Coastline

[temurleng]

I've read every guide I could get my hands on, some nearly 10 times. (Translation: I've done my homework) But, I still can't seem to solve this question: how does one create new coastlines? I can tell it's at the bottom of one of the terrgifs, (can't remember which one) I just don't know how they got it there.
Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Mercator]

What do you mean?

The coastlines are at the bottom of the terrain2.gif. You should take a good look at the graphics just above the actual coastlines. You'll note there are a total of 32 little tiles, divided in 8 groups of 4 (arranged in an L-shape).

The upper-left tile of each L-shape represent the top quarter of a regular-sized tile, the center-left is the bottom quarter, the lower-left is the left quarter and the lower-right is the right quarter. The "W" and "L" mark whether the adjacent square is water or land. When constructing the coastlines, Civ2 will paste together 4 little tiles (with the connections matching those of the adjacent land/water) to make up a full coastal tile.

 

[yoshi]

What M said.

And forget the stupid manuals, they don't tell you crap. Test it out by numbering the different quarters if you want. In the game you will see what corresponds to what (although the W/L markings in Terrain2.gif should give you a pretty good idea).

Note that you can use the Editor (next to the Cheat menu) to modify these captions the Terrain Editor screen select 'Misc.' or something (I forget now) that will give you a list of all the Coastal images--named Coast 1,2, etc.

You can also use coastlines from other scens as designers are rarely satisfied with any of the default graphics...not that I blame them.

 

[temurleng]

I'm trying to switch the water and land so cities can be built underwater. I know someone did this before (SubWar by B Bronsing (sp?)), but the coastline graphics he used don't match the other water graphics I'm gonna use. The default coastlines are acceptable, but when I tried to switch them around using the L/W guides above them, gibberish came out. The only other way I can think of is to manually paint each individual square, but I'm hoping there's a quicker/easier way.

 

[yoshi]

If you followed the w/l guides, it should have worked.

Why don't you post Terrian2.gif (with your changes)? It will be easier to see what the problem is.

 

[kobayashi]

The only other way I can think of is to manually paint each individual square but I'm hoping there's a quicker/easier way.

no there is no easy way and the best way is to paint it manually. For ease, you need to make each coastline end exactly in the middle of each tile edge to make it auto-aligned.

You could theoretically do a horizontal followed by vertical flip on each of the tiles of an existing coastal set you find acceptable.

 

[temurleng]

Why don't you post Terrian2.gif (with your changes)? It will be easier to see what the problem is.

Be prepared to be confused. I also have terr1, but that shouldn't be relevant here. In the meantime, I'm gonna give Kobayashi's advice a fly.

 

[yoshi]

Well, it looks like it should work. What is it that happens when you use this exactly? (You said, "gibberish came out.")

How do other 'water' scens that reverse the terrain do this? Compare the Terrain2 file of one of those with yours.

 

[Catfish]

It looks like gibberish because the wrong tiles have been swapped. Try the version I've attached. You'll have to clean up some of the coastlines and add a few beaches (I'm lazy), but they're essentially in the correct positions. Never mind the slightly smaller symmetrical diamond shapes, they'll tile properly.

 

[Mercator]

Never mind the slightly smaller symmetrical diamond shapes, they'll tile properly.

Aha!

...

 

[Catfish]

You don't know how close I came to including a pre-emptive smart-arsed one-liner. Obviously it's easier to rearrange the positions of symmetrical diamonds.

 

[temurleng]

Thanks all very much! Tried the new coastline, worked perfectly. just gotta make it compitable with my water tiles.