Cave provinces!

[HoneyBadger]

I'm not talking the standard deep sea province type in game already, I'm talking colossal miles-deep oceanic rifts. Sure, they're in the game, but the reality of such a place, how truly hostile it is to life which hasn't evolved to deal with it, would require separation into a separate type of province to simulate properly. For instance, if you were to drop a 1970 cadillac de'ville (I wouldn't do it to an El Dorado) into the deepest part of the ocean, it'd come back up approximately the size and shape of a bowling ball.

[Agrajag]

HoneyBadger said:
For instance, if you were to drop a 1970 cadillac de'ville (I wouldn't do it to an El Dorado) into the deepest part of the ocean, it'd come back up approximately the size and shape of a bowling ball.

Why would it come back at all?
I'd expect that after being squished into the size of a bowling ball, it would be even more dense* and thus will sink further.
* - as in (weight/volume), there's a better word for it, I just don't know what it is in English :X

[HoneyBadger]

Ok, here I was thinking the cadillac would be lowered by a heavy steel chain, miles long, and a powerful wynch, attached via the arm of a crane to a tugboat. The chain could possibly be made of tungsten, or adamantium, or Superman, if he temporarily gained Mr Fantastic's (Fantastic Four) stretching abilities, for that matter, since it was a hypothetical example Yes, even in the deepest oceans, cadillacs do not float for very long...sigh.

[Gandalf Parker]

HoneyBadger said:
I'm not talking the standard deep sea province type in game already, I'm talking colossal miles-deep oceanic rifts. Sure, they're in the game, but the reality of such a place, how truly hostile it is to life which hasn't evolved to deal with it, would require separation into a separate type of province to simulate properly.

What would you want for this? Another level of the game which cannot be entered by low-water creatures? So that aquatics would need special equipment to go there? And land would beed both water breathing and deep water equipment? Then we would need sites for it, spells for it, summons for it.

[UninspiredName]

I don't recall us needing unique summons for mountain or wasteland provinces...

At any rate, I'm against any provinces more 'hostile' than the current Deep Sea. They're cool concepts, but much too troublesome to take if your army's not designed for it. One 'brutal' province a map might be nifty, though, if it doesn't unbalance the map towards certain nations. Say a lava province that allows recruitment of Salamanders and other fire-based units that Abysia wouldn't have nearly as much use for as its competition.

[Cainehill]

HoneyBadger said:
I'm not talking the standard deep sea province type in game already, I'm talking colossal miles-deep oceanic rifts. Sure, they're in the game, but the reality of such a place, how truly hostile it is to life which hasn't evolved to deal with it, would require separation into a separate type of province to simulate properly. For instance, if you were to drop a 1970 cadillac de'ville (I wouldn't do it to an El Dorado) into the deepest part of the ocean, it'd come back up approximately the size and shape of a bowling ball.

No, it wouldn't. Solid metal doesn't get shrunk / compressed, and all the air in the car would be _long_ gone before it got there. Windows would break early, equalizing pressure; most of the fluids would have minimal compression (oil, anti-freeze, gasoline - not positive about hydraulic/brake fluid but expect the same behavior as the others), about the only major items that would compress would be the gas tank, radiator, and other items that aren't completely filled with liquid, and I suspect that the engine block / cylinders, etc, would fill with liquid seeping in through the valves long before they'd collapse.

[UninspiredName]

...It was just an example. At any rate, since armies wouldn't exactly be going down in Cadilacs, lungs (For enchanted humans) and the like are at risk of compression.

[HoneyBadger]

Thank you Uninspired Name, and thank you Cainehill, for the physics lesson. Always nice to learn something new. Anyway...my intention for extreme water and fire realms wasn't that they be enormously useful, compared to caverns. There's a reason people used to live in caves, and that's because caves a great places to live, especially when one of your options is to live inside a smilodon's belly. I'd want these realms in the game to add flavor, to maybe provide a handful of unique provinces here and there. Creatures, magic items, pretenders, and heroes could come from them, maybe go there, but in general, very few are going to want to move there, or even could. It would be the fact that they existed in the game, and the sense of wonder from that (ever wonder about outer space?) that I think would only add to the game's "romance" as it were. Also, my opinion is that it wouldn't be difficult to code them in, which is always a plus, and once they're in, certainly some use can be wrung from them.

As far as cloud realms or heavenly realms, well why not?
Considering that quite a few creatures fly and spells can compensate for those that lack (and why not spells to access and explore extreme depths or extreme heat/cold? and why not the realms of the Rimsurtar while I'm riding on this mad train?).

My whole point is that I'm glad cave provinces are in, and I hope to see different areas also opened up, even if I can't stick a castle or a flag on it and call it home.

[Gandalf Parker]

There are a few maps here
http://www.illwinter.com/dom2/maps.html
which have made use of zones such as underworld or clouds (kindof).

Any terrains added which limit a standard army from entering would have to also add magic items and spells which would allow a standard army to enter. Sounds good but quite a project to add.

[UninspiredName]

Tecnically, we already have Fire Resistance spells for a lava province. A mass Fire Resistance magic item or two would be all we really need.