We need more terrains

[Odin]

My ideas:


Mediterrainian/Thorn Scrub (California, Israel)
1 food, 2 sheild

Swamp (Forida Everglades, Mississippi Delta)
2 food, chance of disease

Glacier (Antarctica, Greenland)
1 shield

Forested Hills (Appalacian Mts., Ural Mts.)
2 food, 1 shield

Desert Hills (Yemen, Iran)
2 shields

Any more sugestions???

[WarpStorm]

This is not any easy change. Have you ever looked at how the art files are done? The hills wouldn't be terrible difficult, but the base tiles would be tough.

Base tile sets don't actually contain tiles, they contain tile transitions. Each file contains every combination of transitions between (at most) three tile types. For example, there is a file that contains the 81 possible transitions between desert, plains and grassland. There is another that contains the transitions between grassland, plains, and coast land, etc., etc., etc. As each new tile type would be added the number of tile transitions that artists and mod makers would have to make would grow geometrically.

Some terrains just "float" over a base terrian type. For example hills, mountains, forests, and jungles. It wouldn't be that tough for Firaxis to add a new "floater". It ain't gonna happen before PTW, though.

One mod that you could do now would be to make resources, that look and behave like a new terrain type.

[Sheik]

I think dunes for the desert is a much needed addition.

[Panag]

hi ,

there should also be different forms of hills and mountains , ... one a bit higher then the other , one a bit wider then the other , ....

there is a great variation in the forest , why not in the grassland and plains , .....

and the tundra could use something to , ...

have a nice day

[WarpStorm]

All I can say is look into the graphics files and see how they are done (I have). There are some serious technical limits to what can be done without rewiting the whole engine.

Open xdgc.pcx, for example, to see what I was talking about earlier. What is drawn as a tile of grassland, for example isn't a grassland tile, but rather four tiles whose corners all happen to connect at the same point that is grass.

Lots of creativity can be done with this, but the basic engine is going to repeat the transitions a lot in your scene. When I'm finally happy with my graphics mod, I'll show you.

One idea I've been toying with is adding some bonus resources as terrain features. If properly done they would blend naturally with the underlying terrian. The downside of this is that just providing a graphics mod would not be enough, you'ld need to provide a .bic with it too.

I'm not trying to be a nay-sayer, I've just spent enough time (too much time, if truth be told) fiddling with these files and I realize the magnitude of the graphics burden to add new terrain types.

[ammt603]

Cool idea Odin. That would make things more realistic. After all, isnt that what most of the game is based on?

[sprucemoose3311]

Coral Reefs!!

Imagine exploraing a coast.... then smash, your ship is destroyed on a coral reef (to be fair theres a 1:3 chance it will crash)

[Panag]

hi ,

it would also be nice to have terraforming , ....

seawaves would be nice , ....

also they need to work a bit on the terrain , example ; you edit tundra to have no food , and the AI builds there anyway , ...

have a nice day

[WarpStorm]

Did you tell the AI that building on tundra was not allowed? It is a flag that needs set (Allow Cities). The AI will obey the flag.

The city itself will always produce just enough food to feed one citizen even on terrain that has no food. This is a double-edged sword, if the city tile produces 3 or more food you only get 2.

You can easily have a population 1 city in the middle of an area that has absolutely no food. It won't grow, but it is valid and there can be good reasons for doing it (contiguous borders, resources, and culture bombing come to mind immediately).

[Panag]

Originally posted by WarpStorm
Did you tell the AI that building on tundra was not allowed? It is a flag that needs set (Allow Cities). The AI will obey the flag.

The city itself will always produce just enough food to feed one citizen even on terrain that has no food. This is a double-edged sword, if the city tile produces 3 or more food you only get 2.

You can easily have a population 1 city in the middle of an area that has absolutely no food. It won't grow, but it is valid and there can be good reasons for doing it (contiguous borders, resources, and culture bombing come to mind immediately).

hi ,

well the , AI should not build on the terrain that you dont want to , ....

and sometimes the AI cares less about the flag it has or not , ...

Firaxis told us that they where going to fix it , .....

have a nice day

[WarpStorm]

If the flag is set, you can settle there. Why shouldn't the AI be allowed to settle somewhere that you can? They will not make cities in tundra if the flag is not set, but then you can't either. Is this what you want? Or do you want them to not settle places that are harsh living conditions, but allow you to if you really want to?

[Panag]

Originally posted by WarpStorm
If the flag is set, you can settle there. Why shouldn't the AI be allowed to settle somewhere that you can? They will not make cities in tundra if the flag is not set, but then you can't either. Is this what you want? Or do you want them to not settle places that are harsh living conditions, but allow you to if you really want to?

hi ,

okay , example , tundra , no settle , not human and not AI , ...

works fine , but in about 40 % the AI doesnt care and does settle , .....

have a nice day

[Panzer]

Alright, maybe this sounds stupid, but maybe they are settling on forests, since forests are a different kind of terrain than tundra (if I'm correct). This way the AI could settle on a single tile of forested tundra while the rest of the area is just tundra.

[WarpStorm]

Yes, forests are a different terain than tundra.

[Panag]

hi ,

well that trick was used , thinking that the AI would go for those tiles , .... okay in most case the AI runs for it , ... but in other cases , no way , ..... next to the forest , ...



have a nice day