Hyperthermal Climates in Civilization

[civilizationfanatic2000]

Fauna and Flora build human civilization. Fauna and Flora are based on climate. Our current climate is such that the poles are permanently frozen over and impossible for ectotherms to access in any way. Essentially, the poles are a no-reptile zone.

Now imagine if this was the other way around. What if the earth was so hot that there was no ice at the poles, and the equator was so hot that no warm blooded life could pass? No mammal, no bird, etc. This isn't new- this happened many times during earth history. The PETM, the late Maastrichian, the Permian and Triassic, etc...That sort of climate is called Hyperthermal, where the average temperature in all months is 35+ C.

Since civilization is a game about human history, and human history depended on the things I list, I think it should take several things of note from this. You could set an average temperature of the planet on a slider, which allows for cold blooded animals to reach further and further towards the pole, and for more land to be fertile. However, it would run the risk of an increasingly impassible equator- which would split human civilization into two hemispheres for most of history.

 

[AriochIV]

I think that could be a fun game with a much more speculative theme than Civilization is generally known for. Many of the results of these variables would be worlds somewhat alien to the Earth our civilization has known.

 

[civilizationfanatic2000]

I think that could be a fun game with a much more speculative theme than Civilization is generally known for. Many of the results of these variables would be worlds somewhat alien to the Earth our civilization has known.

This is already something you can halfway achieve in normal civ. You can make a game without polar ice caps.

 

[AriochIV]

This is already something you can halfway achieve in normal civ. You can make a game without polar ice caps.

Yes, but they really don't explore the other more significant ramifications of very high global temperatures.

I'd love to see a more sandboxy life simulator that was more like what I thought Spore was going to be... but honestly I'm not sure how one would really make a playable game out of that.

 

[Futumch]

You'd almost want to have an updated "Sim Earth" from Maxis, but niche games like that are very thin on the ground these days.

Maybe the editor in Civ 7 will allow us to create something similar. It'd be good if it was robust enough to handle climate stuff like that.