Terraforming

[Avahz Darkwood]

Is it possible to change terrian types like in the older games? Or is this a ~feature~ we can look forward to at another date.....

[djpsychonaut]

It's not possible at this point, but maybe something that can be done through modding. I really wish you could since Mountains are 100% useless (except for defensive chokepoints), and Deserts are pretty useless unless they have a resource like Oil or Incense.

[Dr,ape]

kinda miss that "engineer" unit in Civ2. He could drastically change the terrain from desert to grassland. oh, and --- MOO2; by its late game, you could change ANY planet world into Gaia. that was sweet. But, the lack of such ability is by design, and arguably a good thing...

[djpsychonaut]

Too true... Dr,ape... although you forget that in MOO2, once Toxic, always Toxic. As for any other rock in the sky, yup it could become a Gaian paradise!

[Blake]

There were ways to turn Toxic into gaia...

[Urban Ranger]

They took out planting forest because that could be easily abused. Though I am sure you can mod that in.

[Xanen]

Stellar Converter - Artificial Planet - Terraform

*Requires atleast 1 other planet in system

[tywiggins]

I have a terraforming mod out. Workers are now able to change basically any terrain into any other terrain.

The only part that is available in the early game is the ability to change peaks into mountains. Workers are able to climb peaks. If they build a road on it, the Peak is changed into a mountain, which produces 1 hammer and can be mined for an additional 2 hammers.

Plant Forest and Make Jungle are available with Ecology.
Ecology leads to "Terraforming" and "More Terraforming" which each have 6 more terraforming options. For a total of 14 terraforming actions. (plus the peak into mountain trick)

The name of the mod is Terraforming Mod. I also have Terraforming Mod Plus which has additional changes. Get them both from the directory

Xanen - I used that many times.

[Skanky Burns]

I'm glad this feature was left out, to tell the truth. By having the option, it became a necessity to use the feature. In civ2 I used to convert entire mountain ranges to lush grasslands, but how realistic is that? It was also a micromanagement nightmare and not much fun. Stupid OCD.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Skanky Burns
By having the option, it became a necessity to use the feature. In civ2 I used to convert entire mountain ranges to lush grasslands, but how realistic is that?

That sounds like a personal problem

Seriously, though, some terraforming options weren't realistic at all, even in game turns. Others are, though. Things such as planting a forest should be left in the game. Instead, they can correct the abuse by giving less of a bonus to clearcutting.

[GeoModder]

Yeah, but that brings in more MM again.

"Chop-5 hammers-plant-chop-5 hammers-plant..." anyone?

[Nacht]

Originally posted by Skanky Burns
I'm glad this feature was left out, to tell the truth. By having the option, it became a necessity to use the feature. In civ2 I used to convert entire mountain ranges to lush grasslands, but how realistic is that? It was also a micromanagement nightmare and not much fun. Stupid OCD.

QFT

[Drachasor]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger


That sounds like a personal problem

Seriously, though, some terraforming options weren't realistic at all, even in game turns. Others are, though. Things such as planting a forest should be left in the game. Instead, they can correct the abuse by giving less of a bonus to clearcutting.

Aye, some things would have to be shifted around a bit to maintain balance. Especially for anything involving planting forests. The ideal way to handle forests, I think, is to plant a "baby forest" and that grows on its own (doesn't need to be worked) into a full forest in 20 or so turns (maybe this varies depending on how much food the square provides). As long as there is a hard limit you can't bypass it should work alright.

Deserts should be able to be turned into squares that produce 1 food. It should be difficult in some way though...is there a way to make some worker actions cost money? It isn't easy transporting topsoil around and cover vast, vast areas. Anyhow, for deserts this should be a late-game tech.

Realisticly speaking, I am not sure there is much that can be done with ICE. Perhaps it could be turned into ocean squares. As for tundra, I don't think there is much you can do to make it less cold there.

From the MOD that tywiggins made, I really like his change to mountains. Especially since you could then have a unit raze the road (is the unit pushed off then?) This would simulate real life scenerios where a small pass or tunnel through a mountain range could be destroyed--like Switzerland in WWII.

IMHO, planting forests should be somewhat low on the tech tree. Perhaps around the time (roughly) when you get the lumbermill. At the latest it should be granted with biology. I'd think roading and mining mountains should require ironworking at least. Perhaps roads require ironworking and you need gunpowder to mine them.

Hmm, perhaps with the advance of industrialization or combustion, add the option to "stripmine" a hill. The tile becomes a desert tile and the closest city gets something like 200-300 hammers. This might be abusive though (I guess it all depends on the number of hammers, but it does permanently destroy a hill).

-Drachasor

[tywiggins]

No, building the road just triggers an event that changes the peak into a mountain.

[Grumbold]

Originally posted by GeoModder
Yeah, but that brings in more MM again.

"Chop-5 hammers-plant-chop-5 hammers-plant..." anyone?

There's already been a couple of good suggestions of ways to ensure that planting a forest costs more hammers than it earns when you cut it. Its not that hard to ensure that any terraforming option is only useful in isolated instances as a long term change.