Thanks! I'll keep that in mind when I rebuild it. Keep in mind I may need to create a new terrset to achieve such a division of tree species. As it is, I have at least two custom cities to build, if I can get the time for the custom objects. Time is against me here. atm, I'm rewriting my GIS routines to achieve better real world elevation files.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but when I compare Finland and Estonia in Google Maps, the tree density and species seem quite a bit different?
Oh, and remember, we as lowly terrain builders can't build trees!
Speedtree has a handful of usable trees. Norway Spruce and Scots Pine look familiar on both sides of the Gulf of Finland, as well as European White Birch, River Birch and European Aspen. Western Sword Fern would add a nice touch as undergrowth of the broadleaves, growing dense in largish spots in shadowy valleys.
As for the tree density, this wartime example might offer you freedom to use your imagination: My neighbor who is War History Professor in the University, showed me a pair of wartime aerial photos covering our neighborhood. We compared them to a map dated 1942. What first puzzled us was that on the other picture there was a dense forest and the other was plain field. The map said forest, but according to post war photos it had been farmland for quite a long time. The professor finally came up to an explanation: The forest was chopped down during '42 or so to prevent Soviet partisans hiding on this side of the river. The photos were probably taken the same summer!
However, the southern side of the Gulf is more fertile, the Ice Age pushed all our soil down there. Also it's a little warmer there, so Maple and Linden get more common there and even an occasional beech. As a rule of thumb, let the firs dominate the north and broadleaves the south. Speaking about the Carelia map the differences are quite subtle, though, something like 70-30% at the max, maybe rather 60-40. Microclimates in different areas matter more, the surroundings of the Lake Ladoga look like they should be much more south.
Do Finns eat trees?
Actually, pine bark saved many lives during the Famine of 1866–68 and even in 1918. Now they have revived it as Healthy Food!