Urban Biomes

[Penguinmanereikel]

So I had this idea, thinking about how some people thought of having destroyed cities as places like colonies, but, realistically, a city on these planets wouldn't have been the size of one tile, but rather they would be a number of tiles, possibly the size of a small biome.

If a desecrated urban biome existed in the game, I would imagine there would be a great multitude of destroyed buildings around the map, a vast ecosystem of local flora interspersed with the ancient urban concrete and asphalt, and a lack of mountains or hills since advanced cities would have destroyed them. To compensate for the lack of ores, the number of destroyed buildings could be made of a variety of necessary materials like steel, and even rarely some being made of plasteel or rare materials.

There could also be some ancient defenses (i.e. accurate turrets, mechanoids, etc.) guarding the outside of important buildings with valuable loot, military armories with some armaments left, or evacuation centers with great number of caskets inside.

Tynan mentioned that the Ancient Asphalt Roads were determined by where cities would have been in ancient civilizations, so I would imagine that the algorithms needed to calculate where a city would have existed are already in place.

What are your thoughts on having destroyed city biomes?

[IronSquid501]

+1, always thought this was a good idea. Maybe the city wouldn't be all there but some large clusters of buildings has to have survived.

[Limdood]

I often pooh-pooh or shoot down suggestions, but an "urbanization" slider in the world generation would be pretty cool...density of building ruins, maybe radioactive zones (if such things ever get added), tech level of factions (higher = more outlander/pirate, lower = more tribal factions), less arable land.

I would like to see the idea fleshed out and made into a meaningful, large, expansive amount and immersion of content before being added rather than just "more buildings"

[Barazen]

Also maybe in an urban area it would be better to simply fortify the husks of said buildings? With old vehicles/stands/lamp-posts etc to gather materials from?

[BetaSpectre]

Like this idea, I really want the world to have more ruins.

[SpaceDorf]

Squatting in rotten Sci-Fi ruins .. count me in.

[Lidku]

We DC ruins now.


Definitely going to set up a settlement in an abandoned Mall!

[theapolaustic1]

My thoughts are... This is the perfect sort of situation for a proof of concept mod. If it's really good, maybe tynan will see the value of adding it to the game, but honestly it seems like a lot of time investment for a feature that many people might never see (if you never settle in an "urban" tile and never raid one).

I could see some potential for linking it to various world events though. It'd make sense for various "stash" events or "psychic wave" type stuff to come from cities specifically.

[Penguinmanereikel]

+1, always thought this was a good idea. Maybe the city wouldn't be all there but some large clusters of buildings has to have survived.

Exactly. Just mostly the empty husks of the former civilization.

My thoughts are... This is the perfect sort of situation for a proof of concept mod. If it's really good, maybe tynan will see the value of adding it to the game, but honestly it seems like a lot of time investment for a feature that many people might never see (if you never settle in an "urban" tile and never raid one).

I think it would be a good place for pirate camps to concentrate on. Isn't it epic to imagine pirates having camps in the ruins of a ancient urban city, huddled around the campfire in their jackets and rifles slung around their backs, gorging on the spoils of their raids?

Plus, if Tynan ever considered ancient urban biomes, I'm sure he'd think of ways to balance it. Plus, there would be a good chance to settle there as a pit stop for the travel victory. If there really is no good long-term sustainibility for urban biome bases, then maybe the urban biome maps can be optimized for short-term settlements for travel.

I often pooh-pooh or shoot down suggestions, but an "urbanization" slider in the world generation would be pretty cool...density of building ruins, maybe radioactive zones (if such things ever get added), tech level of factions (higher = more outlander/pirate, lower = more tribal factions), less arable land.

I would like to see the idea fleshed out and made into a meaningful, large, expansive amount and immersion of content before being added rather than just "more buildings"

An urbanization slider?? How about further than that, when the planet is spawned, the age of the former civilzation is also determined by the seed (takes away control from the player, but I think that it's necessary. We could still at the least have a slider, and the progress of that civilization determines how far people were able to colonize the planet before catastrophe hit, as well as the kind of buildings they had, and the technology they had.

Also maybe in an urban area it would be better to simply fortify the husks of said buildings? With old vehicles/stands/lamp-posts etc to gather materials from?

Now vehicles and lamp-posts weren't things that I thought of. I completely forgot we even had lamp posts in the game! We could have like different kinds of technology depending on the age of the former civilization!

[SKD_Dudu]

This is a pretty good idea, and considering the A17's upgraded generation of enemy bases and outposts plus the roads around, this can be viable in a future build (or in a mod).
Put some unique diseases, unique events and factions based in this kind of biome and this will be a success.

Some love for classic post-apocalyptic scenarios is always welcome.

[Perq]

Someone should try with the mod.
But from the very start, we should consider what pros and cons an urban tile would have, in comparison to other types.
Pros:
- Possibly a lot of components/metal/bricks to scavenge
- Relatively easy to defend early (many corners to hide)
Cons:
- Not much soil to be used for plants. Floor should be some sort of stone surface, so that it cannot be simply taken off to expose usable soil, but at the same time it should be some new tile type since stone doesn't really fit. Deep concrete, maybe?
- Building is hard, since there is a lot of crap/building everywhere. You mostly have to adapt existing building over building your own
- Hard to defend in late game, because there are many directions to attack from, since there are a lot of corners to hide behind
- Existing buildings could be considered overhead mountain (obviously with other name), so that they cannot be simply removed (but maybe could be collapsed in a controllable way, with risk included). Imagine being in a ruined city with tall building - you don't really go full re-build mode in that environment. ;P

All in all it would need quite a bit of work but it offers another biome to play with, which would be quite different from everything else.
I think it is worth considering.

[SpaceDorf]

Someone should try with the mod.
But from the very start, we should consider what pros and cons an urban tile would have, in comparison to other types.
Pros:
- Possibly a lot of components/metal/bricks to scavenge
- Relatively easy to defend early (many corners to hide)
Cons:
- Not much soil to be used for plants. Floor should be some sort of stone surface, so that it cannot be simply taken off to expose usable soil, but at the same time it should be some new tile type since stone doesn't really fit. Deep concrete, maybe?
- Building is hard, since there is a lot of crap/building everywhere. You mostly have to adapt existing building over building your own
- Hard to defend in late game, because there are many directions to attack from, since there are a lot of corners to hide behind
- Existing buildings could be considered overhead mountain (obviously with other name), so that they cannot be simply removed (but maybe could be collapsed in a controllable way, with risk included). Imagine being in a ruined city with tall building - you don't really go full re-build mode in that environment. ;P

All in all it would need quite a bit of work but it offers another biome to play with, which would be quite different from everything else.
I think it is worth considering.

I love your practical suggestion.
Is it possible to add a completely new biome by mod ? 

Pros :
Plaststeel Walls
Destroyed Vehicles ( Space Ship Parts )
Old Reactors, cheap power but leaking radiation ( equal to the ship reactor from Crashlanding Mod )
Sappers have the same problems as you have, so do Hives
Low Chance of High Tech Workbenches or Weapons
Good Place for ItemStash Event or Friendly AI Location
Cons :
Concrete Floors and Buildings ( take forever to remove -> have to be mined )
Overhead Building ( will collapse when no longer supported; counts as mined so chances of hives spawning early are good )
Aggressive Wildlife ( if its not concrete its food )
Wasteland Soil ( radiated, also Crashlanding Mod )
Old IEDs and other Weapons
Good Place for Unfriendly AI Location

[ProjectXa3]

I'm liking this idea! I could imagine starting in one of these cities having challenges in finding enough space to make a usable crop field, and lacking in some of the larger animals, or having wild Warg as one of the primary predators in the area to deal with.

I could see these cities being about 4-8 tile groupings in the maps, not massive, but definitely not just some little thing that you might miss it if you're not looking for it.

[cultist]

It would be interesting with a map that had little or no trees or stone but a larger supply of steel and maybe plasteel. I generally don't build much with steel unless it's the only option.

[JimmyAgnt007]

Not sure if this got mentioned in my wacky and wild biomes thread or not.  Seems too obvious now that I think about it.  I like the idea.