Idea: Civ-specific terrain

[WillJ]

Wouldn't it be great if there could be civ-specific terrain? For example, Russia having wintery-looking terrain, and the Aztecs having tropical-looking terrain. It might be strange when the terrain changes as it's passed from one civ to another, and it might look strange when you consider the map as a whole, but still, it might look cool...

This would be even better for fantasy mods. For example, in a "good vs. evil" scenario, you can't really make one civ look nice and righteous while the other one looks evil (besides cities). But with civ-specific terrain, you could make the evil terrain look dark and gloomy, with skulls and barbed wire fences and stuff, while the good terrain looks all nice 'n' purty (maybe even look cloudy and white, like the stereotypical heaven).

Just a thought. It's not that important, and I don't know how hard it'd be to implement. Plus it probably couldn't be added in on time for Conquests, so it's more of an idea for future games.

 

[tctatheel7]

i know that you could do this in Age of Wonders. It was pretty cool to see the orcs have dead, evil looking land, while the elves have nice, happy land

 

[slothman]

No. I don't even like units and building different for different civs much less terrain.

 

[Xen]

what about a Civ like Rome who conqoures people regardless of the terrain....

 

[Mr. Dictator]

yes i would have to agree with Xen, because the Romans conquered places like isreal, spain, and england. All different types of terrain.

 

[WillJ]

Just to clear things up, we all understand that I'm talking graphics-only, right? I'm not saying that the Aztecs will have more jungle, or the Egyptians more desert, or anything like that. It's just that civs can have their own civ-specific terrain graphics.

About the Rome thing: You raise a good point, that a lot of civs have (had) a variety of different terrains, so you can't describe them as "desertish" or "plainy." That's mostly why this idea would be best for fantasy mods.

Edit: But still, it works for some civs. For example, the Egyptians could have all their terrain tinted to looks somewhat like desert and sand.

 

[slothman]

Yea I don't like different graphics for each civ. It's not even realistic. Desert looks the same regardless of who owns it.

 

[Pirate]

Terrain is terrain - no difference for ownership.

Now, Roman farming would look different than Asian farming. Perhaps roads, irrigation, and other terrain improvements could change within cultural boundaries and give you the look you are going for. That could add some flavor.

 

[casual_moose]

wouldnt it kinda look wierd if say there was japanese land then the next tile was say aztec land?

 

[Mr. Dictator]

Now, Roman farming would look different than Asian farming. Perhaps roads, irrigation, and other terrain improvements could change within cultural boundaries and give you the look you are going for. That could add some flavor.

yeah i have to agree, everything just looks too bland right now, but what would the new improvements look like for each cultural sphere?

 

[Pirate]

I may not be 100% accurate on where different methods of farming were invented in the world, but different types could include:
-row crops of grains of early america, mesopotamia?,
-rice paddies of asia
-terrace farming of asia and south america
-swidden farming aka "slash and burn" for africa and south america

Roman roads could be straight as an arrow and paved with stone, Sioux roads could look like thin trails, etc...

But remember, the underlying terrain is the same. This helps reinforce the stamp each culture puts on the land it controls.

 

[fitchn]

I do not think that the terrain should be different from one civ to the next. I do, however, think that the idea of terrain improvements being different for each cultural group is a good one that will definitely add some variety to the map. I suppose that the next logical question would be: what happens to them when they change ownership? For instance, if I take over another city, should all of the tile improvements within the city's borders change to my graphic type, or should they remain unchanged?

 

[slothman]

I still don't like even tile improvement graphics changes for different civs. It gets annoying. It least make it an option for us less vocal minority. If you have to have different graphics then at least only do it for each era like now. But again not for every unit and building. Just a few to speed things up for us who don't have 100 GB and 2.4 GHz computers.