Eddie Verdde
Chieftain
- Joined
- Jan 10, 2020
- Messages
- 81
I propose a new system of food resources that simulates better what happens in real life and could bring about new gameplay dynamics.
Three principles underlie this suggestion. Firstly, in real life, crops/animals used to be native to a region, but once they began to be cultivated/domesticated intensively, they spread to other regions of the world, generally with the same climate and type of soil of the native region.
Secondly, food diversity increases the health of a population and protects against famines; different types of food provide different nutrients and if a disease affects a crop/animal, it will only be a major problem if the population is entirely dependent on that single crop/animal.
Thirdly, different types of crops/animals provide adaptation to different types of climate and soils, so that different civilizations evolved under different climates, relying on different crops/animals.
So, under this system, in the beginning of the game, each food resource occurs only in a single region. Let's assume that you are playing as the Aztec and your starting location has maize nearby, in a humid grassland. You found your first city and if you start to work a tile with maize, you gain access to maize and learn how to grow it. From now on, in every tile with the same type of climate and type of soil as the original tile of maize, you have two options: either you build a regular "farm" to increase the food output by 1, or you build an intensive farm of maize to increase the food output by 2. You will be tempted to have the maximum output possible so you may choose the maize farm. But this has a risk: if a disease affects the maize, you loose all the production of that tile for a number of turns. While if you have a regular farm you keep producing food because there's no focus on a single crop.
Plus, in order to sustain the growth of your city you will need health points, and one of the ways to obtain health points is to provide other types of food to your population. So there will be a balance between investing in maize and gaining access to other crops, either by trade or by exploration. Now let's say you explore the map and find a tile with sheep. As soon as you know how to domesticate sheep, you will be able to build a pasture in every otherwise-barren hill within tour city radius. You could not build a maize farm in the hills because the climate and soil were not adequate to maize, but building a sheep pasture is a good way to increase the food production of that hill. Plus, now you have a second type of food and your citizens will be healthier, so your population can grow up to a certain limit, at which you will need aditional health points, either by building an aqueduct or by gaining access to other food resources.
With this system, a food resource is no longer a single bonus in a single tile. It is something that requires strategic thinking and at the same time offers adaptability and allows your civilization to prosper regardless of starting conditions. Tropical regions may not be suitable for wheat, but are ideal for manioc. Highland arid regions may not be suitable for rice, but you can use them to grow sheep. Will your civilization depend on wheat, maize, sheep, or a mixture of crops and animals?
Three principles underlie this suggestion. Firstly, in real life, crops/animals used to be native to a region, but once they began to be cultivated/domesticated intensively, they spread to other regions of the world, generally with the same climate and type of soil of the native region.
Secondly, food diversity increases the health of a population and protects against famines; different types of food provide different nutrients and if a disease affects a crop/animal, it will only be a major problem if the population is entirely dependent on that single crop/animal.
Thirdly, different types of crops/animals provide adaptation to different types of climate and soils, so that different civilizations evolved under different climates, relying on different crops/animals.
So, under this system, in the beginning of the game, each food resource occurs only in a single region. Let's assume that you are playing as the Aztec and your starting location has maize nearby, in a humid grassland. You found your first city and if you start to work a tile with maize, you gain access to maize and learn how to grow it. From now on, in every tile with the same type of climate and type of soil as the original tile of maize, you have two options: either you build a regular "farm" to increase the food output by 1, or you build an intensive farm of maize to increase the food output by 2. You will be tempted to have the maximum output possible so you may choose the maize farm. But this has a risk: if a disease affects the maize, you loose all the production of that tile for a number of turns. While if you have a regular farm you keep producing food because there's no focus on a single crop.
Plus, in order to sustain the growth of your city you will need health points, and one of the ways to obtain health points is to provide other types of food to your population. So there will be a balance between investing in maize and gaining access to other crops, either by trade or by exploration. Now let's say you explore the map and find a tile with sheep. As soon as you know how to domesticate sheep, you will be able to build a pasture in every otherwise-barren hill within tour city radius. You could not build a maize farm in the hills because the climate and soil were not adequate to maize, but building a sheep pasture is a good way to increase the food production of that hill. Plus, now you have a second type of food and your citizens will be healthier, so your population can grow up to a certain limit, at which you will need aditional health points, either by building an aqueduct or by gaining access to other food resources.
With this system, a food resource is no longer a single bonus in a single tile. It is something that requires strategic thinking and at the same time offers adaptability and allows your civilization to prosper regardless of starting conditions. Tropical regions may not be suitable for wheat, but are ideal for manioc. Highland arid regions may not be suitable for rice, but you can use them to grow sheep. Will your civilization depend on wheat, maize, sheep, or a mixture of crops and animals?