Natural Wonders Mod Development Thread

Skinnydoc331

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Natural Wonders of the World Mod
(Updated 10/3/10)


Goals of the Mod
1. Provide a database of natural wonders that can be used in custom maps and mods. As many or as few of the wonders could be used to balance gameplay for a particular map or mod.
2. Fair distribution of the natural wonders so that no particular starting location has an unfair advantage of multiple wonders being close to them.
3. Diverse wonders represented that cover most aspects of our planet.
4. Have variety in the wonders' bonuses (gameplay balance issues are most important). As of now, finding a wonder give +1 happiness permanently and the wonders each procedure 2 hammers and 3 gold (correct me if I am wrong).

Initial Plans:
1. The seven in game wonders will remain as is. Tweaks to there bonuses will be made.

2. Planning to releas the additional wonders if groups of seven at a time. This will give me a chance to get feedback and make changes in a more managable fashion.

3. Natural Wonder Bonuses/Penalties/Etc…
Culture - initial culture boost upon discovery (60-90 range), +1-2 culture per turn to who ever controls the hex
Happiness - +1 happiness to whoever controls the hex
Gold - +2 gold to whoever controls the hex
Food +1-3 food depending on the wonder (if the hex is controlled)
Production +1-3 production depending on the wonder (if the hex is controlled)

4. Movement - most wonders will be impassible and unable to make improvements on.

5. Buildings - National Park improvement - this building/improvement would be linked to technology that would be researched between 1800-1900. Give +3-5 gold(?), +3-5 culture (?) and +3 happiness (?).

Things need help/advice on
1. Main issue will be with the artwork. I assume I can use the base art files in game, but what is the next best resource? Pictures? 3d models from other sources?

Thanks in advance for any help!

Tentative Release Plan for Natural Wonders:

IN GAME ALREADY:
Old Faithful Geyser - N.America
Grand Mesa - N.America
Barringer Crater - N.America
Rock of Gibraltar - Europe
Mount Fuji - Asia
Great Barrier Reef - Oceania
Krakatoa - Oceania

1st Release:
Niagara Falls - N.America
Angel Falls - S.America
Cliffs of Moher - Europe
Mount Kilimanjaro - Africa
Mount Everest - Asia
Mount Damavand - Asia
Uluru (Ayers Rock) - Oceania

2nd Release:
Grand Canyon - N.America
Denali - N.America
El Tatio - S.America
The Matterhorn - Europe
Victoria Falls - Africa
Ngorongoro Crater - Africa
Huangshan Mountain - Asia

3rd Release:
Redwood Forests - N.America
Great Blue Hole - N.America
Alpamayo Mountain - S.America
Zuma Rock - Africa
Dead Sea - Asia
K2 - Asia
Kilauea - Oceania

4th Release:
Paricutin - N.America
Cotahuasi Canyon - S.America
Mount Etna - Europe
Avenue of theBaobobs - Africa
Sundarbans Forest - Asia
Chocholate Hills - Asia
Ross Ice Shelf - Oceania
 
I could see adding a few, but let's not get carried away. :p

The hardest part of this mod would be making the actual tile graphics.
 
Since these are terrain features, you can use as few or many as you wanted in a particular map.
 
For Europe perhaps add the Giant's Causeway. Is there a particular reason why the Aurora is listed as North American? ;)

I'm also not sure why you've included some of the existing Natural Wonders in your list, but not others.
 
You could edit/copypaste some preexisting terrain for new wonders

Mt. Fugi + more snow --> Denali
Grand Mesa --> Ayers Rock
Snowy Mountain --> Mt. Everest
Coast Tile --> Lake Baikal, Lake Titicaca
Rock of Gibralter + a little snow --> Mount Killamanjaro
Great Barrier Reef --> Red Sea Reef
Barringer Crater + jungle --> Mount Tambora
Barringer Crater + water --> Crater Lake
Old Faithful --> The Great Geysir
Krakatoa --> Parícutin, Mt. Saint Helens

That's 12 more natural wonders right there
 
Each Natural wonder you make will have to be individually coded into the AssignStartingPlots.lua. Just adding it to the XML will do nothing. Just a heads up.
 
In the world map editor you can simply plop the natural wonders in any hex. My assumption was that when people make a world map they would have a database of wonders to use as they wish.
 
I like this idea! but the Sahara Desert is really just a desert and the Amazon is just a rainforest. Maybe scratch those two.

Maybe the great blue hole (Yes, I know what it is, it's a network of deep submerged caves in the Bahamas) could be like crakatoa and be always on an island.

Perhaps all the Natural Wonders provide Culture like the great artist's landmark improvement, but some give extra science, gold, culture, or happiness. And perhaps some give great poeple points.

And maybe there 's an improvement you can build with ecology or something called a "National Park" that gives more culture and happiness.

Also, perhaps a randomly generated map starts with a randomly chosen few natural wonders, not just the same ones over and over. That would be really intresting, because you'd never know what you're going to get!
 
In the world map editor you can simply plop the natural wonders in any hex. My assumption was that when people make a world map they would have a database of wonders to use as they wish.

For world builder yes it should work, but any generated map through the game will not deploy any added wonders without modifying that LUA.
 
what do you mean by Harbor of Rio de Janeiro?
you could add the Cataratas do Iguaçu in South America, or maybe the Pororoca (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoqixgRWxes), if it's possible to make it appear in a coast tile with a river in its border (and even though it's some sort of temporary phenomenon)

as you're planning the Sahara, you could add the Atacama desert. and the same with the Kilimanjaro, in South America there's the Aconcagua.
 
Can we make the North and South Poles function as Wonders?
 
Hmmmm... Possibly.

BTW, maybe you should change Krakatoa to have a new name and not be a volcano? Because I can't see how an incredibly destructive eruption would make people happy.
 
Yellowstone National Park is already covered a bit by Old Faithful geyser.

And to those who argue the Amazon rainforest is just another rainforest ... oh good grief, Fuji is just another mountain!

If you're going to add the Grand Canyon, that would have to follow a river through the desert and mountains, and it would lack a flood plain (since the Colorado River is very well confined within the canyon walls).

I suggest considering some of the world's great rivers as Natural Wonders -- the Nile, the Mississippi, the Amazon river, etc. They should act as a free trade route (why don't rivers do that anyway? :/) and, some time after researching Electricity, have an option to build buffer-than-normal Hydroelectric Dams, that potentially offer hammer bonuses to several nearby cities.

Aurora Borealis seems kinda silly as a natural wonder -- its visible from any sufficiently northern lattitude and, given the greater landmass, would be visible more from Russia (northern Asia), and there is an identical phenomenon in the southern hemisphere you can view from Australia, South America or southern Africa.
 
Yes yes yes!!!

Finally, someone adds more natural wonders, or at least, it working on it.

My suggestions would be to scratch the following:

North America
1. Aurora Borealis - How would you model it?
10. Yellowstone National Park - Old faithful

South America
1. Harbor of Rio de Janeiro - Replace with Sugar loaf, which I think is included in the Christo Redentor model
6. Amazon Rainforest (?multiple hexs?) - Just a rainforest, but also really big

Africa
8. Sahara Desert (?multiple hexs?) - Just a desert, but also really big


And in addition, add in:

Africa
1. Stone forrests of Madagascar

Asia
1. Seven Dragon Valley

Europe:
1. Eyjajaffajokull

Oceania
1. Milford Sound
2. Pink and white terraces
3. Mt. Ruapehu


Also, you mentioned a penalty for building on top of one, but what if you got increased gold on a natural wonder if you build a 'Tourism lodge', which represents increased tourist yield.
 
Suggestions for NA:

Zion
Bryce Canyon
Yellowstone (already exists as Old Faithful)
Yosemite -> El Capitan or Half Dome
Chimney Rock
Crater Lake
Lake Tahoe

some mountains
Mt. St. Helens
Mt. Banner
Grand Teton
Whitney
Denali, please don't call it McKinley
Wilson
Kiluaea
Shasta
 
Carls Bad Caverns for North America.

Seriously, ever been there? It kicks ass. =p

Oh, or in Colorado Springs, the Garden of the Gods. It's breathtaking =p
 
Crater Lake is a good natural wonder that should make for a nice pretty and recognizeable tile. Maybe an easy editing of Barringer Crater? I have no idea how to edit tiles.
 
And to those who argue the Amazon rainforest is just another rainforest ... oh good grief, Fuji is just another mountain!

I suggest considering some of the world's great rivers as Natural Wonders -- the Nile, the Mississippi, the Amazon river, etc. They should act as a free trade route (why don't rivers do that anyway? :/) and, some time after researching Electricity, have an option to build buffer-than-normal Hydroelectric Dams, that potentially offer hammer bonuses to several nearby cities.

Aurora Borealis seems kinda silly as a natural wonder.

Mt Fuji is unusually beautiful and symmetrical, it makes sense.

The Amazon rainforest is rather ugly, bland, and spread out over many thousands of square miles. It'd be like an extra big section of jungle tiles. Maybe better for a mapscript.

Rivers get the extra gold per tile. Represents the same IRL trade benefits of rivers.

Agreed about the aurora borealis. There's also the aurora australis, and in Civ there are many more southern civs to observe them.
 
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