I remember this game too! The live action cut scenes were really creepy as a kid. I distinctly remember the hands trying to press through the painting and the ghost luring you deeper into the maze. My dad and I got stuck at the one Othello style puzzle with the amoebas. We went out and bought a guide to get past it, only to learn that the author of the guide couldn’t solve it either.
I’ll grant you the first point, the whole game is centered on space travel simulation, but it’s also the only game I’ve seen that handles what you’re describing. You definitely need to consider atmospheric density though. Managing your speed, angle of attack, and parachutes to avoid overheating is one of the major skills you learn while playing. Some are Earth like (Kerbin), other are thinner (Moho), and some are surrounded in an atmosphere so thick that it makes any return mission a huge achievement (Eve).
Kerbal Space Program?
To me, a pan for a lazy cook means easy to clean, and you don’t need to worry about what you cook in it. I wouldn’t care about what types of utensils you need, because a true lazy person would simply throw out all of ones you can’t use.
With that in mind, I think an oven-safe ceramic nonstick pan is your best bet. The nonstick is great for both cooking and cleanup, and unlike a cast iron you don’t need to worry about acidic foods or reseasoning. If all you own are silicone utensils, the only downside is that you can’t crank the heat up too much. And even then, all that does shorten the lifespan of its nonstick properties, at which point you’re no worse off than a steel pan.
Beyond the Bestiary books, I’ve been using Mimic Fight Club to build encounters: https://mimic-fight-club.github.io/ It’s really great for scaling encounters to the party size and level, and it’s useful even if you are just searching and filtering.
I have noticed a lack of normal humanoid enemies though. There have been a lot of battles against Kobold Scouts reskinned as “bandits”.
For treasure, I refer to the Treasure By Level chart (11-1) on page 536 and the Party Treasure By Level chart (10-9) on 509. I try to find something appropriate for the area the treasure would be in, failing that, I start looking at spells to use for scrolls or wands. I tend to use the 10-9 chart as a minimum baseline and add more on top of that, but my group tends to forget the items they have, so your mileage may vary.
I really loved the system used in Firewatch. It was similar to the Telltale system where you have a set of dialogue options, a limited time to respond, and silence is a valid option, but the game didn’t “pause” to let you choose. You could continue walking around and explore your surroundings during these conversations, which is very nice in a game about walking around in the woods. It also took into account context from earlier conversations to make later ones feel more specific and personal.
The developers gave a great talk about the dialogue system in GDC17: https://youtu.be/wj-2vbiyHnI
Two weeks truly isn’t enough. I know it’s not standard everywhere, but 3 months ought to be the minimum. The first 3 months of an infant’s life is a huge learning curve that requires lots of time and attention. If you are able to split parenting duties, it will make the whole experience a lot more manageable and enjoyable.
Since it sounds like your company doesn’t have a well defined policy, try asking your hr for a longer paternity leave. It’s way too common for paternity leave to be short changed, or for fathers to opt for shorter leave.