On the Road again...what about static roads?
 

I have a vague idea how to model roads in dom2 and wonder whether this is a sensible idea and whether it could be worth the effort to make a map with:

I know that roads have been discussed before (Post#271463), but an idea about static (or built-in) roads was missing there and I am not aware that it has been proposed or used in an existing map. This seems odd, so could someone pelase remind me why the following would be a bad idea for map-making?

Assume a piece of map something like this:
___A_B_C_D_E___
__F_G_H_X_J_K__
___L_M_N_O_P___
For simplicity of posting we assume a regular hex layout here, i.e. each province has six neighbours. Assume further that a road runs F-G-H-X-J-K. So I would record the following neighbour relationsships additionally to the map file because of the road: (F,H),(G,X),(H,J),(X,K).

• Thus a strat-move 1 army could move from G to X in one turn (i.e. half movement cost per province) since G and I are neighbours.
• Now a strat-move 2 army could move from F-J, which is also ok (double movement). But it could also move from M to J in one turn, which is also fine in my opinion.
• A start-move 3 army could move from L to D in one turn, which seems also fine to me.

In addition, a road would enable a non-flying army to invade deep into enemy territory, e.g. attacking X from G without taking H first, which seems also ok for me.
Nevertheless, vertical movement is left untouched by the horizontal road in the above example, which is good.
Terrains could limit roads somewhat in an odd way, but this would only make the survival skill more useful, which is also a good thing in my opinion.
Also resource gathering and supply support would be affected by castles on roads, but why not?
There could be a problem with crossroads though and maybe large provinces should intercept the road pattern...

So would it be worth the effort to make a map with built-in (static) roads like this?

This idea was triggered by other Posts, where people complained about the power of strategical flight (Post#309550)
and where pre-map pictures with roads where shown and proposed (Post#309606).

EDIT: In the Diagram the small letter I was replaced by X for alignment.

Re: On the Road again...what about static roads?
 

Hmmm I was thinking along these lines for rivers. Its also come up in discussions of portals, gates, caves, etc.

Keep in mind that what is seen (the tga file) has very little to do with what the game allows a player to do (the .map file). Possibly create a very thin province with a dozen neighbor connections. Zero population. Unfortunately there is way to flag a province as having extra sites but no way to say no sites. You might choose a site which you consider of little worth and fill all 4 slots of a road with that site.

This would allow for an interesting strategic factor added to the game. This road could extend thru multiple provinces and allow very fast travel (if you wanted to you can create neighbor links which allow a single move to jump 3 or 4 provinces), could "bridge" over water while still allowing water-to-water travel to occur "beneath" the bridge. The white-dot capital on the road means that the road can be fought for, controlled, patrolled, tactically defended, even a "toll booth" placed on the road which would allow other nations armies to pass safely if they pay the toll (build a castle but put no defense points into that province).

Re: On the Road again...what about static roads?
 

Maybe use bonus supply sites... it being a road that might be somewhat thematic.

Re: On the Road again...what about static roads?
 

I do not think that a road-province as proposed by Gandalf would work as I intend, since then using the road would be independent of the length of the road. Consider a road on a wrap-around map which spans the world! With my proposal below, an army could just move twice as fast along the road, but is still limited in reach. This could make LightCav more interesting. Drawback is however that roads can only be intercepted by occupying to consecutive provinces...

I think I will try to make a small map out of that WizardKing pictures available on the web to give it a try...

Re: On the Road again...what about static roads?
 

You could simply string up some "road provinces".
And bonus supply sites are not only "thematic", but required - with 0 pop the prov does not generate any supplies, right?

Simply adding "extended neighbours" will not work IMHO: Any army on the road could simply jump right into the next prov, and one could never block road usage. That would be even worse than flying raiders, as flyers don't have the possiblity to retreat. Those ground units _could_ ...

Re: On the Road again...what about static roads?
 

I did not mean one big road. Only that a road could create the "fast move" by extending and allowing more connections to more provinces than a normal province would. An area which might take 12 province moves to cross might have 4 road provinces allowing it to be done in fewer moves.

I hadnt considered flyers. That would be a problem.

Re: On the Road again...what about static roads?
 

If only there were different types of linkages between provinces.

Re: On the Road again...what about static roads?
 

What about giving the "road" #mountain, #forest, #waste and #swamp tags and consider that anyone who can move through all four unhindered can also use the road faster than other? This would leave only flyers out of the slow. They would move frighteningly fast with roads!

Re: On the Road again...what about static roads?
 

Sure, but as soon as you occupy two provinces which are next to each other on the map, the road chain is intercepted...

Re: On the Road again...what about static roads?
 

The ability to hop over even one province wouldn't make sense. Seems to me Gandalf is on the right track. Provinces that are supposed to be easier to travel across should be larger on the map in the directions where travel is easy (e.g. along a road), and narrower where travel is slower. A good straight road could involve a long and relatively thin province, so that travel along the road would cover more distance.

PvK

Re: On the Road again...what about static roads?
 

Agreed... also could be made to look good graphically.

Still the problem is with flying units, which would become yet more mobile.

Re: On the Road again...what about static roads?
 

It sounds like it would be a good offering to the list of maps people can choose to play on. I guess it would have to be play tested to see if the flying thing is a BIG problem but I dont think flying was on equal footing as a tactic so this boost shouldnt put it monstrously high. It might be nice to have a map where Caelum gets a boost just as some maps favor water nations, or some favor Ermor, Ulm, Arcos. I dont think it will be a map they will automatically rule.

Re: On the Road again...what about static roads?
 

Ya. It seems to me most maps have some provinces that are much larger or small or have many more or fewer neighbors. The long road provinces would mainly make it easier to see which these were, unless it were over-done.

PvK