[Mod] Terrain Adaption v0.1

[rezaf]

I'm not sure if anybody else has the slightest interest in this, but anyway, here goes.

So, what is it?
Ever since Civ1 I wondered whether a civ that had its roots , say, in the desert would not adapt to their home environment in some way. This little mod will try to reflect this in CIV.

What does it do?
When you build your capital, the mod will check the environment of your home for the presence of several terrain types. Your civilization will then adapt to the dominating one, giving you a unique tech which reflects your roots in one of several ecologies.
Here's a list of all current adaptions and the rewards they will yield (anything will probably be subject to changes and/or balancing)

Grassland and Plains
Irrigated Grasslands will give +1 Food and +1 Production
Irrigated Plains will give +1 Food

Forest
New Improvement: Hunting Lodge, +1 Food and +1 Trade in Forest plots

Hills
New Improvement: Terrace Farms, +2 Food on Hills

Desert
New Improvement: Desert Irrigation, +2 Food in Deserts
New Improvement: Nomad Camp, +1 Food, +1 Production, +1 Trade in Deserts

Jungle
New Improvement: Treehouse, +2 Food, +1 Production, +1 Trade in Jungles

Tundra and Snow
New Improvement: Hardy Farmers, +1 Food, +1 Production on Tundra
New Improvement: Trapper Camp, +1 Food, +1 Production, +1 Trade on Snow

Sea
+1 Movement to all Sea Units
+1 Trade Routes for every city
Some bonus yield for Fishing and Whale Boats

So, if anybody is willing to try this one, I'd be glad if you gave any feedback that helped me improving this mod.

Have Fun.

[OzzyKP]

That's a neat idea. The bonuses seem really overpowered though.

[rezaf]

Part 2 of the mod since I was 40k about the limit for one file. Doh!

[Klayvin]

This same line of thinking could translate into a larger and more interesting mod
EA:

You don't choose a civilization at the start, only a portrait. Over the course of the game what you do defines your two attributes (expansion etc..) and the techs you research should define unique things about your culture.

EA: It checks the game every 5~10 turns for several things..

The civilization with the most cities and highest population after X turns will recieve the expansion quality.

The cilivzation with the largest and most advanced military will recieve the aggressive quality after X turns.

[vovan]

Originally posted by OzzyKP
That's a neat idea. The bonuses seem really overpowered though.

What he said. I really like the concept. However, it seems, it would need a bit of play-testing to flesh out the benefits.

[Cataleptic]

I like the basic idea... just a few comments.

I'm not sure that a grassland-dominant city really needs/deserves any bonus. They've got life easy enough as it is

From a gameplay/balance point of view, I don't think any of these new improvements should grant any more than +1 food and +1 something else. +2 food is definitely a bit extreme.

It depends, however, on what you're trying to accomplish. If you're just trying to reduce the negative impact of starting out in a bad location, then I think the changes I suggested would pretty much do the trick

However, a more interesting variant would be to also add penalities to certain 'non-native' terrain types, and keep the large 'native' terrain bonuses. This would create a situation where different civs would actually compete for different terrains and regard each other's land as being undesirable. I'm not sure if the AI could cope with that, though

[rezaf]

So, has anybody actually tried playing a game with this mod? In it's early state it has some severe weaknesses which I'm surprised nobody has pointed out yet.

About the unbalancing aspects, especially relative to Grassland ... it's kinda the main goal of the mod to encourage sticking to a terrain type OTHER than Grassland. If I'm adapted to Jungles but grassland is STILL better, what would stop me from getting rid of all that jungle and turn it into more profitable Grassland?
Giving minor bonuses is more sensible, to that I agree, but if I'd stick to real minors, would this mod make any point at all?

And the +2 bonuses are only given out to terrain types which are weak on their own. Jungles are 1 Food by themselves and that's all folks. Hills have 1 Food max. as well, Deserts provide nothing by themselves, so I don't think it's that bad. But I'm open for discussion, so any further comments are welcome.

[Cataleptic]

I think, as things currently stand, the mod will result in an overall increase in the amount of food available, but with some interesting effects regarding which Civs can expand where... which is probably what you had in mind.

What effect does it have on the AI? Do they use the new improvements, and expand accordingly?

If you're trying to encourage certain civs to prefer their native terrain type, you'll have to introduce a -1 penalty to the base food-rate for grasslands for the Civs who get a +2 food improvement tech... but I'm not sure that that's possible, is it?

In either case, I'll definitely be trying this mod out

[Optimizer]

Civilization-specific terrain bonuses would really improve realism and strategic depth.

A simpler and more flexible solution would be sacrificing one Civic category, replacing it with "Habitat". That would be possible without Python.

There will be some new terrain-specific buildings, but they only yield bonuses with the right civic.

HABITAT
Temperate (default): +1 food from Farm
Boreal (Animal Husbandry): +2 food from Arctic Farm (Tundra), +1 food, +1 commerce from Trapper Camp (Forest/Tundra/Ice)
Maritime (Sailing): +1 food, +1 prod from Fish Farm (Coast), +50% commerce from Trade routes
Arid (Horseback Riding): +2 food from Desert Irrigation (Desert), less unit support cost
Tropical (Hunting): health bonus, +1 food, +1 prod from Tree Houses (Jungle)

[caesium]

Your mod is quite good, but I realized that the AI won't build these improvements; is there any possibility for the AI to use the adaption; If only I could use the adaption this won't be fair towards the AI

[Henrik]

Very nice concept though a bit powerfull bonuses I think... Also the bonuses should dissapear gradually as the civ gets more modern...