How can we get a desert planet with plains? No matter what I seem to do most of the planet is covered in rocks and results in a pathing nightmare of a map.
I don't mean grassy plains, I mean like flatter more open expanses. Define plains: a large area of flat land with few trees.
Oh no no, it's just ironic because most people complain that deserts are too /plain/ and that they used to have much more stuff on them. (And they did) Ironic to see someone wanted to get the thing most people complain is too prominent.
No, see people have been aggressively campaigning for more rocks and less flat places. Canyons, mesas and the like. Of course , this will probably ruin the pathfinding further, but if it worked, it would be a bunch of fun. Edit: Beware, there be ninjas out tonight.
If you don't mind a total lack of scenery (it does have water now), you can create sandbox biome systems with a mod. https://forums.uberent.com/threads/rel-sandbox-biome-1-1-66830.59086/
Id love to see the desert terrain props be made from all kinds of different terrain. And have bots be able to path over them as well! Hopefully the pathing bugs around them will be fixed too.
In short, you can't right now. I hope eventually we get a sandy desert biome not a 1.0 priority though. Perhaps when the generation improves we might see more control provided for the CSG brushes though. Edit: For pathing people, check the build release thread hopefully improvements are here.