Alternative Map for DOC

Adding just some sandbars shouldn't be very hard.

 

No, I'd say they're equally stupid.

 

This lagoon idea is very interesting. Some thoughts:
- Unless a city is on the tile, regular military units should probably not be allowed on it (similarly to marshes). And the 100% defense bonus (which btw sounds a bit high) doesn't really make sense unless there's a city.
- I'm trying to think of other places where a lagoon might be appropriate. Maybe it would make some sense in the Netherlands? Have you experimented with that?
- It might also be interesting to see if the lagoon can be used in the Pacific to better represent atolls. If someone can add sandbars around it, it could end up looking quite nice, and add some terrain diversity to Oceania.
- One place it would actually make sense to have a watery tile with a city on top is Nan Madol, on the island of Pohnpei in Micronesia. Of course we don't have a civilization that would ever found that city, but it would be nice for the possibility to exist.

 

Wait a minute... VENICE CIV CONFIRMED!

 

And still you give no reasoning... I've been trying to be discrete but I'll ask straight out, WHY IS UNITS ENDING THEIR TURNS ON ISLAND-LIKE TILES STUPID???

 

Maybe the Oasis art could be enlarged to create Pacific lagoons. (inlcuding a palmtree) But then it is forced to be a terrain features instead of a terrain type.

From what I know of the terrain texture mechanics, I'm afraid it's now possible to get rid of the borders between different coast terrains.

 

You could just use the atoll feature from History Rewritten in order to represent them.

Anyways, could you upload your current version of the map?

I guess, apart from any concerns from a design perspective, it migth create problems if a naval unit and a land unit of different civs at war end their turn on the tile. You'd probably have to implement a way for naval and land units to figth, which would create a lot of new problems.

 

A comparison between different atol art types. The first picture is the atol art from HR. The second picture are upscaled oases.

Spoiler :

 

Could the palms be removed? Generally, I think the oasis would look great as a lagoon (without palms), while I'd use the atoll feature to represent actuall atolls.

 

I'm not sure. I cannot remove them myself. But maybe someone with more nif experience can.

EDIT:
I can remove them. I technically didn't remove them, but I made them fully transparant, which has the same result.

They are currently a bit below the water surface, but I can easily adjust the Z-axis so they rise above the water.

Spoiler :

 

The HR atoll might be decent, if you could make the inner part a light blue and expand the 'shell' so it looks like a sandbar. Otherwise it just looks weirdly artificial.

The second image with the upscaled oasis works quite a bit better, though part of that is the light blue inner part of the atoll (at least for the one of the left). The one on the right doesn't work for me.

Also, I actually like the palm trees -- sure it's disproportionate, but so are the trees in a normal forest/rainforest/jungle tile.

I don't really understand this -- the game already 'seamlessly connects' normal coast and ocean tiles without the artificial rectangles, so why wouldn't the same mechanic apply for different types of coast tiles?

(Also: are 'arctic coast' tiles really less food-bearing than other coasts? Are there less fish in cold water?)

Are you able to add the sandbars, or know anyone else who could?

 

We're not talking about a water tile, we're talking about a tile with islands larger than the current island tile. The idea is that they cross the water here like they cross rivers.

 

One of the reasons the Venice-style lagoon sounded interesting to me for atolls — and I mean atolls that are land tiles and can support cities, not decorative features — is the increased elevation. If someone wants to experiment with that, it could be interesting.

If it doesn't pan out, I'd still advocate for Nan Madol to be represented by a lagoon tile (next to a land tile that would be the island of Pohnpei).

 

I planned to do some experimenting on this. Results will be posted when ready,

The smooth transtition is caused by some (partial) alpha channels in the texture of the ocean. Those could be added to the new coast texture, but I don't know how this will interact with other textures.

EDIT: You can add the alpha channel for a smooth transition, but then you also have a smooth transition between the coast and land tiles and no sandy beach.

I am able to add the sandbars. (I think. )

 

But you can stop your turn on a boat. Ending your turn on a short boatride tile is just stopping on a boat that can cross short distances.