Hills...otherwise known as wrinkles in Civ 6

[nzcamel]

I know I'm not the only one groaning about this of late...but finding the Chocolate Hills in a recent game really rubs it in Why can't all hills in VI be of similar dimensions?? There's no mistaking them for mountains; but neither flat land either! In a game that is supposed to be about reading the map easily, hills have been a huge let down that has me jumping in and out of strategic view every other turn.

I suspect one challenge is district art would have to be changed to work on hills; and maybe that's too much to ask at this late stage...but the wrinkle hills (seen to the right in this pic) better not be repeated in VII regardless of what art style that takes!

Spoiler :

 

[Tyroq]

You know, I hadn't really thought about this before, but now that you mention it, the hills kinda are not very pronounced. I think it helps when you're playing with hexes visible, but I do recall having to mouse over tiles sometimes to see if they're hills or flat, especially if they're covered in forests or jungle. Makes military movement planning a bit more of a hassle.

 

[nzcamel]

I should add I like the wrinkles...as a variation on the look of flat land.

 

[Gorbles]

I often hover over a tile if I'm not sure, but this only tends to happen if there's something else on the tile. In my opinion, hills just by themselves are quite obviously not plains.

Is there something up with the tooltips that requires you to use Strategic View? Maybe tooltips could be improved, as the art style will always have to be sacrificed for mechanical tie-ins (like the placing of building art, like you mentioned). Maybe not in the same way, but still.

 

[iammaxhailme]

The poor visibility of hills are why I always have tile yields on

 

[679x]

I do sometimes have trouble identifying open-terrain hills, since sometimes the graphics end up being less obvious for some tiles. But... nothing compares to the dreaded rainforest hills... where you have to check every single rainforest tile in the tooltip because they all look the same!

Of course, now that I think about it, there have also been many times when I'm invading an enemy city and move a unit onto a district tile, only to find that it has lost all its movement and can't attack. At this point, I'm thinking we should have a Movement Cost lens the same way we have a Settler lens, except it shows how many movement points an ordinary unit would expend when moving onto that tile.

 

[Tech Osen]

I do sometimes have trouble identifying open-terrain hills, since sometimes the graphics end up being less obvious for some tiles. But... nothing compares to the dreaded rainforest hills... where you have to check every single rainforest tile in the tooltip because they all look the same!

Press Y for yields, hills will have an extra cog. The visibility when attacking a city is an issue yes, especially when trying to use artillery units. Having to check every tile covered by districts and wonders and whatnot gets tedious.

 

[Hawke9]

There's a mod for that you know

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1170978230&searchtext=hbhills

 

[EgonSpengler]

I'll definitely be trying that mod. I can't see most hills on these maps. I have to use the mouseover tool tip pretty much constantly.

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

While I do sometimes have trouble seeing hills, it has never become enough of a problem for me to get upset about it.

 

[japanesesamurai]

In options set tooltip delay to minimum.

In UserOptions.txt change:
PlotToolTipFollowsMouse 1
To:
PlotToolTipFollowsMouse 0

 

[SammyKhalifa]

While I do sometimes have trouble seeing hills, it has never become enough of a problem for me to get upset about it.

I have a bigger problem with plains vs grasslands

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

I have a bigger problem with plains vs grasslands

Me as well. But again, not enough to complain about it.

 

[Tyroq]

I have a bigger problem with plains vs grasslands

At night. During the day though, the difference is more obvious.

 

[Wizard-Bob]

When it is important to know which tiles are Hills, i.e. planning a city attack, we also have a new option with the Map Search feature. Easy to highlight them

 

[Infixo]

The hills are better visualized on a 2D map than on the fully fledged 3D view.
Ironic.

 

[Sostratus]

I swear I was just saying this somewhere.
While nothing will be as bad as Beyond Earth's "what kind of terrain am I even looking at" (FBI's most wanted: Fungal biome) it can be a real chore. Usually my struggle point is when there's snaky scatterings of hills and flats interspersed, especially when rivers get involved.

 

[nzcamel]

I often hover over a tile if I'm not sure, but this only tends to happen if there's something else on the tile. In my opinion, hills just by themselves are quite obviously not plains.

Is there something up with the tooltips that requires you to use Strategic View? Maybe tooltips could be improved, as the art style will always have to be sacrificed for mechanical tie-ins (like the placing of building art, like you mentioned). Maybe not in the same way, but still.

Like someone else mentioned; 70% of the time you can pick them (if they're not covered by woods/rain forest/district) but around 30% of them are so insignificant that even uncovered you won't. Of course all of this in a game where the map was a feature to be easily read! Where units were increased in size again to be easily seen how much strength they have. Etc.

As to the tool tip my personal preference is to have it not pop up immediately. I have it pop up after as long a time as the game allows. And I'm not changing that just cos they screwed up hills.

Press Y for yields, hills will have an extra cog. The visibility when attacking a city is an issue yes, especially when trying to use artillery units. Having to check every tile covered by districts and wonders and whatnot gets tedious.

Less jarring than switching to strategy mode; yet no faster when you have that on a key. And again...a completely OTT solution to what shouldn't be a problem; as highlighted by the Chocolate Hills looking unmistakeably like hills.

There's a mod for that you know

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1170978230&searchtext=hbhills

Last I looked it hadn't updated for GS
And if they can incorporate the expanded map tacks...

When it is important to know which tiles are Hills, i.e. planning a city attack, we also have a new option with the Map Search feature. Easy to highlight them

Oh my goodness...I hope you're joking

 

[schondette]

Weird i just commented on this in the patch thread. ill just reiterate here
"
Only thing Civ5 has over civ6 is being able to easily distinguish hills and terrain in fog.

It really bothers me how difficult it is to spot a hill even on plains.like the faintest whimper of a shadow has to be sought out
"
-me

 

[Pietato]

Yeah...even harder when there are trees as well.

On a related note: why are hills superior to flat land in every way?