Calradia Map HELP

[Blue Monkey]

I think it could be alright to have flood plains near Shariz and maybe a small lake near Tulga.

Didn't make it into this pass - they'll be in the next.

a composite screenshot of the current biq - click on the image to link to a larger version.​

I use a non-standard terrain set. The orange areas are Balthasar's autumn trees - grassland forest.

A jumble of "to-do" & "what do you think about ..." -

• No rivers yet. Where you see some weird zig-zaggy strips of desert in the grass it's just an effect of the way I use floodplains as temporary placeholders to mark major rivers. Once rivers are placed it gets swapped out for the appropriate terrain.
• There are too many straight lines where terrains meet - that will get some attention. Long lines of mountains/hills are especially ugly.
• The three islands in the Southwest need a tile or two separation so they are no longer conjoined.
• No work done yet on placing the 3 water terrains.
• The mountains around the tundra need to be broken up with some hills & valleys.
• Wondering if maybe the grassland needs a few small patches of plains for variety?
• Need to add some plains to make a better transition from the mountain ranges to the desert.
• The desert is too much of a muchness. Some visual variety by use of LM terrains - even they have the same exact game effects as the desert - would add to player enjoyment. But of course that is something you can continue to work with as the scenario develops.
• Then of course there's a lot of details to adjust to make the coast & ranges look more natural. Need some feedback here if you want anything specific done.

This weekend will be a lot of prep for next. I won't be ready to sit down & work on this til Monday, most likely. So take a detailed look. I actually enjoy very frank criticism from the person I'm doing the work for. tedros91, feel free to tell me bluntly what needs to be changed - it's not nit-picking if you're the one who has to live with it.

For whatever it's worth, this should unzip into the biq as it stands now.

 

[tedros91]

Didn't make it into this pass - they'll be in the next.

a composite screenshot of the current biq - click on the image to link to a larger version.​

I use a non-standard terrain set. The orange areas are Balthasar's autumn trees - grassland forest.

A jumble of "to-do" & "what do you think about ..." -

• No rivers yet. Where you see some weird zig-zaggy strips of desert in the grass it's just an effect of the way I use floodplains as temporary placeholders to mark major rivers. Once rivers are placed it gets swapped out for the appropriate terrain.
• There are too many straight lines where terrains meet - that will get some attention. Long lines of mountains/hills are especially ugly.
• The three islands in the Southwest need a tile or two separation so they are no longer conjoined.
• No work done yet on placing the 3 water terrains.
• The mountains around the tundra need to be broken up with some hills & valleys.
• Wondering if maybe the grassland needs a few small patches of plains for variety?
• Need to add some plains to make a better transition from the mountain ranges to the desert.
• The desert is too much of a muchness. Some visual variety by use of LM terrains - even they have the same exact game effects as the desert - would add to player enjoyment. But of course that is something you can continue to work with as the scenario develops.
• Then of course there's a lot of details to adjust to make the coast & ranges look more natural. Need some feedback here if you want anything specific done.

This weekend will be a lot of prep for next. I won't be ready to sit down & work on this til Monday, most likely. So take a detailed look. I actually enjoy very frank criticism from the person I'm doing the work for. tedros91, feel free to tell me bluntly what needs to be changed - it's not nit-picking if you're the one who has to live with it.

For whatever it's worth, this should unzip into the biq as it stands now.

From what I see, the Rhodok highlands should be a mix hills and grassland. In the tundra area where the Vaegirs are there should be more pine forest. For now as you said it's a little too neat, not quite natural. Perhaps a few tiles of plains in the sarranid desert.

 

[Blue Monkey]

From what I see, the Rhodok highlands should be a mix hills and grassland. In the tundra area where the Vaegirs are there should be more pine forest. For now as you said it's a little too neat, not quite natural. Perhaps a few tiles of plains in the sarranid desert.

Thanks! All good suggestions - really need your insight since I'm unfamiliar with the game. As we get into more detailed adjustments the production pace naturally slows a bit so keep adding more suggestions as you think of them. I'll incorporate them along the way. Often, as in the additions you suggested here, I know something is needed, but don't know what.

 

[Blue Monkey]

To Do List (as of 19 Dec.)

• add rivers & replace floodplains with natural terrain.
• variation in mountain/hill lines.
• separate three islands in the Southwest
• place the 3 water terrains.
• break up large mountain areas with hills & valleys.
• add flood plains near Shariz
• add some plains to transition into the desert.
• a small lake near Tulga
• Rhodok highlands - more of a mix of hills and grassland
• more tundra pine forest near Vaegirs
• minor adjustments to coast

not in any particular order

 

[Blue Monkey]

Did a quick check so I can think about & get a mental image of the changes until I have chance to sit down to the work. I can find Shariz & Tulga on the map. But I can't find the name Vaegirs in the tundra. Maybe I should just make a general enlargement of the forested areas with open tundra in between? The largest areas would naturally be at places along the Pirash River & its tributaries (more water = slightly warmer & less permafrost, better for root growth), and where the forest continues into the grassland (better soil & weather for forest in general).

 

[tedros91]

I was refering to the area east of the Pirash river at the north-east of the map when I used the term Vaegirs (the civ that is found in that area.)

 

[tedros91]

Did a quick check so I can think about & get a mental image of the changes until I have chance to sit down to the work. I can find Shariz & Tulga on the map. But I can't find the name Vaegirs in the tundra. Maybe I should just make a general enlargement of the forested areas with open tundra in between? The largest areas would naturally be at places along the Pirash River & its tributaries (more water = slightly warmer & less permafrost, better for root growth), and where the forest continues into the grassland (better soil & weather for forest in general).

For the places along the pirash river, the excess tundra might cause a large handycap to the player. I would suggest mixing grassland terrain and tundra (while having the forests as you previously planned). As one goes more north east of the pirash river the mix becomes more tundra than grassland. So east of Khudan it's going to be tundra and pine forest while west of Khudan it's a mixture of tundra, forest and green grassland as one goes west and south tundra disapppears just like in the source map.

 

[Blue Monkey]

All valuable guidance. Thanks!

 

[tedros91]

I started with the popheads.

From left to right:

Vaegirs male-took it from the MEM mod
Nord Male- Had to alter a pre-existing head, with the fur hat and had to alter the beard.
Rhodok/Swadian Male- had to alter the Roman head of the generic pophead
Sarranid Male- had to alter the Indian pophead from the east asian mod
Khergit Male- had to alter the generic Asian pophead

Vaegirs female- had to alter the european head of the generic pophead
Nord female- simply took it from the generic european head
Rhodok/Swadian female- simply took it from the generic european head
Sarranid female- took it from the native american pophead (can't remember who made it originally)
Khergit feale- simply took the generic asian head.

*please note that once the mod/scenario has been completed I will have a full list people to give credit where credit is due.

 

[Blue Monkey]

To Do List (as of 29 Dec.)

• add rivers & replace floodplains with natural terrain.
• variation in mountain/hill lines.
• separate three islands in the Southwest
• place the 3 water terrains.
• break up large mountain areas with hills & valleys.
• add flood plains near Shariz
• add some plains to transition into the desert.
• a small lake near Tulga
• Rhodok highlands - more of a mix of hills and grassland
• more pine forest East of Pirash River & mix of forest/tundra/grass to the West.
• minor adjustments to coast

Haven't forgotten you. Just - you know - RL

 

[tedros91]

It's cool mate, I've already started working on the tech trees and units.


oh yeah happy New Year btw

 

[Blue Monkey]

my visual ToDoList - easier to compare it to map than to translate words on the fly. The squiggles are just general area marks, not exact placements.

working on the map & hope to be done by tomorrow night.

I'm thinking the Shiraz floodplains you suggested should be some short rivers & a few tiles.

I'm working on some LM terrain for Ozymandias' Eemian World map. It's muskeg - a kind of bog found in taiga/tundra regions. It's meant to be used either as landmark forest, or a kind of inland marsh. Right now you don't have either marsh or jungle on the map. It could be used in either one of those terrain slots & used as a transitional terrain in the fringes and where you don't want forests or grassland for gameplay reasons, but want to break up the tundra. By using either the marsh or jungle slots, you can keep the worker actions separate from the forests. So for example, they can't transform it to grass or build roads through it. Don't ask me when the pcx file will be done - but I do hope to have at least a usable wip by the end of the month.

 

[tedros91]

No problem, take your time. I like what I'm seeing, I'm already very optimistic with the finished map. Can't wait to see how it looks in the end.

 

[Blue Monkey]

Unfortunately some weirdness with both the Firaxis editor & Quintillus' editor have meant I need to go back to the December version of the biq. A delay, but not even really a setback since I have a clear idea of what changes I had worked out & hopefully will now make an even more refined version.

 

[tedros91]

Unfortunately some weirdness with both the Firaxis editor & Quintillus' editor have meant I need to go back to the December version of the biq. A delay, but not even really a setback since I have a clear idea of what changes I had worked out & hopefully will now make an even more refined version.

It's cool, there's no rush.

 

[Blue Monkey]

Seems you're like me - it's all about the information. Then if nobody is leaking vital fluids it's no big deal.

 

[Blue Monkey]

Not sure if you follow this thread. Ignoring all the technical discussion in that & the next 3 posts, the upshot is that we're still troubleshooting, but I should be able to get back to work on the map tomorrow.

 

[Blue Monkey]

I think this is about as far as I can take it. Whatever adjustments are left to do will be changing tiles singly as you work on playability, city placement, etc. I took a few minor liberties - an isolated mountain here or there, a couple of minor rivers (notably where you wanted floodplains in the far South). There may not be as much floodplain as you would prefer, but that's one example of needing to make small adjustments as you design the scenario. Another thing to check is that the river deltas are where you want them. It can make a big difference on where it is most advantageous to put major port cities. Bonus grassland is entirely random.

Spoiler :

I've enhanced the color a bit in the preview to make the rivers & deep water stand out.

.

 

[tedros91]

I think this is about as far as I can take it. Whatever adjustments are left to do will be changing tiles singly as you work on playability, city placement, etc. I took a few minor liberties - an isolated mountain here or there, a couple of minor rivers (notably where you wanted floodplains in the far South). There may not be as much floodplain as you would prefer, but that's one example of needing to make small adjustments as you design the scenario. Another thing to check is that the river deltas are where you want them. It can make a big difference on where it is most advantageous to put major port cities. Bonus grassland is entirely random.

Spoiler :

I've enhanced the color a bit in the preview to make the rivers & deep water stand out.

.

I like what I see but I still feel like the map maybe a little too large, perhaps scaling it down a little might work? Perhaps 70 x 104 or 100 x 150?

 

[Blue Monkey]

I've already devoted as much time as I can to making the biq as approved by you up to this point. This is the first time you've said anything about wanting a smaller map - despite having a version of the biq for nearly a month. Making a smaller map would mean starting over from scratch. I just don't have the time at this point to redo it completely.