Some games include environmental effects, which includes what we normally think of as weather; the temperature, clouds, wind, rainfall, snowfall, and snow cover on the ground.
The temperature falls in a range specified by the game, and may be computed in different ways depending on the game design, but typically depends on terrain, latitude, the severity of the seasons, and elevation. Temperature may also vary randomly from turn to turn and cell to cell. [describe effects of temperature on units]
A game may include clouds. Clouds in Xconq are a single band, with
a density, altitude of cloud bottom, and cloud height in each cell. In
this example side view below, o and O represent different
densities of cloud, and - is the tops and bottoms, while ^
shows the ground.
---- -- - --oOOo -- OO o OOoOOo oo--OO - ^^--oOO- --OO-- ^ -- ^^^-- ^^^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^^
The chief effect of clouds is to prevent the viewing of units on the other side of the clouds.
A game may also include wind. Wind has a force and a direction for each cell. Wind affects the weather by causing clouds and storms to move around. Certain unit types, such as sailing ships and balloons, may depend on the wind to be able to move around, and their speed will depend on the direction they take with respect to the wind.
Games may assert that the playing area represents part of a sphere, possibly tilted on its axis, and that poles and equator correspond to various latitudes. If the game allows temperatures to vary according to the time of year and the latitude, you will have seasons.