Possible Terrain Improvements (lengthy)

[Kynes]

First up, many thanks go to the Taleworlds team. The game is intense, open-ended, diverse and just plain engrossing- and full of original ideas.

Disclaimer:
Despite years of playing and some work in level-editing and coding I still have very little idea about how much work exactly is involved in these changes even if people agreed they would help. Having said that 35mb is small fish for most of us (hopefully) so file size shouldn’t be a big factor. Also for some reason I have it in my head that variables like hills, rocks, bushes, trees are all percentage values that can be adjusted- if not then my first idea would be pretty hard. Also not sure whether very open maps and maps with lots of trees/rocks result in a lower FPS count. I don’t have a great computer but it hasn’t struggled much so far.

Orright, so bear with me.

• Different Terrain Types depending on map location

The random terrain generator works remarkably well, I’ve only come across a few times so far where it has resulted really wacky or problematic battlefields. What I’d like to see are map-specific terrain. Things like;
• Heavily treed battlefields in areas that are forests on the map (might require a few more tree and foliage objects).
• More open, arid areas to the north (new ground textures more like steppe soil/desert) without the pre-requisite water hazard.
• Open fields or farmland in the areas on the map directly around the towns (possibly with fields and signs of people).
• And maybe to mix things up the majority of the map would be the grassy plains that are currently default and more hilly terrain for near the mountains.

As long as I’m making outrageous requests:
• Snow or alpine areas (no noticeable effects in battle but reduced speed on the world map when traversing the mountains). Loonking sorta like the pics at the bottom of http://www.theavonlady.org/theofpfaq/sp/winter.htm.



In general the amount of mountains could be toned down to make the world look a little more familiar.


This would allow you to pick your battles a little better and make map movement speed more important. You might want the advantage of fighting on open tundra in the north or more infantry-friendly conditions in the forest for example.

• Adjustments to the terrain generator

Once again, not sure if this is at all possible but somehow changing the terrain so trees and bushes appear in clumps as well as being scattered around would make the terrain look more realistic.

If the textures can be made to be based on the topography of the map (height and depth of land for those of you who slept through geography) then maybe make a texture for underwater (sandy mud or river rocks jump to mind) and make it so only the areas below the defined water level are textured with the river bed texture.


Edit: bugger. I just realised Manifold also made a thread about this while I was writing it. Thanks for reading this far by-the-way. Congratulations you don't have ADD.

PS Novelty idea- a dog? Proper horseback combat was a first, expendable attack dogs that increase your tracking and maul people would also be a first –(hmm, just realised this might require a whole new animation set for the enemy unless the dogs were human-sized).

 

[Kniggit]

Probly difficult, but a darn good idear, i absoloutly hate it when im out in the open, and i fight a war party, and there a huge river with big cliff, I WAS ON FLAT GROUND. And yes i know many people have posted this same complaint, hopefully it will be fixed in the upcoming versions.

You know how at the start of a battle your men always know where the men are? well screw that, have the dogs pick up thier scent! and it would be interesting to have all your mounted troops and your dogs hit some forest bandits or so

And it wasnt that long, rather good idea

Ian

 

[Sputnik]

I like the random terrain construction, but I was hoping when you had "Terrain Improvements", you actually meant like alterations to terrain, like throwing greek fire or cutting down trees to make blockages.


Man....that's what I want.....

 

[Kynes]

that falls more under the heading of terrain deformation.

I guess it's a matter of priorities, if the developers are more interested in finetuning the gameplay and the coding then stuff like what I've mentioned will take a back seat.

I mean there's a big difference between

and

Tactically speaking.

It stands to reason you should have some control over where you pick your fights and how favorable the conditions are for your infantry/cavalry/archers.

 

[armagan]

Thanks for your suggestions. We'll be working on terrain generator to make it more varied and realistic.