Trees expanded

[Potjeh]

When we got all those new trees with the new map, I was very excited, because secretly I'm a filthy tree-hugger. But my excitement was soon replaced by disappointment when I found out that all trees are essentially the same. So here's a bunch of tree-related suggestions:

- Give different trees different base quality. For example, oak sapling will grow into a higher quality tree than a fir sapling if they were prepared using same quality ingredients.

- Give different trees different growing times. Conifers should generally grow faster than deciduous trees, unless my tree-lore fails me. As a rule of thumb trees with greater quality bonuses should grow slower, but there should be room for exceptions.

- Differentiate lumber. Currently every tree produces same boring blocks and boards. Change it so we have stuff like oak board and fir board. Give some lumber bonuses for some applications. For example, oak boards produce higher quality barrels than other boards of equal quality.

- Limit amount of fruit, branches etc available on one tree. This should be soft limit rather than a hard limit. That is, the more you gather from one tree, the longer it takes to gather. So you can still get an apple from an overpicked tree if you're really desperate, but it will take a looong time. This is to encourage orchards, which I think would look lovely, and to give some value to stuff like fruit and bark. Trees should slowly regenerate on their own.

- Let us graft trees. Take a branch from one tree and apply it to a young tree to graft. Grafting produces a tree of quality equal to the average of the stock's and the scion's quality. There should be a chance of failure, in which case the tree dies. Using certain materials in grafting, such as wax and linen, could increase the chance for success.

- Give us ability to prune fruit-bearing trees. Pruning should significantly reduce the maximum amount of fruit available and slightly increase the quality of the fruit. Pruned trees should slowly revert to their natural state.

- Implement more trees. Specifically, I'd like to see plum trees, as they are quite important in most Slavic countries because plums are used to make slivovitz. Plums could also be dried into prunes, for ...uhm.... medical purposes.

- Give more use to fruit. Stuff like cider, and the aforementioned slivovitz. As slivovitz is a distilled alcohol, we'd need stills. Tin stills would work well, I guess.

- Make some trees produce special resources. Stuff like pine resin and maple syrup. Maple syrup should come with pancakes, of course.

- Make it easier to mass-plant low quality trees. This has been discussed elsewhere.

Anyway, this all would be rather neat, but I don't think it should be high on the priority list (except for the last item). It should happen eventually, though.

[sabinati]

i agree with all this, but i guess i'm not really understanding the grafting thing. could you explain?

[Potjeh]

You mean you don't know what's grafting IRL?

Grafting is a procedure commonly used to raise fruit trees. Basically, you take a very young tree (like 1 - 1.5 meter tall) and cut off it's top, leaving the roots and trunk. Then you take a young branch from a grown tree and you replace the top of the young tree with it. You join these together with clay, wax, rags and stuff, I don't know what exactly is used as I've never done any tree grafting myself. Now, when this tree grows, it will produce the same fruit as the tree you took the branch from. Vast majority of apple trees are raised in this manner, as apple trees grown from seed tend to be quite different from the apple trees that produced the seed. Here's the Wikipedi article if you want to know more.

Or do you mean that function of grafting in the game is unclear? Basically, it lets you increase a young tree's quality by grafting a higher quality branch onto it.

[kaka]

I agree with, I think, all of these points.

[jorb]

I agree, but I question that it should be a priority. Oaks should be given some sort of edge, because as is they plain suck.

[bajuba]

I agree, but I question that it should be a priority. Oaks should be given some sort of edge, because as is they plain suck.

oaken clubs!

[Axehilt]

As long as there aren't a whole lot of recipes that call for a specific type of lumber, I agree with all of this.

Also might make sense to have certain things grow better/worse in certain climates (ie certain types of land.) So you may bring that exotic tree type back to your home, but there's no gaurantee it'll grow well.

[Murazama]

Or how about sticks from different trees affect the Bows flex itself.

IE a willow bow would bend more then say a Oaken bow.

and as there are no willow trees currently, would be nice to see some. :]

[CG62]

Yew longbow! Best damned bow ever produced before the industrial revolution.

Also, some sort of pollination system for trees. Saplings could perhaps grow in forest tiles near trees every 3-4 IRL weeks?

[Yolan]

This is a great idea. My thought is, that wooden BOATS require all kinds of different timbers for different parts. Once BOATS are in the game, we could be running around looking for certain timbers just to complete the build!