[B18] Rainbeau's Mods -- Lots of Stuff! Take a Look!

[SpaceDorf]

I did, because it was on my Rimworld Wishlist.

[RyanRim]

Im so hoping for a Christmas themed mod this year. Big hugs to Rainbeau if he does something

[dburgdorf]

Is it possible to make (probably optional) some archipelago maps with coastal linings, mb even completely surrounded by water? I know it could make defending a lot easier, but I'd want to try such "really" island experience

The current archipelago maps are essentially just regular maps with the water level raised very high. (There's a bit more to it than that, but that's the core concept at work.) To create more customized maps would require customization of the map generation code which is simply beyond my coding abilities.

Additionally, many game features -- not just raider and visitor arrival, but even things like plant and animal spawning -- seem to rely on having at least one traverseable edge on the map. Creating a true island map, with deep water on all sides, would break those features.

[dburgdorf]

Santa dburgdorf, what happen to you, are you like me who don't celebrate xmas, that you need to mod like crazy before these days?

Nah, I celebrate Christmas. (Not as a religious holiday, but as a secular/family holiday.) I just enjoy modding, and have a real problem *not* doing something once I get an idea in my head....

[dburgdorf]

Im so hoping for a Christmas themed mod this year. Big hugs to Rainbeau if he does something

'Fraid I'll have to disappoint you on this one. I just don't have any compellingly good ideas for such a thing.

While I know nothing about it's quality, though, I do know that at least one Christmas-themed mod was released by someone else last week, and others may yet be on the way, if that helps.

[wwWraith]

Is it possible to make (probably optional) some archipelago maps with coastal linings, mb even completely surrounded by water? I know it could make defending a lot easier, but I'd want to try such "really" island experience

The current archipelago maps are essentially just regular maps with the water level raised very high. (There's a bit more to it than that, but that's the core concept at work.) To create more customized maps would require customization of the map generation code which is simply beyond my coding abilities.

Additionally, many game features -- not just raider and visitor arrival, but even things like plant and animal spawning -- seem to rely on having at least one traverseable edge on the map. Creating a true island map, with deep water on all sides, would break those features.

Hmm, then is it not intended that if archipelago biome was generated as coastal tile on global map it never gets a "real" coast, even on one side, as it should be with vanilla maps? Playing with PrepareLanding, if changing some coastal tile to archipelago, it just loses the Coast "feature" completely.

[RyanRim]

Im so hoping for a Christmas themed mod this year. Big hugs to Rainbeau if he does something

'Fraid I'll have to disappoint you on this one. I just don't have any compellingly good ideas for such a thing.

Come on, you can just throw some santa hats on them were-rabbits

[dburgdorf]

Hmm, then is it not intended that if archipelago biome was generated as coastal tile on global map it never gets a "real" coast, even on one side, as it should be with vanilla maps? Playing with PrepareLanding, if changing some coastal tile to archipelago, it just loses the Coast "feature" completely.

I'm afraid I'm not quite following you.  I assume when you talk about archipelago maps with coasts, you're asking for a map with an island or islands, but with the coast of the "mainland" visible along one edge. As I said, that sort of custom map would require coding abilities a bit beyond my own.

(Though now that I think about it, I might be able to create such a "mainland coast" along one edge of an archipelago map by adapting the vanilla code that produces oceans along the edge of a land map.... No promises, but I'll make a note to play with it, probably over the holiday break.)

As to the question I think you were asking about why archipelago maps don't break the game features I referenced earlier, well, archipelago maps tend to have at least a bit of traverseable land on each edge of the map, so the game runs just fine.

Come on, you can just throw some santa hats on them were-rabbits....

Do you *really* want to piss of the Caerbannog bunnies so badly?

[wwWraith]

I put a picture as attachment, hopefully it will help me

Let's assume we have a part of the global map with some land and water. Land tiles bordering water become "coastal tiles", you can see it as "feature" while looking on that tile's properties. So orange tiles (if they are some "normal" biome) from my picture will get "southern coast" feature. And the generated local map for them will look somewhat like on figure 5 - with a stripe of water added at south.

Now with archipelagos. At first I asked about something like figures 1 ("real" islands, water is around all edges) and/or 2 (water is along all edges except north). I think at least 2nd shouldn't break arrival/spawning. Also it might be enough to use shallow water along the edges so it will be technically traversable.

Initially I thought that you just suppressed the generation of water along the edges intentionally for these purposes. But after you answered I thought that it was not intended, and the generated map should actually be like on figure 3 (southern edge is water, other sides are traversable - all as expected like for "normal" biome), not like on figure 4 as it is now (no water-only edges, the tile loses coastal "feature").

So the main question will be: is it possible to generate maps like 3-2-1 instead of 4?

[attachment deleted by admin: too old]

[dburgdorf]

First off, archipelagos are, by definition, *not* coastal maps. I think that might be part of the confusion, here.  An archipelago tile might (or might not) be adjacent to a coastal tile on the world map, but it is, itself, a different entity entirely.

Second, it's always been "understood" that the map on which you play represents part, but only part, of the world tile on which it's located. That's the official explanation, for example, of why game maps located on vanilla "island" tiles from the world map still only have a single coast, even though the tile on the world map is completely surrounded by water. (It's also the explanation of why game maps are square even though world map tiles are hexes.) By the same logic, an archipelago biome game map should be seen as representing part, but not all, of the island chain from the world map. That's an easy explanation for why the archipelago maps have islands "cut off" on all four sides.

Finally, as I said, it might be possible to create a "strip" of land along one edge of an archipelago map that actually is adjacent to a coastal tile, just to represent the edge of the mainland. But I'm not sure it would be worth the bother, as really, it wouldn't change the game play on such maps in any way.

[wwWraith]

I understand it, but at the other hand, if you are playing on island, the game gives you some coastal part of that island. So why not some "coastal archipelago"? I'm speaking about adding at least one "strip" of water, not land.

Anyway, my intention was just to give you something to consider, not to be annoying

[dburgdorf]

So why not some "coastal archipelago"? I'm speaking about adding at least one "strip" of water, not land.

OK, now I think I'm even more confused, as what you're asking for seems to be essentially what the maps already are. Sure, there's no "solid" line of water along any single edge, but... an archipelago map is essentially nothing *but* coastline, winding and twisting everywhere. What benefit would accrue from arbitrarily designating one edge of the map to be completely lined with water? How would it improve (or even alter) game play on the map?

[wwWraith]

Gameplay-wise, it'll allow you to treat at least one side of map as safe from raiders and concentrate your defenses on other sides. It'll make your life easier, considering that some common defensive strategies like surrounding your base with the walls will be hard to use (or even impossible without bridges/terraforming). But I thought mostly about estetic and feel of living more isolated

[SpaceDorf]

The basic problem of this is the way vegetation is created by rimworld.

Vegetation gets created on the borders of the map, or from existing vegetation.
You can observe this after winter or a giant fire.

If the ground became disconnected from the border vegetation would no longer respawn on the map.

[Canute]

wwWraith,
maybe some idea's for your next colony.
You the Configurable Maps at a coastal tile.
Add alot of water, then you just got a small land area at one of the sides.
With the terraforming, you can build up your isle at the water tiles.
You maybe lack of starting resources like steel, because of the short land area.