Different soil types (terrain tiles variety)
Various soil types to add more colours to the game landscape, and more things to consider for colony planning.
Possible characteristics of soil:
- Fertility: affects farming and gardening. Low fertility increases time to grow, high fertility yields better harvest
- Water permeability: how far ground allows to spread irrigation zone from water
- Stability: how many levels buildings can be stacked on it
- Erosion: how stable ground blocks are around flowing water (theme for a separate suggestion), may collapse.
Some other special effects may apply, like rock takes more explosives to blast, when bog tile is irrigated it's spawns water in itself spreading the irrigation, rocky grounds produce pebbles under flowing water and so on.
Plants and trees also may have preferred and undesirable soils.
Google docs spreadsheet with some ideas and pics: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Z_m41cz8AJ6nMMy9_ZGwJjPwBEvDZ4P-DelZJrJLIJA/edit?usp=sharing
Thanks Zam and discord for some of ideas.
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Comments: 50
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23 Dec, '22
Gin Fuyou SystemHighlighted comment
"Map editing options" (suggested by EmperorPoe on 2022-12-19), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion. -
24 Jul, '21
SkrewnI think it would also be nice to let the player dry the bog tiles if he wants so, especially if they come with strict building limitations.
Any idea what to do with the pebbles coming from the river ? -
19 Aug, '21
Gin FuyouErosion system suggestion is here https://timberborn.featureupvote.com/suggestions/203753/add-erosion-system
I think it would have a really cool synergy. -
18 Sep, '21
Purser MergedTo add another element of difficulty to various maps, there could be a terrain square of rocky or rough land. You would not be able to build on this tile (which will allow for map editors to restrict available land in the early game), additionally crops would not grow here, and a wall of rocky tiles would restrict land fertility near to a body of water. There should be a researchable technology, after which you can task beavers with converting the rocky tile into normal land tiles.
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19 Sep, '21
Gin Fuyou System"Suggestion: Rocky Terrain (restricting building areas)" (suggested by Purser on 2021-09-18), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.
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27 Sep, '21
DazenithAnother soil type you could have is permanently arable land. I.E. doesn't require nearby water at all.
This would be a nice addition to add in difficult to reach areas of a map as a prize or a way to allow a player to have a small area to more easily maintain a small population at the start. Or a map maker could go full ham and make the entire map permanently arable if they so wish.
Not sure what would be the best name for this type of soil. Perhaps Loam? Or Clay Loam to represent better the water retention it has. -
11 Oct, '21
Stephen MergedMight make for a good bit of weirdness to have some blocks that give off a trickle of water during hot periods.
give players reasons to pump water up to the top of a mountain for an emergency supply.
Takes away supply of water at a random point in the future.
Could even be a special type of water source that only lasts a few seasons then forces the beavers to move as the level drops over time -
11 Oct, '21
Stephen MergedHaving land that needs to be kept drier to be usable would give an additional reason to manage water, digging drainage ditches to free up land for crops or having land which must be flooded in order to gain access to a resource all adds to the water management aspects
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23 Oct, '21
Kenneth FerlandMy sugjestion is a gradiation from Gravel, Sand, Mud and Clay. Larger particle sizes need faster water to move, but are more porus to water flow/irrigation but also dry faster. A 1-dimensional spectrum is easier for players to grasp even if it's not as accurate as 'Silty loam Clay' vs 'Loamy clay Silt'
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24 Nov, '21
Yukke MergedUnder the current game rules, terrain changes (dynamite) tend to be available at the end of the game, making water control difficult in the early stages. Also, because dynamite is too powerful, it tends to make the terrain perfectly flat, spoiling design diversity and technology.
Therefore, the terrain blocks are divided into three types. Soil can be turned into farmland with current ordinary blocks and can be removed by excavation. Rock can be removed with dynamite and is buried under Soil. Bed Rock is irremovable and corresponds to the current bottom block, but can be layered in map design to form terrain.
If Bed Rock forms the terrain, it is not possible to easily flatten the terrain, and technology and design corresponding to the terrain are required, and various play styles can be created.
Further handling of Soil will be added in the comments. -
24 Nov, '21
SirMichael System"Soil, Rock, Bed Rock. Reconstruction of terrain system." (suggested by Yukke on 2021-11-24), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.
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25 Nov, '21
YukkeCare must be taken when handling soil as it is not possible to create farmland on Rock or Bed Rock. Soil is stockable and must be stocked. Soil is stocked in the Soil yard. The soil storage area is inconvenient enough to store 9 soils per block, so the difficulty of excavation should be increased. In addition, the Soil storage area where Soil remains cannot be deleted.
We do not provide facilities to generate Soil. This is because if Soil can be generated infinitely, it will end up in a flat terrain due to landfill. -
03 Dec, '21
Rémy Bretin MergedRock vs Soil ground: currently, arable lands can only be destroyed (by dynamites) but can’t be built. It would be nice to make two different ground cubes: rock vs soil.
Rock:
- Anything can be built on rock ground, but only a few things can be cultivated on it (birch trees or berries bushes for example).
- The only way to destroy rock ground would be with dynamites.
Soil:
- Anything can be cultivated on soil ground, but not everything can be built on top.
- can be dug out without dynamites.
- can be built, but only on top of a rock ground. The resources needed would be compost made from a mix of ressources. Birchbark could be used as a resource component to make soil ground.
- it also can be eroded from flooding: the more the cube is surrounded by other cubes, the less erosion it will suffer. For example, 8 surrounding cubes = no erosion, but 0 surrounding cubes = maximum erosion rate. After X days of exposure to water, the soil cube would disappear. This would destroy -
04 Dec, '21
Gin Fuyou System"Rock vs Soil ground" (suggested by Rémy Bretin on 2021-12-03), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.
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09 Dec, '21
Rémy BretinI really hope that this post would get more attention. I really think this would make the game more chalanging. Right now, except managing the water, all the rest is pretty boring. It's only aesthetic stuff, and almost 0 survival.
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01 Jan, '22
Coatimundi MergedA new biome suggestion: Wetlands/Swamp/Bogs.
Trees can be in shallow waters such as Bald Cypress, Tupelo Gum. Water friendly trees by the shores are River Birch, Swamp White Oak, Weeping Willow, Black Tupelo, Willow Oak and American Sycamore.
Now the cool thing is the Tupelo Gum tree produces unique wood that is prized by woodworkers for its color and patterns; on top of that the tree also makes Tupelo fruit which is utilized by wildlife as a food source and can be used for drinks, marmalades, and sauces.
Along with the trees theirs a numerous amount of plants on the water and land that are unique to swamps. Ie Algae, water lilys, wild grapes, and black alder, plus many more if you dig into it.
Overall I think swamps would make a great edition to Timberborn. If you really wanted to get creative you might even be able to spin a new faction: Swamp Beavers :D -
01 Jan, '22
Gin Fuyou System"Wetlands" (suggested by Coatimundi on 2022-01-01), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.
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25 Mar, '22
Nyoraia MergedThat would be great with a winter season where the glacier blocks replenishes or are generated through metal rods (building) in the ground at high altitude.
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25 Mar, '22
Nyoraia MergedCurrently, there are only two type of terrain blocks: dirt (dry or fertile -- with sides of stone), debris (rocks and wood entangled which can be demolished).
It would be great to have more variety of terrain blocks since one of the main aspect of the game is terrain management (along with resource management and water management).
DIRT
- current terrain block, but the sides should be replaced with a more dirt looking texture. Dirt blocks could only be found as the 2-3 top layers. Dirt blocks could be generated by fertilizing other types of terrain blocks. As mentioned in other suggestions, this could be a terrain block that beaver labourers could remove/move/place without dynamite if a special building is created for this purpose.
STONE
- a stone terrain block. The stone terrain would not be affected by droughts. No crops could be planted on it but building could be built on them. Stone terrain could only be removed with dynamite. Stone terrain would be deeper layers of the -
26 Mar, '22
Gin Fuyou System"Variety of terrain type (not just dirt and debris)" (suggested by Nyoraia on 2022-03-25), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.
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02 Apr, '22
NyoraiaTUNDRA / ICY DIRT
- dirt block that is fertile during a drought, but icy during the normal season. It could replace dirt on the two top-most layers (height 15-16)
MUD / SAND
- similar to dirt block, but not fertile and cannot be built on (except roads). Could be processed to be changed into regular dirt using other mechanics.
- slower beaver movement when walking on it except if there are roads.
- mud block is created if dirt is flooded for too long. Reverts to dirt during drought if un-flooded.
SLOPE
- a triangular block as an alternative to the stony stairs for a more natural feel -
12 Apr, '22
NyoraiaLAVA
- same dynamic as water but changes the surrounding tiles in "drought" mode (as opposed to making them fertile)
- slower movement than water
- beavers cannot swim in it and beavers become thirsty faster if they are in the drought effect area.
- Has precedence over water for the dry effect if water is nearby
CONCRETE-METAL RUIN BLOCK
- terrain block that looks like concrete and metal, as a remnant of human civilization
- this would be a ground block, not a ressource block, that can be walked on or built on.
- useful for map settings in old human metropolis -
26 Apr, '22
Not a native speaker MergedA new terrain type called 'beach' that maybe has a height of 0.5 and needs to be connected with water
- new decorations like shells/parasols/crabs
- new tree: palm tree with harvestable coconuts than can either directly be turned into food or further processed into coconut milk that's more nutritious than raw coconuts.
- different activities for the beavers: deck chairs to sit on and beach balls to play with
- water wings or lifebelt for the children -
29 Apr, '22
Gin Fuyou System"Beach Terrain" (suggested by Not a native speaker on 2022-04-26), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.
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15 Sep, '22
MozzarellaHaving different ground types in the game can also be educational.
For instance, the ground underneath Bogs are made from Peat. The O2 levels in the water of bogs are lower than swamps or marshes, and are brown and acidic from the tannin produced by Peat. Peat serves as an important natural CO2 trap, but can also be used for a variety of other things.
There are also certain berries that are native to bogs and peat, like cranberries.
Sand is not merely "sand", but has a few different types as well. Although they are all made out of silica, they were formed in different ways, and have differing characteristics, and uses.
Dirt, or Soil, too, has differing characteristics, like how it is composed. Sand, Silt, Clay, and Ph balance, if we want to be detailed, or simply, its fertility for certain crops. -
01 Nov, '22
Martin Theobald MergedIntroducing multiple soil types would make maps look nicer. Additionally irrigation spread could be based on soil type.
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09 Nov, '22
Gin Fuyou System"Allow different soil types with different hydrating profiles" (suggested by Martin Theobald on 2022-11-01), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.
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19 Dec, '22
EmperorPoe MergedCreate more options for map creation and editing such as soil types ( Rich green, Rocky brown, Boggy grey). Expand on vegetation and or resource types and varieties. I love where you are so far. I'm excited to see where it goes from here.
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17 May, '23
Georg Erharter MergedI propose a diversification into different ground types that could be implemented in different levels of complexity. E.g.:
simple: split into 2 types: soil and bedrock
- would add challenges to the game when e.g. farming can only be done on soil or some heavy buildings can only be built on rock.
- would open up for new buildings like to replace the "dirt excavator" with a "soil excavator" and a "rock excavator"
- would enable new landscape features
medium: different soil & rock types
- enables everything from simple plus
- different crops can only be farmed on some soils
- would enable to mine for different raw materials like different metals, gemstones, ... uranium ... thus opening up for a whole range of new buildings and functions
complex: different soil & rock types + ground properties
- groundwater flow in permeable soil -> enables water wells and other groundwater related buildings
- different load bearing capacities for ground types -
20 May, '23
Gin Fuyou System"Geology update" (suggested by Georg Erharter on 2023-05-17), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.
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29 May, '23
Georg Erharter MergedI suggest making the ground conditions more realistic and essentially improve the geology behind Timberborn. This can be done in multiple levels of complexity, e.g.
1. distinction between "bedrock" and "soil" above it -> makes farming more demanding, could affect how easy ground can be removed with explosives / open up for new ground removal techniques etc.
2. same as 1 + distinction between different rock types and soil types -> opens up the whole world of advanced mining (raw minerals, metals, oil, uranium...) for the game and can also make farming more complex when different soils are needed for different crops.
3. same as 1 & 2 + introduction of ground properties depending on the ground types, thus introducing complex hydrogeological and geotechnical properties to enable groundwater flow, bearing capacity problems etc. -
02 Jun, '23
Gin Fuyou System"Geology update" (suggested by Georg Erharter on 2023-05-29), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.
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03 Jul, '23
John W BjerkI can definitely see the gameplay point of having blast resistant (rock) soil and fertile soil.
I don’t want erosion or some of those other suggestions. -
29 Aug, '23
Michael MergedWater doesn't just stay in the river it is absorbed by the land. You already have this in the sense of irrigating the land, but what if the land could soak up water to release it later during the dry, or lower level.
You could even have these marshier areas support reeds, and mangroves providing different resources. Actually having reeds/mangroves slows the water flow in that area capturing more for later.
Could also integrate with the idea of having fish use these areas to survive the dry/breed. -
31 Aug, '23
Gin Fuyou System"Swamps" (suggested by Michael on 2023-08-29), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.
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01 Nov, '23
Gin Fuyou System"Game mechanic - Marsh" (suggested by Stephen on 2021-10-11), including upvotes (4) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.
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01 Nov, '23
Gin Fuyou System"Terrain type - glacier" (suggested by Stephen on 2021-10-11), including upvotes (5) and comments (1), was merged into this suggestion.
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01 Aug, '24
Potato pc MergedAdding a new way to generate different terrain, swapping out good and bad water or properly mixing it. Even have the speed and depth effect it. generate different types of farm land or resources, maybe bonuses.
New recreational builds that require different terrain. Etc.
-Examples-
Fields: Green areas become grassland for a few days if recently flooded.
swamp: non-moving water with light pollution.
River: shallow slow moving water. Fishing? Spawns wild river plants. Generates more green area.
Beach: deep water? something like salt water or brine was ever added, instead of green generating, it creates sandy turf very close to the water. -
15 Aug, '24
Gin Fuyou System"Mixing liquids for bonuses." (suggested by <Hidden> on 2024-08-01), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.
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30 Oct, '24
Miroslav MergedI'm wondering how all soil blocks look like rock from the side but are always fertile and always produce dirt when excavated. What would be cool is to have at least two types of material the landscape consists of. Dirt and Rock
ROCK block would be infertile, would allow stand-alone cliffs higher that 2 blocks, could only be removed by dynamite, immune to badwater polution
DIRT would be fertile, removable by hand/paw/, would soak up contamination for long after badwater is gone (already suggested) and wouldn't hold walls higher than two unit unless Retaining wall is built. This wall could either be made of WOOD (allows only 2 units height, but doesn't take all block like a levee would), STONE (gathered from blown up rock blocks or from Quarry, which uses explosives avyway, takes entire block adjacent to dirt wall, allows height up to 5 blocks), or IRON (uses metal, allows height up to 10 units.
Flat rocky land must be made fertile by dumping dirt on it
Retaining wall -> next s -
02 Nov, '24
Gin Fuyou System"different types of soil" (suggested by <Hidden> on 2024-10-30), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.
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18 Nov, '24
KoishiThe first new soil I would like to see is sand. Sand creates a lot of possibilities. Maps could feature sand bars and beaches. Slopes could slope without steps. Beavers could navigate sandy slopes like steps, but at slower speeds.
Precipitation could add soil and water conservation engineering. Beavers could dig into soils other than bedrock to create channels and retention ponds, as they do in real life. Other Best Management Practices (BMPs) could add a lot of fun.
Soil diversity could also offer opportunities to create combined marine and freshwater maps, consistent with beavers' real struggles. Sandy coasts could conduct (bad/salt) water, limiting arable land. Sandy soils could also feed groundwater, opening well options, but also presenting salt water intrusion risks.
Other soil types offer options. Beavers could make clay vessels, eventually glass too. Dynamite could clear bedrock and leave gravel debris useful in BMPs. Wetlands could slow water, and blunt storm surges. -
02 Jan, '25
Wouter MergedCreate a material that is harder to extract than dirt. This would allow map makers more control on what can and can't be excavated using dynamite.
Possibly add a means to remove those blocks anyway, or not. If they can be removed in a late game stage, it will allow maximum terraforming, just like currently is possible.
If those new blocks can't be removed, they will become permanent map features and players will have to work around those imposed structures -
05 Jan, '25
Gin Fuyou System"Harder material than dirt" (suggested by <Hidden> on 2025-01-02), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.
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03 Apr, '25
RubesI particularly like the bog/swamp/wetland suggestion personally - it would be really interesting to have areas that resist building, and integrate in a different way with the water systems in the game. Trees/crops that only grow on wetlands would be a nice incentive to build swamp towns, especially thematic for the Folktails. Peat is also a very interesting less renewable resource that seems like something the Iron Teeth would be interested in harvesting to power engines or other contraptions, and forms in bogs... Natural peat formation takes many years, but I'm sure the handy beavers can come up with a way to speed this up and turn it into a useful end-game resource.
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12 Jun, '25
MrCatzno way i uploaded the same idea a couple months ago, i knew this is a good idea, more people should also start making the same petition, unless thats against some rule
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13 Jun, '25
Gin Fuyou AdminWhat do you mean by making same petition? Similar topics and sometimes topics that address same issue from different approach are usually merged, because it's make it easier to organize, to find by other players and inspect by devs. If people start posting same suggestion to be merged it will only annoy moderators, reduce response time to other suggestions (which is already not great recently to our shame).
If you don't agree on approach in title post, you are encouraged to comment how else you envision the system, it's way more likely to be noted by devs than a dozen separate topics with 2-3 votes
If you want to promote an idea - link it on discord or other resources. -
26 Nov, '25
RaederleI have often thought it would make sense if some tiles were stone instead of dirt. Stone would require different tools for cutting/breaking through, and it would yield stone instead of dirt which could be used for certain advanced options (nicer homes, advanced monuments, a nice communal bath, etc).
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13 Jan
NuloenI think map making needs at least these types.
Impermeable soil (clay, rock) - Terrain which stops irrigation. This would allow map makers to create hidden water sources or prevent water from irrigating a certain area at the start of the game, leaving it to the player to blow the blocks away to allow irrigation. (stackable blockages)
Eroding soil (silt, sand) - Slowly destroyed through exposure to running water based on water speed. This would let us set up timed changes in terrain which the player can actively affect/prevent, unlike the unstable core. Example: Eroding bank redirecting the river's flow in time. Bottom of river slowly eroding, creating a deep canyon over time and cutting the player off from irrigation if they do not slow the river.
Permeable soil (gravel, saturated soil) - Allows us to create premade irrigation channels which can also be built over or tapped into with dynamite. (Natural overhangs can sort of do this, but with this it would be cleaner.
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