Wait what, steppe now eating through forests

[Stormblade 617]

This area was covered in grass about 4 months ago, and now it is filled with steep

 

[Cista 428]

Hey guys, so after all the nice info and discussion on this post, I went and did a small experiment. As you can see in the picture below, I planted a single row of steppe, then I took a second picture exactly 2 months later (below the first pic).

And sure enough, you can see how the steppe is eating up the grass tiles. 

It is slow though, it will move less than 10 tiles per year it seems.

 

I also repeated an old experiment of mine, testing how fast grass grows into dirt tiles, compared to how fast steppe grows into dirt tiles.

Nothing is changed there, grass still grows over dirt at least 3 times as fast as steppe does it. 

 

 

 

[zethreal 582]

Should we tell the dev's to quit steppe'n on our grass?

[Cista 428]

3 minutes ago, zethreal said:

Should we tell the dev's to quit steppe'n on our grass?

 

I am guessing it is an intended balance.... if players mess up an area, grass will grow faster over the dirt afterwards.

It is probably only on central Xanadu there is this effect of huge areas with no roads and no terraforming activities, where steppe slowly takes over more and more - as shown in my first pictures in the beginning of the thread.

Edited March 14, 2016 by Cista

[zethreal 582]

1 minute ago, Cista said:

 

I am guessing it is an intended balance.... if players mess up an area, grass will grow faster over the dirt afterwards.

It is probably only on central Xanadu there is this effect of huge areas with no roads and no terraforming activities, where steppe slowly takes over more and more - as shown in my first pictures in the beginning of the thread.

 

I was just adding in a pun. While there's steppe in my area ( SW Xan ) I've noticed more trees overtaking everything than steppe. It *is* however, nice to know that they seem to be able to overgrow each other. I might go eradicate all the steppe I can to keep it from overtaking my grass.

[Cista 428]

Yea that's the other thing btw. They probably gave the steppe the strength to muscle out grass, because they knew grass will >> forest eventually. Steppe is the only (sort of) green alternative that will remain free from trees, so they wanted to make extra sure steppe was more robust than grass.

[Nicrolis 980]

grass spreads faster to dirt than steppe, but steppe seems to be more agressive against grass.

[Cornchips 3,037]

this is fine

[Alexgopen 2,376]

i didnt know namekat was on the dev team

[LorraineJ 1,099]

On 1/10/2016 at 5:04 AM, Cista said:

Lorraine, is it your impression that steppe is spreading more now than 2-3 years ago, or is it the same as always?

 

Sorry I missed this - I think it is spreading wildly and ruining the forests by me. 

Edited March 15, 2016 by LorraineJ

[Wurmhole 3,650]

I like this feature.  Too many people plop down in steppe and desert, then convert it all to grass and forest - then they vanish.  I love the idea of Steppe reclaiming some land to bring back a little balance.

[Elwood2 352]

Sand 4 life

[Eltaran 79]

Any chance that Steppe eats Marsh, too? I am tiring of making floorboards

[MetalDragon 1,630]

Steppe has always expanded, but back when I used to 'farm steppe expansion' it would only do it on unpacked dirt. It's likely changed since then?

[Sklo:D 2,210]

However good move...

[Sizander 1]

I remember very well and sure, that steppe only expanded when dirt areas were around. I know that because i had a place i wanted steppe to expand but were to lazy to plant steppe tiles, so i just had to dig and drop dirt around the steppe tiles and watch steppe eat it. but it NEVER ate grass tiles, i know that because i just left the grass where i did not want the steppe to grow over.

 

So, if steppe now removes grass and plants itself at this tile, there is a obvious (untold) change.

 

If you love sand more, or your burger fell into the loo or your TV is broken(just paying attention to studying people's theories) does not matter.

[Aetherion 379]

Global Warming?

[Klaa 4,872]

Soon the sand shall follow...

[Cista 428]

Just one last bit of info for posteriority. The 15 tiles of steppe that i planted (and have now removed) had eaten 25 additional tiles of grass after 3½ months. 

The process has proved to be uni-directional (steppe eats grass) and although slow, will allow steppe to advance something like 5 to 10 tiles through grassland and forest per year.

[Slickshot 1,195]

1 hour ago, Cista said:

Just one last bit of info for posteriority. The 15 tiles of steppe that i planted (and have now removed) had eaten 25 additional tiles of grass after 3½ months. 

The process has proved to be uni-directional (steppe eats grass) and although slow, will allow steppe to advance something like 5 to 10 tiles through grassland and forest per year.

Steppe is life.

[Ayes 3,715]

On ‎3‎/‎15‎/‎2016 at 9:58 PM, LorraineJ said:

 

Sorry I missed this - I think it is spreading wildly and ruining the forests by me. 

 

I don't believe that steppe has any impact upon trees. Maybe you mean that it is covering grass tiles in some spots between trees and then preventing new trees from sprouting?

 

I have always found steppe to be ugly stuff and will eradicate it by at least packing the tile and then turning it back to dirt. Then if the time and impulse allows plant a new tree in its place, or even many to return the beauty of forests to the lands.

 

Stamp out steppe! Even the pp in it smells.

 

=Ayes=

[Skrofler 35]

This is nothing.

We'll be in real trouble when peat starts to spread.

[geode 292]

Thank you for this thread. I have plans to chop down a forest near me that is undeeded (for woodcutting skill gain and timber) and plant steppe to encourage to spawning of Bison.

 

Now I know that I only need to plant a small portion of the center of the project area to steppe and the rest to grass, and I now know I must keep an eye on it so it doesn't take over more grass and tree tiles than I intend it to.

 

Thank you Cista and contributors.

[Mordraug 2,542]

#JeSuisGrassTile #GrassLivesMatter #Grass2016 #MakeGrasslandsGreatAgain

[Cista 428]

4 hours ago, geode said:

I now know I must keep an eye on it so it doesn't take over more grass and tree tiles than I intend it to.

 

Well to have a good chance for bison you will need quite a lot of steppe.

Tbh this "grass eating" will just be a peculiarity for most people. It goes so slow. But I happen to live near central Xanadu, and when you have large steppes, large forests, and no roads, that's where you can see steppe really changing the landscape over the years.