Here are some patch map events we can implement in the 0.8 upgrade family.
- Volcanic Eruption (Already implemented in Vents) - Increases CO2 & decreases sunlight over a certain area depending on size. Can be small, affecting local patches, medium, effecting a patch cluster, or large, affecting multiple patch clusters.
- Meteor Impact - Decreases sunlight over a certain area, and causes temporary dramatic shake up of compound availability. Population impact depending on proximity. Increase in CO2, but not to same extent as volcanoes. Can be small, affecting local patches, medium, effecting a patch cluster, or large, affecting multiple patch clusters.
- Cooling - Decrease of CO2, causing cooling weather. Frozen seas more common.
- Warming - Increase of CO2, causing warming weather. Frozen seas less common.
- Glaciation - On surface patches, indicates a change to or presence of Frozen Seas. In non-surface patches, indicates the formation of ice shards.
- Snowball Earth - Rare event in which the entire planet dramatically cools, causing most, if not all surface patches, to freeze. Very likely to occur after initial introduction of oxygenation.
- Irridation - Due to geological or volcanic activity, a greater percentage of rocks present in the patch are radioactive for a short-term. Radiation chunk spawning increase. Occurs rarely in shallow oceans or the ocean floor.
- (Bonus) Earthquake - Legacy concept; all currents flip in the current patch.
Here is a discussion of patch changes, which is relevant to atleast Snowball Earth events:
Surface patches - Epipelagic, Shallow Seas, Estuaries, Frozen Seas, Tidepools - can change into each other.
- Epipelagic can become either Shallow Seas or Frozen Seas
- Shallow Seas can become any.
- Frozen Seas can become any.
- Tidepools can become Shallow Seas, Frozen Seas, or Estuaries.
- Estuaries can become Shallow Seas, Frozen Seas, or Tidepools.
If this requires too much work, I think what is minimally needed in this regard is the ability for surface patches to turn into frozen seas, and then turn back into their original patch for Snowball Earth or glaciation events.
Here are concepts for further layers of dynamism:
- Surface Patch Changes - Most changes to the environment occur on the surface - shifts between estuaries and regular surface water, frozen patches, etc. The depths will remain generally stable, allowing players a refuge.
- Patch Connector Shifts - Some patch connections will appear and disappear, sometimes outright denying movement from a patch cluster.