[WIP] DMS's Natural Disasters

[Danmacsch]

This mod will be completely remade over the coming months. Below is the original OP, which I'll leave as is fit now.

Spoiler :

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Welcome to the WIP thread for my newest project, Natural Disasters.
As of right now the mod doesn't include very much, so consider it a very early beta version.

Naturally this will require the Events and Decisions mod from Sukritact. BNW will probably also be required.

Download
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All features described below may be subject to changes while the project is being developed.

Description

The aim of this project is to bring the concept of Natural Disasters into the game. Events featured will be earthquakes, landslides tsunamis, hurricanes, floodings, wildfires, volcanic eruptions, drought, coastal erosion, etc., each disaster will impact an area of plots varying in size, which will depend on both the type of disaster as well as the strength of the disaster in question.
The disaster events' occurrence will utilize the Events part of Sukritact's E&D mod, thus they will happen at random for random players. Some events may not have multiple options, while others may have many.

The current version isn't very complex; if the event occurring is in vicinity of a city, the city will be damaged (with a semi-random strength). Currently, units and improvements will not be affected by disasters, but this will be turned into on/off toggle-able features. Also, currently disasters of the same type can only occur twice per era (standard speed).


Future Plans

Among other things planned are era-specific Decisions to take precautions against disasters, such as building dams, earthquake-securing houses, etc.

 

[DoctorMcGann]

This looks really cool! I can't wait to try it out.

 

[Tarmont]

Quick nitpick: Anarchy is empire wide, the proper term in this case would be Resistance.

 

[Danmacsch]

Ah, yes of course, I always mix the two up. Thanks.

 

[dragonprobably]

If I may make some suggestions:

• A Disaster Aid Proposal for World Congress.
• Put in a pollution mechanic which can effect what disasters happen.
• Have joke disasters that are highly unlikely to occur.

 

[COF]

I think it is spelled "tsunami"

 

[JFD]

Huzzah! If Piety is enabled, it'd be nice if the Events had a higher chance of occurring when you had low Piety. If so, I can help to code in that sort of thing.

Some typos that may have already been fixed:

"evacuade" should be "evacuate"
"Fishermen off the coast of Delhi has" should be "have"
"Loose," in the outcomes, should be "Lose"

Do you think you'd include these events as World Event notifications?

 

[TranquilSilence]

Will these disasters actually be able to effect the terrain, I mean, I have no idea if it is even possible coding-wise but it would be cool if some of the events lead to the loss of tiles and whatnot.

Coastal Erosion in particular I guess, but it's possible that this would just be too frustrating to deal with and actually code. In any case, this should go a long way towards making civ maps feel more dynamic.

 

[DoctorMcGann]

Possible, yes. Technically. However it wouldn't work graphically.

 

[ldvhl]

I've seen the Global Warming mod change the terrain of tiles, but not as extreme as water to land and back.

 

[Kerfuffle]

You could maybe convert some coastal tiles to marshes instead of changing land tiles into coast, though that may not be too much of a hassle for the Dutch

 

[Natan35]

Possible, yes. Technically. However it wouldn't work graphically.

It will, but you'll have to reload the game for the tiles to display properly.
(I am no modder, but I've seen this when using EUI)

 

[nokmirt]

Yes indeed! A great idea for a mod!

 

[Danmacsch]

Glad to see this is something that could potentially interest people; great motivation for using an unholy amount of late-night hours planning, coding and testing . I should probably prioritize getting the Faroe Islands civ and the Kingdom of [REDACTED] done and released, so I can spend more time on this.

If I may make some suggestions:

• A Disaster Aid Proposal for World Congress.
• Put in a pollution mechanic which can effect what disasters happen.
• Have joke disasters that are highly unlikely to occur.

Suggestions are very welcome indeed

The Disaster Aid Proposal is something I most definitely want to add as a Decision, though right now I'm focusing on just getting the Events done.
I don't think the pollution mechanic is within the scope of this mod, or rather, not something I'm interested in adding to it. The very excellent Global Warming mod already has this a mechanism (in a pretty extensive form I think), so there's that. But then again, I've been known to change my mind about stuff .
Joke disasters(?) sounds kind of wrong in my ears , but yeah, adding some kind of freak disaster with a very low chance of occurrence would be fun. I wonder what though...

I think it is spelled "tsunami"

Yep, thanks. Nothing good every comes from writing text tags after 2 AM.

Huzzah! If Piety is enabled, it'd be nice if the Events had a higher chance of occurring when you had low Piety. If so, I can help to code in that sort of thing.

Some typos that may have already been fixed:

"evacuade" should be "evacuate"
"Fishermen off the coast of Delhi has" should be "have"
"Loose," in the outcomes, should be "Lose"

Do you think you'd include these events as World Event notifications?

Typos fixed, thanks.
Right now, if Piety is enabled, there's a couple of the events with options where you'll gain/lose Piety instead of Faith. For example, during a hurricane, you can choose to gather the people at the city's temple. Then there's a chance the hurricane will change direction leaving the city intact, which will be taken as a divine sign resulting in a Piety boost instead of a Faith boost. And there's a chance the opposite will happen, which will result in losing Piety instead of losing Faith.
I'd definitely like to further incorporate factors from Piety such as you suggest, and, yeah, eventually some coding assistance might be nice .

World Events are already incorporated. I really like the idea of them - just sad there isn't more modders using them, especially when they add E&D support anyway. Oh well..

Will these disasters actually be able to effect the terrain, I mean, I have no idea if it is even possible coding-wise but it would be cool if some of the events lead to the loss of tiles and whatnot.

Coastal Erosion in particular I guess, but it's possible that this would just be too frustrating to deal with and actually code. In any case, this should go a long way towards making civ maps feel more dynamic.

Possible, yes. Technically. However it wouldn't work graphically.

I've seen the Global Warming mod change the terrain of tiles, but not as extreme as water to land and back.

I won't be touching anything regarding changing terrains. As DoctorMcGann mentions, the graphics doesn't update until after an eventual game restart, so it's not really worth doing, and it will only create confusion for the player if a tile displayed as land is actually, suddenly a water tile. So maybe coastal erosion will have to get scrapped from the list of disasters. Don't know yet.

You could maybe convert some coastal tiles to marshes instead of changing land tiles into coast, though that may not be too much of a hassle for the Dutch

Indeed this is doable and is already planned, to some degree at least, even if it'll benefit the Dutch (and CL's upcoming Calusa, which iirc will also have some use of marshes) greatly.

 

[dragonprobably]

The Disaster Aid Proposal is something I most definitely want to add as a Decision, though right now I'm focusing on just getting the Events done.

I still feel it should be a World Congress Proposal. Whenever a disaster happens, get (50*# of civilizations) gold.

Joke disasters(?) sounds kind of wrong in my ears , but yeah, adding some kind of freak disaster with a very low chance of occurrence would be fun. I wonder what though...

I was thinking an alien invasion disaster or something else ridiculous.

 

[Pouakai]

Awesome, great work Glad to see a natural disaster mod finally!

One thing I've been mulling over when considering a similar project of my own is to have some with good effects too. Like if a volcano erupts, it'll destroy or pillage surrounding improvements, but because of the ash the tiles around it are more fertile and provide more food. This way you've got incentive to settle in the way of a potential disaster, instead of simply avoiding them like the plague.

Also, just a minor thing from your example screenshot - there's no way you'd be able to build any barricades in time for a tsunami, I think it'd be okay to just have the evacuate option (or even a selfish ruler one where he takes his gold instead of alerting the citizens)

 

[Danmacsch]

I still feel it should be a World Congress Proposal. Whenever a disaster happens, get (50*# of civilizations) gold.

You're probably right - for now, I'll just focus on the events, though.

I was thinking an alien invasion disaster or something else ridiculous.

Probably not alien invasions, but yeah, something

Awesome, great work Glad to see a natural disaster mod finally!

One thing I've been mulling over when considering a similar project of my own is to have some with good effects too. Like if a volcano erupts, it'll destroy or pillage surrounding improvements, but because of the ash the tiles around it are more fertile and provide more food. This way you've got incentive to settle in the way of a potential disaster, instead of simply avoiding them like the plague.

That's a good idea. I do have some ideas for positive effects for some of the events, but hadn't thought of anything for Volcanoes. Thanks.

Also, just a minor thing from your example screenshot - there's no way you'd be able to build any barricades in time for a tsunami, I think it'd be okay to just have the evacuate option (or even a selfish ruler one where he takes his gold instead of alerting the citizens)

This has been changed


Now..
I've been making a lot of progress these last few days, but most of it is behind-the-scene stuff, such as calculating the damage of the disaster, defense of the city, etc..

I'd love to hear your opinions on some of the mechanisms I've included/will include. And if you're feeling crazily brave and just looove bugs, here's a download link (this version only includes the tsunami disaster!)

Effects:
- The disasters are the following: earthquake, tsunami, volcanic eruption, wildfire, limnic eruption, hurricane, tornado, blizzard, avalanche, meteor impact.

- Each type of disaster can occur twice per era (could be scaled by number of players and map size).

- The strength of the disaster is either minor, moderate, major or extreme.

- Less than 10% of all disasters will be of extreme strength.

- Some disasters affect only cities (tsunamis, blizzards,...)

- Some disasters affect only improvements and/or units (wildfires, avalanches, tornadoes, volcanic eruptions,...)

- Some disasters can affect both cities and improvements and/or units (earthquakes, hurricanes, meteor impacts,...)

- Disasters affecting cities will always create chaos (resistance) for a number of turns depending on what option you choose in the event popup.

- The number of turns of chaos (resistance) can be lowered/removed if you have a combat unit garrisoned in the city (see screenshots).

- The damage dealt by disasters affection cities can be reduced by having specific buildings in that city. (I'd very much like suggestions here!!)


Screenshots in the spoiler, and then, that's it for now I guess.

Spoiler :

 

[JFD]

You're probably right - for now, I'll just focus on the events, though.

Probably not alien invasions, but yeah, something

That's a good idea. I do have some ideas for positive effects for some of the events, but hadn't thought of anything for Volcanoes. Thanks.

This has been changed


Now..
I've been making a lot of progress these last few days, but most of it is behind-the-scene stuff, such as calculating the damage of the disaster, defense of the city, etc..

I'd love to hear your opinions on some of the mechanisms I've included/will include. And if you're feeling crazily brave and just looove bugs, here's a download link (this version only includes the tsunami disaster!)

Effects:
- The disasters are the following: earthquake, tsunami, volcanic eruption, wildfire, limnic eruption, hurricane, tornado, blizzard, avalanche, meteor impact.

- Each type of disaster can occur twice per era (could be scaled by number of players and map size).

- The strength of the disaster is either minor, moderate, major or extreme.

- Less than 10% of all disasters will be of extreme strength.

- Some disasters affect only cities (tsunamis, blizzards,...)

- Some disasters affect only improvements and/or units (wildfires, avalanches, tornadoes, volcanic eruptions,...)

- Some disasters can affect both cities and improvements and/or units (earthquakes, hurricanes, meteor impacts,...)

- Disasters affecting cities will always create chaos (resistance) for a number of turns depending on what option you choose in the event popup.

- The number of turns of chaos (resistance) can be lowered/removed if you have a combat unit garrisoned in the city (see screenshots).

- The damage dealt by disasters affection cities can be reduced by having specific buildings in that city. (I'd very much like suggestions here!!)


Screenshots in the spoiler, and then, that's it for now I guess.

Spoiler :

Yiss. Save the noblemen. Don't know what the women are for, but ok The grammar is a bit confusing though; shouldn't it be: "Evacuate the Noblemen and women - let the commoners fend for themselves!"

Also, another typo: "desctuction" in the flavour text.

Tsunami epicenter icon is a nice touch! Would it be wise to sail a Great Admiral there?

 

[SnowyNix]

This looks absolutely incredible. Well done.

 

[Danmacsch]

Yiss. Save the noblemen. Don't know what the women are for, but ok The grammar is a bit confusing though; shouldn't it be: "Evacuate the Noblemen and women - let the commoners fend for themselves!"

Also, another typo: "desctuction" in the flavour text.

Arhh, all that grammar - it makes my head hurt (Give me some math instead!! )

Tsunami epicenter icon is a nice touch! Would it be wise to sail a Great Admiral there?

Yeah, I thought marking disaster tiles would be a neat idea - in this very moment I trying to expand on the idea by having the icon text read something like "DisasterType, gameYear, livesClaimed" - not sure the detail is really worth the work though.

By the way, I'm trying to get a UserSetting file to work (like in Piety and ExCE) - I've created the table correctly (checked in SQLite), but for some reason I can't populate it. If you - or someone else with a handle on such things - get time, I'd really appreciate it if you could take a look at the files to see what I'm doing wrong.