Re-seeding wild plants

[Chibiabos]

I think this has been mentioned a few times, but I think the way plants spread could use some tweaking.  Anyone who plays on a larger map and goes through a Toxic Fallout will wind up with a map that's completely devoid of any wild plants except at the fringes, large fires out in the wilderness can prove unrecoverable for wild plants as well.  As the plants try to repopulate, they'll hit various barriers they won't spread past like hills, rough rock floors, desert sand, marshes/water, etc.  This will tend to make the majority of the map's outdoors interior completely barren for the remainder of the game.  Could the code for wild plants reseeding to be maybe tweaked a bit to make it easier for wild plants to cast their seeds over unplantable barriers (hills/rock/marsh/etc.)?  Really kinda sucks that an event will have everlasting effects like this.

[matthiaskrgr]

Or have colonists craft some kind of "seed bombs (fast growing seeds)"  which are then launched away via mortars

[des]

I think this has been mentioned a few times, but I think the way plants spread could use some tweaking.  Anyone who plays on a larger map and goes through a Toxic Fallout will wind up with a map that's completely devoid of any wild plants except at the fringes, large fires out in the wilderness can prove unrecoverable for wild plants as well.  As the plants try to repopulate, they'll hit various barriers they won't spread past like hills, rough rock floors, desert sand, marshes/water, etc.  This will tend to make the majority of the map's outdoors interior completely barren for the remainder of the game.  Could the code for wild plants reseeding to be maybe tweaked a bit to make it easier for wild plants to cast their seeds over unplantable barriers (hills/rock/marsh/etc.)?  Really kinda sucks that an event will have everlasting effects like this.

I think an easier way of doing this would be having grass grow after rain since  grass doesn't send it's seeds into the air, they stay in the ground. So aslong as there was grass there at some point there would be seeds. Maybe have an invisible passive tile trait called "Seeded"?

[Songleaves]

Whether or not the seedbank itself has been poisoned by the toxic fall out is an open question. But yeah, I can't think of any plants in Rimworld that wouldn't produce a seedbank, so spontaneous regrowth once the soil because livable for the plants would be expected to occur. I'd really love it if after raining in the extreme desert biome we could see massive flower blooms. Here's an example from the Atacama desert which is one of the driest deserts on the planet after rain:

[Chibiabos]

I think an easier way of doing this would be having grass grow after rain since  grass doesn't send it's seeds into the air, they stay in the ground. So aslong as there was grass there at some point there would be seeds. Maybe have an invisible passive tile trait called "Seeded"?

More realistic would be how nature does it -- when herbivores eat plants, the plants get a benefit by the herbivores eating the seeds, then the herbivores roaming and ... depositing ... those seeds with a rather fertile plop.

In-game this could be as simple as whenever an animal would make "animal filth" but its on a fertile tile, it instead plops a seedling of a wild plant.

[Damien Hart]

I don't think a spreading via animals would be fast enough to repopulate the map in any feasible amount of time. Especially once hunting etc. is factored in.

I like the idea of the seed bank, that way the map can recover without requiring a third party, and it wouldn't take nearly as long as growing in from the edge of the map, especially on a 400*400 map.

[Chibiabos]

I don't think a spreading via animals would be fast enough to repopulate the map in any feasible amount of time. Especially once hunting etc. is factored in.

I like the idea of the seed bank, that way the map can recover without requiring a third party, and it wouldn't take nearly as long as growing in from the edge of the map, especially on a 400*400 map.

Its slow, but at least it'd eventually work.  At present most maps I play never regrow in their interior after a Toxic Fallout.

[crazyarms]

Why not both? Plants aren't entirely dependent on animals for spreading seeds, but animals along with ideal weather (rain and such) helps promote growth. Soil fertility could be directly linked to germination cycles as well.
As far as toxic fallout, maybe radiation should be a thing to deter plant growth and fades over time?

[Songleaves]

The plants are really memory intensive, I know that Tynan wants to eventually make them not be "things" and instead just have them be like part of the tile background like snow, so adding animal dispersion may bit intensive. That said I'm not sure how much seed is really transported in the waste of herbivores versus just being transported in their fur versus bird/insect/wind/water dispersion.

[Chibiabos]

The plants are really memory intensive, I know that Tynan wants to eventually make them not be "things" and instead just have them be like part of the tile background like snow, so adding animal dispersion may bit intensive. That said I'm not sure how much seed is really transported in the waste of herbivores versus just being transported in their fur versus bird/insect/wind/water dispersion.

Quite a bit.  Herbivores and plants have co-evolved to be mutually beneficial, though some seeds do disperse on their own, many carry in animal waste.  Doing so carries numerous benefits for the plant:  ensures the survival of the species, makes it competitive at reclaiming areas, and the waste enshrouding the seeds is good and fertile and will let those seeds grow strong and fast.

[Kegereneku]

Alternative idea :
Have an Event which is a gigantic storm of pollen passing through the map.

A little note : It doesn't need to be harmful to colonist, we have enough of those.

[Chibiabos]

Alternative idea :
Have an Event which is a gigantic storm of pollen passing through the map.

A little note : It doesn't need to be harmful to colonist, we have enough of those.

Actually maybe it should, but just a little.  Coughing, sneezing, sometimes vomiting, nothing serious but enough to slow down their work.  And increases dirt on floors.

[Kegereneku]

Alternative idea :
Have an Event which is a gigantic storm of pollen passing through the map.

A little note : It doesn't need to be harmful to colonist, we have enough of those.

Actually maybe it should, but just a little.  Coughing, sneezing, sometimes vomiting, nothing serious but enough to slow down their work.  And increases dirt on floors.

Oh well, maybe some dirt. But frankly you have already infinite possibility of bad event to be made. (Dust Storm for example, which would damage your plant, may kill it if it last too long)
So I though that maybe, maybe we could have a Nice friendly event (and not a Night of the Triffid as you go stargazing).

[Songleaves]

You mustn't suffer from allergies if you view a pollen storm as a nice, friendly event. >_<

[Kegereneku]

You mustn't suffer from allergies if you view a pollen storm as a nice, friendly event. >_<

I've actually had my share of allergies, lot of them.
If its the name the problem, I have no problem with a "Miraculous Growth" Events as a more exotic GOOD events. We really need something better than Pod Drop.