Galgus
Emperor
- Joined
- Aug 22, 2012
- Messages
- 1,705
I enjoy the variety of aesthetics in Beyond Earth's Biomes, but they have always felt too much like reskins without gameplay impacts.
Gameplay effects for Biomes have been announced in Rising Tide, but aside from mentioning Marvels and slightly differing Alien behaviors the information has been kept vague.
This is my attempt to design unique gameplay challenges and opportunities for each Biome fitting their environmental themes.
I've also included multi-biome locations if maps including multiple biomes were created, though they may not fit with different alien types and the minor rules changes.
The Unique Terrain term is used loosely here to indicate general unique features.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Aliens
Now become locally and globally more aggressive when Miasma, Forests, and Marshes are cleared.
More willing to attack cities at maximum hostility, ideally following these species specific behavior changes.
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______________________________________________________________________________________________
Arid
______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Terrain
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Most known for vast deserts and dry lands, with some small forests and grasslands that tend to cluster around what few rivers and lakes are located there.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Multi-Biome Location
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Arid regions are weighted to appear near the planet's hot equator with the strongest equator modifier, and typically away from inland bodies of water.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Resources
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Arid biomes are rich in minerals, but lacking in organic resources such as Chitin and Fruit. What organic resources they hold tend to cluster around the small forests near bodies of freshwater, while mineral resources can be found in abundance in the drylands beyond those oases.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Threat Modifier
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Arid biomes host fewer small aliens, but bear significantly increased worm activity that increases more than usual as the Aliens are provoked.
Lesser Aliens tend to stick to the oases that host their nests, while Siege Worms roam the drylands.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Unique Terrain - Oasis
______________________________________________________________________________________________
4 Food, provides Fresh Water. Cannot be Upgraded.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Unique Rules
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Tiles with access to Fresh Water provide +1 Food.
Cities with access to Fresh Water gain +3 local health.
Cities with access to Sea Water gain +1 local health.
Fresh water requires adjacency to a Lake, River, or Oasis.
Fresh water features are sparse in Arid biomes, making controlling them very important.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Lush
______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Terrain
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Most known for numerous, scattered forests and a flourishing of life, grasslands fill most of the areas that the forests do not.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Mutli-Biome Location
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Lush regions are weighted to appear near the planet's equator, particularly near inland bodies of water.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Resources
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Organic resources flourish in lush biomes, but they are somewhat mineral poor. Forests will need to be cleared more often to harvest a lush biome's resources, but food can be found in abundance.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Threat Modifier
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Worm activity is somewhat lower in lush biomes, but lesser aliens thrive in them. Both are fairly evenly scattered across lush biomes.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Unique Terrain - Meganest
______________________________________________________________________________________________
+2 Culture, +2 Science.
Large Alien Nests that spawn more Aliens faster and are better gaurded.
They must be attacked and captured like a City to be destroyed, and they grant a large Food boost spread amongst all cities upon destruction.
Alien Nest upgrade into them over time at an increasing rate with higher Alien Hostility.
There are only a handful on the map at the start of the game.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Unique Rules
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Forests grant +1 Food extra, totalling at 2 Food 1 Production. Clearing Forests grants a small amount of Food in the nearest city as well as Production.
Algae, Chitin, Coral, Fiber, Fruit, Fungus, Resilin, and Tuber basic yields doubled.
Including the new organic resources in Rising Tide. Basic yields are what the resources adds to a tile without being improved.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Fungal
______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Terrain
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Most known for large clusters of fungal forests separated by plains, grasslands, and deserts. There is a distinct stark separation between forest clusters and the flatlands between them.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Multi-Biome Location
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Fungal biomes are weighted to appear away from the planet's equator.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Resources
______________________________________________________________________________________________
In terms of total resources fungal biomes are fairly even, though organic resources are heavily weighted to appear in the forests while mineral resources tend to appear outside of them.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Thread Modifier
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Miasma starts thicker in fungal biomes, covering more tiles. It is particularly intense in and around their forests, where Siege Worms and lesser aliens cluster.
Because of this clustering, the flatlands are relatively alien free.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Unique Terrain - Fungal Bloom
______________________________________________________________________________________________
2 Production, 2 Food, 2 Science. Cannot be Upgraded. (Mostly for Harmonists.)
Spawns on Forest and Ocean tiles with Miasma when Aliens are angered. Spawn rate accelerates rapidly with Alien hostility status.
Spreads Forests and Miasma to adjacent tiles, must be pillaged to be reverted to a Forest.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Unique Rules
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Alien Nests can spawn on Forests and Ocean Tiles with Miasma when Aliens are angered. Spawn rate accelerates rapidly with Alien hostility status.
Harvesting Forests and destroyng Hydracorral and Alien Nests grants Science, though it angers the Aliens more than in other biomes.
Fungus appears more often.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Tundra
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Terrain
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Known for large numbers of snow tiles, with some desert and plains mixed in. In a way it mirrors Arid biomes with its small clusters of forests.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Multi-Biome Location
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Heavily weighted to appear on the poles of the planet, as distant from the equator as possible.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Resources
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Even more than Arid biomes, Tundra biomes are mineral rich in their frozen wastes. However, the large numbers of snow tiles and tundra make them barren otherwise. What organic resources exist are clustered in their small forests.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Threat Modifier
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Largely an inversion of Arid biomes, lesser aliens stalk the flatlands while Siege Worms cluster in the small forests.
Unlike Arid biomes, lesser aliens and Siege Worms both spawn at normal levels.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Unique Terrain - Glacier
______________________________________________________________________________________________
2 Culture
Large blocks of ice that impede movement and must be cleared by Workers.
Though there are fewer near the equator, they are numerous enough to delay early expansion and exploration.
They can only be crossed by Workers.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Unique Rules
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Each city starts with one of each Specialist type. Ideally alongside a general Specialist buff.
Food is spare and the climate harsh in Tundra biomes, so colonies adapt to do more within compact city borders. This counterbalanced the low yields of the typical Tundra and Snow tiles that choke this map type.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Primordial
______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Terrain
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Ashland deserts and plains surround volcanic mountains, while areas distant from them host lush grasslands and forests.
These volcanoes can also be found in the oceans, as isolated features or parts of small islands.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Multi-Biome Location
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Volcanic biomes are weighted to appear along coastlines.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Resources
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Even resource totals with mineral resources favoring the ashlands and organic resources favoring the lush lands further away from volcanic mountains.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Threat Modifier
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Siege Worm spawn rate is sharply increased along the rivers of Magma, but they will not normally spawn elsewhere in Volcanic biomes.
Lesser aliens spawn at a normal rate in the lush lands, but are rarely found in the ashlands.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Unique Terrain - Lava Rivers
______________________________________________________________________________________________
+2 Energy on adjacent tiles.
Rivers of lava that flow from Volcanic Mountains.
Like normal rivers, which can also be found in this Biome, they weave between tiles and slow movement crossing them.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Unique Rules
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Mountains grant +4 Energy and +2 Production and can be found more frequently at sea.
+2 Energy from Canyons, for a total of 2 Production and 2 Energy.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Swamp
______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Terrain
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Filled with rivers, Marsh tiles, and Lakes, with forests commonly occupying tiles not claimed by Marshes. Hills tend to cluster as Marsh-free high ground islands.
Swamp biomes can take longer to develop due to these marshes, but the energy yields of their rivers can make the venture worthwhile.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Multi-Biome Location
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Swamp biomes tend to appear near coasts, and have the strongest weighting to appear near large inland bodies of water.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Resources
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Swamps are mineral sparse but rich in organic resources like Lush biomes. What mineral resources there are can be found on the hill high ground islands.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Threat Modifier
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Worms and lesser Aliens spawn in equal measure in Swamp biomes.
In ways an inversion of Fungal biomes, Miasma and aliens choke the marshy flatlands nearest to the rivers while tending to avoid the pockets of Hill laden high ground.
Staying in the hills ensures more safety from Aliens, but access to the rivers will encourage players to carve out a perimeter in the lowlands.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Unique Terrain - Thick Miasma
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Only found near Alien Nests.
Reduces non-Alien line of sight and has twice the healing and damaging effect.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Unique Rules
______________________________________________________________________________________________
+1 Health for cities founded on water, plains, hills, tundra, and desert.
+2 Food from cities with access to fresh water.
Fresh Water is common to Swamp biomes, but plains, hills, tundra, snow, and desert are relatively rare.
Gameplay effects for Biomes have been announced in Rising Tide, but aside from mentioning Marvels and slightly differing Alien behaviors the information has been kept vague.
This is my attempt to design unique gameplay challenges and opportunities for each Biome fitting their environmental themes.
I've also included multi-biome locations if maps including multiple biomes were created, though they may not fit with different alien types and the minor rules changes.
The Unique Terrain term is used loosely here to indicate general unique features.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Aliens
Now become locally and globally more aggressive when Miasma, Forests, and Marshes are cleared.
More willing to attack cities at maximum hostility, ideally following these species specific behavior changes.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Arid
______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Terrain
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Most known for vast deserts and dry lands, with some small forests and grasslands that tend to cluster around what few rivers and lakes are located there.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Multi-Biome Location
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Arid regions are weighted to appear near the planet's hot equator with the strongest equator modifier, and typically away from inland bodies of water.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Resources
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Arid biomes are rich in minerals, but lacking in organic resources such as Chitin and Fruit. What organic resources they hold tend to cluster around the small forests near bodies of freshwater, while mineral resources can be found in abundance in the drylands beyond those oases.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Threat Modifier
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Arid biomes host fewer small aliens, but bear significantly increased worm activity that increases more than usual as the Aliens are provoked.
Lesser Aliens tend to stick to the oases that host their nests, while Siege Worms roam the drylands.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Unique Terrain - Oasis
______________________________________________________________________________________________
4 Food, provides Fresh Water. Cannot be Upgraded.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Unique Rules
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Tiles with access to Fresh Water provide +1 Food.
Cities with access to Fresh Water gain +3 local health.
Cities with access to Sea Water gain +1 local health.
Fresh water requires adjacency to a Lake, River, or Oasis.
Fresh water features are sparse in Arid biomes, making controlling them very important.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Lush
______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Terrain
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Most known for numerous, scattered forests and a flourishing of life, grasslands fill most of the areas that the forests do not.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Mutli-Biome Location
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Lush regions are weighted to appear near the planet's equator, particularly near inland bodies of water.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Resources
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Organic resources flourish in lush biomes, but they are somewhat mineral poor. Forests will need to be cleared more often to harvest a lush biome's resources, but food can be found in abundance.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Threat Modifier
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Worm activity is somewhat lower in lush biomes, but lesser aliens thrive in them. Both are fairly evenly scattered across lush biomes.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Unique Terrain - Meganest
______________________________________________________________________________________________
+2 Culture, +2 Science.
Large Alien Nests that spawn more Aliens faster and are better gaurded.
They must be attacked and captured like a City to be destroyed, and they grant a large Food boost spread amongst all cities upon destruction.
Alien Nest upgrade into them over time at an increasing rate with higher Alien Hostility.
There are only a handful on the map at the start of the game.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Unique Rules
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Forests grant +1 Food extra, totalling at 2 Food 1 Production. Clearing Forests grants a small amount of Food in the nearest city as well as Production.
Algae, Chitin, Coral, Fiber, Fruit, Fungus, Resilin, and Tuber basic yields doubled.
Including the new organic resources in Rising Tide. Basic yields are what the resources adds to a tile without being improved.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Fungal
______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Terrain
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Most known for large clusters of fungal forests separated by plains, grasslands, and deserts. There is a distinct stark separation between forest clusters and the flatlands between them.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Multi-Biome Location
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Fungal biomes are weighted to appear away from the planet's equator.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Resources
______________________________________________________________________________________________
In terms of total resources fungal biomes are fairly even, though organic resources are heavily weighted to appear in the forests while mineral resources tend to appear outside of them.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Thread Modifier
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Miasma starts thicker in fungal biomes, covering more tiles. It is particularly intense in and around their forests, where Siege Worms and lesser aliens cluster.
Because of this clustering, the flatlands are relatively alien free.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Unique Terrain - Fungal Bloom
______________________________________________________________________________________________
2 Production, 2 Food, 2 Science. Cannot be Upgraded. (Mostly for Harmonists.)
Spawns on Forest and Ocean tiles with Miasma when Aliens are angered. Spawn rate accelerates rapidly with Alien hostility status.
Spreads Forests and Miasma to adjacent tiles, must be pillaged to be reverted to a Forest.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Unique Rules
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Alien Nests can spawn on Forests and Ocean Tiles with Miasma when Aliens are angered. Spawn rate accelerates rapidly with Alien hostility status.
Harvesting Forests and destroyng Hydracorral and Alien Nests grants Science, though it angers the Aliens more than in other biomes.
Fungus appears more often.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Tundra
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Terrain
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Known for large numbers of snow tiles, with some desert and plains mixed in. In a way it mirrors Arid biomes with its small clusters of forests.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Multi-Biome Location
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Heavily weighted to appear on the poles of the planet, as distant from the equator as possible.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Resources
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Even more than Arid biomes, Tundra biomes are mineral rich in their frozen wastes. However, the large numbers of snow tiles and tundra make them barren otherwise. What organic resources exist are clustered in their small forests.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Threat Modifier
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Largely an inversion of Arid biomes, lesser aliens stalk the flatlands while Siege Worms cluster in the small forests.
Unlike Arid biomes, lesser aliens and Siege Worms both spawn at normal levels.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Unique Terrain - Glacier
______________________________________________________________________________________________
2 Culture
Large blocks of ice that impede movement and must be cleared by Workers.
Though there are fewer near the equator, they are numerous enough to delay early expansion and exploration.
They can only be crossed by Workers.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Unique Rules
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Each city starts with one of each Specialist type. Ideally alongside a general Specialist buff.
Food is spare and the climate harsh in Tundra biomes, so colonies adapt to do more within compact city borders. This counterbalanced the low yields of the typical Tundra and Snow tiles that choke this map type.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Primordial
______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Terrain
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Ashland deserts and plains surround volcanic mountains, while areas distant from them host lush grasslands and forests.
These volcanoes can also be found in the oceans, as isolated features or parts of small islands.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Multi-Biome Location
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Volcanic biomes are weighted to appear along coastlines.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Resources
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Even resource totals with mineral resources favoring the ashlands and organic resources favoring the lush lands further away from volcanic mountains.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Threat Modifier
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Siege Worm spawn rate is sharply increased along the rivers of Magma, but they will not normally spawn elsewhere in Volcanic biomes.
Lesser aliens spawn at a normal rate in the lush lands, but are rarely found in the ashlands.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Unique Terrain - Lava Rivers
______________________________________________________________________________________________
+2 Energy on adjacent tiles.
Rivers of lava that flow from Volcanic Mountains.
Like normal rivers, which can also be found in this Biome, they weave between tiles and slow movement crossing them.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Unique Rules
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Mountains grant +4 Energy and +2 Production and can be found more frequently at sea.
+2 Energy from Canyons, for a total of 2 Production and 2 Energy.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Swamp
______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Terrain
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Filled with rivers, Marsh tiles, and Lakes, with forests commonly occupying tiles not claimed by Marshes. Hills tend to cluster as Marsh-free high ground islands.
Swamp biomes can take longer to develop due to these marshes, but the energy yields of their rivers can make the venture worthwhile.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Multi-Biome Location
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Swamp biomes tend to appear near coasts, and have the strongest weighting to appear near large inland bodies of water.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Resources
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Swamps are mineral sparse but rich in organic resources like Lush biomes. What mineral resources there are can be found on the hill high ground islands.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Threat Modifier
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Worms and lesser Aliens spawn in equal measure in Swamp biomes.
In ways an inversion of Fungal biomes, Miasma and aliens choke the marshy flatlands nearest to the rivers while tending to avoid the pockets of Hill laden high ground.
Staying in the hills ensures more safety from Aliens, but access to the rivers will encourage players to carve out a perimeter in the lowlands.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Unique Terrain - Thick Miasma
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Only found near Alien Nests.
Reduces non-Alien line of sight and has twice the healing and damaging effect.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Unique Rules
______________________________________________________________________________________________
+1 Health for cities founded on water, plains, hills, tundra, and desert.
+2 Food from cities with access to fresh water.
Fresh Water is common to Swamp biomes, but plains, hills, tundra, snow, and desert are relatively rare.
