: Re: Tools for science-based world building? I tend to lean towards science-fiction and fantasy, so world building matters a lot to me. A while ago, there was a question which asked how to go about

@Jessie137

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Regarding climate:

I struggled with climate on a fictional world for a long time. What I eventually realized is that all the climate models we have are generated in reference to a single example. In other words: things like albedo effect, cloud cover, precipitation and seasonal weather patterns are entirely dependent on the specific shape and configuration of the earth's landmasses, it's size, density, orbital characteristics, and the current position of our single, relatively large moon. Change any of those and you radically change the weather systems. Some general rules hold true (like the Coriolis effect), but only the most general. Everything else is interdependent--and interdependent in ways that we don't precisely understand because we only have access to a single reference. So unfortunately, if you want a realistic fictional world that isn't merely an alternate Earth, there are no existing models that are capable of generating even moderately detailed climate systems: you have to figure it out (or make it up) yourself.

Which, of course, isn't necessarily a bad thing.

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