Discussion Soil mechanic

[Lion.Kanzen]

 

 

It would be very interesting to have a fertility mechanic.

It would be nice to have terrain bonuses for crops.

And perhaps some negative bonus to certain soils.

It's just a very rarely discussed idea.

It is a very widespread mechanic in city builders.

Edited 10 hours ago by Lion.Kanzen

[Lion.Kanzen]

My first ideas are:

Soil ( rich soil or fertile soil) should be generated on random maps as a resource.

There is already an RTS(game) that has this mechanic:

Fertile Crescent. But I never played this game.

Feature

Establish your village near fertile lands and balance your food surplus against the size of your civilian and military might as you build and expand. Food plays a crucial role beyond just feeding your troops; it determines the growth rate of your population and the speed at which you accumulate Knowledge Points. Keeping your village well-fed ensures prosperous expansion, while compromised farms can cripple even the strongest economies.

 

Considering technological limitations and advancements of the era, you'll need to carefully manage your hard-earned Knowledge Points. Explore Village Improvements to quickly counter your opponent's strategy or to fortify your position for the long game.

 

In the images you can see that the terrain influences the farms.

The image shows the value of the land for farms.

Edited 9 hours ago by Lion.Kanzen

[Lion.Kanzen]

57 minutes ago, Lion.Kanzen said:

My first ideas are:

Soil ( rich soil or fertile soil) should be generated on random maps as a resource.

There is already an RTS(game) that has this mechanic:

Fertile Crescent. But I never played this game.

Feature

Establish your village near fertile lands and balance your food surplus against the size of your civilian and military might as you build and expand. Food plays a crucial role beyond just feeding your troops; it determines the growth rate of your population and the speed at which you accumulate Knowledge Points. Keeping your village well-fed ensures prosperous expansion, while compromised farms can cripple even the strongest economies.

 

Considering technological limitations and advancements of the era, you'll need to carefully manage your hard-earned Knowledge Points. Explore Village Improvements to quickly counter your opponent's strategy or to fortify your position for the long game.

 

In the images you can see that the terrain influences the farms.

The image shows the value of the land for farms.

Basically a well thought out game, city builder with RTS and strategy 4X like civilization.

 

[Grautvornix]

The point is just that currrently we have "fertile land" (looking like empty fields providing a certain bonus - definitely in DE but also in vanilla) and "general land" (whatever the structure/cover - even paved land, rocky areas and desert areas can host crops. The latter is really a pity: we have such beautiful maps with fertile land (e.g. green areas forming an oasis) and not so much fertile land  surrounding it (mostly sandy desert). Currently, it just does not really seem to matter where I put my fields.

Also the strategic placement of fields around CC (on paved areas) - while strategically a valid option - looks not very realistic to me, as discussed previously.

 

Potential options are:

- distance to CC bonus for fields (increasing with growing distance) or a negative aura of a CC on crops yield.

- use water as an additional resource as proposed earlier. This appears too complicated to achieve and would change the game mechanic considerably (building a whole bonus system around rivers, ponds, irrigation pipes/wells/aquaeducts, etc.).

- fertility derived from soil type / soil cover could thus create some interesting strategic aspect for gameplay without costing too much effort (I hope)

To be further discussed, I believe...

[Lion.Kanzen]

37 minutes ago, Grautvornix said:

use water as an additional resource as proposed earlier. This appears too complicated to achieve and would change the game mechanic considerably (building a whole bonus system around rivers, ponds, irrigation pipes/wells/aquaeducts, etc.).

I made a building for that matter. 

It is a kind of cistern.

I already forgot the name hahaha.

I proposed this mechanics many times and they thought I was crazy.

I suggested it to Wow and he either didn't understand or wasn't interested.

Cisterns don't need rivers, it's supposed to be like a well.

You collect water inside the soil... underground.

It's like building a well and immediately you have enough to survive.

 

People in deserts and mountains create wells for irrigation. 

 

In 0AD you would already have the bonus by having that building.

[Grautvornix]

Great idea! That would be an important tech for desert civs (various techniques for irrigation available) as well as for romans (aquaeducts). Yet, it does not solve the issue of where to best place fields unless the cistern would have an aura.

[Lion.Kanzen]

Just now, Grautvornix said:

Great idea! That would be an important tech for desert civs (various techniques for irrigation available) as well as for romans (aquaeducts). Yet, it does not solve the issue of where to best place fields unless the cistern would have an aura.

Yes an aura and territory. Let me find the post.

[Lion.Kanzen]

3 minutes ago, Lion.Kanzen said:

Yes an aura and territory. Let me find the post.

Here is.

 

 

[Grautvornix]

But...that's phantastic!

[Lion.Kanzen]

Water Supply.

 

[Grautvornix]

Beautiful! Just went through your thread - it is all there (almost) already! 

[Stan`]

Cute. Might look better with hexagonal planks and a little opening at the top to check the state of the water. Also probably needs a tap or faucet somewhere? Or is that on the left?

[Lion.Kanzen]

8 minutes ago, Stan` said:

Cute. Might look better with hexagonal planks and a little opening at the top to check the state of the water. Also probably needs a tap or faucet somewhere? Or is that on the left?

I think I did that faucet thing.

This is an early version.

I'm going to look for the final version.

The ladder made with  hexagonal  planks you say?

[Grautvornix]

Frankly, I had imagined a cistern mostly underground with a small opening on top (covered of course, ver much like in your photographs), but not a tall structure to be mounted only by a ladder. This tall "barrel-like" structure is used to generate hydraulic pressure but how to you get the water "piling up" without natural/eternal hydraulic pressure (aquifer with artesian well or the like)?

[Lion.Kanzen]

2 minutes ago, Grautvornix said:

Frankly, I had imagined a cistern mostly underground with a small opening on top (covered of course, ver much like in your photographs), but not a tall structure to be mounted only by a ladder. This tall "barrel-like" structure is used to generate hydraulic pressure but how to you get the water "piling up" without natural/eternal hydraulic pressure (aquifer with artesian well or the like)?

I was thinking of making it with several designs.

There are several references to this in the topic.

 

But since no one wanted to support the idea, it did not continue. 

Especially since I'm not a programmer.

[Grautvornix]

Awesome!

 

Unfortunately I am not a programmer either...

[Lion.Kanzen]

3 minutes ago, Grautvornix said:

Awesome!

 

Unfortunately I am not a programmer either...

But you support the idea.

This opens the possibility that they will consider it, especially if it is not difficult to implement.