31

In advanced game setup, what does the "World Age" option do?

The choices for the option are:

  • 3 Billion Years
  • 4 Billion Years
  • 5 Billion Years
  • Random
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4
  • I've wondered this a couple of times too, was going to ask it myself, but I assume that it changes how mountainous the terrain is, like younger worlds are less likely to have mountains and older worlds will have more mountains.
    – Mr Smooth
    Jun 30, 2012 at 4:12
  • Perhaps it affects the number of ruins scattered around the world too?
    – Kyle Trauberman
    Jun 30, 2012 at 4:17
  • Yes, that could be the case as well, although they have a seperate option to disable ruins, so it also might not be.
    – Mr Smooth
    Jun 30, 2012 at 4:21
  • @MrSmooth Right principle, but in reverse. Older worlds have less mountains (erosion has had more time to take effect).
    – user3389
    Jun 30, 2012 at 6:01

2 Answers 2

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32

World age affects the prevalence of hills and mountains: younger worlds have larger, more craggy mountains that appear in bigger clusters whereas older worlds have more sloping hills that tend to appear in smaller clumps.

The code that governs this is in ContinentsPlus.lua:

local world_age_old = 2;
local world_age_normal = 3;
local world_age_new = 5;

-- Set values for hills and mountains according to World Age chosen by user.
local adjustment = world_age_normal;
if world_age == 3 then -- 5 Billion Years
  adjustment = world_age_old;
  adjust_plates = adjust_plates * 0.75;
elseif world_age == 1 then -- 3 Billion Years
  adjustment = world_age_new;
  adjust_plates = adjust_plates * 1.5;
else -- 4 Billion Years
end
-- Apply adjustment to hills and peaks settings.
local hillsBottom1 = 28 - adjustment;
local hillsTop1 = 28 + adjustment;
local hillsBottom2 = 72 - adjustment;
local hillsTop2 = 72 + adjustment;
local hillsClumps = 1 + adjustment;
local hillsNearMountains = 91 - (adjustment * 2) - extra_mountains;
local mountains = 97 - adjustment - extra_mountains;
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-5

3 Billion= Lots of grasslands, few mountains and hills. 4 Billion= Stil some grasslands, an average amount of Mountains. And quite a few hills. 5 billion= Few grasslands. Lots of mountains. Tons of hills. Terrain: 3 Billion= Lots of plains, Lots of jungles and forests. 4 Billion= Some plains. Some deserts, and jungles, foresets and very little Tundra. 5 Billion= Few plains. Lots of desets, A few jungles and forests. And a lot of Tundra.

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2
  • 2
    This completely contradicts the accepted answer with no evidence or reasoning.
    – Comic Sans Seraphim
    Feb 16, 2015 at 2:12
  • 3
    And horrifically formatted I might add.
    – Shelby115
    Feb 16, 2015 at 2:56

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