Some rules sent their people out in caravan wagons to settle new places accessible by land. Some sent them out on great vessels, seeking out new lands by sea.
Some, climbed aboard rocket ships and set forth into the sky…
These are not the Hearthen biomes you know and love. The biomes here are harsh, alien lands. Your spaceship did not survive the landing, leaving your people only with what they could load and carry out of the ship. But still they carry their kingdom’s banner proudly, determined to settle this new place.
Huddle close to your Hearth, brave little souls, for this is a new frontier.
Mars - The Great Red Planet
Some called this cold, airless place a red wasteland; but you will not be so easily scared by the lack of vegetation nor the tales of horrific monsters hiding below the surface. Strive hard during the long days, and rest well under the dance of Phobos and Deimos, brave travellers.
Borealis Basin - the Flat Lands
[Coming soon]
Tharsis Montes - the Volcanic Shield
Home of Olympus Mons, the tallest planetary mountain in the Solar system, as well as several other dominating peaks (Arsia Mons, Pavonis Mons, and Ascraeus Mons).
Spanning across the Equator, the seasons are far less exaggerated in length than those of the Basin, and the weather less outright hostile.
Because I was listening to something last night at work I had ideas for you, if they sound good of course. First, borrow @BrunoSupremo 's model for the Octopus (Or maybe the Jellyfish for oddity) and do it in red’s with bright yellow eyes. Probably have to swap the particle effect attack to something less watery. Second, if I’m reading what’s being posted about ACE correctly, maybe add some red weed that can dynamically begin spreading across the map. Most ambitious would be to combine these two ideas with a third, make these Martians the main antagonists of the campaign and when they set up camp like the goblins do red weed gets planted around their plot and that’s how it initially appears to begin spreading.
Jeff Wayne’s “War of the Worlds” was what reminded me someone was working on a Mars biome…you know, for inspiration…
I’m ok with the octopus being transformed into an alien. (The jellyfish does not work, it is just a solid model yet)
You could even change the model and do something like those simpsons aliens:
Alright, I keep conflicting with myself on this, so I’m going to open it up for input;
Originally, I was going for a fairly semi-realistic Mars - no native plant life, animal life was going to be made more alien-like based on hypotheses regarding what life that evolves on Mars would look like comparatively (including for a future Martian kingdom), cold and airless reflected by the addition of the cold element from Frostfeast as well as outfits altered to include a breathing mask…
However, my ambitions are just proving too much to me, and I keep demotivating myself. As much as all the science fiction ideas sound amazing in my head and in the comments, I’m just not capable of doing them justice. Not easily, not without it taking an outstanding amount of time… and likely not even then, not on my own.
So I started having more Fantasy type elements. “Fossilized” trees, little breathing devices added to Hearthling outfits, that sort of thing. Something more simplistic, that also means Mars won’t be ++ difficulty inherently (as it’s definitely harder currently just from the absence of plants alone, nevermind having to keep track of temperature and the like).
It would be a bit more simplistic, but I think it would fit Stonehearth fairly well - likely better than the Sci-Fi heavier idea would even with all the ideas I had for expanding the Engineer to go with it (granted, still planning to do a bit with it).
What do you all think - keep it truer to the Sci-Fi of Mars, or is the Fantasy approach a good enough way to go?
Science Fiction! More accurate > more quickly done. Take your time, make it so.
Fantasy elements are cool, go for it!
Whatever works out best for you; it’s your mod, silly! We just want to play it!
You could go full fantasy on it. I don’t care much about difficulty, so I would not mind if you take it and make it an easy to play biome, with many trees and plants, but themed accordingly.
Have yellow trees, tentacle plants, lizard critters, ancient martian ruins, etc…
Yes, like a reimagined mars, how it would be if full of life.
Gameplay wise, there is not much stuff that biomes can do, it is all about the land shape and objects on it, so a realistic mars would (probably) be boring. Try to go more for eye candy first, and grow from there.
The idea of fossilized trees could be a stepping stone to increasing difficulty with regards to biome influence. Whatever you decide works best for wood early game could be much more sparsely generated than most standard biomes, perhaps even using something more like driftwood than trees. And then, of course, with it being “dead” wood there aren’t seeds to replant. Requires a lot more care about deforestation until your hearthlings have a method of accessing wood. I think I remember there being an idea of some item that generates a field of breathable air, maybe that could be a limiter on tree growth as well? Trees can only be planted or grow within that field.
On the other hand, I’m all for seeing some interestingly alien options instead. Tall, pale stick-like trees with two or three branches of drooping foliage similar to weeping willows perhaps? I have no idea how to make that work, of course, but you’re brilliant Kitty! You can do!
