Biome/Land Types?

[dscutt]

I've been looking for some description or discussion on what the different land types are. The major thing I'm trying to figure out is how to get a desert, where grass doesn't try to take it over constantly. I end up spending a lot of time digging up grass as it grows, and my entire island kinda reverts to green (with grass, and fungal color) with random splotches of other colors that come and go over time.

[Bludgeonsoft]

Here are the different land types (biomes) in order of hydration/nutrients: Deep Water, Water, Marsh, Brush (dark turf), Grass (light turf), Tundra, Stone Floor, Brick Floor, Wood Floor, Asphalt, Toxic Sludge, and Dirt. Broken floors have more hydr/nutr than non-broken.

It's hard(ish) to evolve fungs to live on Tundra (or desert) but over time they will evolve the ability to live on it. As well as broken floors, and maybe even solid floors.

If you want a barren desert, maybe try putting brush next to Tundra. The difference in available hydration and nutrients between the two biome types might be too great for fungs to make the evolutionary leap. But I haven't tried this....

Also, things will get harder in the next few updates.

- Markus

[dscutt]

Difficulty isn't a concern to me. A lot of my confusion mostly just circulates around a lack of understanding about how land plots themselves, work.

[dscutt]

By dropping more dirt on what I think is Tundra (brownish streaks breaking up green), it seems I can continue to increase the dryness of a plot of land. Am I correct in this?

Also, does the proximity of water or other land types change the nutrients or moisture of a given land plot?

Also, if I got that right, it sounds like fungols themselves promote the "growth" of grass (conversion of dirt back into a grass type plot). **edit - as I think about this one more, I'm thinking fungols "drop" dirt occasionally (when they die?) and this is what leads to "grass" growing. I'm guessing everything will slowly tend toward tundra, then.

[Bludgeonsoft]

Close! Each biome has a range of dryness, so the more dirt you drop on a plot the drier it gets, until it becomes a new biome. Dirt (or farm) plots will eventually turn into grass over time. Dead things add fertilizer to a plot, and anims will sometimes poop out a spore or drop one when they die.

Soon the binoculars will allow you to analyze everything, including terrain, so this will become a bit clearer.

[dscutt]

Thanks. I'm working on the Wikia (dunno if it's official) and adding what information I get to it. I realize this is a game as much about discovery as it is about "science" (meaning, figuring things out on your own versus documenting things), so maybe some people would prefer to not have the exact details of how things work revealed to them. So I'm keeping it somewhat vague. I've added a Biomes page and am listing each plot type.

[Bludgeonsoft]

@dscutt Very cool! The wikia is not official but I fully support the idea and hope it takes off.