Pedology (Soil Study)

[Sarge]

Pedology (Soil Study) - Skill

“Soil is not only a support for vegetation, but it is also the zone (the pedosphere) of numerous interactions between climate (water, air, temperature), soil life (micro-organisms, plants, animals) and its residues, the mineral material of the original and added rock, and its position in the landscape.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedology_(soil_study)

Skill Application

Rustroot could also be used for pedology, but introducing a new similar medium would add depth. Create medium, dig a unit of soil, with medium and unit of soul in inventory: Adventure -> Soil Survey, consumes medium or part thereof and a window pops up with listing that advises the growth time related to base growth (e.g. wheat 6 in game days). E.g.:

Wheat – 74%
Hemp – 136%
Grapes – 254%
Tobacco – 13%
Onions – Not suitable
Tea – 89%
Etc.

Soil nodes

Soil can either work in nodes in that a single circular node has a set characteristic such as the example above (probably easier to code) or you can have nodes per ‘seed/plant type’ – therefore having shit tons of nodes overlapping each other, meaning that each tile of soil will have its own holistic characteristic, this however will probably be too resource intensive and will fuck around with field maturity timing too much.

The above written with quite a bit probably immediately implementable, from a principle point of view, but base written with potential future regionality in mind. Assuming weather, climate etc in mind, there is a lot that this can be linked up with.

“Five major, external factors of soil formation (climate, organisms, relief, parent material and time), and several smaller, less identifiable ones, drive pedogenic processes and create soil patterns.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedology_(soil_study)

[arriel]

Sorry for being so immature, but just the name of the skill is going to be a blast among playerbase.
I personally couldn`t make myself read the topic

...
Ok, I`ve read it, I`m totally against idea of by-tile random distribution, it will totally screw any existing farm layout and be a pain in the ass to time and harvest.
However, I think localmap-wise that can work (wtf about nonsiutable, should be +/- 20% at most).

[Granger]

Yes, Edaphology [Wikipedia] not only sounds less like molesting children, but also fits better.

Nice idea imho. The quality points for this could be quite large (maybe even spanning halve a supergrid or so that not that much are needed) leading to diverse climate zones in terms of what will grow good and what not -> good incentives to increase trade.

Quite some will hate it since it'll basically disable feasible all-in-one farms.
Downside could be that not only mines will be claimed for 'need later' but also land for farming...

But the skill could also be used to add fertilizers.

[sabinati]

i think acidity/alkalinity would be enough

[Potjeh]

Nah, man, we need nitrogen too, so we can rotate crops. I suppose drainage is also important.

[sabinati]

hmm, it could be very interesting to have various soil characteristics that determined the terrain... e.g. poorly drained soil would produce swampland, acidic soil would produce heaths... etc

[Sarge]

Ok, I`ve read it, I`m totally against idea of by-tile random distribution, it will totally screw any existing farm layout and be a pain in the ass to time and harvest.

The quality points for this could be quite large (maybe even spanning halve a supergrid or so that not that much are needed)

This. I should have stipulated, but I certainly did not mean nodes the size of that of clay or soil, but much much bigger. Probably 1000 tile diameter and bigger in which case, you would truelly have to have a rediculously large field before it will mess timing of crop maturity around.

However, I think localmap-wise that can work

But even then, I agree, this makes far more sense.

(wtf about nonsiutable, should be +/- 20% at most).

leading to diverse climate zones in terms of what will grow good and what not -> good incentives to increase trade.

Some have already suggested a softer approach, as is your opinion too (min 20%)... mine is the same as Granger and that is: The only way to truelly encourage, revive and make trade a sustained necessity is to make certain items unobtainable in certain regions. You can still plod along with lower yield %'s and maturity, but if you can not have it at all other than by trade - then you HAVE TO TRADE.

However, as said many times before: Until travel distances aren't eased by means of connected river systems, bigger capacity boats, horse drawn carts, bridges etc. then this will not solve trade. It is the combination, imho, that will make it work.

[arriel]

leading to diverse climate zones in terms of what will grow good and what not -> good incentives to increase trade.

Some have already suggested a softer approach, as is your opinion too (min 20%)... mine is the same as Granger and that is: The only way to truelly encourage, revive and make trade a sustained necessity is to make certain items unobtainable in certain regions. You can still plod along with lower yield %'s and maturity, but if you can not have it at all other than by trade - then you HAVE TO TRADE.

However, as said many times before: Until travel distances aren't eased by means of connected river systems, bigger capacity boats, horse drawn carts, bridges etc. then this will not solve trade. It is the combination, imho, that will make it work.

I can`t honestly imagine a region where wheat is unobtainable. At least flax and hemp are interchangeable. No wheat - no straw - barely any domesticated animals, no baked food... I also cannot imagine amounts of trade required to obtain all that, it`s just too much stuff to move around, even with bigger boats etc.

[Sarge]

leading to diverse climate zones in terms of what will grow good and what not -> good incentives to increase trade.

Some have already suggested a softer approach, as is your opinion too (min 20%)... mine is the same as Granger and that is: The only way to truelly encourage, revive and make trade a sustained necessity is to make certain items unobtainable in certain regions. You can still plod along with lower yield %'s and maturity, but if you can not have it at all other than by trade - then you HAVE TO TRADE.

However, as said many times before: Until travel distances aren't eased by means of connected river systems, bigger capacity boats, horse drawn carts, bridges etc. then this will not solve trade. It is the combination, imho, that will make it work.

I can`t honestly imagine a region where wheat is unobtainable. At least flax and hemp are interchangeable. No wheat - no straw - barely any domesticated animals, no baked food... I also cannot imagine amounts of trade required to obtain all that, it`s just too much stuff to move around, even with bigger boats etc.

Sure mate, it doesn't suggest that absolutely everything should have an area where it is unobtainable. Have wheat and even some others obtainable evrywhere, whatever makes it work is the point.

Your point certainly does not derail the suggestion and hasn't even put a dent in my opinion about the matter.

[DatOneGuy]

leading to diverse climate zones in terms of what will grow good and what not -> good incentives to increase trade.

Some have already suggested a softer approach, as is your opinion too (min 20%)... mine is the same as Granger and that is: The only way to truelly encourage, revive and make trade a sustained necessity is to make certain items unobtainable in certain regions. You can still plod along with lower yield %'s and maturity, but if you can not have it at all other than by trade - then you HAVE TO TRADE.

However, as said many times before: Until travel distances aren't eased by means of connected river systems, bigger capacity boats, horse drawn carts, bridges etc. then this will not solve trade. It is the combination, imho, that will make it work.

I can`t honestly imagine a region where wheat is unobtainable. At least flax and hemp are interchangeable. No wheat - no straw - barely any domesticated animals, no baked food... I also cannot imagine amounts of trade required to obtain all that, it`s just too much stuff to move around, even with bigger boats etc.

I think that furthers the point more than it deters it.

A region with no wheat may for example end up with many mines, meaning that the people who settle there will either have to grow very big to take up another region so that they can farm there, have several satelllites, or be forced to trade (preferred).

Incentive to trade seems great.


Any sort of system like this would work for me, whether it's tweaked or not. I grow a bit of stuff in my backyard personally so I know that agriculture overall can be very interesting.

It also would mean that the areas with terrible stuff like no wheat would be great for beginner's to go, not because they can't get wheat (shouldn't be that bad to trade for) but because no big villages will be around unless there are mines.