Most plants will have a passive role during the game. It is then unuseful to manage them individually. The simulation of a Vegetal Population will be preferred to a set of individualized Plants.
a type of vegetation (savana, forest of leafy, etc.)
a biomass attribute (which indicates a density of life in association with the Territory size
a nutritive value by biomass unit.
a level of health (good, disease, fire, etc.)
a dynamic description, function of previous characteristics.
a Territory
Example 2. Some vegetal populations
A luxuriant tropical forest.
A wheat field devastated by a storm.
A vine weakened by disease.
The causes of evolution for a vegetal Population are:
Growth
Natural development (with sufficient resources)
Weather effect
Populations fusion
External effect (breeding, magical effect)
Diminution
Disparition of biomass (predators, natural disasters, etc)
Weather effect
Pollution, unadapted environment
Competition with other Populations
Insufficient resources, territory too small
Population split
Unadaptation to the flora, the fauna, or something else.
One of the consequences of alterations (plantations, destructions, pollution, weather, natural disaster, etc.) can be a change of vegetation type. The change can be immediate (change from a plain to a field of wheat) or slower (concurrence between a mediterranean vegetation against a vegetation "forest of leafies" and progressive victory of one against the other).
The growth of the Territory is done directly (extension toward contiguous areas). Indirect extensions cases (spores, or grains transmitted through the sea or wind) are considered as colonization and give birth further to a new Population.
A Population which biomass becomes null is destroyed. the section called Species Protection>
Players can NOT play plants:
Plants hardly move.
If it's difficult to play an animal (different of an Human), it is even less conceivable to place yourself under the bark of a tree.
At the relational level, one will easily accept that few living beings are able to communicate with a plant.
It is possible to have magical plants or 'active' plants (carnivore plants notably).
It is also possible to find individualized plants, like the Kumquat Tree in Day of The Tentacle ™, the justice oak of the king Saint-Louis, a four-leaf clover or a magical ivy with a castle at its top,etc.
A vegetal Population will be represented by an object.
Summary: a Population = a Community ; an Instance = a Creature.
A special plant will be represented by an object. The different types of Vegetation will be available as classes.