World of Banished

Conversations => General Discussion => Topic started by: A Nonny Moose on October 22, 2014, 12:11:47 PM

Title: A Modest Suggestion
Post by: A Nonny Moose on October 22, 2014, 12:11:47 PM
All trees are not equal.  A walnut tree, especially a black walnut should not ever be used as firewood or building material.  This wood is too beautiful to be used for anything other than furniture.  The wood is actually a commodity and can be sold at much higher price than, say, spruce. 

In one of my houses I built and lived in, I successfully grew and brought to fruiting a black walnut.  It was the last two story house I ever had, because the kids moved out and there we were, empty nesters.  So we downsized into a nice bungalow.

We had always had a kind of selective arboretum in our back yards because my wife and I both liked trees, and the kids didn't object because they liked to climb things.  One tends to know a little about the value of stuff you are growing.

When we sold the house with the black walnut, we noticed going by one day that the tree was gone.  Talking to some of our old neighbours, we found that the new owner didn't like the tree because it attracted squirrels (tree rats he called them), and had it cut down.  He also had it chipped up by the tree removal outfit.  Both of them were damned fools.  A mature black walnut could have been sold on the market as logs for much more than it cost him to cut it down.  The furniture companies would probably have made it into veneers.

So, my suggestion is that the final game should distinguish between logging trees and commodity trees.  An orchard of walnuts or cherries produces a wood that can be sold to furniture makers rather than being used a building logs or firewood.
Title: Re: A Modest Suggestion
Post by: rkelly17 on October 23, 2014, 08:20:36 AM
Quote from: A Nonny Moose on October 22, 2014, 12:11:47 PM
When we sold the house with the black walnut, we noticed going by one day that the tree was gone.  Talking to some of our old neighbours, we found that the new owner didn't like the tree because it attracted squirrels (tree rats he called them), and had it cut down.  He also had it chipped up by the tree removal outfit.  Both of them were damned fools.  A mature black walnut could have been sold on the market as logs for much more than it cost him to cut it down.  The furniture companies would probably have made it into veneers.

Unbelievable, especially when you know people who have had black walnuts poached for the wood.

As for "commodity" trees, there are also a lot of oaks in Banished.
Title: Re: A Modest Suggestion
Post by: A Nonny Moose on October 23, 2014, 09:39:46 AM
Quote from: rkelly17 on October 23, 2014, 08:20:36 AM
<snip>
As for "commodity" trees, there are also a lot of oaks in Banished.


Wonder if this idea might interest Luke?
Title: Re: A Modest Suggestion
Post by: slink on October 23, 2014, 09:42:38 AM
I doubt it, since he apparently considers the game finished.  I get the feeling that he's financially independent enough that he works on things because he wants to, and not because a bunch of players are willing to pay him a few dollars each for him to work on something he's probably bored to death with now.
Title: Re: A Modest Suggestion
Post by: snapster on October 23, 2014, 10:09:49 AM
That depends on what they are proposing. If the guy didn't even anticipate mods he probably doesn't know what he's bored with.
Title: Re: A Modest Suggestion
Post by: Bobbi on October 23, 2014, 11:23:40 AM
Agree with @slink, I think he just wants to finalize the Mod version and then move on (probably already has) to other things. I am sure that he is bright enough to realize that, had he wanted to, he could have released DLC and some of us would have been happy to give him more money.
Title: Re: A Modest Suggestion
Post by: A Nonny Moose on October 23, 2014, 02:11:00 PM
In a way, that's kind of too bad.  Not planning a subsequent version (2.0 ...).  This is a pretty good game, but it could stand some refinements.
Title: Re: A Modest Suggestion
Post by: slink on October 23, 2014, 02:42:14 PM
According to an entry in his blog, he was kind of sorry he ever wrote a game for PCs.  His background was in game machines where the graphics adapters are all identical, and everything else too for that matter.
Title: Re: A Modest Suggestion
Post by: A Nonny Moose on October 23, 2014, 10:37:54 PM
So, he got to broaden his horizon.  PCs are much more general than consoles and consequently probably harder to write for.  Consider that I am running this on Linux.
Title: Re: A Modest Suggestion
Post by: Pangaea on October 24, 2014, 06:16:12 AM
Quote from: slink on October 23, 2014, 02:42:14 PM
According to an entry in his blog, he was kind of sorry he ever wrote a game for PCs.  His background was in game machines where the graphics adapters are all identical, and everything else too for that matter.

I got that impression too, reading between the lines. Won't surprise me if his next game is for consoles, to avoid the hassle of PC gaming. I imagine it must be easier to distribute a PC game, though, via GOG, and certain other places... ho-hum ;D
Title: Re: A Modest Suggestion
Post by: A Nonny Moose on October 24, 2014, 08:23:24 AM
His boat.  He can float it where he wants.  I do not have and will not have a console.
Title: Re: A Modest Suggestion
Post by: Bobbi on October 24, 2014, 08:50:07 AM
No consol for me either
Title: Re: A Modest Suggestion
Post by: Pangaea on October 24, 2014, 01:46:58 PM
I had a GameBoy as a kid. The one before colours (it had shades of grey, basically). Oh, and the classic Nintendo 8-bit. Those were great fun, actually. These days, though.... meh. I prefer PC gaming instead, and games with usually more complex control functions, that quite simply work better on PCs with a mouse and keyboard. Oh, and I hate all the bloody consolitis that goes on with just about any game nowadays :(
Title: Re: A Modest Suggestion
Post by: Nilla on October 24, 2014, 03:07:38 PM
Quote from: A Nonny Moose on October 22, 2014, 12:11:47 PM

When we sold the house with the black walnut, we noticed going by one day that the tree was gone.  Talking to some of our old neighbours, we found that the new owner didn't like the tree because it attracted squirrels (tree rats he called them), and had it cut down.  He also had it chipped up by the tree removal outfit.  Both of them were damned fools.  A mature black walnut could have been sold on the market as logs for much more than it cost him to cut it down.  The furniture companies would probably have made it into veneers.

So, my suggestion is that the final game should distinguish between logging trees and commodity trees.  An orchard of walnuts or cherries produces a wood that can be sold to furniture makers rather than being used a building logs or firewood.

Yes agree.

We have no black walnuts here in Sweden (not even the normal walnuts survive hier) but I sure know the difference from trees and trees, if you understand what I mean. And I cannot understand, how someone can cut a tree down, because it attracts squirrels. I am so happy when this little guy makes his visits. :)
Title: Re: A Modest Suggestion
Post by: slink on October 24, 2014, 04:47:13 PM
Tree rats are cute in the abstract, and alright to eat, but can be a nuisance if there are too many.  They dig up bulbs in the garden and eat the fruit.  They chew their way into your attic and then everything else comes in along with them.  They are not nearly as bad as raccoons, though.

However, I would not cut a tree down because it attracted squirrels, or raccoons for that matter.
Title: Re: A Modest Suggestion
Post by: A Nonny Moose on October 25, 2014, 06:41:20 AM
Speaking of squirrels, when I visited Grand Canyon, Arizona, I found out that the squirrels on either rim are genetically slightly different from each other.  The canyon actually divides the ecosystem enough for long enough that Darwinian drift is taking place.
Title: Re: A Modest Suggestion
Post by: rkelly17 on October 25, 2014, 08:40:58 AM
Speaking of Black Walnuts, if I were to take one out (never had the opportunity) it would be because they are a bit imperialistic. Their roots secrete a poison (jugulin [sp?] or something like that) that kills many of the plants around them. Not at all good for gardening. We have a big one in an isolated vacant lot behind us, so it isn't a problem for us.
Title: Re: A Modest Suggestion
Post by: slink on October 25, 2014, 10:02:19 AM
We cut down a sapling black walnut, with great regret, because it was poisoning a larger sycamore.  Twenty years later the sycamore still is not doing very well, and I swear the black walnut is starting to grow back.   :o

Supposedly hostas are immune to their poison.  Not that this affects the ones that I planted, but I just finished planting a little over fifty hostas.  I also planted 28 coral bells and, with my husband's assistance because the ground was very hard there, 70 daffodils.  Earlier I transplanted about four dozen iris plants.  We've bought 34 cubic yards of topsoil and 17 cubic yards of mulch and planted most of two sacks of grass seed.  If the front yard doesn't look a lot better next year, I'm taking up virtual gardening for the rest of my life.   ;D
Title: Re: A Modest Suggestion
Post by: A Nonny Moose on October 25, 2014, 01:09:21 PM
My black walnut had a patch of grass in the back yard all to itself.  We are aware of its effect on other plants (except grass). 

We didn't have any hostas in that garden but we had several hundred of them at another place where they seemed to be some kind of local weed.  The place was nearly covered with them and wild geranium. 

Wonder of wonders, we also found one, lonely Jack in the Pulpit, which speaking of poisonous plants, is a real dilly.  Calcium oxalate in serious quantity in all parts of the plant, yet something ate the berries.  Some birds must be immune.
Title: Re: A Modest Suggestion
Post by: slink on October 25, 2014, 01:57:35 PM
Lucky you, to have had hostas as weeds.  We have poison ivy, Virginia creeper, wild grape, and cat brier.  Each has its own set of issues. The poison ivy and the Virginia creeper were growing right up the front of the house.  The wild grape was attempting to kill every tree and shrub in sight.  The cat brier was not doing much harm in my estimation, but my husband took exception to it when it started to climb the downspouts.  Hopefully we have driven them all back into the wild(er) areas beyond the mowed grass.
Title: Re: A Modest Suggestion
Post by: A Nonny Moose on October 26, 2014, 10:43:38 AM
At that time were were living in a community that was a set of modular bungalows in a forest setting.  Lots were 100 x 150', and covered with mostly forest floor cover.  However, the park had cleared the noxious stuff out.  It was mostly pine forest, very acid soil.  Some things just wouldn't grow unless you put down geocloth and fresh soil.

We had some really tall trees, mostly pines and spruces with a couple of big birches.  Lots of shade.  The interesting time was the 'yellow rain' of pine pollen.  Not a place for anyone allergic to this.  You'd wake up one morning and everything outside was yellow.

We had one really good year where one of our cleared spaces came up full of spruce seedlings.  I simply stopped cutting it, and let them grow.  The dogs seems to enjoy that area.  We had an electronic fence for them since park rules were 'no fences'.
Title: Re: A Modest Suggestion
Post by: mariesalias on October 30, 2014, 06:12:49 PM
I love trees, especially pine trees! My dad hated raking leaves so he cut down all the trees in our yard when we were kids; had to climb neighbors' trees instead.

I live in a pine forest (a pine rain forest) and the pollen clouds can be beautiful when the wind is blowing them off the trees, but not so nice when everything is coated. And not much fun to be outside during those times as breathing (even without allergies) can be challenging with all that pollen in the air.
Title: Re: A Modest Suggestion
Post by: irrelevant on October 30, 2014, 06:16:03 PM
We are surrounded by pines as well; been here 11 years. I remember the first time I saw pollen clouds pouring down out of the trees; I couldn't believe it! I also was surprised to learn that pine trees do indeed shed their leaves, despite that misleading "evergreen" lie. Raking a couple of tons of pine needles up out of your lawn is such a treat. But you do have some very nice mulch at the end.

@mariesalias Nice to see you back! I hope things will settle down for you.
Title: Re: A Modest Suggestion
Post by: mariesalias on October 30, 2014, 10:55:29 PM
@irrelevant  Thanks! I hope you are right. Life is calmer, anyway. I missed posting here and many of the posters here! :)

Title: Re: A Modest Suggestion
Post by: rkelly17 on October 31, 2014, 06:49:55 AM
Quote from: irrelevant on October 30, 2014, 06:16:03 PM
We are surrounded by pines as well; been here 11 years. I remember the first time I saw pollen clouds pouring down out of the trees; I couldn't believe it! I also was surprised to learn that pine trees do indeed shed their leaves, despite that misleading "evergreen" lie. Raking a couple of tons of pine needles up out of your lawn is such a treat. But you do have some very nice mulch at the end.

@irrelevant, I'm pretty sure that "evergreen" has always meant, "Sheds a little bit all the time as opposed to everything all at once." When we lived in Pasadena we had a California Live Oak in the front of our house that certainly lived by that philosophy.

We had a White Pine in the backyard here which we had to take out because the previous owner had planted it too close to the house when it was a cute little living Christmas tree. So no more yellow clouds in pollen season and no more needles to use as mulch for the strawberries (or any acid-loving plant). You haven't had a scary thrill until you've seen half of a full-grown pine flying over the top of your house on a crane!
Title: Re: A Modest Suggestion
Post by: irrelevant on October 31, 2014, 06:54:35 AM
We have something like 75-100 sixty-foot white pines around our house; they all drop scads of brown needles every year around this time. Currently our place is covered with a brown mat of dead pine needles that I need to get out and rake up  >:(

I'm getting too old for this stuff. :P
Title: Re: A Modest Suggestion
Post by: rkelly17 on October 31, 2014, 07:06:19 AM
Quote from: irrelevant on October 31, 2014, 06:54:35 AM
I'm getting too old for this stuff. :P

Isn't that the truth! Not to mention weeding, general leaf-raking and snow-shoveling. We took out the front lawn years ago, so lawn-mowing isn't an issue. At least my grandson has just turned 13 and enjoys snow and shovels.
Title: Re: A Modest Suggestion
Post by: A Nonny Moose on October 31, 2014, 10:39:10 AM
Yup.  After my wife passed away, the property became too much for me to maintain even with help.  So I downsized into a small senior's apartment and suddenly have some pocket money I didn't have before.  Maintaining a property is really expensive but it comes in dribs and drabs that you don't notice until you stop.