Lightning and thunderstorms are feeble to say the least.
Let’s get some variation in the lightning itself. Currently it is all the same pattern, shape, size, magnitude and looks like some wet noodles with jaggy aliasing hanging out of the sky.
Examples of small to medium to large lightning can be found any where. Pick up an old copy of National Geographic some time, you’ll find plenty of great photos.
Also the crackling/cracking sound effect of lightning is sorely missing
Thunder is better than the lightning though not by much. There should be varying levels of thunder in intensity as well as radius and sounds itself. Again plenty of examples out there. In the American mid-west you can get some cackling and booming thunder that literally makes your hair stand one end and your heart stop.
I want to be in the middle of a forest in Conan and the almighty boom sends my sub woofer into overdrive. Add in some crackling from the lightning and that will knock me out of my chair.
Mechanics.
-Damage from lightning. This should be server setting adjustable
-Lightning and thunder frequency. This should be server setting adjustable with specific types or a ‘dynamic’ option which is effectively random of all available types/levels.
-Real time radius/distance. The closer you are the more loud and visible it is. Use the old second to mile rule. Every second there’s a delay between the thunder and lightning, is how many miles you are from it.
This is only the tip of the iceberg - lots to do with the weather system yet, though getting these above things sooner than later would be grand at increasing immersion and realism
It would be cool to actually have a unique danger component when it comes to storms in the north like the sandstorms have in the desert. Also I feel like it rains way too much in the north right now to the point rain seems to be the default weather.
While being a great idea, keep in mind that every rule you make in code can make implementation exponentially more difficult.
Anyone can code a storm event that starts when a determined variable is true. But to program all the intricate details of damage on the lightning and sound dilation. This could be a major endeavor.
Make it so FunCom!
Edit: oh and there is such thing as thundersnow… Just saying…
I have complete faith in 2020 they can do this ; and since other games already do.
Having said that, I should be more lenient - other games do have better storms however I don’t think I’ve ever played a game that really captures the ferocity and power of a good thunder/lightning storm.
Anyone who has ever lived through one knows what I mean - at least horror film directors do!
That part of the north I believe you are referring to is the ‘temperate’ climate and is the Nordheim area mostly.
Yes it does rain a lot in the north - or at least in contrast to other weather types. I suppose they were going for the English it rains a lot feel. The only other weathers I see there are grey sky with no rain i.e. “clear” and that’s it. Snowstorms can happen during all, as they’re events not climates.
There’s a decent mod called Rebalanced Weather that at least allows you to control the rain, storms and other event frequencies in each climate /area.