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just what the title says. I would like to see something like this as I have seen a few biome related posts that seem interesting but have drifted down toward the bottom of the forum. this would just keep them somewhere everyone *cough* and tyan *cough* would see them.

This is just a question that come to mind when you think of how easy it is to mod the game. the base game has some content and can be played on it`s own for some time, but it is so easy to effectually make whole new game.
Just look at wave survival mode, it is a mod that totally changes how you play.

The idea of this thread is to come up with various ruins or landmarks that can be used to populate maps.

to create a ruin just give us this:

Name: duh
Where you find it: it can be anywhere or only found in a specific biome
Further description: shape and contents and maybe even a little backstory

Two examples...

Name: Crypt
Where: graveyards
Description: some kind of stone structure with a desiccated corpse inside. The corpse will generally spawn with good to legendary items but opening the crypt makes everyone (but physcos) feel bad.

Name: Waste Tank
Where: toxic/wasteland
Description: a steel barrel with some uranium inside. The floor is toxic sludge so be carful about collecting it.

Need a good setting to put your ruin in? Check out the "Create A Biome" thread http://ludeon.com/forums/index.php?topic=13687.0

The idea of this thread is simple. Just follow this guide;

Name of Biome: duh
Average Summer temp: preferably in Celsius
Average Winter temp:    covert Fahrenheit to Celsius by doing (F-32)/1.8=C
Types of Weather: if it always rains cats and dogs or is always nice and sunny
Types of Plants: feel free to make up plants for this, just describe them at the end
Types of Animals: feel free to just say "nothin' but muffalow" or "a mixed variety of avian specimens" just make it so we have an idea what lives there
Something else interesting about the biome: some random thing that makes your biome interesting, like new plants or what kinds of structures spawn

Here are some examples based off of the guide.

Graveyard
15c summers
10c winters
it will always be rainy or foggy
birch or dark oak trees
Black cats and owls are the animals that live here
The graveyard is full of graves or crypts (structures with corpses inside). Dark oak trees are actually ugly and the black cats don't make people feel at home. Digging up graves for free loot is a good option if you can deal with the moral dilemmas this causes for you colonist.

Toxic
32c summers
27c winters
acid rain and chocking fog replace rain and fog
dead woods grow here
zombie squirrels, rats, and raccoons are the things you will see here
The toxic biome will have toxic sludge replace water and will have poor soil. Toxic sludge hurts things in it and poor soil doesn't grow things very well at all. Acid rain hurts colonist and damages items more than it normally would. Chocking fog causes toxic buildup. Dead woods are ugly trees that provide the ugly but surprisingly strong dead wood. Zombie squirrels don't feel pain and raccoons steal items that they come across. The possibility of locking raiders out in the chocking fog is obvious.

Want to create a ruin or prop of some kind to put in your biome? Check out the "Create A Ruin" thread http://ludeon.com/forums/index.php?topic=13705.0

The idea of modular construction is that you build something basic, like a hydroponics farm, and you add physically adjacent items to it to improve performance.

One thing that can be made modular is the nutrient paste dispenser. basically, make it less efficient but have a smaller size. Maybe 15 food to a meal but 1*2 size. To make it use less food, you research nutrient resynthesys (hope I spelled that right) and build a repressor module onto the paste dispenser. This module makes it use 2 less food to get something done, but makes it use more power. To make it produce better food, you research a new module and build it on to the paste dispenser. Now it makes simple meals, but it uses 5 more food and a lot more power. To actually get potatoes in there in the first place, you build and input port, then attach a hopper.

Another thing that can be made modularly is the research bench, which could have things like a bio lab attached to make it faster an open up new options for science. This would also add more progression to the game as you unlock the ability to add more things to it so you can do more science. It also would make more sense researching antimatter reactors at a bench with a magnetic containment field, computer simulations system, and an experimental alloy processor than just doing the same science at a wooden desk.

I have 2 ideas as to how player can select what modules they want to build.

1. A second dropdown list in the build screen. basically, you go to something can be built modularly and click it. instead of bringing up the stuffs menu, it brings up a menu of different modules for that thing, which can then be made of stuff.
Ex. hydroponic tray->auto-harvest module->gold

2. Putting an interface for selecting modules to build directly inside of that thing`s interface.
Ex. select research bench->select build module->stuff system->place blueprint

Now that I have given you my ideas and some examples to work with, I would like to hear what you have to say that could make this idea better.