Idea for new oceanic terrain types.

[HoneyBadger]

I'm not sure what you mean, Endoperez, could you clarify the question please?

I'm not sure how it would work, Edi. I don't have access to the code, and I know we have a lot of maps that people are very fond of, so it might at best have to be an add-on, something that only comes into play for new maps, like cave provinces. Could your alternative be applied in an optional way? So that it could be turned off for maps we already have, and on for new maps?

[Edi]

I don't have access to the code either, but I know terrain is a bitmask currently. Just giving a heads up on why things may not happen even though it's a good idea.

[HoneyBadger]

Heh, that's ok. I'm pretty used to having what seems to me, anyway, as a "good idea", and it not happening. The Devs are truly awesome in their work ethic and generosity, but there's only so much they can do, and I can't expect more than a tiny portion of what they can do to represent any inspiration directly from me. It's just creatively and logistically unfeasable to expect more than that.

I have my fun coming up with ideas, good or bad, and "laying them out" so to speak. There's just something about a nice presentation that hopefully other people can get behind, even if it amounts to little more than putting an idea of how things might be expanded, that they might not have thought of, into their heads.

[Gandalf Parker]

I suppose we could always open another bit.

Too bad we cant logically split things then and put the terrains in one and other items in the other. But that would not "grandfather" well with older maps and such. Another thought for the Dom4 bucket I guess.

[Gandalf Parker]

The thing about putting sea with swamp brings up a good point. Can some of these be logically placed by mixing bits we have now? Farm and sea? waste and sea? inland water with something?

[HoneyBadger]

Rivers would be great for sites, but which ones? Water's obvious, but at the same time, the water's constantly moving, and washing away most sites in time, plus rivers themselves might not be large enough to support many types of sites, even if we're talking about the Amazon. And in that case, with very large rivers made up of many tributaries, it's no longer a river, it becomes a Confluence. Besides, my thought for rivers is that they'd generally be valuable enough, serving as easy access to inland provinces, and as roadways.

I *was* trying for some parity between land and sea terrains, actually, Gandalf. I'm not sure how obvious it is, but if what we have now could be renamed and placed in the water, or even just shoe-horned in, it might work.

[Edratman]

Gandalf Parker said:
The thing about putting sea with swamp brings up a good point. Can some of these be logically placed by mixing bits we have now? Farm and sea? waste and sea? inland water with something?

I found that the massive Orieda map has two provinces that mix land and sea features. One is farm and sea and the other is waste/mountain/sea. The provinces funcion okay and have those atributes, so I asume every combination of land attributes and sea attributes is okay. After all, they are just bits, not real, so the game doesn't know that the combinations defy the dev's intentions.

So a deep sea underwater mountain range is viable. I think you would have to input the bit combination into the map file.

[MaxWilson]

Edratman said:
After all, they are just bits, not real, so the game doesn't know that the combinations defy the dev's intentions.

True. Keep in mind, however, that the combinations also defy the intentions of magic sites' authors (whether the devs or some modder), and you are likely to get magic sites underwater which don't make much sense. E.g. sites which allow the recruitment of non-aquatic creatures who will drown as soon as you recruit them.

-Max

[Gandalf Parker]

Doesnt it also affect what poptypes defend and can be recruited?
I would be much more bothered by inconsistancies there.