We all know the minerals, right? There are red ones, blue ones, green ones, yellow ones, purples ones, and... No orange ones for some reason.

Now, I haven't looked into this very thoroughly, I don't know if there might be some reason orange was intentionally left out, and I know that attempting to put it into the game would require lots of work, but this missing sixth element to Cradle has been bugging me for months. Was it considered too similar to red and yellow? Was there just not enough ideas they could do with it? Admittedly, orange doesn't have as many obvious connotations as the other colors, but that's no reason to leave it out.

The other minerals are basically the essence of certain things and ideas, right? According to their in-game descriptions, the red ones represent strength and strong emotions, the blue ones represent knowledge, the green ones represent nature and life, the yellow ones represent wisdom, faith, and zeal, and the purple ones represent chaos and the void. This leaves the question of what orange could represent.

It could serve as a foil to blue and represent the unknown, the pursuit of knowledge, and scientific advancement. Please note that this, though related, is not the same as what blue represents. Also, this would be interesting because blue and orange are contrary colors. However, orange could also represent other things... Maybe greed, gluttony, and the acquisition of wealth and worldly things? Perhaps, but I like my first idea better, and there's more which can be done with it.

Next question has to do with the purpose of minerals in gameplay, and how orange minerals could affect that. The combination of the two minerals with the highest quantity in the strata of gates determine the themes of the levels in those strata. For example, when the more green and red minerals are put into a strata than other minerals, the theme of the levels there will be beast. At least, that's how I understand it. Also, the themes are divided into both mosnter families (beast, slime, construct, etc) and status conditions (fire, freeze, poison, shock). So, given that adding orange minerals would require the addition of five extra themes, one for each other mineral, it would probably make the most sense to add in three monster families and two status conditions, but these would have to be carefully considered due to their effect on gameplay, especially the status conditions.

Possible suggestions for monster families: Eldritch monsters? Put in some tentacle monsters and strange floating shapes and colors and you'd be all set. It would fit well with the 'unknown' theme. Rock monsters or golems? That seems a bit too much like constructs to me, but I suppose it's a thought. Plant monsters? It would be an interesting contrast to beast. 'Rebel' knights who have either decided to assimilate into the clockworks or have just become fed up with the energy system and lack of a paycheck, or a rival organization which has landed on Cradle would be interesting ideas. Just remember not to let people play as them, we don't want this game turning into a WoW clone. Anyway, there are plenty of things which could be done.

As for status conditions, that would be a little harder because we have to keep the gameplay balanced (even though shock is already overpowered compared to other status conditions). Personally, I would like a Water thing just for the interesting levels it could offer, but it would be important to keep in mind the difference between it and Freeze (technically freezing is not restricted to water, but ice seems to be the way it's shown in the game). Also, what would the actual status condition be and what would it do? Maybe players could become waterlogged, which would slow them down and/or lower their defence? That still leaves one status condition left, so what would that be? Curse? Sleep? Another idea would be to make an Explosive theme and add Shellshock as a status condition, but how would it affect players? Make it difficult to control movement for a few seconds? Slow attack speed? Disable shields? I'm just throwing out ideas here.

Obviously I can make no changes to the game myself, and I don't know how well this idea would be received, and I realize that this would likely take an enormous amount to work to implement... But I think it's worth thinking about.