a multiplayer game of parenting and civilization building
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I posted this in a diff topic but it got buried, would like some opinions:
Right now Jason is looking into making the journey to keep getting water harder by adding in specific constraints per family/race. Getting rubber and oil are needed for water, but I would say this isn't very realistic at all when compared to the real world. Yes, these things can help get more water from the same spot, but if people are in desperate need of water, they'd be much more likely to move away than trade for it.
How about trade not being necessary for water, but for different types of food and progression through that? Seeds would be a cool AND realistic thing, with lots of ancient civilizations trading seeds for precious/luxury goods to improve their situation.
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What/How
- Only person w/ certain skin colour can pick the seed off of a certain wild food
- When that seed is planted by a person with a diff skin colour, it grows, but has a chance of not yielding any new seeds- meaning you can run out and have to trade again. The idea is that they're just not as good at farming this stuff.
- Each skin colour gets a seed that is vital for progression (i.e. wheat, carrot, berry), but can survive without it although it may be a bit more of a struggle
To combine points 2 & 3 domestic berry bushes should perhaps die (meaning you need to plant new ones like w/ carrots and wheat)
Be aware that people can still get the wild FOOD, just not the wild SEEDS. This allows them to scavenge some stuff at the start, but eventually resources die out and they gotta find people to trade with to really progress. This puts some constraint on progression, but not on survival as an Eve/early town. Surviving without these seeds is definitely possible, but after a while and especially when towns grow it'd get a lot harder, compost being the big big issue along with nutritious food and food diversity.
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You get the bread bakers, carrot crunchers and berry bellies. If anyone wants (more) sheep, pies or compost, they better trade some seeds. However, surviving without sheep/pies/compost is possible through some hardship.
Perhaps each skin colour has some of the non-vital seeds as well. Biome-specific could work if carrots and wheat are separated. Perhaps each skin-colour can eventually also get a unique skill (making coloured clothes, making a special type of bag, w/e) to have unique non-food products they can trade for seeds.
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Why?
- It's historically accurate.
- To enforce trade without being completely dependent on it. Trading is better for survival, but not necessary. Living in a multi-culti town is better for survival, but not necessary. This type of trade would make the game more interesting for a town full of advanced players, yet not impossible for a town full of newer players. People are more likely to WANT to trade instead of being FORCED to do so.
- The constraints could develop into different/unique playstyles for different skin colours, especially early on. With more different seeds for each skin colour, different types of food would be common in different towns.
- You don't need to hectically search for other towns (without a horse).
- There are different paths to success and fewer opportunities for griefing (than when people can't touch stuff in certain biomes).
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