Skip to Content
 

What seems Intuitive for what Resources are Found on Different Planet Types

5 replies [Last post]
Mon, 06/18/2018 - 14:23
DarkDream
Offline
Joined: 12/31/1969

I have been refining my space 4x game, and noticed that there are video games out there like Endless Space and Stellaris where they have different planet types (water planets, desert planets and so on) that are more or less inclined to have certain resources. So, for example, an ocean world would have on average much more minerals than lets say an ice planet.

In my game, I have a total of five different planet types: ice planets, desert planets, ocean planets, terran planets (Earth like) and jungle planets.

I have three resources: ore (which represents all physical resources that can be used to make things), gold (which represents currency and wealth) and science.

I have decided that a terran planet will have a mix of all three resources (as it has a variety of biomes).

Intuitively what types of planets would you expect would be very good at producing the three types of resources I outlined. Would an ice world be good for science, or a desert world for ore (production) and so on?

What are your guys take?

--DarkDream

Top
Mon, 06/18/2018 - 15:06
#1
Tim Edwards
Offline
Joined: 07/30/2015
I intuitively associate ore,

I intuitively associate ore, gold and science ALL with jungle more than anything. If 'ore' could be some kind of fantasy version of oil, then it would go well with desert and ice. If 'gold' could be imagined as a variety of precious minerals then, for me, I think of jungle (because of South America and Indonesia). Science as a resource doesn't naturally go with any one environment for me. But maybe getting a set of all three environments could allow comparative science. That might be interesting. You'd be thinking not only in terms of planets but combinations of planets.

Hope those slim thoughts are of some use to you.

Top
Mon, 06/18/2018 - 15:56
#2
X3M
X3M's picture
Offline
Joined: 10/28/2013
Don't assume that if a game

Don't assume that if a game has a certain resource plenty in combination with a planet type. That it is correct.

Nor are the terms on which your resources are based.
eg. Gold is an ore.
All ore's are minerals.
Not all minerals are ore's. Since only ores are the useful minerals.

Ask yourself.
What materials are of use in future civilisations?

While Stellaris gives idea's.
- You could also take a look at O-game. Metal/Crystal(imaginative)/Deuterium.
- Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds uses 4 resources. Carbon/Food(weird if you ask me)/Nova(imaginative)/Ore
- Starcraft. Minerals(Ore's where better, because ground is also a mineral)/Gas(Think about this one for a second).

***

You can do so many things when considering a solar system.

Where would future civilisations harvest from?
- Water planets. Water, deuterium, hydrogen/oxygen, electricity by cloud systems.
- Gas planets. Hydrogen, helium. Needs a space station or an orbiting moon. These light elements are rare on earth or need a lot of energy to get them. But are super useful once you have them in pure form. A gas planet gives them literally for free.
- Ice planets/comets. Same as the water planets, but no sun energy to help harvest.
- Sand planets. These are actually considered useless. You don't even know where to start looking. And space ships of glas aren't that helpful.
- Rock planets. These have the ore. In layers. Once you find an ore, you have plenty of it concentrated.
- Lava planets. These have the ore in liquid form. But you need to have good machinery to find them. Also heat resistant. More often in better purified forms, but harder to find.
- Planetoids. Here is your ore for the grabbing. Just pick the shiny planetoids.
- Earth like planets. Actually, have you thought of humanoids as a resource? What about life forms or vegetation?
- Stars. Energy in the forms of any radiation.

***

I myself, consider Carbon, THÈ Resource of the future. You can build a lot with carbon and using nano-technology.
I build a story around this resource in one of my older board games as an upgrade system. It's rather useless, but concentrated, could give you diamond armor or even better.

Top
Mon, 06/18/2018 - 16:29
#3
DarkDream
Offline
Joined: 12/31/1969
Good Thoughts

Tim Edwards wrote:
If 'ore' could be some kind of fantasy version of oil, then it would go well with desert and ice. If 'gold' could be imagined as a variety of precious minerals then, for me, I think of jungle (because of South America and Indonesia). Science as a resource doesn't naturally go with any one environment for me.
Thanks for the thoughts, yes "Gold" as it is right now is just a shorthand for some kind of currency which is based on precious metals, rocks and so on.

Interesting how you think of jungle as precious minerals. :) I will have to do some research.

-DarkDream

Top
Mon, 06/18/2018 - 16:32
#4
DarkDream
Offline
Joined: 12/31/1969
Good Point

X3M wrote:
Ask yourself.
What materials are of use in future civilisations?

It is definitely a good idea to ask what in the future would be the key resources human's would need and go from there.

I will have to think about that one and delve further.

--DarkDream

Top
Tue, 06/19/2018 - 03:09
#5
Tim Edwards
Offline
Joined: 07/30/2015
DarkDream wrote:Tim Edwards

DarkDream wrote:
Tim Edwards wrote:
If 'ore' could be some kind of fantasy version of oil, then it would go well with desert and ice. If 'gold' could be imagined as a variety of precious minerals then, for me, I think of jungle (because of South America and Indonesia). Science as a resource doesn't naturally go with any one environment for me.
Thanks for the thoughts, yes "Gold" as it is right now is just a shorthand for some kind of currency which is based on precious metals, rocks and so on.

Interesting how you think of jungle as precious minerals. :) I will have to do some research.

-DarkDream

I just checked out world diamond mine distributions. They don't seem associated with any one particular environment, so I wondered why I associated them with jungle (apart from thinking about Brazil and Indonesia). I think the computer game Civilization is to blame. You usually found gems in the jungle - probably as some compensation for jungle being (in that game) a horrible tile to work with. So...yeh...my idea of linking jungle with precious minerals might be a bit spurious. :)

I agree with X3M. Breaking away from our 21st century terrestrial assumptions is a good way forward. You could imagine totally alien environments (gas planets, ice planets - but it's frozen nitrogen, planets teeming with strange energy-providing planktons, etc, etc) and therefore equally wonderful resources. :)

Top
Syndicate content


forum | by Dr. Radut