Historical Additions

[Tlamatini Tlakuilo]

What do I mean by the title? Basically, I think there are many elements of human history that could be used as game mechanics.

 

Agriculture and Food

First of all, the addition of more crops like maize and potatoes. In addition to the enormous importance of these two crops for humanity, they are also very versatile. Potatoes can be used for practically for a ton recipes: Soups, stews, french fries, mashed potato, slads, bread, cakes etc. In the case of the maize or corn, this grain needs to be converted in nixtamal to reach their full potetinal (proces of enriching corn kernels by mixing them with water and lime), also have some unique recipes, ancient but preserved in mexican culture: The tamal, is basically the counter part of bread but if you look in internet, it is clearly something else and this is because the pure corn tamale is not common, but rather it is usually filled with meat (of any kind), sweets, vegetables such as strips or potatoes, cheese, etc. In ancient times fish, frog legs and apparently fruit were also used, but I cannot confirm this last point. This would serve as bread, but with the possibility of adding additional nutrients.

The other use for corn is tortillas, and if you’re from Spain you might be confused, it was actually called Tlaxcalli, but the Spanish had trouble with the pronunciation so they called it tortilla in Spanish (which is another pre-existing dish made with eggs), so I’d even appreciate it if the devs would use the original name. Corn developed as a way to transport other foods in bite-sized form and function as a plate you could eat, but it evolved into being part of the taco. Mechanically it could replace bowls, with the advantage that it’s eaten with the food you eat from a pot adding some nutrients from the grain, but with the disadvantage that it has a short shelf life.

 

For the agriculture I have the suggestion of adding two mechanics and make the exclusive for farmer class:

• The first of all is the addition of a frame of branches for a block of earth. Why? Basically to allow it to absorb the water from beneath it (if this already happens in the game I haven't noticed it). This is inspired by the chinampas, which are a method of floating plots created by the Nahua and still used in central Mexico and the Foggara, a network of underground canals to irrigate the land below and prevent evaporation developed by the Garamantes.
• The second is the tree sisters estructure: Developed by the Haudenosaunee, this is an agriculture system that corn, beans and squash. Im not and expert explaining it, so this is from wikipedia: maize and beans are often planted together in mounds formed by hilling soil around the base of the plants each year; squash is typically planted between the mounds. The cornstalk serves as a trellis for climbing beans, the beans fix nitrogen in their root nodules and stabilize the maize in high winds, and the wide leaves of the squash plant shade the ground, keeping the soil moist and helping prevent the establishment of weeds. This allows the player to plan three diferent seeds in the same block, but only if you are a farmer and follow the process in order.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/84/Three_Sisters_companion_planting_technique.jpg/800px-Three_Sisters_companion_planting_technique.jpg

 

Lithic Weapons and Armor

Macuahuitl: The mesoamerican sword, maded by wood and edges of silex or more commonly, obsidian. This works as a sword before obtaining metal, so its an early option for melee specialists before obtaining copper gear.

Atlatl: Also known as a propelling stolica, it is a wooden artifact that launches rather long darts at greater speed and with greater force. Used to hunt and war, usefull for ranged specialists before making bows or as a parallel optional weapon. It can be used to thrown spears or their own proyectiles.

Taiaha: A maori spear with a shaft whose base is thick and blunt, it is designed to be used with two hands and to strike very quickly, changing tips as part of the same attack movement, thus avoiding giving the opponent a break. A spear you can only use on melee, but have a secondary rapid attack in melee to alternate between normal attacks (or for push back the drifters).

https://mxc.com.mx/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/nicholas-hunter-screen30-1024x576-1.jpeg-2.jpeg

For armor, a bone armor: During the bronce age we can find examples of leather helmets reforced with boar tusks, also in Siberia we can find breastplates an aditional protections maded by bone. This would be an improvement of the leather armor, it requires the aforementioned, but reinforcements made of bone are added. I also recommends changing the design of the wooden armor to something similar to that of the Tlingit and Haida tribes or the Siberians themselves, but it is more of a reskin than an addition.

https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/scaled/2014/09/08/1410172315087_wps_38_Bone_Armour_Siberia_must_.jpg

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/b8/11/98/b811981bbd9b318efaa75e1b76a7b3bf.jpg

Also exist the Kiribati armors, maded by fiber, using ballon fish as a helmet and swords similar to macuahuitl, but using shark tooth as blades. The use of shark tooth in weapons were common on polynesian civilizations, so this could be a variant of macuahuitl replacing silex or obsidian with bone. Maybe this armors can be exclusive for the Tailor class.

https://external-preview.redd.it/J8gNFsZ2Ck129wZ6dcj-bzfsORETxg3N3ADffUzq1LU.png?auto=webp&s=ab4bba8f8eaf4924f5b887f108b8977637a11e9e

 

Yakhcha

It is an architectural method for producing ice and preserving food that took advantage of evaporative cooling and was developed in Persia. Is basically a big ancient friedge, for the late game and need the player to supply it with ice blocks. This mantain the food fresh for more time than the use of a basement.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cc/Yakhchal_of_Yazd_province.jpg

 

 

Edited December 24, 2024 by Tlamatini Tlakuilo
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[LadyWYT]

First of all, welcome to the forums!

On 12/24/2024 at 12:28 PM, Tlamatini Tlakuilo said:

First of all, the addition of more crops like maize and potatoes.

I think more crops are somewhere on the roadmap, it's just not a priority right now given that we have a decent variety already and there are other things that need fleshing out first.

On 12/24/2024 at 12:28 PM, Tlamatini Tlakuilo said:

The other use for corn is tortillas, and if you’re from Spain you might be confused, it was actually called Tlaxcalli, but the Spanish had trouble with the pronunciation so they called it tortilla in Spanish (which is another pre-existing dish made with eggs), so I’d even appreciate it if the devs would use the original name. Corn developed as a way to transport other foods in bite-sized form and function as a plate you could eat, but it evolved into being part of the taco. Mechanically it could replace bowls, with the advantage that it’s eaten with the food you eat from a pot adding some nutrients from the grain, but with the disadvantage that it has a short shelf life.

Perhaps you could fry it up in a skillet instead of needing to bake it in a bread oven, which would make it a more convenient option for traveling food instead of bread. Being able to scoop porridge or stew out of a pot with one also makes a lot of sense, though you'd need to make an exception in the case of soup.

On 12/24/2024 at 12:28 PM, Tlamatini Tlakuilo said:

The first of all is the addition of a frame of branches for a block of earth. Why? Basically to allow it to absorb the water from beneath it (if this already happens in the game I haven't noticed it). This is inspired by the chinampas, which are a method of floating plots created by the Nahua and still used in central Mexico and the Foggara, a network of underground canals to irrigate the land below and prevent evaporation developed by the Garamantes.

To my knowledge this concept does not currently happen in the game, although I do like the idea of floating farm plots(especially with how many players seem to build their farms over pre-existing lakes!) It might be better suited as a mod though, instead of an addition to the base game.

On 12/24/2024 at 12:28 PM, Tlamatini Tlakuilo said:

The second is the tree sisters estructure: Developed by the Haudenosaunee, this is an agriculture system that corn, beans and squash. Im not and expert explaining it, so this is from wikipedia: maize and beans are often planted together in mounds formed by hilling soil around the base of the plants each year; squash is typically planted between the mounds. The cornstalk serves as a trellis for climbing beans, the beans fix nitrogen in their root nodules and stabilize the maize in high winds, and the wide leaves of the squash plant shade the ground, keeping the soil moist and helping prevent the establishment of weeds. This allows the player to plan three diferent seeds in the same block, but only if you are a farmer and follow the process in order.

It'd be neat to go this in-depth with the farming, but I think the system we already have in the game is sufficient. Different crops require different nutrients, and all crops deplete the land they're planted on of nutrients, so players are already encouraged to rotate their crop planting or otherwise use fertilizer. It's probably also a lot easier to track one crop per tile of farmland, rather than three, when it comes to writing and executing the code.

On 12/24/2024 at 12:28 PM, Tlamatini Tlakuilo said:

Macuahuitl: The mesoamerican sword, maded by wood and edges of silex or more commonly, obsidian. This works as a sword before obtaining metal, so its an early option for melee specialists before obtaining copper gear.

The club already covers this, although a club isn't the same thing as a macuahuitl. I think it's a more niche weapon that better fits into mod territory, especially since the general setting is(or was) more centered in Europe, Asia, and northern Africa than it is the Americas.

On 12/24/2024 at 12:28 PM, Tlamatini Tlakuilo said:

Atlatl: Also known as a propelling stolica, it is a wooden artifact that launches rather long darts at greater speed and with greater force. Used to hunt and war, usefull for ranged specialists before making bows or as a parallel optional weapon. It can be used to thrown spears or their own proyectiles.

And this is where I will somewhat contradict what I just said above, in that I could actually see something like this being added to the base game. Perhaps not being labeled an atlatl specifically, but some sort of spear-throwing aid to add an extra point or two of damage to a throw spear. It'd be useful in the early game(provided that the player is aware of its existence), as well as appreciated by spear-enthusiasts throughout all stages of gameplay.

On 12/24/2024 at 12:28 PM, Tlamatini Tlakuilo said:

Taiaha: A maori spear with a shaft whose base is thick and blunt, it is designed to be used with two hands and to strike very quickly, changing tips as part of the same attack movement, thus avoiding giving the opponent a break. A spear you can only use on melee, but have a secondary rapid attack in melee to alternate between normal attacks (or for push back the drifters).

Another weapon that I think works better as a mod, rather than a base game weapon.

On 12/24/2024 at 12:28 PM, Tlamatini Tlakuilo said:

For armor, a bone armor: During the bronce age we can find examples of leather helmets reforced with boar tusks, also in Siberia we can find breastplates an aditional protections maded by bone. This would be an improvement of the leather armor, it requires the aforementioned, but reinforcements made of bone are added. I also recommends changing the design of the wooden armor to something similar to that of the Tlingit and Haida tribes or the Siberians themselves, but it is more of a reskin than an addition.

Agreed with adding bone armor--it would look cool, give a good use for bones, and could offer some decent early game protection(even if it only has low durability). I don't know about reskinning the wooden armor though...I think the model we already have works well enough.

On 12/24/2024 at 12:28 PM, Tlamatini Tlakuilo said:

Also exist the Kiribati armors, maded by fiber, using ballon fish as a helmet and swords similar to macuahuitl, but using shark tooth as blades. The use of shark tooth in weapons were common on polynesian civilizations, so this could be a variant of macuahuitl replacing silex or obsidian with bone. Maybe this armors can be exclusive for the Tailor class.

It's cool armor, but it's another case that I think is better suited to modded territory than the base game, especially given the general setting of the story.

On 12/24/2024 at 12:28 PM, Tlamatini Tlakuilo said:

Yakhcha

It is an architectural method for producing ice and preserving food that took advantage of evaporative cooling and was developed in Persia. Is basically a big ancient friedge, for the late game and need the player to supply it with ice blocks. This mantain the food fresh for more time than the use of a basement.

I forgot these were a thing. This is actually a great idea for a multiblock structure! I don't think it would be of much use in temperate or colder climates, but in the warmer climates it would be much better than the standard cellar for preserving food for a very long time.

[Tlamatini Tlakuilo]

I imagined that some things would be more mod-like, but I wanted to suggest in case anyone was interested. I also thought I saw the crops on the road map, but in this case i decide to mention it for the sake of give ideas to differentiate maize from other grains.

10 hours ago, LadyWYT said:

Perhaps you could fry it up in a skillet instead of needing to bake it in a bread oven, which would make it a more convenient option for traveling food instead of bread. Being able to scoop porridge or stew out of a pot with one also makes a lot of sense, though you'd need to make an exception in the case of soup.

Its a good idea. in fac to preserve it, the tamale is wrapped in corn leaves to preserve it, and it is also made with fat, so frying it may be more appropriate.

10 hours ago, LadyWYT said:

And this is where I will somewhat contradict what I just said above, in that I could actually see something like this being added to the base game. Perhaps not being labeled an atlatl specifically, but some sort of spear-throwing aid to add an extra point or two of damage to a throw spear. It'd be useful in the early game(provided that the player is aware of its existence), as well as appreciated by spear-enthusiasts throughout all stages of gameplay.

The atlatl is asociated with the americas because it was used more time here, but originally was used as a hunting weapon around the entire glove. Eventually its use fell into decline, which I am not sure why, but javelins continued to be widely used in warfare. Perhaps their use was lost. Although the most common atlatl is made of wood, there were also copper ones. If you want to look for a less regionalized name, it could be estolica, propulsor or lanzar (maybe thrower).

10 hours ago, LadyWYT said:

I think the model we already have works well enough.

Yes, the suggestion of the resquin is something that in the end I didn't see much sense in, perhaps because I liked the overalls, but I'd rather learn to program to make some mod with aesthetic variants.

 

I dont have to much to say about the rest, but thank you for your reply.