An irrigation technology model

[lajzar]

Recap on the present games:

civ1 - one level of irrigation only. Can irrigate anywhere that has a water source, or is connected to a water source through an irrigated tile.

civ2 - two levels of irrigation, otherwise same as civ1.

c3c - one level of irrigation. Can irrigate anywhere that has a connection to a fresh water tile. With electricity tech, can irrigate anywhere.

Proposed model - Initially, can irrigate anywhere that is adjacent to a fresh water tile, and on any grasslands tile. note that connecting chains of irrigation are not allowed initially.

- Water pumps tech allows connecting chains of irrigation. Note that an irrigated grass tile cannot be considered a water source by itself for this. Only rivers, freshwater lakes, or the ocean (with desalination) are water sources for the purpose of defining a connected chain.
- Terrace farming tech allows hills to be irrigation.
- Desalination tech allows salt water to be used as a water source.

Note that in this model, a water source is always required. Grass tiles are assumed to have minor rivers present. A plains/desert tile surrounded by mountain (ie non-irrigable) tiles can never be irrigated, short of levelling the mountains.

Multiple levels of irrigation can exist in this model. I favour the following levels:

Irrigation - ancient (no tech required)
Farm - medieval crop rotation (agricultural revolution tech)
Advanced Farm - industrial (combine harvester tech)
Genetic farm - modern/near-future (genetic engineering tech)

Thoughts?

[LDiCesare]

Crop rotation systems have nothing to do with irrigation. There are many things that improved farming which were not irrigation. So even if you can't irrigate without a water source, you can still build farms and use crop rotation in plains.
Plus one thing is missing: Crops. The introduction of Middle East crops (wheat, barley...) to Europe and later America, and from America to Europe (potatoes) boosted agriculture much more than the tools or techniques used.

[lajzar]

Perhaps I should have renamed it a "food tile improvement" model?

I agree that crop rotation ha snothing to do with irrigation. But I suspect that without the kind of land that would conceivably allow irrigation, crop rotation techniques won't work too effectively.

I know adding crops as named entities which can be traded would make things more detailed, but I'm at a loss as to how to handle them without either making it into a MM-fest or changing the existing system beyond recognition.

In the agricultural revolution tech, I'm not just considering crop rotation, but also the horse drawn plough and the sturdier yokes that appeared at that time. This made ploughing the northern European soils much easier.

[Fake Boris]

I don't see how it would add to the game. I think the game can assume your citizens will use the best farming they can, and that a more superficial public works model would be better.

[Jamski]

A tech that increased the yields of existing farms would be nice. Call it what you want, but it would be nice.

-Jam