The only thing is that that would heavily penalize anyone /not/ playing in the grassland, which makes things less fun. I assume there will be some kind of balance between “good” and “bad” environmental effects for each environment (ex. arctic = slower plant growth, but perhaps more mineral deposits, or natural refrigeration means food takes longer to spoil. that kind of stuff)
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Exact, the point is to know if biomes are just supposed to be eye candy and being all equal in term of gameplay or not. And if not, they will need balancing to keep all of them attractive in some ways…
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(speechless)
Can’t wait for it! 
Though it’s true there’s still some things left, like how will the biomes blend (if), pre-work for seasons if it’s needed at current state of biomes, gameplay consequences, etc. so we’ll have to wait anyway =(
Love to hear about Winnie and her work!
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I nearly fell out of my chair when I read this Desktop Tuesday 
Best news ever! My head is still spinning with all the possibilities of mods & stories for Stonehearth!
@sdee Any chance Team Radiant will bring Winnie back for internship next summer? Would love to see more ideas she might contribute working with Radiant Entertainment as a steady intern.
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Nice work Winnie!
Wonder If they will generate a road/trail and cave system at some point… The possibilities!
NPC Kingdoms, Towns, Villages…
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thats planned, not sure about the others though.
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The biomes look beautiful, but I have a question:
Are the biomes meant to be experienced in separate playthoughs or in one game? This isn’t a game like Minecraft–travel is quite difficult. They are very nice, but if they are meant to be experienced many at once, either the biomes will have to very small, or some time will have to be spent on traveling options.
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[quote=“greene, post:27, topic:16017”]
Are the biomes meant to be experienced in separate playthoughs or in one game? This isn’t a game like Minecraft–travel is quite difficult. They are very nice, but if they are meant to be experienced many at once, either the biomes will have to very small, or some time will have to be spent on traveling options.
[/quote]i’ll just directly qoute @SteveAdamo from his earlier answer
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oh, but what about potatoes? potatoes can grow even in the harshest of climates. why do you think the irish love them so much lol
but then again we don’t even have potatoes yet. awww.
there should be a quote of quotes option outside of ctrl+x/ctrl+v, but whatever
do not underestimate the power of the OFFICIAL RADIANT FANBOY
in real life, desert and arctic wastelands are referred to as wastelands because they are uninhabitable. as no food grows there and the environment is extremely unforgiving, with even access to water being severely limited or non-existent altogether, no one lives in those regions. although, at least with the arctic you could hunt animals for food, with the desert you’re just out of luck.
however, even though no one LIVES in those regions, we do have arctic and desert bases and stations. why? deserts, for example, have oil (australia has a city in a location that people normally can’t live in, except all the houses are built underground where it’s cooler. and that city is the number 1 shipper of opals around the world). non-resource-wise, the arctic has great conditions for conducting science. they each have stuff that you just can’t get access to being in a friendly biome. and stonehearth wasn’t intended for you to just build 1 city and be done with it. you’ll eventually want to make 2 or 3 cities, and even some outposts, and extend your reaches farther and farther, meet different races, other civilizations, and even other players (MP). maybe you’ll work together, maybe you’ll fight to the bitter death, either subjugating them or simply wiping them out altogether. point is, eventually you’re gonna be eyeing that rare ore, and you’re gonna want to claim it for your kingdom, but find that it is deep in the mountains where the temperature is freezing at its warmest. either make due with what you’ve got, or make an outpost and send some men to work at the outpost, and try your hardest to keep them from dying.
grasslands should be ideal for living in, and every other biome SHOULD penalize you for not settling in grasslands. if you’re gonna be making a town, you’ll want to put it in the grasslands. however, mountains are easier to defend have give you access to stone for building walls and towers, forests give you dense access to wood, rivers give you automated power via watermills, hills give you windmills, and certain crops are better suited for different environments, and altogether there’s just too much you will be missing out on if you just choose to sit in your little plains.
the grasslands are easy to work with. but not necessarily fun. you want them for towns, but not for castles, not for resource collection, and arguably not even for trading.
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Great work on the new terrain generator. I look forward to seeing further progress in later Alphas.
I had fun coming by the Radiant booth at PAX this last weekend, and I even made a topic about it: Radiant at PAX Prime It was great to see you guys there and the booth always looked crowded whenever I walked by. I also thought your booth design was well laid out, with the two screens showing off Stonehearth and Rising Thunder with live gameplay from the demo units. I chatted a bit on Friday with either Chris or Brad (I’m terrible with names, but I know it wasn’t @sdee or @Tom) and even talked up the game to a few people who were discovering Stonehearth for the first time. I think I convinced at least three people to buy it after telling them a bit about the game when I noticed them looking at the screen. I’m sure Radiant will see an uptick in sales in the near future.
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Question: Will snow then become a block type? Harvestable and used as a building material? Or crafting? Igloos were mentioned, and there’s no way you can get away with NOT letting snowmen or snowballs be a thing.
Which raises another question: Weather like snow and rain. Snow can just leave a trail of blocks (or half blocks if you go that direction), both restocking harvestable piles to build with or threatening to trap, cover, or weigh down structures. We’d need shovels. Maybe a way to melt snow into water?
Rain would obviously give a growth boost to plants and possibly make unprepared settlers wet, cold, and maybe prone to a cold?
I realize I’m thinking ahead WAAAAAYYYY too far ahead, but I’m just curious if I’m thinking in the same direction as our glorious game creators or not. It’s fun! I’ve always been an “idea guy” with absolutely no skill to back it up. 
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to add to that thought, it would be a good addition to make too much rain cause flooding. and also thunder storms, giving a chance of lightning striking, which could cause fires if your not careful.
just my random thought to add to the discussion.
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If thunderstorms do become a thing, I hope the hearthlings are smart enough to get indoors. I would hate to lose a valuable member of the settlement from a lightning strike.
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this would also introduce new traits, such as hearthlings being scared of thunder, meaning that they wont do work or anything whilst there is a thunderstorm. or in some cases perhaps some will love thunder storms and choose to stand outside rather then indoors.
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Also, maybe weather wizards? Guys who redirect lighting during a storm to attack enemies?
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to tie this in with biomes, there is something called a “floodplain”, which are typically around rivers, with the most famous being the nile river. flooding is difficult to deal with, but if you plant soon after a flood, your harvest will profit greatly, as the flood brings in rich soil. not sure if this will be a thing, as it’s hard to program, though.
I’ll admit I’d be the one who’d sit out in a thunder storm. but then again I live in bloody san diego where it never rains and it’s blistering hot year-round. I love the rain, and thunderstorms are just that much better lol.
BUT MY HEARTHLINGS BETTER NOT WUSS OUT JUST BECAUSE THERE’S SOME THUNDER. I’LL BE SO MAD lol. “GET OUT THERE AND WORK” “but there’s lightning!” “YOU’LL BE FINE, THERE ARE HOUSES TO BUILD AND TREES TO CHOP!” “aaaaah!”
or maybe one who calls a thunderstorm to begin with. but I’d probably abuse that to have my town in constant thunder 24/7/365 lol
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like the dhovakiin… Strun Bah Qo!!!
sorry, couldn’t help it…
for those who dont know, thats the “storm call” shout from skyrim…
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I’ve been struck by lightning in Minecraft a couple of times building during thunderstorms. I don’t want my hearthlings to take that sort of risk in Stonehearth. At least Stonehearth doesn’t have lightning-infused monsters… yet.
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well imo i think there should be that chance, i mean its not like you wont see that they’re a lightning enthusiast before embarking, same goes with the easily scared trait (the hearthling traits are shown on before embarkment)
also, just random trait names that i thought up, pretty bad, but pretty good for the fact that i’m tired…
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I have never once been struck by lightning in minecraft, hell I think I’ve only seen 1 creature struck by lightning, and it was either a chicken or a cow. I’ve had wooden buildings catch fire from lightning, sure, but I myself have never been struck even while working on said buildings. I think the fact that you’ve actually been struck either means you have terrible luck or lightning just really hates you lol
I myself have bottom-tier luck, but I guess the rain loves me as much as I love it, and thus never suffer more than unlucky fires (which even then is rare because rain puts fires out, so the lightning would have to hit underneath something to catch it on fire).
besides, no one’s ever died from a little lightning (xkcd: Conditional Risk)
well, in MC, if lightning strikes a pig, it’ll turn into a zombie pigman. so maybe when struck by lightning they’ll turn into zombies? jk, that’s too unforgiving, considering not even everyone who is struck by lightning even dies (and some are struck repeatedly and still come out fine, although very woozy) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSWNrwVmY68
now I’m imagining a knight fully decked out in the best full-plate in existence, with the infinity+1 sword, charging in front of his army to meet the next army, when suddenly he is struck dead by a lightning bolt, and both armies just stop in their tracks and stare at him before running from the battlefield lol