Hey there!
Seasons are just reached so what do you think should they be ? I know some things have been told but i would like to read your ideas and thoughts.
I love seasons, just imagine a whole town covered under snow, smoking chimneys and workers in some warm fur clothes.
I have made some thought on what could be , what would be needed and what would give the game some more depth with seasons. Wonderful looking winter in your town, but would the winter act like one?
It has been told that you could need to hoard food for the seasons. I think thats a realy great idea but what else ?
Maybe the seasons could vary, so you may have a hard winter but also a long warm summer, perfect for farming.
When im thinking of winter… i see a large fireplace in the middle of a tavern. Maybe some chairs , sofa or lounge like furniture around it and a bunch of workers talking and drinking. Warm drinks, meals or beer. It could be possible too that your guards on the walls, or on watch should need some warm places, if the winter is really hard. You should need to hoard food, water, wood for warm fireplaces.
That are just a few ideas. I would like to discuss, add or remove some If you like to.
I like the idea that there could be a certain randomness to the seasons, their length (obviously within a certain limit) and their effects.
By this I’m probably focussing mostly on Winter/Summer - But one year you could have a particularly bad winter with lots of snow, the need for a constant fire and food, and animals to be inside, another Winter could be mild, less food is needed, less warmth - things like that.
The same goes for summer - too hot, droughts, exhaustion. I’m sure you get the picture!
I think seasons should have a specific length so that you can know how many days you have left to prepare; And inside of the seasons you could have random events that become more prominent or more effectual in the middle of the season e.g.(snow storms are more likely in the middle of the winter than at the beginning and end; And in summer the closer you get to the middle of summer, the hotter it is making water more scarce). I’m not really sure what to make of spring or fall, maybe they would just be transitional periods
Mhh great ideas so far =)
For fall would be a red, yellow setting great and imagine more rain. Maybe the rivers could rise a random amount of blocks. You may have some meadows flooded or maybe in a hard summer the water level drops and you should have some “Watertanks” for your workers.
The Spring could be difficult. Dont know if there will be bees or something like that , but maybe that would be a great time for the animals to start breeding? The biota start living, more animals, the trees grow better, everything is starting to get greener. Maybe your settlers could set up some apple trees.Your workes may get happier because of longer days and sunshine
I had the same idea in another thread in which I said something like. If you have food others may want it. During the winter. When food is low in the world. People like Goblins, Bunny people and others. You might have to build high walls and food silos to hold and guard your food from attacks thieves and pest. I might have to build a large area with guards, high stone walls and steal fences. Just to guard my food and other stuff.
It would be cool if I wrote a .lua for my guards/food givers to only give our food and water to our people during low food and water shortages. It would be cool if you could sell food and water to other cities. Controlling lands, rivers and making wells will be very important in this game.
I think there should be a type of calendar for the seasons. Also if there will be fall make crops harvestable then and make the leaves on trees have a seasonal animation.
Building something to measure the seasons and predict them, meteorologist class? Starwatcher class? I dno, it’s late, I’m in bed on a mobile device excited that we’re a few hundred dollars away from $400,000 … Send help.
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I love the idea of seasons which vary in length and intensity year to year (within reason). although a good event would be a long winter which lasts much much much longer, like an apocalyptic ice age sort of thing, yay mammoth will be right at home.
I guess anything could be possible with mods making it as deadly and life like or as casual and relaxed as one would wish for.
Ooooh! Where to start! I think seasonal changes should be more than just cosmetic but effect every part of the game! They should roughly last the same time (30 in game days) but randomized so winters could be very long. Imagine good supplies running dry and finally beginning to see the snow melt when you didn’t expect it!
Ideas:
Sprink - melting snow, flooding and lots of rain halfway through the spring season of stonehearth. You’ll be encountering more animal based monsters since hibernation is over and hungry animals come out. Days and nights are even time periods but nights are still cold. Dress warmly!
Sumaria - long bright days and short nights, summer is here at last! Caravans and orcs and factions and everything comes to life. Most adventure-tensive time. Careful not to overdress your workers since their stamina will run out faster on hot days. Dress light and breezy and reap and store winter food! Look forward to summer solstice festivals and tournaments and travellers!
Magci (pronounced madge-chee) - a special season where magic awakens and flourishes from the ripe world. More magical creatures and elemental a come out and magic is stronger and cheaper to use! Weather becomes very bizarre with foggy, firefly nights, magical storms and crystal rain. Days are short and nights are shorter but mornings and sunsets last forever! The world becomes more exciting but more dangerous. The night of the two moons festival comes so look for it!
Autumn (Days of Hearth) - magic seeps out of everything and with it, all life begins to deteriorate. Days and nights even out but plants, trees and crops die slowly and the world fades. Mist and cold return so dress your characters in warm clothing so their stamina doesn’t run out too fast. Animals and factions are storing for the winter months so expect attacks on your town from desperate creatures frequently while you prepare for winter. As the world changes colour and magic drains from the winds, weather becomes more calm and it is the season of the hunters. Hunt your game and remember to pack the meat in salt from the mines so it doesn’t rot!
Wintera - enveloped in snow and iced rivers, anyone not dressed warmly and heavily will see their stamina drain when out for too long. Plan your town well with warm places to wait out blizzards and for soldiers to warm up! Fish in icy rivers but careful cause caves are now filled with monsters and all enemy factions are well dressed and armoured too! Although blizzards are rare and food is scarce, there are many festivals like the winter solstice and Saturnalia and the end of winter feast at the Night of a Thousand Lights festival to look forward to! Adventurers should be in large parties and although raiding is rare (winter is a dangerous time to lay siege to another town), many summer holdings are abandoned and there are treasures to be found that may be stolen by Sprink!
with the changing of the seasons I hope the terrain pallet also changes, .e.g. trees changing from green to reds and yellows and oranges in autumn and then no leaves in winter kind of thing.
Seasons should definitely effect crop production; I’m not sure if I prefer seasonal crops that are harvested within the season they are planted (ala Harvest moon) or a more realistic system with most crops planted in the late spring and harvested in mid-fall. I like the idea of the seasons also influencing what sort of and how many enemies you encounter. Generally, Spring and Fall are going to be the busiest for your town in terms of farming if using a realistic planting system, while Summer would be the season for adventuring and exploration. Winter would generally be for hunkering down, but you might also be the target for raids by enemies who didn’t gather enough food to get by, or might have send out help to friendly factions if they need it…
So generally I’d like to see some variability in season length and severity, as others have pointed out, and have it influence farming strategy and enemy activity.
Maybe you could determine the length of each season, eit when you create a new game, or in the options they can be adjusted to ease or for a challenge. Just a thought.
If you like to.