Grass: Fremen were planting it on dunes

[Rainbow Sand]

So in this game grass also should spread to desert tiles; wet sand is poisonous -> impassable to worms.

 

[davidlallen]

Thanks for the comment. In Dune Wars, there is rocky terrain ("land") and deep desert ("ocean"). Grass will only spread on "land"; there is no way to convert "ocean" to "land". However, whenever there is water on a land plot, all of the adjacent plots -- both rocky and deep desert -- are poisonous to worms and spice. Later in the game when a player builds a Reservoir of Liet in a city, then all of the plots in the BFC of the city are poisonous to worms and spice.

 

[KHM]

One should also keep in mind that this is a game, and not only a game but a mod of a game made by volunteers.

So for everey piece of the lore several checks have to be made:

1) Does the game engine allow this feature? If not, discussion is over. (Seems to be the case here.)

2) Is there anyone in the team who can - and actually will - implement the feature? If not, discussion is over.

3) Is the feature fun to play? Here an extreme example: Imagine Frank Herbert wrote about a master/mastress (perhaps of the Bene Gesserit) who could kill the entire population of a planet (or at least a city) by a simple thought. Sort of a "I win"-button. You wouldn't like that feature in the game although it's part of the lore.

Many games (or mods) failed because of TOO MUCH flavor, disrupting "gameability".

4) Is it really part of the lore? May become a question if different sources show inconsistencies. After all, it's all fiction. But (4) should be the last question in the line.


Thus, the conclusion "Grass: Fremen were planting it on dunes. So in this game grass also should spread to desert tiles" is way too short imho.

 

[Lord Katana]

One should also keep in mind that this is a game, and not only a game but a mod of a game made by volunteers.

So for everey piece of the lore several checks have to be made:

1) Does the game engine allow this feature? If not, discussion is over. (Seems to be the case here.)

2) Is there anyone in the team who can - and actually will - implement the feature? If not, discussion is over.

3) Is the feature fun to play? Here an extreme example: Imagine Frank Herbert wrote about a master/mastress (perhaps of the Bene Gesserit) who could kill the entire population of a planet (or at least a city) by a simple thought. Sort of a "I win"-button. You wouldn't like that feature in the game although it's part of the lore.

Many games (or mods) failed because of TOO MUCH flavor, disrupting "gameability".

4) Is it really part of the lore? May become a question if different sources show inconsistencies. After all, it's all fiction. But (4) should be the last question in the line.


Thus, the conclusion "Grass: Fremen were planting it on dunes. So in this game grass also should spread to desert tiles" is way too short imho.

Yes, the feature exists.

In MoM (fantasy setting, modmod to ffa2) there are spells which change plots from water to land and vice versa. So the engine can handle it. How difficult it is to program, I have no clue

I would love to be able to create new land. When going for paradise, you WANT the desert to transform into a place where you can live. So it should convert to usable land.

Would it be too strong??? No don't think so. Paradise cities are big anyway, and specialists are good in DW. So choosing working a plot over a specialist isn't that much more.

But like i said, no clue how difficult it might be, and i'm a python n00b. So i think it would come down to the question if the devs think it's a good idea and can find the time to program it.

 

[davidlallen]

I agree it is technically possible to convert land to sea or the reverse. The big problem with most features that people suggest, is "teaching" the AI to use it. If we add a feature which the player can use, but the AI cannot use it effectively, then it makes the game too easy. This is already a problem with things like all-terrain transport; the AI often leaves a weak, fully loaded transport in a place where other players can reach it and destroy it.

 

[ChrisAdams3997]

I gotta agree with David on this one. And besides, I'm having a hard time imagining how it would really improve the gameplay.

And then there's the technical side of it. Which desert tiles receive terraforming, if all of them in your borders, or in BFC's, are eligible (as there's nothing to really distinguish them from each other), it'd come out looking pretty silly. Would it be just dunes then? Those are all out in the deep desert far from cities. Is it right for rocky ground, to just 'emerge' from the desert and then be terraformed? You'd have to instead have terraformed desert that stays 'ocean', but has anchor grass and gives better yields maybe? It's just too much trouble for what It'd give back in gameplay I'd think.

 

[God-Emperor]

On the other hand...

It is possible to make features that can appear on water plots, like the kelp feature in the various FFH mods. So you could make a second version of anchor grass that can spread on the "coastal" desert plots which gives them some small bonus. It should probably only spread to them if an adjacent land plot is already at least one step into the terraforming since it should only happen later in the process, if at all.

But I'm not sure how much it would really add to the game. It seems unnecessary and would perhaps require adjusting the victory condition since more plots could be terraformed.

 

[ChrisAdams3997]

you mean, kinda like...

You'd have to instead have terraformed desert that stays 'ocean', but has anchor grass and gives better yields maybe?

, sorry, had to.

Anyway, yep it could be done, but would really just be a flavor thing and I've got bigger fish to fry still.