Add a decision to change capital terrain to farmland

[VampireBoot]

Currently, you're encouraged to develop up your capital, but it's a very bad idea if your capital has a non-ideal terrain type. Instead of forcing players to move their capital, it would help to add a decision to change your capital's terrain type to farmland, at a cost of course. This both makes sense from a realistic standpoint (you can drain marshes and cut down trees to make a region easier to settle) and fits in with the development theme of Common Sense.

The decision should have an adm and gold cost based on the province's current terrain type, so grassland is easier to convert to farmland, while jungle is more difficult. The decision shouldn't be available at all for certain terrain types (mountains, and maybe hills). In addition, your capital should have a certain level of development already before you can change its terrain (since it requires a certain level of infrastructure to deforest a region, and this makes it harder for players to move their capital and mass-convert provinces).

Even if you don't add such a decision, please consider adding a way to change terrain via script, so modders can implement these sorts of things themselves.

 

[niallmcfc]

I think terrain is very low level in the engine- it affects the map as well, don't forget- so I'm not even sure if Clausewitz would allow it.

But even if it would, surely the development cost modifier is there to represent you having to go to extra effort to improve infrastructure? I think Wiz mentioned that or something similar in a thread about adding a decision to drain the marshes in The Netherlands.

 

[Denkt]

Well generaly you can conquer some farmlands and then move the capital there.

 

[bzflater]

Well generaly you can conquer some farmlands and then move the capital there.

But what if you're Netherlands/Prussia/whatever and want to keep your capital in Amsterdam/Berlin/Whatever?

 

[Denkt]

Then you have to live with the extra cost.

 

[VampireBoot]

But what if you're Netherlands/Prussia/whatever and want to keep your capital in Amsterdam/Berlin/Whatever?

This is the biggest benefit of adding such a decision. Right now, it's always better to just move your capital to farmland and develop there, which is a shame when all of these historical capitals are ill-suited to being your capital in game. You shouldn't be penalized so harshly for wanting Berlin to be the capital of Prussia.

 

[Mattius]

Draining marshes: Realistic. Deforestation: Realistic. Irrigating desert: Realistic. If the engine can support it, I definitely would like this.

 

[Danfish77]

I think a point is being missed; development costs are increased in marshes, forests, desert, etc. because to make them livable you have to do more work (draining, deforesting, irrigating, etc). The effort to do that work is the difference between the farmland development cost and the increased development cost. Capitals are often sited in non-ideal locations, and real-world states had to deal with that.