Simulate a real storm (meteorological, not temporal)

[gomodo]

This physics would allow :

- to encourage stone constructions.
- light doors are torn off
- sometimes windows break
- Trees would lose their leaves, and sometimes collapse.
- Mature plants in the fields are uprooted.
- Exposed chickens fly away.
- Tools placed outside (yes, I do this often) fly away or are moved.
- to protect behind a heavy obstacle (because the calculation moves in the direction of the wind).

I imagine a calculation starting with the first objects, moving in the direction of the wind.
The calculation starts only with the free space (for example 15 blocks) detected in front of each obstacle.
In this case the game would apply a probability calculation based on the material : Light elements can fly away depending on the wind speed (probability calculation).

For larger storms the probabilities increase and the free space detections are shorter (e.g. 10 blocks).

This system could then be easily modified to make tornadoes. .

[Teh Pizza Lady]

Just a FEW questions ...

• How do you calculate light doors?
• What defines a window?
• Is it all trees? Or random? What about trees in a forest? Those often serve as a windbreak for each other so a group of trees is less likely to be affected, for example? Would tree size have any effect? Would this also affect smaller trees like fruit trees or would it only apply to normal trees that are chopped for wood? What is the effect of a tree collapsing? Does it break into logs or will it have an impact on the surrounding area?
• Why only mature plants? What about plants that are almost mature?
• What defines an exposed animal? If an animal is hiding behind a windbreak would they still be affected?
• What defines placed outside? How do you prevent it from also affecting tools placed inside?
• How often do you calculate things getting affected by the storms? Are you aware that this might increase CPU utilization on weaker PCs? How would this affect frame rate?
• How do you account for modded items?

It's a cool suggestion, but it sounds like something should be in a mod, not the base game.

[LadyWYT]

8 hours ago, gomodo said:

- light doors are torn off

This is technically already implemented in the game, and does not require a storm. The crude door has a chance to fall off its hinges when used.

8 hours ago, gomodo said:

- sometimes windows break

Glass blocks? Or does that include chiseled windows? And if it includes chiseled, how do you calculate what qualifies as a window, and what does not? Aside from the fact that replacing windows frequently is going to get annoying, if storms are allowed to damage chiselwork then it's going to discourage players from a fairly significant part of the game's aesthetics.

8 hours ago, gomodo said:

- Trees would lose their leaves, and sometimes collapse.

I have the same questions here as @traugdor, though I would note in particular for fruit trees:

Fruit trees are a rather significant time investment; they take about a year or two to establish themselves and bear fruit. Unless the player wants a specific crop, or intends to spend a lot of time in one world, there's not a strong incentive to invest time and resources into fruit trees. Allowing the trees to be easily destroyed by things the player really can't prevent further discourages players from engaging with this mechanic.

8 hours ago, gomodo said:

- Mature plants in the fields are uprooted.

I could actually see this mechanic working with the weather patterns we already have, but not in this fashion. Trees can be uprooted by storms, because heavy rain loosens the soil and the tree's structure provides resistance to the wind. Field crops like those we have in the game don't offer much wind resistance at all, so they shouldn't be uprooted.

A more realistic, viable option is to allow hail to damage crops that aren't under cover. The larger the hail, the larger chance there is for crop damage. Hail is rare enough that it shouldn't be damaging crops too frequently, and in the event that it does damage crops, the worst a player will suffer is having less grain/vegetables to work with or a longer wait for windmill sails. Of course, players would also have the option to protect their crops by simply investing resources into greenhouses for every crop.

8 hours ago, gomodo said:

- Exposed chickens fly away.

And other small livestock...? It's one thing to lose your animals to a predator that found its way into the livestock pen, because you can at least figure out how the beast got in and fix the problem. It's another thing entirely to have your livestock(which is a significant investment) wiped out from something you can't really prevent. I suppose you could keep all animals locked up in a stone prison to minimize the risk of losing them, but that's not really fun or immersive. A change like this would probably give players more incentive to just skip livestock entirely and stick to hunting, which isn't ideal if you're wanting them to engage in a variety of gameplay loops.

Speaking of wind affecting creatures though...shouldn't a wind that strong also cause the player to lose control of their character, should they be caught outside?

8 hours ago, gomodo said:

- Tools placed outside (yes, I do this often) fly away or are moved.

All tools outside, or only the ones that aren't in tool racks? I will note that I live in an area with some pretty nasty storms, and while I've seen plenty of empty buckets and things get sent flying into the next county...I can't say that I've seen shovels, hammers, or other tools get sent flying unless they were actively thrown by someone. A really strong wind might knock them over, but that's about it.

8 hours ago, gomodo said:

- to protect behind a heavy obstacle (because the calculation moves in the direction of the wind).

I imagine a calculation starting with the first objects, moving in the direction of the wind.
The calculation starts only with the free space (for example 15 blocks) detected in front of each obstacle.
In this case the game would apply a probability calculation based on the material : Light elements can fly away depending on the wind speed (probability calculation).

For larger storms the probabilities increase and the free space detections are shorter (e.g. 10 blocks).

I share traugdor's sentiment here:

6 hours ago, traugdor said:

How often do you calculate things getting affected by the storms? Are you aware that this might increase CPU utilization on weaker PCs? How would this affect frame rate?

Especially regarding the processing power you might need to make all those suggestions work. And if it's something that a lot of players are expected to engage with, it needs to be able to run on a variety of PCs, and not just the high-end machines.

8 hours ago, gomodo said:

This system could then be easily modified to make tornadoes. .

Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't see how it could be easily modified to make tornadoes.

6 hours ago, traugdor said:

It's a cool suggestion, but it sounds like something should be in a mod, not the base game.

Pretty much. I don't dispute that some would find this kind of content enjoyable, but I'm not really sure what the idea adds to gameplay other than a way to ensure that the player has to completely redo some of their progression at random intervals. I'm also suspicious that such an obstacle might end up being a rather trivial nuisance, given that a player can likely just avoid the storms entirely by immediately leaving the affected chunks for a while and coming back later, or by simply building almost everything underground where it can't be affected to begin with. In which case...what's even the point of the mechanic, aside from shoehorning the player into a specific build/playstyle?

An easy way to test the strength of the idea, without mods, would probably be to start a multiplayer game with a friend. Give the friend your base coordinates, and let them simply destroy parts of your base at random intervals, with varying amounts of damage within the proposed suggestions, in order to simulate severe storms.

 

[Teh Pizza Lady]

Also what would happen to windmills?