Seasonal Change, and scale limits

Saber Cherry · #1 October 20th, 2003, 08:35 AM

Aside from some spells and heat scales, it appears that trees change color with the seasons... possibly! You decide:

http://www.shrapnelgames.com/Illwint..._jotunheim.jpg

I kind of think that all the scales should be changed to +-4, with nations still limited to choosing +-3. That way, a +3 cold nation would be +3 cold in Spring and Fall, +2 cold in summer, and +4 cold in winter. Otherwise, the nation will not get colder in the winter, which is very strange. Also, if random events or spells temporarily change a scale of a province, the effect will be felt even if the nation has the scale at the normal max or min...

It's not very realistic, for example, for a hypothetical "Cause Massive Laziness" spell to have no effect on a province, just because the people are naturally +3 sloth. They should go to +4

-Cherry

Saber Cherry · #2 October 21st, 2003, 07:08 PM

By the way, this thread isn't locked or anything, so you're allowed to comment if you so choose.

Nerfix · #3 October 21st, 2003, 07:33 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Saber Cherry:
By the way, this thread isn't locked or anything, so you're allowed to comment if you so choose.

"Silence of the thread", eh?

Nothing wrong with your idead, but i am fine with the current system.

Saber Cherry · #4 October 21st, 2003, 07:41 PM

I reread my original message and found it confusing. So allow me to clarify:

The nation design screen would be identical. Each scale would be specified from +3 to -3.

In the actual game, a province's scale could range from +4 to -4.

Thus, random events, seasons, or spells that tip scales would still effect a province that was under a dominion with maximal scale. For example, let's say Abyssia's nation design had +3 heat, and a strong dominion such that their home province was at +3 heat. Currently (in Dominions I) if a special event happened... for example, the hypothetical "Heat Wave", which normally increases the heat scale in the affected province... Abyssia would be unaffected, because their province's scale is already maxed. Which is unrealistic - "Wow, the ground just caught on fire, but it doesn't feel any hotter. Oh, yeah, this nation has a +3 heat scale, so it can't get any hotter, even when the ground is on fire. That's a relief!"

On the other hand, if a maximum of +4 or -4 were used for actual provincial scales, but +3 or -3 for nation design scales, a province in a +3 or -3 dominion could still be pushed over the normal maximum by special events. And with +-4 scales, invading Jotunheim in winter (when I assume it is normally +1 cold compared to normal) would be a bad idea, whereas if the scales max at +-3, winter in Jotunheim would be the same as fall and spring...

-Cherry

st.patrik · #5 October 21st, 2003, 08:07 PM

I guess I had always seen cold +3 provinces as places where it's always winter - places where it's about as cold as can be - all the time. I guess it might make sense for such a place to be a *little* bit warmer in summer, but pretty much as cold as it gets the rest of the year.

So your idea isn't bad - but I don't think seasonal change is enough of a factor to change the scales. Think about really really cold places on earth, where maybe it gets a bit warmer during the summer months, but not significantly so - pretty much its just always cold. Similarly with very hot places - seasonal variation is nowhere near as pronounced as in temperate regions.

Saber Cherry · #6 October 21st, 2003, 10:12 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by st.patrik:
Think about really really cold places on earth, where maybe it gets a bit warmer during the summer months, but not significantly so - pretty much its just always cold. Similarly with very hot places - seasonal variation is nowhere near as pronounced as in temperate regions.

Um. Like Antarctica? It is cold there in the summer, but planes can land and people can go outside. In the winter, all travel is ceased, people stay inside their little reseach compound, and virtually all of the scientists leave. The pack-ice forms (ocean water actually freezes). Antarctica in the summer is completely different than in winter... the closer you get to the poles, the greater the seasonal variance is.

This is true in hot places too. There's a city in Siberia that gets up to 90F in the summer and -90F in the winter. And deserts like California's Death Valley are very hot in the summer - usually the hottest place in the US, often over 120F - and cold in the winter. Death Valley's records are 134F in July and 15F in January, while the average daily high and low for those months are 115F and 39F.

So, I hate to say it... but you're absolutely wrong, in this case. Seasonal variation is weak at the equator, which is mostly warm and often humid (I've lived at the equator for a couple years). The main equatorial seasonal variance seems to be rainfall (monsoon or non-monsoon). But places that are very hot or very cold almost universally have extreme seasonal temperature variations.

-Cherry

P.S. Death Valley weather: http://wrgis.wr.usgs.gov/docs/usgsnps/deva/weather.html

[ October 21, 2003, 21:13: Message edited by: Saber Cherry ]