[Module] No More Terraforming

[Milaga]

So I've never liked how certain civs automatically transform the lands in their borders. This module removes the automatic transformation of lands for the Malakim, Cualli, Mazatl and yes, even the Illians. The Scions, Frozen, Infernals and all followers of the White hand will still slowly change their landscape.

I also added a few other changes that prevent units from changing Erebus (or for it to change itself.) Scorch and Spring have been changed, and features now grow much, much slower.

If you only want to play without terraforming and don't care for the changes to features and spells, delete all the XML except the NMT_CIV4CivilizationInfos.xml and NMT_CIV4CivilizationsSchema.xml files.

This module should be loaded first.

Spoiler Version 0.9 - 2010.08.19 :

* Forests, New Forests, and Jungles now grow at about 1/8th the rate they used to.
* Kelp and Kelp Forests grow at about 1/12th the rate they used to.
* Reefs and Burnt Forests no longer grow.
* Kelp movement cost reduced to 2.
* Kelp forest and Reef movement cost reduced to 3.
* Malakim no longer turn their lands into deserts.
* Cualli and Mazatl no longer turn their lands into wetlands.
* Illians no longer turn their lands into frost. Followers of the White Hand, regardless of civ, will still turn their lands into glaciers.
* Mechanos and Jotnar Firekin no longer have access to Scorch.
* The spell Scorch has been removed and replaced with Shine.
* Shine increases the food yield of a plot with a farm on it by 1 food for 1 turn. It also removes invisibility from all units within 1 tile. It can be autocast.
* The spell Spring no longer changes the terrain in the tile.
* Spring will now provide fresh water on the tile for 1 turn.

To install, extract the archive into the the Rise from Erebus/Assets/Modules/LoadOrderVitalModules/FirstLoad directory.

Activating or deactivating this module will break your save games in an apocalyptic explosion. It's as if a million bits cried out in terror, and were suddenly silenced.

 

[Calavente]

I like most of those :
my 0.2 :
I like scorch and spring as they were ... maybe make them a delayed spelled ?
can you up forest/AF/newF/jungle back ? those were not an issue IMO.
I think shine and spring... are not interesting : +1/fresh water for 1 turn for 1adept ... waste of a promotion.
+ malakim are nerfed with that as they could use the "scorch the plain then summon a sand lion". now they can't do that.

 

[Milaga]

I like scorch and spring as they were ... maybe make them a delayed spelled ?

No.

The name of the module is No More Terraforming. If I wanted to keep terraforming spells I would have called it A Little Less Terraforming. But I didn't. I really dislike how with these two spells you can turn terrain into whatever you want, they won't get their terraforming back in this mod.

Delete NMT_CIV4SpellInfos.xml to remove these changes from the module.

can you up forest/AF/newF/jungle back ? those were not an issue IMO.

No.

I never liked how forests and jungle would spread, turning flat grassland tiles into dense, useless jungles at whim. This has no effect on new forests upgrading to forests, or forests to ancient forests. That should still happen normally.

Delete NMT_CIV4FeatureInfos.xml to remove these changes from the module. You'll have to remove the spells as mentioned above though since some of their effects are in this file (Sunshine and Spring are both temporary features.)

I think shine and spring... are not interesting : +1/fresh water for 1 turn for 1adept ... waste of a promotion.

I disagree.

If you have D'Teshi hunters in your lands, you really think being able to turn them visible is a waste of a promotion? The +1 food is just icing, really. Though I'm starting to think it might be too much. I could limit it to farm resources only. Or make it so that if you cast sunshine within a tile of another sunshine it actually blinds you instead of creating a sunshine.

Fresh water a waste of a promotion? That means health for a landlocked city, or +food for a farm without irrigation. Spring is a source of fresh water, which means that it actually gives fresh water to nine tiles! And best of all it lets you build improvements that require fresh water on tiles that don't normally have access to it. And it still puts out forest fires. No, I think Spring might be the most versatile (and perhaps most powerful) of all the tier 1 spells now.

+ malakim are nerfed with that as they could use the "scorch the plain then summon a sand lion". now they can't do that.

This is a huge nerf to the four civs who no longer turn all the lands in their borders into perfect tiles. Yes, I am comfortable with this. I really think at this point the sand lions are the least of the Malakims worries.

 

[Calavente]

well. the point I made against spring is mostly the 1turn thing. you'll have to have the adept stay here all the time until you can build an acqueduct. (but I forgot that fresh water also means +1 for farms.. so if autocasted, or "kill the caster but creates an oasis even on plain/hill/grass" it is fine. sowwy for my first post).
AS for malakim :
as you removed autospread of desert AND removed scorch ability to make desert...
IMO you killed the civ : (for other civs the dependence on their typical climate is less important : their own climate is bonus for them but they should be able to cope well with a normal climate).
For malakim(+), desert is vital : no desert means not being able to connect ressources, no trade networks and no sand lion attacks...etc

 

[Milaga]

well. the point I made against spring is mostly the 1turn thing. you'll have to have the adept stay here all the time until you can build an acqueduct. (but I forgot that fresh water also means +1 for farms.. so if autocasted, or "kill the caster but creates an oasis even on plain/hill/grass" it is fine. sowwy for my first post).

Yes, you'll have to have your adept there as long as you want the fresh water. And the adept will take up unit maintenance. As will the guard unit you probably want stationed. Or perhaps two, since it isn't supposed to be cast on any tile that has any kind of positive defense bonus. But overlooked a few things in 0.9 so that last part isn't working quite right.

For malakim(+), desert is vital : no desert means not being able to connect ressources, no trade networks and no sand lion attacks...etc

As I was trying to figure out how to allow Malakim workers to build roads once again, I noticed that they are only blocked from building roads in deserts. They can build roads anywhere else but deserts, since all deserts, effectively, have roads for them. So they can still connect resources, just some of them they will have to build roads to.

Also, have you seen all the deserts ErebusContinent puts in even at a reduced setting? I'm a little more worried about how this will play out for the lizards.

 

[Sjru]

Still Kelp take too much time to travel. If you go to the sea you'll see that kelp hardly ever can disturb seafaring, as it is located mostly on the bottom of the sea.
However, reef does disturb seafaring as you have to avoid it.
Could it be possible to remove move penalties for kelp, and increase penalties for reef (more %damage/turn perhaps)?

 

[isthmus]

Big, big fan of this

I really disliked the tier 1 spells being able to terraform, it really felt like cheating (and so I didn't use them - but it's then a waste of a spell). Good to see an actual use applied to these spells in addition to removing terraform, I think the ideas for them are really good - especially spring with the early game health fix to being landlocked

I think the bear constellation event needs to be disabled with this module though - it's really annoying when you can't scorch back unluckiness after your otherwise perfect city placement gets hit with unremovable taiga.

The lizards might still need something though, given their lack of natural terrain available on erebus continent standard settings compared to the other (ex)terraformers. Don't know if it's possible but you could maybe have very slow terraform to wetland&jungle on freshwater or river tiles only? Not sure if this goes too far against the original aim of the module though

 

[Milaga]

Still Kelp take too much time to travel. If you go to the sea you'll see that kelp hardly ever can disturb seafaring, as it is located mostly on the bottom of the sea.
However, reef does disturb seafaring as you have to avoid it.
Could it be possible to remove move penalties for kelp, and increase penalties for reef (more %damage/turn perhaps)?

I *almost* removed the penalties altogether for kelp. You are entirely right though, I really think it would take a lot of vegetable matter in the water to slow a ship down. I'll change it, but keep the penalty for kelp forests.

15% damage on a ship is a lot. I don't really want to make it much more.

Big, big fan of this

Thanks.

I think the bear constellation event needs to be disabled with this module though - it's really annoying when you can't scorch back unluckiness after your otherwise perfect city placement gets hit with unremovable taiga.

I thought all the terrain changes by constellation events were temporary. It really should not be sticking around.

The lizards might still need something though, given their lack of natural terrain available on erebus continent standard settings compared to the other (ex)terraformers. Don't know if it's possible but you could maybe have very slow terraform to wetland&jungle on freshwater or river tiles only? Not sure if this goes too far against the original aim of the module though

The original aim of the module was to tone down Terraforming. I may be convinced to reconsider for the Cualli. I can see Agruonn more than content to turn the world into a dark, shadowy jungle. It doesn't really fit the Mazatl, though. I need to think about it and see how they make out with what they have.

 

[darkedone02]

Well I do like the automated terraforming as it gives you the balance and appearance of your land, it remind me of the Disciples Series where each nation has a special land that grows around them, The Empire of Man has grassland, The Undead has haunted lands and twisted lands, Demons have lava rivers, and other stuff like that.

If only all civilization has something similar to that, as it add Diversity on cultured land's, and a feel of uniqueness... I respect that you made this module to turn it off, and I wish it was more of an option in the game to disable it in the future. I also wish in the future that more races be able to automated terraform the land's.

 

[Vadrigald]

Gonna give this a couple games and see how I like it. I dislike a bit how many civs automatic terraforming make city placement almost irrelevant, and I agree on the spells scorch and spring, they're just way powerful.

Just wanna say thanks for these modules you've been putting out. Appreciate it, especially stuff like the "No Linked Builds" module which is just a bug fix while we wait for the next release

 

[Torugu]

I guess it's good that you made this module, if it only it should calm the voices calling for the removal of the terraforming mechanisms in the main game somewhat.

 

[Milaga]

If only all civilization has something similar to that, as it add Diversity on cultured land's, and a feel of uniqueness... I respect that you made this module to turn it off, and I wish it was more of an option in the game to disable it in the future. I also wish in the future that more races be able to automated terraform the land's.

From what Valkrionn has been saying, you will get your wish.

Just wanna say thanks for these modules you've been putting out. Appreciate it, especially stuff like the "No Linked Builds" module which is just a bug fix while we wait for the next release

No problem. I'm glad you enjoy them.

I guess it's good that you made this module, if it only it should calm the voices calling for the removal of the terraforming mechanisms in the main game somewhat.

Of which I was one of the vocal ones. If anything, I made this module to shut me the heck up.

 

[Venir]

I thought all the terrain changes by constellation events were temporary. It really should not be sticking around.

If by "temporary" you mean "half the game", then yes they're temporary. Seriously though, I've had the taiga event hit me pretty early in the game before, and those plots remained that way until I fixed them myself. And Divination is pretty dang low on my tech priority list.

 

[isthmus]

The burnt wings constellation is another one which is permanent

 

[Wauthan]

Thanks for sharing this Milaga. Heh, I find myself returning to this forum to check on your modules instead of the progression of Rife itself. Great to see such a talented and productive modmodder in action.

 

[odalrick]

The Scions, Frozen, Infernals and all followers of the White hand will still slowly change their landscape.

This bugged me enough that I had to start a game to try it:

Scions do not change the landscape!

 

[inuyashasama]

This bugged me enough that I had to start a game to try it:

Scions do not change the landscape!

Don't they haunt the surrounding territory? Not the same as more common terraforms, but still terraforming.

 

[Celeborn]

Don't they haunt the surrounding territory? Not the same as more common terraforms, but still terraforming.

Unless it's been changed since the last time I played it doesn't happen auto-magically. You need to create some initial Haunted Lands first(Unless yer lucky enough to start with some in yer territory) after which it "grows" in a similar fashion to Forests and Jungles. And that growth isn't exclusive to Scion lands

 

[Valkrionn]

From what Valkrionn has been saying, you will get your wish.

Eh.... Not really anything like what he meant, no.

This bugged me enough that I had to start a game to try it:

Scions do not change the landscape!

Yes they do.

Unless it's been changed since the last time I played it doesn't happen auto-magically. You need to create some initial Haunted Lands first(Unless yer lucky enough to start with some in yer territory) after which it "grows" in a similar fashion to Forests and Jungles. And that growth isn't exclusive to Scion lands

Haunted Lands are able to auto-spread within Scion territory. The rate is still dependent on the units which are capable of spreading it manually, however.

 

[Evalis]

Correct me if I'm wrong here.. but doesn't summoning samhain (along with a couple other illian/white hand rituals) turn some of the land to tundra? This should probably be taken out too if there is no way to reverse the effects. It's fairly crippling. Honestly it was annoying to have to micro all your adepts to get rid of it even when it was possible..