More Terrains / Terrain Features / Bonus Ressources [IMPLEMENTED]

[raystuttgart]

So ok, I implemented Terrain Features Tar Pit and Clay Pit.

Credits for 3D graphics:
Caveman 2 Cosmos mod

They are pretty rare and can only occur in Wetland and Marsh
They can not occur near the Coast and need Flatland.

They currently give no Yields and also remove all other Yields on the Plots.
They also reduce Movement Speed and give Defense Bonusses.

Othewise they currently do not do much yet ... (I am still collecting and preparing all I need.)
They are however intended to give Bonusses to any City that either has them in its City Radius or is connected (by upcoming Connection System).

Gameplay Bonus of Clay Pit:
Bonus on Building Construction Speed

Gameplay Bonus of Tar Pit:
Bonus on Ship / Land Transport Construction Speed

By the way:
I created the Button for the Clay Pit from the "former Clay Pit" at my house.
That is no joke - I really live next to a "Swamp" . It used to be a Clay Pit but now is a Natural Reserve. (It is just 100m away from my house.)
There is a waking trail around it but it is forbidden to go inside to protect the wild life and because it is in fact dangerous.

This is the picture:
(I can see that from my house.)



So from this I created this button:

 

[modmod]

Otherwise "Lush Grass" has been split into:

• "Lush Grass" (Flatland) --> For Horses and Cattle
• "Meadows" (Hills) --> For Sheep (and Llamas)

Was better the original (as not divided).
Jet the Meadows have better graphics in the pedia.

About to cut/ remove it.
Grants food? People basically do not eat grass. (Except the Japanesse in ww2 islands. )
Barley if we count on it a bit more widescope - "for use in brewing and stockfeed" then more realistic.

 

[raystuttgart]

Barley if we count on it a bit more widescope - "for use in brewing ...

We Germans do not brew beer out of gras, but maybe that is a "Colonial thing" I do not know about ...

... and stockfeed

That is the reason it gives "Food".
There is just nothing else that matches better.

 

[modmod]

• Could Tar somehow become a new Yield given a Plot Profession? (Is that realistic?)
  
• Should "Tar Pit" give negative Yield modifiers so the Player has to remove it?
  
• Could "Tar Pit" somehow influence Health of adjacent colony?
  
• Could "Tar Pit" somehow influence Happiness of adjacent colony?
  
• Could ...

Looking for ideas ...

New yield/ profession would be realistic - but better to wait untill there are at least 2 more base materials/ product (as a part of future expansion for new materials/ products) as it needs among others UI change.
Then should be used for ship building as materials.
So for the future: yes.

Negative yield modifiers on that plot: yes realistic.

Health: No real effect, can mildly decrease the negative effects of swamps/ marshes, but that is neglectable.

Happiness: Cannot think about any real effect.

 

[ConjurerDragon]

We Germans do not brew beer out of gras, but maybe that is a "Colonial thing" I do not know about ...

He mentioned BARLEY. That is "Gerste". Malting barley or brewing barley is "Braugerste". He changed what he refered to from the first to the 2nd sentence.

After tar pit and clay pit - will we have Clayface and Gravel Pit?

 

[modmod]

We Germans do not brew beer out of gras, but maybe that is a "Colonial thing" I do not know about ...

"The Reinheitsgebot (“Purity Law”), enacted in Bavaria in 1516, restricted the ingredients in beer to barley, hops, and water."
Point is there.

There is just nothing else that matches better.

Well reason why I did write widescope.
The proper would be if there are a concrete base material for stockfeed.

 

[raystuttgart]

Ok guys, and here we have the next Terrain Feature: Shrubs.

Credits for Graphics:
TAC Team (Tortuga mod)

It is a small present for our Bisons. They love it and give more Fur there.
Without Bisons you will most likely just want remove it.

It is a small obstacle to all Farming and Plantations and Horses and Cattle do not care about it either.
Most Improvements (except Trapper Hut) will remove it anyways.


It is as rare as Lush Grass though.
(Do not expect to find it everywehre.)

 

[raystuttgart]

And now we have Terrain Feature "Salt Desert".
(I originally wanted to call it "Salt Lake", but it could be confused with a "Salt Water Lake".)

Credits: The Button is taken from the Civ4 Dune Mod.
(The Terrain graphics I created myself - I am still learning GIMP and may improve them a bit later.)

It can only be generated on Desert and may have Bonus Ressource Salt.
(It is rare, because it has several other conditions - e.g. no River, no Coast, no ...)

For mining Salt, this is the perfect place.
Put a Mine on it and "The Spice ... ähem .. Salt shall flow".

Otherwise Salt Deserts are a really bad place to fight on. (Defensive Malus.)
It may get further (strategic) modifiers, once I start implementing the actual DLL logic for the Overhaul.

It is also not allowed to build a City on it by the way.
(It is purposely forbidden because your colonists would starve.)



New graphics version
(Bonus Ressource much better to see.)


Pevious graphics version
(Bonus Ressource hard to see).

Spoiler :

 

[modmod]

The Terrain graphics I created myself

With that you already can be called a graphical modder.

 

[ConjurerDragon]

I usually play the RAR Americas Gigantic map.
As salt is an important resource (and demanded by local consumption) I try to provide salt to my colonies but usually have to buy it in Europe as it takes a very long time from the start in e.g. Nya Sverige at the Eastern Seaboard of the US until I first discover a desert that contains salt. Usually either in Argentinia, Chile or around the western US in Nevada/Utah area.

From my point of view it is strange that salt is such an uncommon resource for someone settling on a geographical correct map in the area of of New Foundland / New England (so the English, French, Dutch and Swedisch starting points).

Salt deserts as in the game are only one source of salt. Salt may exist prominently in natural salt pans or salt lakes (e.g. the Salt Lake in Utah where the Mormons settled) but it is mined and evaporated too.

Places of salt mining rock salt were so prosperous that whole cities and regions in Europe are named after it (e.g. Salzburg, Salzkammergut) and those exist in the New World too, e.g.
salt mining in Columbia since before colonial times
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_Cathedral_of_Zipaquirá

In Massachusetts e.g. Samuel Winslow was awarded the first patent for a new process of making salt
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Winslow_(patentee)

https://seasalt.com/history-of-salt

Reports from Onondaga, New York in 1654 indicated the Onondaga Indians made salt by boiling brine from salt springs. Colonial Americans were making salt by boiling brine in iron kettles during the time that the U.S. Constitution was being drafted. By the time of the Civil War, thousands of workers were producing over 225,000 short tons of salt by boiling. Settlers reported that Native Americans made salt at Kanawha, West Virginia before 1755 by boiling brine from salt springs. Large-scale salt production from brine springs was underway by 1800, and the process of drilling for more concentrated brine began within a few years. The Kanawha valley supplied the Confederacy with salt during the Civil War, when production peaked.

Similar events occurred at Avery Island, Louisiana. Historians believe that Native Americans produced salt from salt springs more than 500 years before the arrival of Europeans. Salt produced by boiling brine supplied salt during the war of 1812. Full-scale production in open pits or quarries began in 1862, during the Civil War, and the first underground salt mine was started in 1869 with the sinking of a shaft....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mann's_Lick
Bullits Lick
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullitt's_Lick
was the only salt works west of the Allegheny mountains until 1780 - as in the game we are usually playing the timeframe from 1492 - 1792 having salt deserts in the far west of nowadays US that became part of the US only after the US-Mexican war of 1848 does not really help unless one expands unhistorically or settles cities in far distances.1792 historically had the US expand west only to the Mississipi:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2e/United_States_evolution.gif

So while the most obvious source of salt and the probably the easiest and cheapest method is harvesting salt flats / salt pans / salt lakes there should be a way for a player who tries to expand in a somewhat historical way to produce salt in America in other ways (e.g. mining rock salt in Columbia, producing salt by boiling salt water from salt licks and salt springs in e.g. Virginia, Kentucky or New York.

 

[raystuttgart]

So while the most obvious source of salt and the probably the easiest and cheapest method is harvesting salt flats / salt pans / salt lakes ...

That is why I am adding them now.
I am totally aware that we need more options to get salt for better balancing.

----

.... producing salt by boiling salt water from salt licks and salt springs ...

I could in deed add some "Terrain Feature" on a Coastal Land Plot or in Coastal Water (that could also have Bonus Ressource Salt) that allows to "dry salt water".
(I will need to see what I can do with graphics ... "Salt Spings" sound challenging for me as beginner in graphical modding.)

-----

I am not even close to being done yet with my "Terrain Overhaul".
Give me some time please though.

I want to make sure that it blends nicely with the existing gameplay.
That is the key to good features: they need to make sense for gameplay.

 

[ConjurerDragon]

...
I could in deed add some "Terrain Feature" on a Coastal Land Plot or in Coastal Water (that could also have Bonus Ressource Salt) that allows to "dry salt water".
(I will need to see what I can do with graphics ... "Salt Spings" sound challenging for me as beginner in graphical modding.)

an example from the Phillipines where a fountain brings up dissolved salt that then flowed down a mountain that looked white for centuries:
https://images.summitmedia-digital.com/esquiremagph/images/2020/12/01/SALINAS-SALT-SPRING.jpg
https://www.esquiremag.ph/long-reads/features/salinas-salt-springs-a00293-20201201

Salt springs in the US are rather unremarkable - it is just for example a fountain or creek with an unusual high percentage of salt in it due to minerals in the earth
e.g. the Illinois salines look just like a normal creek
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illinois_Salines#/media/File:Saline_Springs_site.jpg
where then the colonists would use wood leftover from logging to boil the water to gain salt.

Perhaps an ignorant question, but would it be possible to simply copy and paste the salt picture fromt he desert terrain to say wetlands?

http://www.virginiaplaces.org/geology/graphics/saltmaking.png
http://www.virginiaplaces.org/geology/graphics/saltmaking2.png
http://www.sonofthesouth.net/leefoundation/civil-war/1865/january/saltville-virginia.htm
http://www.sonofthesouth.net/leefoundation/civil-war/1865/january/making-salt.htm
http://www.wvgs.wvnet.edu/www/geology/geoldvsa.htm

https://archive.org/details/pioneertimesino00smitgoog/page/n42/mode/2up

I am not even close to being done yet with my "Terrain Overhaul".
Give me some time please though.

I want to make sure that it blends nicely with the existing gameplay.
That is the key to good features: they need to make sense for gameplay.

No need to hurry. As long as rock salt mining and salt evaporation is not forgotten, so that a player can produce a bit of salt outside deserts in the future I´m happy. Even if the desert salt pans may produce more salt or salt production from salt springs requires to burn wood that´s still fine.

 

[raystuttgart]

... but would it be possible to simply copy and paste the salt picture from the desert terrain to say wetlands?

Yes it would but I am not sure if that would no confuse players if they look identical.
Give me some time to experiment what looks good or not.

 

[modmod]

As ideas for the salt production in coasts:

By simply boiling/ dry some sea water some minor quantity of salt can be made (fitr for domestic use mainly).
For example (ideas):
1. Using warehouse or docks: by add a new profession of salt dryer (but also needs a separate professional output a lesser one than the other workers have): there they can make some 1 - 3
2. Add some minor quantity of salt for coastal water (1 - 2) depending on geography (more in warm areas like around equator)
3. Use a new improvement on coastal water plots to create salt water beds. (Well then off course that makes far less suitable for fishing but improves salt production)

 

[raystuttgart]

Hi guys,

as requested I created this here:
(All graphics created by myself.)

Terrain Feature: Salt Water Pools
(It is not as powerful as its big brother Salt Desert - but it at least allows to get Salt in Coastal Areas.)

It is relatively rare and is only found on coastal Land Plots of Wetland or Marsh without a River.
It may also have Bonus Ressource Salt if you are lucky and it also allows to build Improvement Mine on it.

P.S.:
Instead of Improvement Mine I may create Improvements "Salt Drainage" / "Large Salt Drainage" for "Salt Water Pools".
But I am still looking for good graphics for those or somebody that could create them for me.

 

[raystuttgart]

So ok, seems like we now solved another small balancing issue of the mod.
There are now sufficient places in the New World that allow proper salt mining / drying.

With the help of a graphical modder it can be further improved.
(It was the best I could do myself with the limited graphical knowledge I currently have.)

• Terrain Feature graphics may be further improved.
• For "Salt Water Pools": Instead of Improvement "Mine" it may get Improvement "Salt Drainage".

 

[modmod]

Well I meant it in coastal water plots as terrain feature.
But yes "an area of coastal grassland that is regularly flooded by seawater" also realistic.

 

[raystuttgart]

But yes "an area of coastal grassland that is regularly flooded by seawater" also realistic.

It is not just "realistic as well".
It is actually the most common way it is done in reality.

"Cooking salt water directly from the ocean" is a very inefficient way to get more than a few grams of salt. (You need too much wood and thus it is expensive.)
More efficiently you just have large areas of land being flooded by salt water, and then have the sun dry it (several times - often up to 20 times - in a row).
If after that "drying by the sun", you still have too much water left you may use "additional cooking" - but you will always start by having land flooded and dried by sun first.

In coastal areas this is the only way of getting Salt that really makes sense. (I have been to such places myself.)
In inland areas you either have to use "Salt Pans" in Deserts or "Salt Mines" in Hills and Mountains. (Been to such places even more often.)


See here:
(The natural way of this happening.)

https://www.google.de/imgres?imgurl=https://c8.alamy.com/compde/taay93/larnaca-zypern-trocknen-salz-am-ufer-des-salt-lake-im-abendlicht-taay93.jpg&imgrefurl=https://www.alamy.de/fotos-bilder/trocknendes-salz.html&tbnid=iHPQP28Witq8gM&vet=12ahUKEwiN1d--obXxAhVBdBoKHZebD44QMygRegQIARBK..i&docid=tvsVMABUzoRsGM&w=1300&h=956&itg=1&q=salzwasser trocknung bilder&ved=2ahUKEwiN1d--obXxAhVBdBoKHZebD44QMygRegQIARBK

Or here:
(The "old style way" of Humans doing it since almost 1000 years.)

https://www.google.de/url?sa=i&url=https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Salt_pans_in_Marakkanam,_India.jpg&psig=AOvVaw1FFxo3Sfsq5wTSZY_yZ2nh&ust=1624795508573000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAcQjRxqFwoTCKCu64ehtfECFQAAAAAdAAAAABAF

Or here:
(Which is the industrial way of doing it today.)

https://www.google.de/imgres?imgurl=https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/meeressalzproduktion-mit-salzwasser-aus-dem-atlantik-im-vulkanboden-tradition-der-verdampfung-des-wassers-fabrik-fabriksaline-166010443.jpg&imgrefurl=https://de.dreamstime.com/meeressalzproduktion-mit-salzwasser-aus-dem-atlantik-im-vulkanboden-tradition-der-verdampfung-des-wassers-fabrik-fabriksaline-image166010443&tbnid=pNrQlZnpH7_zGM&vet=12ahUKEwiN1d--obXxAhVBdBoKHZebD44QMygVegQIARBT..i&docid=Jwj0kxzj5eMrmM&w=1600&h=987&itg=1&q=salzwasser trocknung bilder&ved=2ahUKEwiN1d--obXxAhVBdBoKHZebD44QMygVegQIARBT

 

[modmod]

Not the only:

Originally in some places there were sand walls/ other obstacles which in many times prevented the seaflow - except during tide (ebb and flow) -> mainly is shallow bays. So that parts were always in sallow coastal water but with large salt concentration because water regulary evaporated while salt remained in large concentration.

Arabic/ Spanish:
https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-1-4020-3995-9_495

The artificial solution is similar to this (operated with dams too -> that is for land mainly/
Reclamation of coastal areas):

But sure the artificial one is more about land area (except some modern which uses giant mertal containers/ glasses at sea territory).

As for this:

Nobody is "cooking salt water". That is utterly fictional

Not sure that done historically in meaningful regularity.
Right now in Saudi Arabia/ in many nearby Arabic countries this is a regular source of water (they boil sea water (mainly use petrochemicals) and supply cc. destilled water inland (while off course destilled water bad for human consumption - they have health problems because of that).
So the main reason is water - not salt for sure, but salt remains there.

So the question is -> was it done historically in the colonization era?

But before misunderstand:
No problem with salt - marshes/ wetlands.
A few similar (and similarly rare) can be added to coastal water plots.
If not - still not big deal just would be fine for immersion.

 

[raystuttgart]

Not sure that done historically in meaningful regularity.

Considering immersion:

It is simply not "salt water directly from the ocean".
The amount of salt in the ccean water is in average 3,5 % only.

Thus it is usually first dried by some other method like most commonly "sun drying" on land to increase the amount of salt in the water.
Only after the amount of salt in the water has reached much higher levels than 3.5 precent any "additional cooking" would make sense.

If you have water that aleady has about 15% of salt (e.g. comming from a "salt spring" in the mountains - water that has been flowing through pure salt) you might directly cook it.
But such places are extremely rare and usually only found in mountain regions that were oceans in the past.

----

So yes, today it is realistic to cook salt water directly from the ocean to get "pure water" and as a side effect "some salt".
But that is done for water, because as I said, the measly 3.5% of salt makes this very inefficient if you really want to get salt itself.

----

Considering gameplay:

Considering gameplay in WTP this is simply no "Water Plot" (not even "Shallow Water") anymore.
No Ship can sail in it. Thus it is a Land Plot, because only Land Units can move there.
(Such Pools are just a few centimeters deep. Otherwise the "salt drying" takes too long.)

Also we have no Profession to harvest "Salt" from Ocean. (And it is pointless to create it because it would be too rare.)
The "Salt Miner" Profession does not work like that and it would look extremely strange and unimmersive ... like "A Salt Miner trying to fish Salt in the Ocean".

Real Fishing in these "Salt Water Pools" is utterly impossible.
The level of salt simply kills everything that is even close to a fish.

"Shallow Coast" itself is way too rare to even make sense to put "Salt Water Pools" on those plots.
You would almost never see the combination Terrain "Shallow Coast" + Terrain Feature "Salt Water Pools".

Bonus Ressouce Salt is a "Land Plot Ressource", not a "Water Plot Ressource".
It is possible to make it both but it is unnecessary effort and could mess up its balancing.

On a Land Plot I can have Pioneers put an Improvement on it.
On Water Plot we currently can not. Because our Fishing Boats are no "Worker Boats" yet and thus can not build any Improvement.

...

Summary:

There were good reasons I created this as "Land Plot Terrain Feture".
(Everything else would just have caused lots of issues with immersion, visuals, gameplay ...)

This picture may look like Ocean on first sight, I agree.
But if you really think about how it behaves, it is really just "Land covered with a thin layer of Water".

• No Ships like in Water, but instead Humans walking around like on Land
  
• No Fish like in Water, but instead Salt being mined / harvested like on Land