a multiplayer game of parenting and civilization building
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I keep a blog about gardening, agriculture, homesteading sort of things. Naturally, I have found some aspects about this game quite interesting in terms of the development of agriculture and the discussion around soil depletion
I ended up making a blog post about soil depletion after the debate surrounding the changes for version 76. (Which is what this refers to, I actually haven't had a chance to play since the new version)
Anyway, I have some recipe ideas to make permanent soil fertility possible.
I will copy and paste relevant parts here, but also give a link to the whole article at the end.
I want to note: i realize this is a game, isn't specifically an agricultural simulation, and in general it is not meant to be completely unrealistic. However, balancing soil depletion and long term-survival is one of the most fundamental balance issues. Thus, I think ideas from the history of agriculture are quite relevant (and that this game is a good tool for discussing the development of civilization.
I'll put the link at the beginning, but just posting the main ideas here. The broader thing is definitely only interesting if you're interested in agriculture and history
https://groundandfury.com/one-hour-one- … riculture/
Anyway three major ideas
1) Increased options for hunter gatherers:
"In many ways, having a farming civilization brings with it many problems, and has the constant risk of catastrophic crop failure (due to user error/neglect, not any element of randomness in plant growth within the game.)
By making hunting and gathering more long term viable splitting burdock root could be added to the game, with the formula [burdock root + flint chip = 3 cut burdock] [cut burdock + sharp stone = planted young burdock]. If burdock took an epoch to occur and about half as many of them spawned I don’t think the difficulty would greatly effect the civs. This would allow nomadic tribes to set up over a broad region and multiply the burdock so there could be long term food supply for future generations. However, it would take long enough that it would be a challenge to set up the area for future large populations.
By reducing the scramble to farm (for non-players: getting a water container to farm requires some doing as wild foods deplete) and the reliance on farming, more camps would be started by competent players who set out to start a camp at a young age and aren’t instantly absorbed by child care like an Eve. Further, this would create a situation where more people are nomadic, and could create interesting conflict between settled and nomadic people (most likely over raids for tools by nomads and burdock usage by settled tribes.)"
2) Slash and Burn
"Historically, problems with fertility led to “temporary” villages and farmlands in many areas, especially forested areas. This was often done in a fashion known as “slash-and-burn”, which is still practiced in many tropical areas. As the name implies, this is chopping down a forest and setting it on fire for increased fertility. In traditional English agriculture, villages and farms would often be moved every century or so after soil had lost fertility. The general practice was to slash-and-burn a new section, and follow it with three courses of buckwheat (which can be one season) to prepare the soil and keep it clear of weeds.
This could be implemented into the game relatively easily, if burning the remains of a chopped down tree (all three) leaves one fertile soil. Some process for regrowing limited trees could be added, potentially by filling an empty wormy soil pit with something besides soil. (or by getting two soil from the slashed tree and needing one and something else to regrow). Since the trees have other important usage, it would make resource allocation more complicated, and increase the risk of deforestation. There are a lot of trees, if it created an overabundance of soil it could require watering and waiting or [water + one item + time.]"
3) Traditional Asian farming was able to achieve permanent soil fertility with high populations through intensive practices
However, a slower more intensive method of soil creation could be added which rewards those those who think towards the future. There are three good ways this could be implemented which are relatively faithful to traditional Asian agricultural methods. These solutions would need to be balanced to the rest of the game, but some or all of them would work.
a) Full trash pits can become soil.
The formula I envision for this is something like [full trash pit + pine + leaf + water = prepared trash pit] [prepared trash pit + clay = covered composting trash pit] [covered composting trash pit + epoch = one fertile soil]
This only adds a small amount to the total soil, as trash pits don’t fill quickly. It would add an incentive to create, use, and fill trash pits so with extra work (running around finding things to fill it with) it could add to a greater soil increase. This has the added bonus of doing something with trash pits, which as far as I know are currently a permanent obstacle.
b) Intensive composting in empty soil pits.
The recipe for new soil in empty soil pits can closely follow the actual Chinese composting methods with existing in-game items.
Here is my recipe idea: [Empty fertile soil pit + 1 fertile soil + bowl of mashed carrot & berry + straw or reed + fresh grave + X leaves or pine + 1 clay + water= unmixed fresh compost pit] [unmixed fresh compost pit + shovel = mixed compost pit] [mixed compost pit + adobe = sealed aging mixed compost pit] [sealed aging mixed compost pit + epoch = 5 fertile soil]
fertile soil pit
A fertile soil pit in OHOL provides five empty soil and does not respawn. It cannot be removed from the map, however, it can be used to store other soil.
The advantage of this is that it IS difficult that most people will not remember the recipe or care enough to make the effort. It involves benefits that cannot be gained within a life time and the process should be started before soil is scarce. This makes it possible to continue a civilization without fertility loss, but at a price many are not willing to pay.
c) Cover Crops
This feature could easily be worked into the existing game, though once again, possible balance issues.
Green grains are a great cover crop in real life. We already have access in game, since domesticated wheat goes through a green phase. This could be implemented with the following formula:
[green domesticated wheat + sharp stone = cut green wheat] [cut green wheat + shovel + water =extra fertile soil]
“extra fertile soil” doesn’t expire the next time you harvest domesticated wheat or carrot seeds, giving you the option to use an extra two water instead of one soil.
This would greatly reduce the scarcity of wheat, however it also requires greater care and leads to soil waste if the wheat not cut at the right time.
I'll tell you what I tell all my children: Make basket, always carry food.
Listen to your mom!
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That sounds like it would be cool.
One thing that stands out is people have trouble differentiating between someone inside their group or outside it.
This makes inter-group conflict much more difficult even if that would be a fun thing to have in game.
"be prepared and one person cant kill all city, if he can, then you deserve it" -pein
https://kazetsukai.github.io/onetech/#
https://onehouronelife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=1438
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as I suspected, the compost system changed substantially between writing this and actually getting it published lol, still, the principle remains.
I really think worms could instead make the wheat soil viable again.
I'll tell you what I tell all my children: Make basket, always carry food.
Listen to your mom!
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