Field Scenes

[Mooncabbage]

I am sick and tired of the crappy, overly hilly maps the game uses when you fight a battle in the open. At first I thought they were randomly generated with a really basic generator, but I see the same ones over and over, so I conclude that they're just badly made.

Would it be possible to replace these scenes with something else with more gentle slopes and logically placed features? Maybe a bit bigger too. I know Othr is probably flat out so perhaps someone else is a map editor who plays this mod? Or maybe some maps already exist in the community that can be perloined, like these. They're MP maps but perhaps they can still be used, I don't know.

EDIT: What causes scenes to crash with large numbers of troops does anybody know? Is it just that the scene is too small? I had sieges working fine with 300 men limit, but fighting in a village just crashed my game. I would really like to try running 500 or more men at a time.

 

[Ricox]

It should depend on the place where you start a battle on the world map. For example starting battle in forest zone would put trees on the battlefield, thought I've noticed that sometimes the game is like ... overreacting. In Native there was a Swadian vs Khergit cavalary battle somewhere near Ichamur (tho no cliffs were near) and when the battle started, there were hills all around and Khergit, nor Swadian cavalary could get to eachother because the field was split by a huge cliff (tho in the end I managed to climb it on foot).

SO yeah, this should be taken care of.

 

[Mooncabbage]

I'm sure the maps aren't completely generated, they must be selected based on the terrain the battle starts in. You should be able to edit the original scene though. Be nice to have some bigger fields.

 

[Diavolo]

I checked out the scene folder and it seems like the maps are generated in a more advanced way. Dont think one just can create new scene files for them. I might be wrong however. (hopefully I am)

 

[Mooncabbage]

Mmmm.... That doesn't really explain why so often I end up fighting on the same maps. How odd.

 

[othr]

They are random generated based on the campaign map terrain, you can give them some starting points, how mountainous, how densely forrested etc but that's never worked really.

Instead you could design a bunch of such maps and randomly select them for battles.  That would mean a lot of maps to keep them varied.  You do create a basic scene for them scn_random_scene*.sco.  So you would go to the terrain generator, input the size you want hit generate, grab the code and so on.

 

[Mooncabbage]

To me all the maps look the same anyway. I'd rather have a handful of good maps than an infinity of randomly generated hilly crap.

 

[Tarkz]

To me all the maps look the same anyway. I'd rather have a handful of good maps than an infinity of randomly generated hilly crap.

chill... go outside and get some fresh air..

but on the other hand i do kind of agree.... quite alot of the same maps but we'll see what new updates will bring (if thats the case)

 

[Mooncabbage]

Oh yeah, any idea when that's due out?

 

[Roh]

I agree the randomly generated maps do tend to suck. Too often in what seems to be a generally flat area you get nothing but hills the that go like three to five stories high from the lowest point of the map. And when in hilly areas you end up fighting in these crazy mountainous areas that you couldn't actually MOVE an army through, or at least wouldn't attempt if you were sane.

A shame the generator can't be tweaked to adjust the max height for certain terrain types.

 

[Mooncabbage]

Divide the heights by like 10 and you might be looking at something reasonable. It still lacks drama though.

 

[Roh]

Lacks drama? More than a hundred soldiers charging at each other to make a bloody mess on the field. It's more than enough drama for me.

 

[Valerick]

This what gets me about native, and to some extent, this mod. Very rarely did armies fight in the woods, or in hilly highlands. The great majority of battles were fought in pre-determined, flat, and open fields.

 

[Mooncabbage]

What Valerick said. If you look at real world terrain, it's not random. Everything exists for a reason. Valleys are eroded by glaciers and rivers, farmers build walls and troops build field fortifications. This is the drama I'm talking about. The randomness and bumpyness detracts from this essential drama as troops are often behind hills, and behave oddly (admittedly AI, not map related).

 

[Amundr]

What Valerick said. If you look at real world terrain, it's not random. Everything exists for a reason. Valleys are eroded by glaciers and rivers, farmers build walls and troops build field fortifications. This is the drama I'm talking about. The randomness and bumpyness detracts from this essential drama as troops are often behind hills, and behave oddly (admittedly AI, not map related).

Some battlemaps with landmarks would be great.

I can see it before me; you arrive amid sloping valleys on each side(perhaps great big mountains) on a small hill on your left side theres a ruined tower.
A testament to the violence this place has seen before. The valley is covered in a thick mist and you can only hear your enemy.
You charge into the mist, running blind, only using your hearing to guide you. Then suddenly you are amongst your foe, fighting to survive.

 

[Mooncabbage]

You could also use the terrain to your advantage... A small elite army could hole up in the ruins and survive a larger more powerful army and all their cavalry. Archers could position themselves behind spikes.  Troops could take cover behind fallen trees (Despite the lack of a crouch button!)

 

[Roh]

My bad Mooncabbage. I mistook what you meant before about drama.

 

[Mooncabbage]

I must admit I thought someone might at the time, but I had a mental block on another word that would better convey my meaning. What I should have said, is the maps lack tactical depth. But then so does the AI, and I'm not sure it's really worth addressing one problem without the other. Smoother gradients would be good though.