Radically different food sources

In most strategy games, a piece of land is generally equally as valuable to everyone.  Think of Master of Magic.  A gold deposit, river square, or ocean square had the same value to everyone.  All resources were equally as easy to exploit by anyone.

So why not shake things up a bit?  I was thinking of all the different types of food resources that could exist in the game and what it would mean for expansion.  For instance, one civilization might start out with the techs to farm fertile land.  Another Civ might have the tech to catch ellusive fish on the vugged coast.  Another might be masters of redirecting the melting of mountain top glaciers, allowing them to farm the steppes.  Another could be masterful at animal husbandry.  Basically, each Civ would start out on different parts of the farming tech tree.  To gain other food resources, the player would have to research their way over to those other food growing/ catching methods which takes a lot of time and effort. 

Each region on the map would have different types of food growing methods.  Some would more than likely be more abundant than others.  For instance, a mountain valley might have a few "twilight bees," and some fish in a small lake, but would have much more glacial irrigation potential.  So essentially, the value of the land would be greater for those who had glacial irrigation tech, but not as valuable to those with other methods.

This creates an interesting circumstance in which different Civs can't use the same resources, thus diffusing the impetus for war between certain civs and increasing it for others.  If a Civ is incapable of managing a city in a mountain valley because they don't properly understand how to make a mountaintop irrigation system with melting snow caps, they are going to be less interesting in invading.  This creates a dynamic political landscape as well as a dynamic sense of setting.  A civilization doesn't simply expand into every niche of the world as soon as they can.  Instead, they prefer specific types of landscapes that have resources that they can exploit.  You would have rugged, brine battered shore-folk, windswept and barrel chested mountain-folk, and plains-folk.  

Gotta go to work, so I'll open the floor to feedback.

5,505 views 6 replies
Reply #1 Top

Early-game Farming Tech- can gain 20% efficiency from Non-Native food-types

Mid-game Farming Tech- can gain 60% effieciency from Non Native food-types

Late-game Farming Tech - can gain 90% efficiency from Non Native food types

 

OR a series of mid-game farming techs which allow acess to each food type, @ 50% effieciency, and a following tech which allows full efficiency (many more teching, arrives earlier, cost more if you want acess to ALL food types, less expensive if you only want ONE additional food type)

 

THe first one is more collect-all global, more simple, while the second one is more Gal-Civ reminescent

Reply #2 Top

When you said "radically different food sources" I immediately thought of the Fallen and.... other Fallen.

But aside from that... errm... avenue, this sort of system would really make things interesting when it comes to protracted wars deep into enemy territory: your cities filled with your citizens are doing just fin on their wheat and oranges, then you take over a Fallen town and your occupying army gets to feast... on grubs and the occasional boiled brain.

Reply #3 Top

Quoting Scoutdog, reply 2
When you said "radically different food sources" I immediately thought of the Fallen and.... other Fallen.

But aside from that... errm... avenue, this sort of system would really make things interesting when it comes to protracted wars deep into enemy territory: your cities filled with your citizens are doing just fin on their wheat and oranges, then you take over a Fallen town and your occupying army gets to feast... on grubs and the occasional boiled brain.
End of Scoutdog's quote

LOL.  Great illustration.

Reply #4 Top

the occasional boiled brain
End of quote

Bah. Boiling is brutal mistreatment for a rich, fatty organ like a brain. A brain ain't no shank, after all. Not that I've ever eaten brains, despite being regularly offered eggs-and-brains as a weekend breakfast treat when I was a kid.

Reply #5 Top

Great idea. Especially the fallen should have some inventive ways for living off the dead land ...

Such a system would also fit very well to create a fantasy world where some civs tend to stay in certain regions instead of everyone just trying to grab as much fertile land as possible. Think dwarves living happily among arid mountains, elves never having to leave the deepest forests, and fishmen alxays staying close to the water.

Reply #6 Top

This is a pretty interesting concept, especially given that there already seem to be a number of food resources in the game! Having different races utilize them differently would definitely lend to the atmosphere. I can think of a number already, from wild mushrooms in the barren lands to ... well, if the Fallen ride bears, they probably don't have a lot of use for horses }:)