Another pre-release of the coating-based terrain module

[Lincoln Peters <sampln at sbcglobal dot net>]

I've managed to stop the random maps from producing some of the most
illogical climate combinations (e.g. tropical rainforest next to polar
ice cap), but the process of generating the map is now *much* slower. 
On my 2.167GHz Athlon system, it took 1 minute, 15 seconds for Xconq to
set it up!  It also now occasionally leaves "land" terrain (i.e. terrain
of undefined climate) scattered around the map, usually in areas where
incompatible climates would border each other.  On other occasions, a
third climate type will "snake" into the gap, so that, for example, a
large region of interior Mediterranean land is separated from a large
region of polar tundra only by a stretch of humid continental land about
50 kilometers wide.

I've also dramatically improved the graphics, although they still have a
ways to go.  As strange as it may sound, what it needs in the way of
graphics to work as I envision it is a lot of images of dirt.  Yes,
dirt, because the cell is not supposed to imply the presence (or
absence) of vegetation.  Instead, the vegetation, which is defined as
terrain coating types, would be applied to the dirt, thus making the map
capable of handling much more detail than is currently possible.

Think about it this way: if you clear a stand of trees, all that
(usually) remains is dirt.  The area is not instantly re-populated with
grass; in fact, the climate may be such that trees thrive but grasses
cannot survive.  And woe to the fool who would clear an evergreen forest
in a subpolar climate in the hopes of growing a rainforest in its place.


I've also implemented all of the weather phomena I could think of that
might affect an Xconq game, but the kernel code to use it is not there
yet.  And some weather phenomena may still be missing from the list. 
Anyone on the list see any that I've missed?  So far, I have rain, glaze
(freezing rain), snow, hail, tropical storms, thunderstorms, forest
fires,* and dust storms.  I've also written in lava flows, though such
things are rare and thus rarely would affect a war game.

I'm still trying to decide whether or not to add the other things I
proposed, such as soil composition.  It is not a high priority (since it
would rarely affect game play in any direct fashion), but it would allow
for Xconq to absorb more of the GIS data than just the elevation maps
and vegetation.  I currently have no plans to make such things work on
random maps.


You can download the new version at:
http://homepage.mac.com/lmpeters/omniterr.g


* Seasonal fires are an essential part of the weather cycle in much of
California, probably in a few other Mediterranean climates as well.  The
ability to handle fires is also essential if anyone wants to build a
game involving napalm bombs.

---
Lincoln Peters
<sampln@sbcglobal.net>

aquadextrous, adj.:
	Possessing the ability to turn the bathtub faucet on and off
	with your toes.
		-- Rich Hall, "Sniglets"