I guess the simple but honest answer would be "c) they didn't have anything in regard to "pacifist" playthroughs in mind". That's ultimately what is the case, we never accounted for "pacifist" in that sense at all. It's the first time I have ever seen that someone actually does something like this, though I have heard about it before :)
We actually abstract nearly everything in Eco - the food system for example requires a simple "balance it out perfectly", which probably depending on which science paper you consider isn't very correct for one or the other reason. I do remember someone asking for the ability to get a perfect balance just with plants once, which was a interesting idea we still have tracked, but isn't really a focus or priority of the game. That some playstyles provide a specific challenge is also technically a interesting thing to have.
We also don't make any statements, in opposite to what some reviews about "fearmongering democrats" note, Eco has al...
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