So I was looking into the myth that people in the Middle Ages didn’t bathe, and ended up down a rabbit hole of how the Middle Ages used unique geographical features. So i wanted to post them here:
Hot Springs. Usually used for medical treatment and healing (called balneology), but also for socialization, religious pilgrimages, thermal cooking, and wool processing.
Natural Salt Springs & Brine Seeps. Making and trading salt was an incredibly lucrative trade during the Middle Ages.
Volcanic Sulfur Vents & Fumaroles. The name kind of gives it away, but in regions of volcanic activity there were vents for farming sulfur. Which had a large usage beside making gunpowder such as a disinfectant, a component for bleaching textiles or a medicinal ointment for skin diseases.
Natural Tar Pits & Asphalt Seeps: The oil and natural asphalt were used by shipwrights for the waterproof sealing of ships, and for making incendiary weapons that could be launched from a catapult. Maybe an idea for later.
Ice Caves & Permafrost Pockets. Like root cellars it can store fresh produce and preserve food, but can also sell ice for a profit.
I also came across Karst Windows & Disappearing Rivers which made for year-round water flow watermills and enclaves for extremely well-defended castles, but I don’t know how Farthest Frontier can implement this.
The game already includes soap for bathing, but I do see your point regarding the social aspects. Perhaps a bath house could be added.
Hot springs, ice caves and volcanic fumaroles are rare natural conditions and not something I would expect in the game due to rarity.
Tar only becomes valuable if shipbuilding is added.
I would love to see watermills added but until we have rivers it’s harder to implement.
I like the ideas and they would be interesting additions but personally they seem limited in natural availability and application.
Like several others have posted previously, salt and wool seem like reasonable additions to the game. They were both staple items in the Middle Ages with broader usage.
Watermills would be interesting if rivers also came with a current strength feature.
They weren’t just used for milling wheat either. They were used for cutting wood, spinning textiles, making paper, and producing metal products, as well as farm irrigation.
So Riverside buildings could be used to make any of those buildings with a production bonus based on the current strength where the watermill is placed. If there’s an irrigation mechanic, then irrigation channels could be dug around fields with the amount of squares of water the mill can pump is based on its Current Bonus.
Then perhaps things like fishing would do better in spaces where current is weaker.
Now you have me wondering if the output from windmills varies based on wind speed.
I can see that the rotation speed changes based on the wind speed, but I don’t know if there is a correlation to flour output.
It would make sense if it did, but average annual wind speed might be fairly consistent from year to year. Even if wind speed is a factor, the annual variance over time might be insignificant.
I find your suggestions interesting. Also, regarding potential uses for a river’s current, I had suggested in my first thread another sawmill, a water-powered circular-saw mill, that would contribute to shipbuilding and offer an even more significant increase in the production of wooden planks. This type of sawmill is historically accurate and consistent with the time period the game covers (1500 - 1650). Of course, for gameplay balance, its output would decrease during a drought. Combined with the animations and gameplay, this could be a lot of fun!
You’re right, I gave a date that was a little too far in the future, but that’s because I took into account potential future technological advancements and possible items that could be manufactured, not to mention that in the game, there’s the printing press, which, admittedly, was invented around 1450 by Gutenberg, but whose development and commercialization took place between 1500 and 1600. We also need to consider the architectural inspiration the game showcases in Level 4. So my proposal regarding a water-powered sawmill is still historically consistent.
The Printing Press is added as a Tier 4 advancement in the Knowledge Tree. It doesn’t have any new building or upgrade requirement to the book binder building but adds 50% production for books.
