Diminshing Pollution should heal Trees

[Beaver_von_Hupfburg]

So recently I've noticed that the trees around my base were dying. I first thought that I'm just imagining it, but as my suspicions grew, I checked the factorio wiki and found that this has indeed been a feature for a long time.

0.12.0:
Trees degenerate slowly when exposed to pollution at high levels.

Overcame with guilt, I set out to create a most ambitious project. I created a power switch and a simple combinator setup to disable my steam engines - one of the most polluting things I could find - as long as the accumulator still had charge. It was one of my first combinator projects too and I was very happy it worked.

I then placed around 2000 solar panels and accumulators. I'm not kidding. Of course I had the logistic system actually build it, but still. I also added Efficiency Modules - the green ones that reduce energy consumption and so pollution - to most everything. Around a hundred assembling machines - 4 each - even more mining drills - 3 each - and all electric melters - 2 each.

And it worked. I made it through a night without the steam engines ever having to kick in. Pollution slowly dissipated. It was a joyous occassion really.
What was an angry red cloud of pollution and a testament to my failure became a barely visible pink overlay.

But the trees never recovered and I was heartbroken. And so my simple suggestion is:
TLDR: Make trees become healthy again if pollution drops considerably in their area.

[steinio]

Well death is definitly and irreversible.

[deepdriller]

But not all of these trees are dead. Some might recover.
I did a steam engine switch just like you did, too- does your setup also allow the accumulators to charge up to 50% before switching the engines off again? Mine additionally severs all accumulators and solar panels from the main network to allow them to recharge.

[darkfrei]

Make this planet green again: Tree Sapling Mod

The Aussie Bush is hardy and grows well after a good burn: Hardy fire resistant bush

This mod will make trees automatically reproduce and expand over time: Natural Tree Expansion

[Beaver_von_Hupfburg]

But not all of these trees are dead. Some might recover.
I did a steam engine switch just like you did, too- does your setup also allow the accumulators to charge up to 50% before switching the engines off again? Mine additionally severs all accumulators and solar panels from the main network to allow them to recharge.

At this point I have so many accumulators and solar panels that the steam engines are completely obsolete. They do not have to kick in to charge the accumulators to full during the day and the accumulators can cover my energy consumption during the night. I have been monitoring the energy charts for several nights and the steam engines no longer (need to) contribute anything. They are still there, in case something unexpected happens, but I doubt that will happen.

Make this planet green again: Tree Sapling Mod

The Aussie Bush is hardy and grows well after a good burn: Hardy fire resistant bush

This mod will make trees automatically reproduce and expand over time: Natural Tree Expansion

I will check out the last mod you suggested, although I would really like to the original trees to recover, since they are the ones that have suffered greviously as the result of my greed.

[dx4]

TL;DR

Trees lose leaves by pollution, trees should gain leaves by lack of pollution.

What ?

Currently the trees (with leaves) absorb a specific amount of pollution according to their leaves (stages).
As they absorb a curtain number of pollution they start to lose leaves (increase stage level) absorbing less pollution.
At the final stage they have no leaves (stage 3) and they absorb no pollution.

My suggestion is for trees to reverse back to previous stages if the pollution gets lower.
For example, if a tree with no leaves (stage 3) is in an area with little pollution (lower than a specific number for stage 3) it will revert back to stage 2 after a specific amount of time (for stage 3 trees). Then again, if the pollution is still low (for a stage 2 tree this time) it will go to stage 1 after a specific amount of time (for stage 2 trees this time). This will continue until the tree will have max leaf density (stage 0)

Of course if the pollution gets high but the time to revert back hasn't been complete then the progress will be lost and the tree will behave like normal.

P.S. : I know of a mod that let you grow trees and let you through stuff at them to heal them. This is not what I seek. I want the process to be automated according to pollution. (see TL;DR)

Why ?

Trees are a great pollution absorption technique. When they die the only thing reducing the pollution is the ground and... spawners. However when they reach stage 3 they are useless and do not absorb pollution at at all. By implementing this suggestion we can "cut off" pollution production to make our territory green again (and more beautiful) and also help a ton with future pollution because trees will be able to absorb great amount of pollution again.

[CJ5Boss]

True, this would be a good idea. If it is implemented, it should come along with maybe some entity that cleans the air in a certain radius temporarily or removes pollution to allow trees to regrow.

[fessoric]

I agree, it would be nice if trees, which are "living things" could heal like all of the other living things in the game do. (Wait, can you damage fish? Do they heal?)

To be a bit more realistic, the game could roll a random chance each time a tree gets downgraded to a less healthy status. If the tree is unlucky the damage is permanent, and it is stunted, never again to become fully healthy. Or, of course, if the tree reaches the final "dead" state, that would be permanent too. But it would give most of the trees a chance to recover as you work to reduce your pollution.

[Stuzi88]

They don't regenerate on their own? I always thought the trees on the outer edge of my pollution bubble would act as a buffer but not permanently lose their leaves. I think it would be more realistic if they regenerated as long as they don't completely die.

[Koub]

They regenerate health over time, but don't regrow leaves, even when pollution has disappeared.

[steinio]

Well dead trees are dead for ever usually but they could regrow from saplings.
Maybe like the biter expansion expand forests.

[bobucles]

Dead trees are dead. The only solution is to not kill them in the first place, which you can do with aggressive use of efficiency modules and solar power.

[voddan]

I think it is a wonderful idea! Regenerating trees would reward shifting from coal to clean energy in a nice visual way.
A couple of notes:
- regenerating should be WAY slower than degradation from pollution. Healing is always harder than hurting.
- regenerating trees could have some sort of flowers (pink?) or new leaves (light green?) to show that they are growing

[dx4]

Thanks for all your replies

I like the idea of randoming stuff but not permanent damage. I think that if a tree has leaves it should always have a chance to regrow, but of course each tree will have its own strength value, which would be random. Also, if we want it to be more complicated, regeneration time would be faster the lower the pollution is.

Now the tree with no leaves (Stage 3), if we consider them dead the logic says that the damage would be permanent. I guess I would prefer if it was even harder for them to regenerate (like max 0 pollution) just to avoid the permanent status. The sapling suggestion was also good. Anything to avoid permanent tree loss would be great.

Anyhow I would love a leaf tree regeneration, the logic behind it doesn't really matter much. I'd just love to see my world green again

[QGamer]

What do you mean by "dead" trees? There are dead trees in Factorio that give only 2 wood when mined instead of 4.
Trees that lost their leaves because of pollution shouldn't be considered "dead" -- they are simply "poisoned" and so they should recover their leaves very slowly over time if the pollution is removed. Life is remarkably resilient, and so the trees ought to be as well.

[Koub]

What do you mean by "dead" trees? There are dead trees in Factorio that give only 2 wood when mined instead of 4.
Trees that lost their leaves because of pollution shouldn't be considered "dead" -- they are simply "poisoned" and so they should recover their leaves very slowly over time if the pollution is removed. Life is remarkably resilient, and so the trees ought to be as well.

OR above a given pollution value, trees should change to dead trees (the ones that give 2 wood) and never be able to regenerate.

[QGamer]

OR above a given pollution value, trees should change to dead trees (the ones that give 2 wood) and never be able to regenerate.

That would make sense, but since pollution doesn't harm any other life forms on the planet, it would be a bit odd.
But if pollution would damage the player and biters, and maybe poison fish, killing trees would not seem out of place.

[mrvn]

+1 on saplings. The Bioindustries mod has them. You can grow saplings from seeds and then plant them to make new forests. Great for limiting pollution spread around mines. Or just to beautify your base.

[vanatteveldt]

It would be nice if your factories spawned some sort of dead zone, also killing e.g. grass and brushes and leaving soot on rocks as well as damaging (defoiling) trees like it does now. Then, if you pollution retreats (which some elf told me is actually possible) it would be nice to see the area regreen.

[adam_bise]

Blackened is the end.
Winter it will send.
Evolutions end.
Never will it mend.