Advanced water source settings: variable, time-limited, changing strength

23 votes

Due to very limited control over water sources currently available in the editor, I would like to suggest several additional options for them:

- Split settings for activity during all seasons. Right now we only control over strength, but it could be useful to allow selecting in which season a source is active and set separate strengths for each season.

- "Allow overflow" - right now it is set as default, but turning it off would disable the ability to fill any blocks above the level of source block itself. Useful for making small ponds and lakes that only fill to a certain depth.

- "Source fluctuations" - allows to set a range of water source strength that will be randomly changed every few in-game hours. This is meant to be an option to slightly up the map difficulty.

- "Activity limit/timer" - allows the source to be set only to work in certain hours. This could also be tied to seasons, like the first proposed functionality.

Under consideration Map editor Suggestion Suggested by: Zam! (23 Sep, '21) • Upvoted: 29 Apr • Comments: 14

Comments: 14

25 Oct, '21
AlcatorSK Merged
While the current water source system allows us to adjust the strength of the source, I'd like to see some more options that could allow more varied gameplay or entire 'scenarios' built around it.

Couple of proposals:

1. Timed water source: These water sources have two numerical properties (Alive for: N cycles / Dormant for: X cycles) and a boolean switch ("starts active Yes/No"). The source only produces water for N cycles, then takes X cycles break, and then starts again. If "Dormant" value is -1, it will never start again after N cycles, creating a "Find a new water source before your spring dries out!" scenario.

2. Limited-pressure water source: This water source cannot push water higher than N levels above its own position. If placed into a hole, forces player to invent dynamite and demolish surrounding area to get to it.
25 Oct, '21
Gin Fuyou Admin Merged
Current map file format is just zipped json, but it's a hack and not feature for public use.
26 Oct, '21
Gin Fuyou Admin Merged
There is already https://timberborn.featureupvote.com/suggestions/216006/conditional-water-sources but I leave it for second part for now.
26 Oct, '21
FuryoftheStars Merged
When editing a map and you select a placed water source, there is an editable text field with a number in it. This figure seems to affect how much water it generates. Is this not the currentstream?
01 Nov, '21
AlcatorSK Merged
Thank you!
19 Sep, '22
Vas
This is actually interesting. I do like the idea of seeing additional settings to water sources. I think I suggested this somewhere before with some different ideas.

Overflow should be renamed to Limit Level, however, with 0 being unlimited. That way, if you make a pond, you just set the height limit to the max height of the pond from the source block's position.

There don't seem to be any seasons in this game however. its just on, temperate, off, drought.

I would like to see source blocks that will dry up however, after so many hours of activity duration. Maybe even a scale down setting for that so it scales down as it gets older, after which the source becomes breakable boulders.
21 Dec, '22
Gin Fuyou Admin
"editable currentstream for watersource / fountain in mapeditor" (suggested by Jojo on 2021-10-24), including upvotes (1) and comments (2), was merged into this suggestion.
21 Dec, '22
Gin Fuyou Admin
"Add variable/time limited water source to map editor" (suggested by deil on 2022-12-17), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.
21 Dec, '22
Gin Fuyou Admin
"Advanced water sources - timed, limited-pressure etc." (suggested by AlcatorSK on 2021-10-25), including upvotes (3) and comments (2), was merged into this suggestion.
26 Dec, '22
underscoreJdawgg Merged
My idea is mainly for designing the maps in the first place. When you're creating a map with at least two different levels where you would intend people to have potential colonies of beavers, water is something you would need to consider no matter what for each colony, right? Well, what if you had a few levels to the map and on this map, you had a timeline for WHEN a water source will permanently run out of water and never give another drop.

This could add another stage of difficulty where as the player you have to do more then just build a few simple dams to start shoring up your water, but you would need to research more items (stairs, platforms) in order to have a plan for when your source runs dry to keep your original colony supplied with water.

Since we have terraformation, making a giant reservoir of water based around water sources and building up walls. I think it would be fun if there was something in the map design aspect where this would be possible.
31 Dec, '22
Shmitz
I had very nearly the same thought. Advanced timing options would be wonderful, but at the very least I think a block should have:
- Strength during first season
- Passability (overflow blocking) during first season
-Strength during second season
- Passability (overflow blocking) during second season

This would open up a lot of possibilities like creating a map around floods instead of droughts, a river that changes sources between seasons, or even a river that flows backwards during the second season.
01 Jan, '23
Gin Fuyou Admin
"Water Sources that time out." (suggested by underscoreJdawgg on 2022-12-26), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.
06 Feb, '23
WhiteRoo
I think two functions that would be easy to implement are:
-Always flowing
-Inverted (as in, inverted to the way the drought works now)
27 May, '23
Jamie C
Yes. I want a water source that could give me a guyser like 'Old Faithful'.