Biomes Graphical Differences Only

[KrikkitTwo]

Firaxis: The biomes are visual markers rather than having separate gameplay values, much the way we had American, Asian, African, and European tile sets in Civ V.

http://www.shacknews.com/article/85...lization-beyond-earths-desert-like-arid-biome


Or is it????

Firaxis: No one faction does better in a biome than the other, but each faction has unique advantages, and each will need to find the best way to adapt those to the terrain of the planet. Starting on an arid planet might make it easier to get Energy, for instance, and if your faction has strengths or weaknesses associated with Energy production, you'll definitely need to take that into account when setting up your colony.

OK now I'm confused... first it is only graphical difference, and then you might get more energy from it???


Possible resolution.... you have the same game value of resources are present in all terrains (eg all have the same frequency of a +2 food resource), and the biomes don't have unique terrains.
However, Biomes do have different frequencies of certain terrains, and unique graphic for terrains

 

[SupremacyKing]

I interpret this as saying that the biomes don't change the gameplay rules but that since biomes have different amounts of certain types of terrain they could offer advantages to different factions. For example, desert tiles probably give you more energy regardless of the biome, but since the arid biome has more desert tiles, it will give an advantage to the faction that focuses on energy production.

 

[KrikkitTwo]

I interpret this as saying that the biomes don't change the gameplay rules but that since biomes have different amounts of certain types of terrain they could offer advantages to different factions. For example, desert tiles probably give you more energy regardless of the biome, but since the arid biome has more desert tiles, it will give an advantage to the faction that focuses on energy production.

That's what it seems like, but the "different tile sets only" statement confirmed a fear I was having.

It also doesn't say much about the Fungal biome (Lush and Arid you can guess as Grassland v. Desert)

Which means (I would guess) Food v. Energy

The question is then what terrain type fungus would have more of.. and what resource that would correspond to (in the lush terrain, a fungal patch gave science)

So more food tiles v. more energy tiles v. more science tiles?

 

[Darsnan]

Firaxis: The biomes are visual markers rather than having separate gameplay values...

Firaxis: No one faction does better in a biome than the other...

This reminds me of the "Red Zones" versus "White Zones" in the movie Airplane.

"No Jane, the White Zones are for the loading and unloading of Colony Pods, Only. There is no stopping in the Red Zones, they are Miasma".

In a game called "Deadlock" part of the game setup included different terrains (see pic at bottom of post). I do hope the terrains are more than graphical deviations (i.e. Eye Candy). And isn't the pre-order bonus supposed to be the "Xeno-maps" pack? If so, what good would they be (other than eye candy) if they didn't take into account different biome advantages (like more food in jungle worlds, versus less food in arid worlds, etc.)?

D

 

[SupremacyKing]

That's what it seems like, but the "different tile sets only" statement confirmed a fear I was having.

Why is this disappointing? What were you hoping for?

It also doesn't say much about the Fungal biome (Lush and Arid you can guess as Grassland v. Desert)

Which means (I would guess) Food v. Energy

The question is then what terrain type fungus would have more of.. and what resource that would correspond to (in the lush terrain, a fungal patch gave science)

So more food tiles v. more energy tiles v. more science tiles?

Isn't that kinda the point of different biomes? To offer players different maps that will offer different strategies and challenges? So, if you want to play a game with lots of food but less energy then you can choose lush but if you want a game with lots of energy and low food then you choose arid. Each biome will favor different strategies and playing styles to accommodate the different types of players.

 

[KrikkitTwo]

Why is this disappointing? What were you hoping for?



Isn't that kinda the point of different biomes? To offer players different maps that will offer different strategies and challenges? So, if you want to play a game with lots of food but less energy then you can choose lush but if you want a game with lots of energy and low food then you choose arid. Each biome will favor different strategies and playing styles to accommodate the different types of players.

Exactly... but the first statement in the article was that the biomes Only had graphical differences... like the Asian, European, etc. tile sets... no gameplay differences in how you interacted with the tiles.

The first statement was the one that bothered me... it seemed to imply that on an Arid biome you wouldn't have more desert and less grassland, just that the desert and grassland would look drier (with no gameplay effect at all)

 

[SupremacyKing]

Exactly... but the first statement in the article was that the biomes Only had graphical differences... like the Asian, European, etc. tile sets... no gameplay differences in how you interacted with the tiles.

The first statement was the one that bothered me... it seemed to imply that on an Arid biome you wouldn't have more desert and less grassland, just that the desert and grassland would look drier (with no gameplay effect at all)

I get it. I do think from the second statement that the biomes do effect gameplay.

 

[Lord Shadow]

I'm guessing a "biome" is merely a combination of a somewhat different palette with alternative tile ratios. Nothing you can't functionally achieve in other Civ games.

So you'd have an arid biome which looks a bit different and has less water, forests and grasslands, and more desert, hills and perhaps mountains. The lush biome would be something like the opposite, with lots of fertile land, rivers, etc.

 

[TheMarshmallowBear]

Biomes will come with the same TYPE of terrain, aliens, resources, etc. but will look differently. But like map scripts, have also certain "themes" in this case Arid being the equilivent of say Sandstorm, with plenty of Desert and flat.

 

[AriochIV]

Biomes and map scripts appear to be two different things; you could presumably have an Arid biome on an Atlantean map script. The biome appears to be just a tileset, and it would be the map scripts that control the relative scarcity of resources or terrain types. Maybe the tilesets and map scripts are paired in some way, but I haven't seen anything to indicate that.

Even if they don't directly impact gameplay, I think the different alien tilesets are important for immersion (otherwise, you might as well just play on the Civ V Earth tilesets). I'm looking forward to seeing what the blue Fungal biome looks like.

 

[vahouth]

I'm looking forward to seeing what the blue Fungal biome looks like.

How do you know it'll be blue?

 

[KrikkitTwo]

Biomes and map scripts appear to be two different things; you could presumably have an Arid biome on an Atlantean map script. The biome appears to be just a tileset, and it would be the map scripts that control the relative scarcity of resources or terrain types. Maybe the tilesets and map scripts are paired in some way, but I haven't seen anything to indicate that.

Even if they don't directly impact gameplay, I think the different alien tilesets are important for immersion (otherwise, you might as well just play on the Civ V Earth tilesets). I'm looking forward to seeing what the blue Fungal biome looks like.

I think the biomes (Lush, Arid, Fungal) may be like the part of the mapscript that influences amounts of grassland, desert, plains, tundra, snow, forests, and jungles. (ie the temperature and humidity settings)

The actual "mapscripts" (Atlantean, Terran, Vulcan, Protean) would then influence the amount of water, continents, mountains, canyons, hills, flat land, etc. (the age settings and # of continents)

 

[AriochIV]

How do you know it'll be blue?

A number of different previews described it as blue.

 

[bouncymischa]

Exactly... but the first statement in the article was that the biomes Only had graphical differences... like the Asian, European, etc. tile sets... no gameplay differences in how you interacted with the tiles.

The first statement was the one that bothered me... it seemed to imply that on an Arid biome you wouldn't have more desert and less grassland, just that the desert and grassland would look drier (with no gameplay effect at all)

I think the first comment refers to the fact that there are graphical differences in tiles that don't have gameplay effects. For example, they point out that forests on Arid worlds are made up of cactii, while on other worlds they're likely some other kinds of plants. The fact that a forest is made up of cactii rather than fungus or other plants doesn't change its yields in any way, and it's still a "forest"... it just looks like a different kind of forest.

 

[Onemorecivfan]

The biomes change tile yields and the spawn rate of aliens. Article mentions aliens don't like arid. Time to heat up the planet (they did say minor terraforming is in.)

 

[KrikkitTwo]

The biomes change tile yields and the spawn rate of aliens. Article mentions aliens don't like arid. Time to heat up the planet (they did say minor terraforming is in.)

No the biomes Don't change tile yields... that was the point of the article (although it might change which types of tiles you have (more desert, less grassland or vice versa)

And it says nothing about different spawn rates of aliens/aliens not 'liking' certain biomes