Monkeylord

So, as I said as a response to @MKMoose's "Diversity of small and medium plants, especially on gravel and plains" topic , this suggestion is basically to add more soil types. This game as a heavy focus on geology: you can find 21 different kinds of rocks, most of them with associated gravel and sand blocks. However, you can only find 4 (7 if you count peat and clay) naturally generated soil types, wich only vary depending on their fertility. I suggest that we should have a more extensive soil diversity based not only in fertility. Of course this post is not just "Bro we need more soil the game will be better with more soil bro". Adding more soil variety would enrich the world as some plants (and therefore animals) can only grow on a specific selection of soils (sometimes even just one soil type), wich would creat a higher variety of landscapes and so make the world feel richer and more alive. Also, some soils can serve as indicators of specific resources such as rocks, minerals and plants (As I've stated before) or even as indicators of rainfall and temperatures. They could even boost specific crops. Here I present you a simplified selection of soils that I think could be implemented, each with a description and the fertility levels they can come in: Arenosol/Sandy soil (Fertility: Barren, Low): Soils that appear on areas subjected to heavy erosion such as coasts, deserts, arid plains and mountains. They are low in nutrients and have very poor water retention (they dry fast). They would appear mostly over sanstone, granite and chert layers. These soils would grow only plants that tolerate acidic soils and low humidity, such as pine, larch, heathers and fuzes. Regosol (Fertility: Barren, Low): Rocky and gravely soils, very sallow (only 1 or 2 block deep) and poor in nutriens. They appear mostly in dry, hot areas of the world and, like arenosols, have poor nutrient content and low water retention. They could appear not only as a top soil but also as an interface between rock and soil. Panning them would give you lot of stones and flint, maybe more ores than other soils. Same plants as arenosols. Clay-rich soil (Fertility: Low, Medium, High): Soils enriched with clay. Very common over claystone (although they can appear over any rock layer) and in areas with high rainfall or close to lakes and rivers. They have very good water retention and will host more clay deposits than other soils, including sub-surface clay deposits embeded between clay-rich soil layers. Good for growing crops that require a lot of water. Can grow most plants except those that need drier soils like cacti, heathers, red-top grass and most cereals. Terra rosa (Fertility: Barren, Low, Medium): A special kind of clay-rich soil enriched with iron oxides that are created by the lixiviation of limestone and other calcareous rock. They appear in drier, hotter areas (Not tropical or deserts, closer to mediterranean or hot-temperate) and only over limestone layers. Their pressence will indicate iron ore somewhere below. Calcisol (Fertility: Barren, Low, Medium, High): Soils rich in calcium carbonate. They will always spawn on top of limestone and chalk, serving as indicators. Very good for growing most root vegetables. Will only grow plant that like carbonate and high pH: Acacia, mediterranean cypress, woad, cornflower, walnuts, currants, cacti...etc. Blueberries, craberries, birches and heathers will not grow here (among other plants) . Expect tons of shells and conchs when panning. Siliceous soil (Fertility: Barren, Low, Medium, High): Acidic soils rich in silicates: they will generate mostly on top of granite, sandstone, chert and andesite. Very common along all climates. They will grow only plants that love low pH and silica, so expect lots of horsetails, oaks, birches, maples, blueberries, cranberries, heathers, pines, larches and lupines. Woad, cornflower, acacia, cypress and breadfruit trees will not grow here. Great for growing grains. Molisol (Fertility: Medium, High): Very dark and fertile soils that appear on large plains with high-ish temperatures and good rainfall. Will mostly be high fertility, so they are really good for agriculture. However, most of ther fertility comes from hummus and organic matter, so they will get depleted fast if you do not have good agricultural practices. Chernozem (Fertility: Medium, High): Very similar to Molisols, but they appear in cold regions. Specially rich in N and P. Oxisol(Fertility: Low, Medium, High): A very interesting soil. These are red soils filled with iron oxides that appear almost exlusively on the tropics. Their presence will indicate bauxite and/or iron ore somewhere below. Greater phosphorous content than their fertility would indicate, good for growing tropical crops. If caolin clay (white clay) is ever added, these soils will host deposits. Podzol (Fertility: Barren, Low): Poor, acidic, sandy, reddish and grey soils that appear in very cold and rainy areas. They will generate over almost any rock layer, but are more commonly found over granite and sandstone. They will host more peat deposits and ferns than other soil types. Expect tons of larches and pines in podzol, as they will appear near the poles and in cold mountains. Andosol (Fertility: High): Reddish fertile and porous soils derived from volcanic activity: they will only appear on top of basalt, tuff and scoria in areas with relatively high geologic activity and frecuent precipitations. Great for crops and fruit trees, but very rare. You will find obsidian stones when panning them. So, that's it. Of course I don't expect something like this being added tomorrow: to make full use of a complex soil system, we would need a broader variety of plants and some way to reduce clutter in our inventory. If something like this was to be implemente we could start with sandy soils, clay-rich soils and calcisols.

Great idea, we would need a higher variety of crops in order to add sustantial differences of course. Different crops should have a different nutrient consumption rates. different fertility tolerances (Some may grow fine in low fertility, some will need high fertility to even sprout), have different soil humidity tolerances (Some plants will grow fine between 50%-100% humidity, other might stop growing if humidity is below 80%), different pest tolerances (wich I think could appear if you replant the same crop on the same land repeatedly) and of course have the heat tolerance be more varied between different crops. This way the crop species that you choose would feel truly important and impactfull. Very good examples I say

I agree. Animals should have footstep sounds at the very least. It's okay if sometimes a wolf or a bear sneak up to you, they are hunters after all, but you should hear most animals from a distance

Yeah, automating at least the symetrical clayforming objects would be neat

I always felt oats should be in the game. Oat species (genus Avena) are really common as wild grasses too, so we could have both crop oats for eating and wild oats for the landscape!

The colours are so pretty...wao I love the gear iris design!!

If leaves actually fell from trees in autum they could spawn on top of fallen leave piles! They could make nice pets if you feed them with grain Well sjsj my proposal of course is not just "dude this game needs more soil give us 3000 soil types and the game will be better" but giving us more kinds of soil (literally sandy soil, clay-rich soil, calcisol, podsol and chernozem would be much more than enough) could provide an extra layer to biodiversity as some plants could only spawn on top of specific soil types, creating a greater variety of landscapes. In any case, adding more small plants and bushes regardless of the soil subject is a must I think. As you said, for me one of the biggest (if not THE biggest) charms of this game is feeling that the world is alive. And damm, I'm a botannist, give me plants!

The root problem is the default soil: It should change depending on the rock strata below it. You will not find the same species of plants in low-pH silicon-based soil than in a high-pH limestone-based soil. It may be a pain in the ass to add, idk, but it would enhance the world's biodiversity soo much and it would make the world feel varied and alive. The game has a very high focus o geology as it is, so I think that different soil types depending on the "rock biome" or even the climate just comes naturally. And the fertility system could be kept as it is with most soils. However that could be too much right now. We could start by replazing the standard grass with other plants in different regions. For example, in areas with low fertility soil the default grass could be replaced by clovers, in areas with medium fertility and good temperature half of the grass or more could be replaced with plantains and dandelions and in areas with very low temperatures and high precipitation mosses and lichens could take over. Of course, most of them should drop dry grass as it is a vital resource. Tl;dr Soil diversity should be addressed and grass shouldn't be treated as the default plant to fill in the gaps.

Big boulders spawning in beaches and underwater could be a great way to introduce crabs, mussels, sea snails and barnacles too. And a great way to add stonefish!

YEEES YES YES YES I always play with the floral zones series of mods because vanilla flora is...lacking. The game has sooo much potential in that regard and still you mostly get grass and those horrible birch "bushes". I could suggest a ton of species that would be cool to have, but that would be besides the point. Your suggestions are really good too. I think that reworking the bushes is a must and will eventually be done. I really like how you tackle them, I would love that those horrible gravel wastes you find walking a bit south could become shrublands filled with plants like rosemary, rockroses, brooms and fuzes. And deserts should have more plant diversity too: a couple more cactus species, some mesquite trees and some thorny bushes like jujubes would make them much nicer. And I say that sphagnum growing on top of peat is also a must

I really like this idea. It could start with a humble mortar and pestle crafted from stone (like a molcajete) and a clayformed kettle to make poultices, teas, basic tinctures and decoctions and as you advance you could eventually reach glassblowing to make cristal lab/alchemy equipment and make more complex medicines and tonics. Lots of new plants should be added for this to really work, of course, but in-game we have some that could be already usefull (poppies, horsetail, catmint...)

I'm on it! I don't know, honestly

You can absolutely get permanently fucked up by cacti as big as the ones in-game, specially by saguaros. They are plants so they won't chase you or anything, but if you just walk into a big cactus you can get really, really hurt. Those spikes are no joke. Of course I wouldn't want to get my eyes gouged out in-game, so cacti just giving you some damage (-1 or -2 hp) if you bump into them, try to climb them or break them eith your naked hands would be alright

Yeah so I was looking aroun Vintage Story's Crowdin to help with the spanish translation and oh boy. Most(ish) of them are alright, but A LOT of the "translations" are bad structured or just taken literally from english. I'd bet my right arm that most of them are taken froom google translator or DeepL and never checked. I'm no proffesional translator, don't get me wrong, but I know my native tongue and I have enough specific knowledge about the things that are being translated to know that a lot of them are just bad. I'm contributing some new translations rn to try and help, but I'm sure spanish is not the only language where this is happening. Please, have some real checking system in place

That would be great, as it would give us the hability to cultivate something other than food crops. They don't even need to have a complex growth or nutrition system. And maybe you could use the hoe for uprooting plants and getting them whole like we do now in-game I thought about somethin similar, yes. Would be a good method