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Tinto Talks #28 - 4th of September 2024

Welcome everyone to another Tinto Talks, the Happy Wednesday where we talk about the top secret game with the codename Project Caesar.

Today we will delve into the most hated of all seasons, Winter. Luckily for us, we don’t have to live with it for the entire year…


Climate and Winter
So what impacts whether a location has winter or not? Well, primarily it depends on the climate, but also on the time of the year and the level of winter currently nearby. Of course, when there is winter it is different for the northern and southern hemispheres. Every day each location does its calculations for when it should be changing its winter level.

There are three levels of winter. Technically it is four, but “no winter” is not really winter is it. And during the course of a season, a location could experience all types of winter. We have mild, normal and severe winters.

What is common for all levels of winter is that they affect attrition for your armies, so winters will always kill off some of your soldiers.

Pops living in climates that regularly experience winters have a higher demand for fur.

Food in Winter
Food production is severely reduced when winter comes, while pops still eat normally. A mild winter is a reduction of 25%, while severe winters basically reduce food production to 0. So unless there is a lot of food stored in the province, a severe winter may cause starvation in your locations.

Constructions
One other drawback of winter is that normal and severe winters will impact constructions, and with impact, we are talking about stalling them completely. This affects everything from constructing a building to building a ship. It makes the gameplay experience in a country like Sweden or Norway a bit more difficult, as you have to plan around the fact that you lose several months of the year at times.

stalled.png

Placeholder icons for locking, but useful tooltips..


Freezing Seas
Narrows, Inland Seas and Lakes have the possibility of freezing over during winter. This can happen when a seazone has had severe winter for over a week, and will then last until winter is no longer severe in that location.

A frozen seazone can be traversed by armies and this allows greater military control over the lands it reaches; however, it will cause navies to get stuck until it thaws. Be careful when the weather changes, it can thaw with catastrophic consequences if an army is on the ice. Navies can also not enter any seazone that has frozen over.

frozen_over.png

When Storebælt and Lillebælt freezes, you don’t need navies to reach København…


Mountains
You already know that warfare during winter is a bit more risky, but Project Caesar adds another element to it. Any location with the topography of “Mountain” will be blocked for army movement during normal and severe winters. This can help create natural borders, and some interesting strategic gameplay.


winter_level.png


Tooltips are always helpful..

Sadly there will not be a Tinto Talks next week as we have a holiday that day, but after that we will be back and talk more about roads, development, prosperity and more..
 
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Now I'm imagining an army with elephant cavalry and artillery fighting some enemy on frozen ice. They take a break at 8pm to make camp, atop the frozen sea. Somehow they feed the elephants. They sleep, on the ice. Then they wake up to resume fighting at 8am. They decide to retreat after days of this. The enemy hold a celebration party, on frozen ice. Which thaws during the night.
 
1. Maximum winter? Will there be a dynamic winter system? For example, will winter conditions vary from year to year rather than being consistent?

2. Regarding the Netherlands, I suggested adding the Haarlemmermeer. Could this lake freeze over during winter within the game? Also is it possible for the Zuiderzee and the Waddenzee to freeze?

3.. Will the game still feature crossable straits, or will crossing them on foot only be possible during winter when they are frozen?
 
Freezing Seas
Narrows, Inland Seas and Lakes have the possibility of freezing over during winter. This can happen when a seazone has had severe winter for over a week, and will then last until winter is no longer severe in that location.
Will there be additional mechanics representing cold water ports, or is this it? Not sure if it’s sufficient as there are a lot of cold water ports which are on coastal ocean, as opposed to an inland sea or narrow.
 
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This is a really awesome feature and I think it will affect gameplay more than a lot of people realize.. So cool to see..
Question though: How do you calculate the severity or how likely severe winters are in a givwn location.. Both western Russia and Hungary are classified as continental climate in the game but I think most people would assume Russia having more severe winters on a regular basis than Hungary.. How do you account for these differences??
Also, will there be certain culture groups that have traits to either reduce or negate winter effects, like reduced attrition or reduced food penalty??
 
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This is a really awesome feature and I think it will affect gameplay more than a lot of people realize.. So cool to see..
Question though: How do you calculate the severity or how likely severe winters are in a givwn location.. Both western Russia and Hungary are classified as continental climate in the game but I think most people would assume Russia having more severe winters on a regular basis than Hungary.. How do you account for these differences??
Also, will there be certain culture groups that have traits to either reduce or negate winter effects, like reduced attrition or reduced food penalty??
Climate seemingly. Russia is a mix of continental and arctic while Hungary is just continental. You raise a good point though, that the difference between continental and arctic is too large to accurately describe regions like Russia as compared to Central Europe.
 
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Climate seemingly. Russia is a mix of continental and arctic while Hungary is just continental. You raise a good point though, that the difference between continental and arctic is too large to accurately describe regions like Russia as compared to Central Europe.
The core of Russia is not arctic at all, yet it is still definitely colder than Hungary. When Napoleon invaded Russia he didn't get anywhere near the arctic part. The Germans didn't either (except for the minor incursions from the territory of Finland).

Can we really consider Budapest and Kazan to have the same severity of winters?
 
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graphically in terrain you see the ice change over time.
Will there be an option to disable graphical ice, or an opacity slider? It wouldn't look very cohesive or consistent seeing the coasts changing constantly as the years go by on speed 5 I'd imagine, I'd prefer an indicator icon on the map for frozen straits or something on the tooltip when hovering over the sea zone.
 
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The core of Russia is not arctic at all, yet it is still definitely colder than Hungary. When Napoleon invaded Russia he didn't get anywhere near the arctic part. The Germans didn't either (except for the minor incursions from the territory of Finland).

Can we really consider Budapest and Kazan to have the same severity of winters?
I was agreeing with you. Moscow and Berlin having the same frequency of normal and severe winters doesn’t seem right.
 
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A frozen seazone can be traversed by armies and this allows greater military control over the lands it reaches; however, it will cause navies to get stuck until it thaws. Be careful when the weather changes, it can thaw with catastrophic consequences if an army is on the ice. Navies can also not enter any seazone that has frozen over.

Finally, it is time

00-natalya-klimova-right-believing-prince-st-aleksandr-nevsky-20121.jpg

 
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Will armies be able to engage a frozen fleet?
Like that time when the French cavalry rounded up 14 Dutch ships and their crew when the Wadden Sea froze over in the severe winter of 1795?

History fun fact: the French troops were led by a Dutch revolutionary brigadier general called Jan Willem de Winter. Yes, General de Winter.
 
I love, love, love the winter season being implemented.

I hope that other seasons are implemented as well. And not just northern seasons, but the dry and monsoon seasons, mud seasons, tornado seasons, hot season, and more!
 
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This makes me think. For Greenland, will each of the three "pockets" of inhabitable land need there own market as to not starve when the seas freeze and trade with the rest of the world or even a neighbouring "bygd" becomes impossible? Or will the market storage depots be local allowing Vestbygden to buy suppliea in summer and store them locally for winter?
 
This is a really awesome feature and I think it will affect gameplay more than a lot of people realize.. So cool to see..
Question though: How do you calculate the severity or how likely severe winters are in a givwn location.. Both western Russia and Hungary are classified as continental climate in the game but I think most people would assume Russia having more severe winters on a regular basis than Hungary.. How do you account for these differences??
Also, will there be certain culture groups that have traits to either reduce or negate winter effects, like reduced attrition or reduced food penalty??
Since winter spreads Russia is more likely to get winter than Hungary I guess since winter will usually start spreading in arctic areas north of Russia
 
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In India and south east Asia many wars were timed during autumn and winter as
1) summers are very hot and so are monsoons
2) food production is normal or more during winter (still true for 2024)
3) Number of diseases and infections are low in Winter (still true for 2024)
4) Food spoilage is lower in Winter
5) More comfortable climate for exertion or for wearing armour
6) Less dangerous snakes in winter (they hibernate)

So making climate eurocentric makes no sense for many parts of the world
 
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In India and south east Asia many wars were timed during autumn and winter as
1) summers are very hot and so are monsoons
2) food production is normal or more during winter (still true for 2024)
3) Number of diseases and infections are low in Winter (still true for 2024)
4) Food spoilage is lower in Winter
5) More comfortable climate for exertion or for wearing armour
6) Less dangerous snakes in winter (they hibernate)

So making climate eurocentric makes no sense for many parts of the world
The term Eurocentric does not apply. Many places experience cold winter besides Europe. I am Canadian.
 
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