trees Another take on trees propagation

[AdrianNumbers]

Devs want some trees to be harder to propagate so they are more valuable and ilustrate real world situation better. I very much like the idea but think that devs and all of us me included forced ourselfes to think that since VS is inspired by MC some of its features should work the same , so i want to show a diferent aproach on the whole propagation of trees that will be much easier to ballance properly and more focused on player skill and knowlage than simple luck.

From here on seed drop is month based and for most of the year trees wont drop them at all. Depending on a tree , you will have one , two or three months where at first chances for seeds from each leaves block goes up to certain value and then back down in similar way to gauss chart. (Here we get the first balance part thats similar the already existing one but with addicional condition). 

Each tree would provide a lot of seeds if cut down at correct time. Because of how much seeds one tree would provide and to increase immersion trees would need much more time to grow to full tree depending on type starting from few months to max of 1,5 / 2 years . Each tree now will have 4 stages of growth : seed , seedling , sapling , tree. When planting a tree you need to take notice on few things:

1. The seed can be damaged , you can check it by inspecting the seeds , after inspection damaged seeds can be used to make fertiliser and good ones will have 100% base chance to become a seedling. Without using inspection you will have %chance (depending on tree species) the planted seed was a damaged one , if so after some time it will just disapear from the world.

2. Good seeds have 100% base chance to turn into seedlings but the actual chance is influenced by climate , humidity , soil type and time of the year. The degree of influence for each of those aspects depends on the type of tree. (Second balance part)

3. Seedlings turn into saplings after some time but they are vulnerable to weather and wild-life much like crops are to hares. To counter this players need to place some sort of barier around them, we could add new block made from sticks to form a primitive cloche or fence that can be placed on the same block as seedling to prevent any animals from eating it. Another way would be to enable players to move seedlings and saplings so they can first be cultivated in doors and moved outside at later date , it would also enable players to prepare them during winter using greenhouses giving us new activity to kill time during winter. (Third balance part )

4. Saplings are still vulnerable to bigger animals but otherwise if they are not eaten they will eventualy turn into full tree.

To make it easier for the game (remove need of calculating if tree can grow in full cause of roof or space around it) we could set it that seeds can be planted in pots and they will grow up to seedling stage or in planters where they can grow to sapling stage(seedlings can also be placed in planters). Its kind of obvious that size of vessel that plant is in should inhibits its growth. Seedlings and saplings can be removed from pot/planter/ground using showel. Seedlings are normal items that can be put into inventory but will wither after some time (similar to how food goes bad) they stack up to 5 on one slot, when picked up they lose any progress in growth they had (i mean after they are placed back they act the same as if they had just turned from seed to seedling). Saplings are non-bag items , and they retain their growth progress if picked up. 

To indicate better when its good time to cut down a tree if you want seeds and also add a layer of immersion , tree leaves now change acording to current month in game not only in terms of color but textures as well.

Whole system could look like this : 

we have few texture variants for leaves each variant goes through different stages throughout the year. Variants could mean new block or just texture set.

Stages:

1. Small branches without leaves

2. Small branches with some green dots (simulating small leaves and or flower buds)

3. Small branches 25% covered by leaves and or flowers but still visible.

4. Small branches 50% covered by leaves and or flowers but still visible.

5. Small branches 75% covered by leaves and or flowers but still visible.

6. "Normal" leaves (the same look as they are now)

by small branches i mean that normal leaves blocks would have similar texture to branchy ones (in some months) but with thiner lines "branches"

Branchy leaves now only generate if they are touching logs , ground or other branchy leaves. 

% Of leaves/flowers coverage is just for reference of how dense and opaque the texture would be relative to the normal one.

Example of a cycle of 24 stages for an oak (12 months starting January each month with 2 stages) :

{ "/" Divides months }

1 -> 1 /-> 1 -> 1 /->1 -> 1 /-> 2 -> 3 (only flowers) /-> 3 (mostly flowers) -> 4 ( mostly leaves)/-> 5 (from here only leaves for rest of the cycle) -> 5 /-> 5 -> 5 /-> 5 -> 5 /-> 5 -> 4 /-> 3 -> 3 /-> 2 -> 2 /-> 2 -> 1

Starting in September leaves would change color the same way as they do now.

Ofcourse there could be more stages between those mentioned above both in variation and frequency but those details can be left for later to flesh out.

Variants of textures/blocks of the same tree would have slighly changed texture cycles , the idea here is to further diversifie the look of trees throughout the year. Some variants would bloom later some wouldnt at all , some would have leaves earlier while others would at best be only partialy covered. 

 

Non-bag item description : https://www.vintagestory.at/forums/topic/5857-non-bag-items/

Inspection description : https://www.vintagestory.at/forums/topic/5861-inspection/