On Siwa planets

[BlackRain]

Is it possible to get anything other than very dry or arid planet? I have tried so many times to the point I just give up to get anything other than those?

[t1it]

I have no idea what that means or relates to...because you can have thousands of mm rain in Siwa and the planet is anything but dry. So I think this is a text oversight that could be fixed.

[Jdane]

Maybe it's an issue stemming from the planet size you selected?
As far as I know, small planets do not have enough mass to retain very much of an atmosphere, which if I'm not mistaken, would decrease the chances of getting a good rain cycle.
If you had indeed selected a small size, I would suggest that you give it another try with a medium, or even better large size.

[Smidlee]

I think he meant Seth class and not Siwa.

[BlackRain]

No, on Siwa, there is one of the screens when making the planet that says if the planet is very dry, arid, etc. This is when it also shows the rainfall. I just rolled a planet with 1500mm of rainfall, but it was still considered an "Arid" planet in the text.

Let me get a pic

[Laiders]

I thought this might be the problem. That appears to be a minor display bug. The planet will be a verdant world of forests and grass plains if you actually push to the biosphere screen and start rolling there, assuming Earth-like atmo composition and sufficient (500 mbar + ?) pressure.

[BlackRain]

check out the link

https://www.dropbox.com/s/jjsfkt142ex7f2w/Screenshot.gif?dl=0

[Falke]

The "Arid" text probably comes from the high temperatures, which would normally result in a low rainfall. Other random factors are giving you a lot though

[BlackRain]

But what I am saying is that even with lower temperatures I still never get anything "higher" than Arid. Is there something else? I have never seen it

[Laiders]

It does not matter. It is a text generation bug. Vic will probably fix it. Your planet is clearly not arid though it will have arid zones.

Stats matter in rolling planets. The text is all just flavour and procedurally generated so it can and probably will wig out. Pay attention to the stats.

[BlackRain]

Thanks for the reply, as long as I know the text is just a bug.

[Laiders]

This is only my intuition based on practical experience generating Siwas. It's not officially confirmed or anything. Probably should go check if it has been formally reported now you mention it...

[scottrossi]

I understood it to be "arid" or "mostly dry" because it's not like Earth, which is 70% water. Siwa are majority land, even if you get one that's 20% water and a garden world in all respects. I assume we'll see more planet classes as time goes on and things like navies are added.

[BlackRain]

In every other way you can get it to be like earth though, I dunno. There is no earth like option then if not Siwa

[Daltesh]

The reason you can't generate non-arid worlds is (to my understanding) due to the lack of navies. The game doesn't support islands or continents yet, so the planets need to have a relatively low amount of water, which makes them arid.

So no, I do not believe you can get non-dry/arid planets yet.

[Laiders]

Arid is not normally taken to refer to % of ocean on planet though. Aridity is defined by average annual precipitation.

My current planet is defined as a 'very dry planet' but it has average annual rainfall of 719mm. Definitions of aridity a little difficult for my philosopher brain to understand [I have overused the word 'parse' recently due to rules discussions and AI discussions; I now seem to type it for any form of understanding not its actual meaning] at 2am with no prior experience. Buckle in this is going to require some maths.

We start, wiki assures me, by multiplying average annual temps by 20. I can that. I am little north of the tropics I will use that value. It's 41 C year round. Wow this is a hotter planet than I remember.

Multiply by 20 = 820

We now [ah the famous know-now merger; a common linguistic shift seen in tired speakers of Dyslexic] add a value depending on a parameter I do not know. We add 280 if more than 70% of precipitation falls in sun-high seasons, 140 if it's between 30-70 and 0 if neither. Assuming rain falls evenly throughout the year, 50% must fall in sun-high seasons. We add 140.

We are now at 960. This is the threshold for not being semi-arid not arid and certainly not desert. My annual rainfall 719mm and I assume this applies evenly across the whole region. My area has lots of grass, lakes and several dense forests so rainfall is actually probably higher. 960 - 719 = 241. I am 241mm off not being semi-arid. This probably actually does put me close to the arid threshold. If I were further north, it would not.

Wait a minute, you can see a rolling average of rainfall per hex. This would make the maths too complicated so I am not going to average rainfall over my entire empire and run the numbers again. I have found a village that is comfortably not arid with average rainfall of over 1000mm.

IOW, aridity is a climatic factor not a physical factor. Total % water does not matter only annual precipitation and average temperatures.

[GodwinW]

Yes, it's a bit weird. 'Arid' is probably the catch-all term for some reason. Would be nice if we could see it less. The actual rainfall amounts do vary luckily.