Suggestion: Merge Farmers and Miners into Gatherer Class

[Earthmichael]

It would greatly improve the game if Farmers and Miners were merged together into a Gatherer class. Each population assigned as a Gatherer could then be assigned by the player to collect the resources from one hexagon controlled by the city. The Gatherer would collect ALL of the resources from that Hexagon, so there would never be a need to assign a second Gatherer to the same Hexagon. Also, it would be a good change to have the resources collected from the City Hexagon to be automatically gathered, without the need to assign a Gatherer to the City Hexagon.

This would allow hexagons with balanced resources like Forests to be used effectively, because a single Gatherer assigned to a Forest would collect the food, minerals, and pollution bonus. This would also make it possible to introduce Former commands to improve the balanced resources of Forests as part of the tech tree, i.e. at some point Formers could learn the Tree Farm command, so that Formers could improve the output of Forests.

As things stand now, Forests are useless. A single Farmer or Miner can only get one resource from a Forest, and Formers can't improve them.

[Theodotus]

It seems to me that this would make the game feel too much like Civilization. One thing I like about Pandora is that it doesn't just feel like a Civilization mod, primarily because of differences such as this.

A better solution for this issue would be to have one or more improvements for forests, so that they will provide even more of a benefit than they already do with their pollution reduction effect.

Perhaps there could be an improvement which would represent the harvesting of rare or unusual plant and animal life or pharmaceuticals or something, which would result in an increased yield of research or money from the hex.

[Earthmichael]

Not using a good idea because some other game did it that way is NOT a good reason. Merging Miner and Farmers into gathers would not replicate Civ anyway, because you still get to allocate between Gathers, Workers, and Scientists, something Civ does not do. It just means your Gathers get to be more flexible, which I think improves the game. It allows one to take advantage balanced hexes (including Fungus), which makes adding terraforming options to produce balanced hexes practical.

I like the idea of being able to assign Gatherers and get everything a hex is producing; it just makes the game better, regardless of other games which do this as well. In fact, it makes it a more familiar interface, which improves playability.

No matter how you improve Forests, you will only be able to get one kind of resource from a square which produces more, so in the current game, Forest and Fungus are relatively useless. This idea would make them very useful again.

[Theodotus]

Of course, if you want more yield from forest hexes you can clear them and then further develop the hex. This is historically what happened here on Earth -- clear the land and then farm it or mine it. Of course, you lose the pollution reduction effect when you do that. Which is also what happens here on Earth.

I like the way the game works at present, because it feels more ecologically real to me than the system you're proposing.

[Earthmichael]

I don't understand. What is the problem with being able to get all of the resources from a Forest square instead of clearing the Forest? Why show multiple resources if you can only get one? Why would that be objectionable? Why would it not seem ecologically real? Furthermore, why not add terrain improvements to Forest squares like we have in real life, like Tree Farms?

[azpops]

I like the current system. You must choose between minerals or food, just as in life. Part of the game is to find a balance between the two. To combine them eliminates the need to work your cities. With a global pool of resources, it is important to watch your cities and what they produce.

If I had a suggestion to make at all, it would be that before a city can add to the global pool, it must be connected to the capital city by road or sea.

[Theodotus]

It is possible to get all resources from a forest hex, it just takes two points of population to do so: one miner and one farmer. Granted, this is not as efficient as having one worker be able to take all resources from the hex, but I prefer the current system, because it feels more ecologically "real" to me -- you have to deforest the land to maximize efficiency, and that has ecological consequences in terms of losing the pollution reduction effect of the forest. I like the "feel" of that very much; it feels "realistic" to me.

I am very much in favor of having improvements for forest hexes that will enhance their "value" or usefulness somehow. These should be accessible via one or more advanced techs, so that they are not necessarily available at the beginning of the game but become available later, which would be in keeping with the "eras" scheme of the tech tree, in which the first era is about bringing the level of technological advancement back to "modern" levels, and the later eras are about surpassing "modern" levels.

Perhaps improvements for forests can be such things as the ability to harvest rare flora and/or fauna, which would yield credits or research points. This would make forests be useful for something more than just the standard food/minerals, and would increase the "verisimilitude" of the game, in my opinion.

[Earthmichael]

I see no advantage to the player with the current system. He must spend two people in a Forest to get very little resources. In the current system, Forests are a total waste. I still don't see the objection to use one gatherer to get all resources from a Forest (or Fungus, or any other multiresource hex.)