Mountains

[uat2d]

do you think there should be passable Peaks in BtS, or should Firaxis keep Peaks impassable?


I think there should be mountains like in Civ III, that were passable, and Peaks should continue to exist, being impassable. I also think the map generator should create less peaks, it's terrible when you get stuck by them...

 

[Thedrin]

Keep the impassable peaks. They create added choke points.

As far as I can see while a grassland hill is CivIV's update of CivIII's hills, a plains hill is the CivIV version of CivIII's mountain and a peak is something new.

There are a number of map scripts that give you a level of control over the generation of peaks.

 

[Dutch Canuck]

I prefer the way mountains worked in Civ III too. I thought in Civ IV they would have given us volcanoes, regular mountains, and occasional impassable peaks. But they simplied the terrain compared to Civ III - that has been the principle disappointment for me changing from Civ III to Civ IV. I think terrain types could have been stepped a little bit in complexity.

 

[Thedrin]

They did make the terrain in CivIV more complex. The first layer is flatland, hills, peaks or water. The second layer is plains, grassland, desert, tundra, ice, ocean, or coast. The third layer is forests, jungles, floodplains, oases, and ice flows.

As far as I'm aware CivIII only had two layers and the second layer only contained jungle, forest, and swamp.

 

[uat2d]

thought in Civ IV they would have given us volcanoes

i like that idea, but i think to keep the suspense, we shouldn't know if they were volcanoes or not until they blow up (or not!)

 

[mice]

I like the peaks for choke points too. It makes for strategy possibilities that add to the game.

 

[Dutch Canuck]

They did make the terrain in CivIV more complex. The first layer is flatland, hills, peaks or water. The second layer is plains, grassland, desert, tundra, ice, ocean, or coast. The third layer is forests, jungles, floodplains, oases, and ice flows.

As far as I'm aware CivIII only had two layers and the second layer only contained jungle, forest, and swamp.

I was thinking along those lines after I posted I just agree that mountains could be more sophisticated (and I miss marshlands/moors being different from flood plains).

 

[Dutch Canuck]

i like that idea, but i think to keep the suspense, we shouldn't know if they were volcanoes or not until they blow up (or not!)

Ya know, maybe there's a random event like that in BTS! A couple of mountains around the world blow their stack sometime between 4000 BCE and 2050 CE...

 

[TheLastOne36]

Hmm well cities build one Mountains can recieve Health Bonusus.

And lamb and sheep etc. actually have a realistic place to be in now.

 

[Thedrin]

I can kind of understand why someone might want passable peaks in the game (even though I wouldn't) but I'm not sure what there is to gain from having both impassable peaks in the game and CivIII esque mountains. Plains hills are equivalent in production, I think. They are certainly superior in production to grassland hills as mountains were to hills in CivIII. There are no units in the game (except the fast worker) quick enough to necessitate a further unit speed restriction beyond that already granted by hills.

The only thing that I can think of is an added defensive bonus but is that really a big enough deal to warrant inclusion?

Dutch Canuck:
I was thinking along those lines after I posted I just agree that mountains could be more sophisticated (and I miss marshlands/moors being different from flood plains).

But aren't they the same as jungle?

 

[The Navy Seal]

Istead of it saying "we all prefer mountains" it should say "Seal prefers mountains" .

 

[GIR]

impassable mountains are ok.
but i would love to see some commerce in the late game (tourism, ...)

 

[Optimizer]

I would like mountains, peaks or whatever to be passable only by late-game units. This would be realistic, and open up a new "frontier" in the late game.

The opportunity to build a road through a tile to open it for any units, as in Civ 3, would also be nice.

 

[The Navy Seal]

The problem w/ that Optimizer is that a more advanced civ could have t5here units in peaks and they wouldn't be able to be attacked.

 

[scooter]

I like the peaks the way they are, it often creates some cool choke-points and defensive terrain and stuff. Seriously, play a highlands map with dense peaks and ridgelines, its a ton of fun...

 

[sunrise089]

You guys must play different map types than I do. I know on my Pangea/Balanced/Fractal games Peaks get in the way a lot, but always leave the enemy with plenty of access options. I don't think I've ever had a full-one choke point.

 

[mjs0]

My main complaint with impassable mountains is this...

I have a mountain that cuts off a one tile peninsula and I build a city next to it such that the tile of the peninsula will be in my fat cross.

Why is it that I can work that tile as soon as my borders pop, clearly shipping food and hammers past the mountain to the city?
At no point even in the 21st century can my workers or military figure out a way to do what the peasants could do in 3500bc before I even discovered fishing or sailing!
Better yet, for some reason a railroad that not only does not but in fact cannot connect to any other tile improves the yield of a mine on that square.

How would I fix this...well if I had my way...for this and many other reasons impassable mountains would stop (or at the very least severely dampen) culture spread.

 

[Sjaramei]

I would like if they redid the Mountain system from scratch. It makes no sense having impassable mountains as it is now, since it's possible to pass them in the real world just slow.

I would suggest a tile with really crappy production/food. And instead of blocking it would slow the unit for 1-2 turns making it stuck there for a while. And the hillsman? promotion could give some added attack/mobility in mountain squares making it interesting to set up ambushes with lots of hillsman units behind mountains.

It would be more realistic too. If peaks still should be in the game, it should be inside at least a row of 3 mountains (one on each side of it) so that the stupid peak blocks peninsula wouldn't happen. (this is ******** really..) That would give the effect of a proper mountain range too. (Himalaya lookalike would be good, with regular mountains as passes)

 

[Phoenix1595]

I do wish I could make Machu Picchu on an actual mountain, but I enjoy the blocks for movement and defense purposes (so much fun on highlands maps).

 

[Ball Lightning]

NO, peaks are bad!!