winddbourne
Prince
Actually I do know about the changing landmass, hence the mention of continetal drift.
Different tectonic plates floating on the magma cause the continents to drift at about the same rate that your fingernails grow, and in predictable patterns. The single super continent of pangea will be reformed in about 200 million years.
That means that we could see gondwanaland on "earth" maps as well, or an antarctica that is warmer, providing you change the starting time of the game instead of the structure of the planet. But it is stated that the starting and ending dates are fixed, so . . .
The only way to have a pangea map still in effect at the current time is with a different core structure. Specifically one where:
(A) Somehow pangea formed on a single plate due to some kind of clumping in intial planetary formation. Probably resulting in many large islands elsewhere, and heavy erosion on the lone pangea-like continent.
(B) The core of the planet is much cooler and drift is therefore much slower with more erosion effects visible due to slower volcanic renewal processes and similiar weather patterns.
(C) The core of the planet is solid and drift has stopped. (Heavy erosion again)
(D) Continental formation took place at a much later date and human evolution happened much faster; perhaps due to a higher background radiation???? Maybe due to a HUGE astroid filled with hot (radioactive) materials entering the core and melting what had been a single mass???? Not likely but . . .
(E) Something I haven't though of yet. lol
The same goes for other map types. A lakes map assumes much less water and probably a larger number of astroid impacts, combined with less volcanic and erosion actvities to fill in or enlarge the lakes. A Rugged map assumes many more plate intersections and perhaps a longer glacial period to produce so many mountains and hills. A longer glacial period, perhasp due to a different sun would also be able to produce a "Lakes" type map without astroid impacts. But that's just speculation. Anyway . . .
Changes to the continent structure logically reflect changes to the planetary structure (the core), changes to the formation procces (the intial matter location, type, and amount), or changes to the outside influences (sun, moon, astroids, etc . . . )
In this particular game it seems Firaxis chose explanation 1: A change to the structure of the planet resulting in a fragile core, probably with more and smaller plates and a larger and hotter liquid content. Perhaps the map also had a large amount of uranium? Which would explain the extra core heat and the ease of building nukes.
It still could be called an "alternate earth" of course, but the alterations go back much further than the start of human history. With noticable differences in planetary formation and structure.
Of course that displays more than a high school level of knowledge concerning Geology. But I never said I was in high school, just that the level of my explanation could be understood by a high school educated person. lol
Different tectonic plates floating on the magma cause the continents to drift at about the same rate that your fingernails grow, and in predictable patterns. The single super continent of pangea will be reformed in about 200 million years.
That means that we could see gondwanaland on "earth" maps as well, or an antarctica that is warmer, providing you change the starting time of the game instead of the structure of the planet. But it is stated that the starting and ending dates are fixed, so . . .
The only way to have a pangea map still in effect at the current time is with a different core structure. Specifically one where:
(A) Somehow pangea formed on a single plate due to some kind of clumping in intial planetary formation. Probably resulting in many large islands elsewhere, and heavy erosion on the lone pangea-like continent.
(B) The core of the planet is much cooler and drift is therefore much slower with more erosion effects visible due to slower volcanic renewal processes and similiar weather patterns.
(C) The core of the planet is solid and drift has stopped. (Heavy erosion again)
(D) Continental formation took place at a much later date and human evolution happened much faster; perhaps due to a higher background radiation???? Maybe due to a HUGE astroid filled with hot (radioactive) materials entering the core and melting what had been a single mass???? Not likely but . . .
(E) Something I haven't though of yet. lol
The same goes for other map types. A lakes map assumes much less water and probably a larger number of astroid impacts, combined with less volcanic and erosion actvities to fill in or enlarge the lakes. A Rugged map assumes many more plate intersections and perhaps a longer glacial period to produce so many mountains and hills. A longer glacial period, perhasp due to a different sun would also be able to produce a "Lakes" type map without astroid impacts. But that's just speculation. Anyway . . .
Changes to the continent structure logically reflect changes to the planetary structure (the core), changes to the formation procces (the intial matter location, type, and amount), or changes to the outside influences (sun, moon, astroids, etc . . . )
In this particular game it seems Firaxis chose explanation 1: A change to the structure of the planet resulting in a fragile core, probably with more and smaller plates and a larger and hotter liquid content. Perhaps the map also had a large amount of uranium? Which would explain the extra core heat and the ease of building nukes.
It still could be called an "alternate earth" of course, but the alterations go back much further than the start of human history. With noticable differences in planetary formation and structure.
Of course that displays more than a high school level of knowledge concerning Geology. But I never said I was in high school, just that the level of my explanation could be understood by a high school educated person. lol
Only humanity itself should be destroyed from so many nuclear explosions, not the planet!
It makes no sense!
