Dusk Cap

Dusk Cap is a mushroom plant that appears in Carbon Dioxide biomes and is grown for food production and decor in the colony. Wild Dusk Caps occur naturally and take 30 cycles to mature; domesticated Dusk Caps grown in controlled farms mature in 7.5 cycles. They produce Mushroom (2400 kcal) when harvested and provide a significant decor bonus of +15 within a 2-tile radius.

Dusk Cap growth requires a dark environment in a Carbon Dioxide atmosphere, with a temperature tolerance of 5 °C to 35 °C (41–95 °F) and an air pressure between 150 g and 10 kg. Wild Dusk Caps do not require irrigation slime, but domesticated plants must be fertilized with 4 kg of Slime per cycle (domesticated irrigation listed as 4 kg/cycle). Dusk Caps can be planted in Planter Boxes, Farm Tiles, or Hydroponic Farms. A sustainable setup can be achieved using Puft ranching: a single wild Puft can sustain about 3 Dusk Caps, while a tamed Puft can feed about 12.

Harvest and food progression are central to Dusk Cap use. Each harvested Mushroom yields 2400 kcal raw. Raw Mushroom can be cooked on an Electric Grill into Fried Mushroom (requires 2400 kcal Mushroom → produces 2800 kcal, +1 Morale). Fried Mushroom can be further processed on a Gas Range into Mushroom Wrap by combining Fried Mushroom with Waterweed (requires 2800 kcal Fried Mushroom + 1600 kcal Waterweed → produces 4800 kcal, +4 Morale). Calculated food production rates mean one Dusk Cap domesticated plant yields roughly 320 kcal/cycle of raw Mushroom (2400 kcal / 7.5 cycles), or about 373.33 kcal/cycle when converted to Fried Mushroom and 640 kcal/cycle when taken through to Mushroom Wrap. Based on typical Duplicant needs (~1000 kcal/cycle), this equals approximately 2.68 Dusk Caps per Duplicant if feeding Fried Mushroom as the staple, or 1.57 Dusk Caps per Duplicant if using Mushroom Wrap (with an additional 0.83 Waterweed plants per Duplicant to supply the Waterweed requirement).

Additional practical notes:

• Domesticated Dusk Caps are vulnerable to temperature outside 5–35 °C; tighter temperature niches (through mutations or variants) alter ideal ranges and productivity.
• Mutated variants alter production, cycle time, slime irrigation, and sometimes add side effects (for example, higher yields or additional byproducts); wild variants grow slower and do not consume slime.
• Slime used as fertilizer can carry Slimelung, but fertilizing slime does not transfer Slimelung to the plant or its harvest.
• Dusk Caps are an efficient early-to-mid game food source when grown in clustered mushroom farms and integrated with Puft ranching and simple cooking chains (Electric Grill → Gas Range).