Trees & Vegetation

**Puupertti Ruma** · 05-22-2007, 20:20

Axes made of all types of materials were used with a certainty. Bronze, iron, steel and even stone axes when none of the better materials (ie. metals) were available. I'd argue that well motivated and capable men could fell quite a large diameter trees without too much effort.

From wikipedia I gathered that axes were invented in mesolithic period and saws around neolithic. That's about ca. 6000 bc for axes and around 3000 bc for saws, so they have both been around for a quite bit.

**blank** · 05-22-2007, 21:36

Originally Posted by Puupertti Ruma

Axes made of all types of materials were used with a certainty. Bronze, iron, steel and even stone axes when none of the better materials (ie. metals) were available. I'd argue that well motivated and capable men could fell quite a large diameter trees without too much effort.
.

Maybe right, but looking at those trees with their 10? meter diameter, it would take a long time to even take down one of them. Not to mention, seeing how closely they are situated, the falling tree would probably get entangled in the neighboring trees, requiring extra effort to actually get it to the ground.

**mAIOR** · 05-22-2007, 22:01

Actually, if you have ever done a lumberjack job (cutting down trees) you'll see taking a medium tree down with an axe is no easy task. you sweat a lot and it's hard. And if you have to take down a stronger wooded tree you'll feel shaking from the tip of your fingers up to your teeths.

Cheers...

**Watchman** · 05-22-2007, 22:52

Why do you think the stereotypical image of a woodcutter is a big, brawny fellow ? I've chopped down enough small trees back at the family summer cottage to have an inkling of how hard work it is, certainly.

Side note: the funny archeologists over here apparently at one point tried cutting down a few trees with a reconstructed stone axe, just to see how well it performs compared to modern ones. The result ? Almost as good; the metal axes' real advantage is more in the malleability and reusability of the material rather than performance.

**Centurio Nixalsverdrus** · 05-22-2007, 23:02

Yes it's true that almost all European woods nowadays are wood plantations. But...

Even if the trees in the game should be several thousand years old, it's not very likely that ALL trees are so old, and it's also not very likely that they grow all their lifetime. I don't think all sorts of trees can reach a Giant Redwood size in normal circumstances.

The RTW / EB fir trees are about 150 - 200 meters (500 - 650ft) high with a trunk diameter of about 5m (~17ft). That's more than highly unlikely.

And it's true that the natural vegetation of Europe is wood. But it's not only coniferous forest. It's a mixed woodland of both conifer and deciduous trees. Remember the preferred tree of the old Germans was the oak tree. We have very few really old oaks left in Germany (ca. 1500 or more years old), and they are definetly normal sized.

Would it be possible to remake the northern forests? Just shrink the fir trees to a reasonable size (I would be happy with about 70% of their momentary size), or better, create mixed woodland?

**Pharnakes** · 05-22-2007, 23:07

Trees grow all their life actualy, when they stop growing they die, if you prevent them growing them they die, they have to grow.

**Centurio Nixalsverdrus** · 05-23-2007, 00:40

Originally Posted by Pharnakes

Trees grow all their life actualy, when they stop growing they die, if you prevent them growing them they die, they have to grow.

But not that big. There are Hurricanes, Blizzards, and nasty insects buggering the trees, and even unannoyed, most of them would never reach a size of 150m. Period.

**Watchman** · 05-23-2007, 00:54

Hurricanes aren't terribly common in Europe AFAIK.

**Teutobod II** · 05-23-2007, 11:59

Originally Posted by Centurio Nixalsverdrus

The RTW / EB fir trees are about 150 - 200 meters (500 - 650ft) high with a trunk diameter of about 5m (~17ft). That's more than highly unlikely.

And it's true that the natural vegetation of Europe is wood. But it's not only coniferous forest. It's a mixed woodland of both conifer and deciduous trees. Remember the preferred tree of the old Germans was the oak tree. We have very few really old oaks left in Germany (ca. 1500 or more years old), and they are definetly normal sized.

Would it be possible to remake the northern forests? Just shrink the fir trees to a reasonable size (I would be happy with about 70% of their momentary size), or better, create mixed woodland?

I think firs in Europe can have a max hight of about 60 m

and linden (lime ??) trees can get pretty old too - there are still a few 1000 year trees in Germany - larger old specimens have a trunk diameter of over 10 m!!