Working both forwards and backwards?

[CAgrippa]

Been reading a LOT of old threads (and some current ones). Learning a lot!

A question: if one has an approximate coastline, perhaps some notion of mountains, very deep seas, that stuff -- as much or as little detail as is desired -- is there a good way to work backwards to things like tectonics? And from there forward to climate, rainfall, and so forth?

It looks to me as though there are well-known tools, ranging from Wilber onward, that do these things, but I'm new to this and don't know what these are. I can look them up, once I know which ones I'm looking for.

My big issue, having tinkered with a few programs in the past, is this: suppose I have very particular requirements in certain areas; can these systems accommodate to my demands, or are they going to generate worlds from nothing and leave me skimming through world after world hunting for what I want?

Thanks!

[Falconius]

You can work backwards for some things, like tectonics, but as you note, it would be difficult for weather and climates. After all, what we know about tectonics has all been worked backwards from our observations of the world, so it seems like a natural path to me. To do so however you have to keep some basic understandings behind how things work. Just basic things things like mountain ranges or deep trenches form along the edges of plates etc. so that when you go to put in the faults later it will make sense.