Arctic/Desert Biomes
Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2014 6:40 am
I thought about what the game currently lacks (apart from multiplayer) quite a bit, and I came to a conclusion that two aspects that are currently most „undeveloped“ are enemy variety and the environment. Now let’s get to the idea that has potential to solve both while being relatively achievable by the developers.
Biomes:
In my current state of mind there would be two new biomes apart from the standard one, arctic and desert. Both would come with extra effects on various buildings, transports, enemies. The biomes would probably have to be quite big areas, so the map isn’t too “patchy”. They may be at random locations or just the old “north is cold, south is warm” setup.
Weather:
Apart from obviously different ground textures, the idea of snow/sandstorms comes to mind. These would decrease visibility, possibly ground flying robots and shut down wind/solar power. Biters would probably choose to hide in such weather too. These storms would have to be quite local and very rare, since as far as my idea goes they are only a hindrance. Weather damaging buildings or the player is a very bad idea. Storms should be customizable in map settings. (Did you know that power plants working with steam generate more power the colder the outside temperature is? Termodynamics.)
Effect on buildings:
Now I wouldn’t even change the building textures for the new biomes, since sand doesn’t do THAT much and most buildings do generate enough heat to melt the snow. (Actually gradually melting snow around furnaces sounds good). Now take solar panels. These “should” in the basic biome fluctuate between 70-90% effectiveness, being worse in polar regions and better in deserts. Additional effects on transport may be a good idea, having snowmobile, dune buggies or train with ploughs is a bit of a stretch from dev point of view, but definitely feels cool. Much more effects on buildings could be done, but that has to remain subtle and not too game-changing.
Enemies:
Now there could be new enemies native to specific biomes, but that is again a bit too much work for now, so let’s do something for biters. (Although I would LOVE seeing sandworms in the game, which would mean changing the entire desert biome into a Dune-inspired thing, with rocky islands and everything) Apart from different textures for the new biomes, burrowing in sand/snow seems like a cool mechanic. There are many ways to do this, from having biters move slowly underground for certain amount of time after being attacked to having biters burrow on edge of defences to ambush or wait for certain amount of time/biters to do a bigger attack.
Extras:
Now there are many, many stretch goals to achieve with this, from different resources distribution, water abundance/temperature, enemy behaviour and so on. The final goal of this idea is to make the environment feel more diverse.
Biomes:
In my current state of mind there would be two new biomes apart from the standard one, arctic and desert. Both would come with extra effects on various buildings, transports, enemies. The biomes would probably have to be quite big areas, so the map isn’t too “patchy”. They may be at random locations or just the old “north is cold, south is warm” setup.
Weather:
Apart from obviously different ground textures, the idea of snow/sandstorms comes to mind. These would decrease visibility, possibly ground flying robots and shut down wind/solar power. Biters would probably choose to hide in such weather too. These storms would have to be quite local and very rare, since as far as my idea goes they are only a hindrance. Weather damaging buildings or the player is a very bad idea. Storms should be customizable in map settings. (Did you know that power plants working with steam generate more power the colder the outside temperature is? Termodynamics.)
Effect on buildings:
Now I wouldn’t even change the building textures for the new biomes, since sand doesn’t do THAT much and most buildings do generate enough heat to melt the snow. (Actually gradually melting snow around furnaces sounds good). Now take solar panels. These “should” in the basic biome fluctuate between 70-90% effectiveness, being worse in polar regions and better in deserts. Additional effects on transport may be a good idea, having snowmobile, dune buggies or train with ploughs is a bit of a stretch from dev point of view, but definitely feels cool. Much more effects on buildings could be done, but that has to remain subtle and not too game-changing.
Enemies:
Now there could be new enemies native to specific biomes, but that is again a bit too much work for now, so let’s do something for biters. (Although I would LOVE seeing sandworms in the game, which would mean changing the entire desert biome into a Dune-inspired thing, with rocky islands and everything) Apart from different textures for the new biomes, burrowing in sand/snow seems like a cool mechanic. There are many ways to do this, from having biters move slowly underground for certain amount of time after being attacked to having biters burrow on edge of defences to ambush or wait for certain amount of time/biters to do a bigger attack.
Extras:
Now there are many, many stretch goals to achieve with this, from different resources distribution, water abundance/temperature, enemy behaviour and so on. The final goal of this idea is to make the environment feel more diverse.
nwm