Terrain for next game

[Dilger]

Just reading the thread about least used units and read someone's comment about ironclads being allowed to use rivers...which started me thinking about future terrain features....

1. navigable rivers...for all ships until the industrial era..also would make a navigable river port possible

2. non-navigable rivers...for irrigation and a possible futue improvement "canals"

3. swamp...a little different than jungle

4. deltas...flood plains do not have to be deserts

5. mountains...I know this has been mentioned in other threads....that can be used

6. diversify the woods.... into coniferous and deciduous...thinking more hammers for deciduos, but coniferous grow back faster

7. jungles...though not as great as the woods it is still worth something for being chopped

8. deserts...expand over time

any other thoughts???

[Supr49er]

How about 'Natural Wonders'?

You could have great waterfalls, canyons, reefs, etc.

Also, how about being able to "terraform" again.

[Wittlich]

Originally posted by Supr49er
Also, how about being able to "terraform" again.

Now that would get my vote.

[snoopy369]

I like having fewer terrain types - I liked removing marsh, for example. I think Civ4 has pretty much the right number of terrains; much more complexity is not really beneficial and ends up making it too complicated.

However, a lot of those things (including, conceptually, terraforming, though that would be by far the hardest) are quite moddable Deltas (flood plain grasslands) are doable in worldbuilder, after all, and would require relatively little change (probably just xml to start, though you would have to use python to fix the maps to generate them properly); new terrains like marsh/swamp are pretty easy also (the graphics is the hardest part).

[Dilger]

I guess I just would really like navigable rivers for early ships and iron clads...

[Supr49er]

BTW, off topic, but does anyone know what color the Persians are? I'm starting a game tonight with them for the first time. Thanks.

[rah]

Me, I just want an option that my workers will automatically replace an improvement that was destroyed through espionage.

But I do agree that the fewer terrains works better.

[snoopy369]

Originally posted by Supr49er
BTW, off topic, but does anyone know what color the Persians are? I'm starting a game tonight with them for the first time. Thanks.

Traditionally they're light blue/cyan, I don't recall specifically in Civ4 though.

[Supr49er]

OK, thanks.

[Willem]

Originally posted by snoopy369
Deltas (flood plain grasslands) are doable in worldbuilder, after all, and would require relatively little change (probably just xml to start, though you would have to use python to fix the maps to generate them properly);

No you don't need to play around with Python. I've added the floodplain graphic to my Plains and Tundra rivers to create a River Basin and all I had to do was create a new feature using Floodplains as the basis. It's actually very easy to do and the graphics works well with those terrain types. It's always bugged me, ever since Civ 3, that land next to a Plains river was never as fertile as Grassland. I tried adding the Floodplain graphic to Grassland to create a Swamp as well, but I wasn't satisfied with the look of the two together. I felt the two greens didn't mesh very well.

[Vampgelus]

I think the terrain type that the games lacks of is something like Marocco... somewhere between plains and desert. maybe a flat 1 tile.

Would be great to modify the cold terrain types as well, we need taiga as a mix of grassland and ice, flat 1 tile, and keep the toundra as it is. The difference would be that you can build on taiga even if it's not close to rivers.

What do you think about that ?

[The Priest]

For me, its not so much about terrain types, but about the impact on game play.

I want a terrain system which forces more and more stragetic choices because they are what make the game fun, and different games different.

That means NO terraforming because that allows you to override the terrain, and keeping things like impassible mountains and worthless desert (to give shape and structrue to a map).

What would also be great is if the impact of the different resources were magnified. Now a couple of dye next to a city doesn't really change that city. Yes the dye is useful for the empire as a whole, and those tiles are a bit richer in commerce, but it doesn't change that city. I tried modding all resources to give two or even three times their bonuses. That meant that the city with gold really was rich. The iron in the hills transformed that city, not giving it an extra bit. Balance is the problem then, but hey in SP does balance matter that much?

[TriMiro]

There are marshes in RFC. One can borrow the graphics from there.

Canals are also present in the form of several connected forts.

Terraforming could be overpowered in SP as well.

Ships on rivers could be interesting. How about letting them go only a few tiles inland.

Automatically replace espionage destroyed improvements, vote both hands for that one. I can really see it making my life easier.

[Maniac]

Re: Terrain for next game

Originally posted by Dilger
6. diversify the woods.... into coniferous and deciduous...thinking more hammers for deciduos, but coniferous grow back faster

Isn't it the other way around?

[Lord Chambers]

Deciduous woods are harder than pine woods which are soft and thus should yield less hammers. However, I have no idea about their relative growing rates. I know that coniferous forests grow in more arid climates, thus are subject to more fires, thus have different adaptations which might include quickly regrowing after being burned out.

In Colonization, conifer forests yield 6 lumber per turn while deciduous forests (broadleaf, tropical) yield 4 lumber per turn. I'm not sure why.