll get us back on track. It’s what I do best.

@RossBondReturns:

  I’ll make this easy for you to show us all your “trusting your senses” through sight and sound “logic” approach. 
   At 3 locations in the puzzle, the sound change does not match up with accurate mechanics indicated by sight (particularly on the parallel pipe pathing with both valves open is a prime example). So that means what you heard conflicted with what you saw. 
   How did you logically approach that anomaly exactly- did you move the next lever on/off based on the sound, or based on the visual? It couldn’t be both because they conflict so which did you go with in those situations and how did you logically know which would be correct?
  

Edited October 12, 2021 by Lord of the Long Dark

[Istvan82]

I still not get why solving a puzzle by trial and error is not "valid". I mean, I completed Monkey Island 1 to 3 in that way when I was a kid, lol