Naming Areas on the Map
- Thread starter elementgoo
- Start date
sealman
Hater of Babylonians
Darwin420 said:You think that will stop the ridiculous names??
I can see it now.
"The Alps 2 Mountain Range" or "The River River"
Actaully, since there is no actual ingame reason for this feature, I can't see any reason for the AI to name anything.
.searcheagle
Emperor
@Sealman: Here is a reason:
This would be more useful then the way it currently is with it done by cities. Some cities have such large expanses around them that finding the enemy units is still difficult. For examples, the game may tell you about a barbarian uprising near Bombay, which is the closest city, yet the barbarians are still 20 squares away. It would be more useful to hear about barbarians in the "alps."
Another possibility would be for our intelligence to have intelligence reports done through regions, whether they are terrain or political. For example:
Our military advisors are worried about a dozen ships off shore of Rome in the Med Sea.
Our Intelligence reports suggests that Germany may try a Blitzkreg through the Black Forests and sneak attack the Netherlands. I suggest we fortify troops there ASAP!
Our Intel forces want to learn more about India's troops on Madagascar. I suggest we run some recon mission on the Island of Madagascar!
North King said:
This would be more useful then the way it currently is with it done by cities. Some cities have such large expanses around them that finding the enemy units is still difficult. For examples, the game may tell you about a barbarian uprising near Bombay, which is the closest city, yet the barbarians are still 20 squares away. It would be more useful to hear about barbarians in the "alps."
Another possibility would be for our intelligence to have intelligence reports done through regions, whether they are terrain or political. For example:
Our military advisors are worried about a dozen ships off shore of Rome in the Med Sea.
Our Intelligence reports suggests that Germany may try a Blitzkreg through the Black Forests and sneak attack the Netherlands. I suggest we fortify troops there ASAP!
Our Intel forces want to learn more about India's troops on Madagascar. I suggest we run some recon mission on the Island of Madagascar!
sealman
Hater of Babylonians
searcheagle: your points are valid IF the advisor's reports have any value, which currently, they don't.
You can't develop a practical purpose on a feature (naming places) that relies on the assumption that another feature (advisor reports) will change to fit the rationale behind the the first feature. Well, actually you can, but it does not make sense. After re-reading my statement, I am not sure if that comes across too clearly. Sorry if it doesn't
Don't get me wrong, I sorta like the idea of naming places but as gameplaying feature, it is just a pointless novelty at his point in time. However, it is almost a must have for storytelling and graphic representation of those stories.
You can't develop a practical purpose on a feature (naming places) that relies on the assumption that another feature (advisor reports) will change to fit the rationale behind the the first feature. Well, actually you can, but it does not make sense. After re-reading my statement, I am not sure if that comes across too clearly. Sorry if it doesn't
Don't get me wrong, I sorta like the idea of naming places but as gameplaying feature, it is just a pointless novelty at his point in time. However, it is almost a must have for storytelling and graphic representation of those stories.
Shevchenko
Forza Rossonera
I think this is a great idea, the civ how gets there first chooses the name, maybe all the civs should have a list of mountain ranges and rivers from where to choose or you can do a fictional name.
elementgoo
Lazy Monarch
I really like searcheagle's regional espionage idea.
I also think that the names on the maps should not be signs, they are ugly. The names should be transparent, easy to read type that stretches over the terrain/feature you want the name to be on. Large mountain ranges have larger font and stretch over...say 10x2 tiles. While a small feature covers a 3x1 tile area and have smaller font.
The color of the font depends on the civ that named it.
I also think that the names on the maps should not be signs, they are ugly. The names should be transparent, easy to read type that stretches over the terrain/feature you want the name to be on. Large mountain ranges have larger font and stretch over...say 10x2 tiles. While a small feature covers a 3x1 tile area and have smaller font.
The color of the font depends on the civ that named it.
Conflicted!?
Chieftain
This would be much more fun than relating everything to cities. I would love to hear from my military advisor (or maybe there could be a new advisor that is unlocked in the modern/industrial ages: The intelligence advisor!) that said, "Sir, our troops are routing/retreating en masse due to extreme losses in the Sahara desert."
lcorinth
Chieftain
Yes! I have thought of this too. Maps with place names on them are more interesting, and I've found islands and continents I've laid claim to and wanted to name...
ForbiddenPalace
Warlord
- Joined
- Jun 4, 2002
- Messages
- 231
It is even better that you can name rivers and lakes. Even better, you can name resource if you choose to.
nojobnoodlez
Chieftain
Personally I wouldn't want to name hundreds of landmarks. If the pc had a list of names to go along with terrain types and then randomly assoicated a name with a region that would be ok. I never bothered naming my cities and certainly wouldn't want to name all the regions on the map, but if it was an automated process incorporated into map creation, then no problem.
searcheagle
Emperor
ForbiddenPalace said:
I think that will cheapen what those of us who want regions want to do. It would put so many names on the board, it would be hard to get anything done.
Rambuchan
The Funky President
An idea to make this otherwise cosmetic feature more practical and relevant to game play would be to have the sign posts but not just any signs - memorials is what I suggest.
Say you were the first to land on an island, you get something like a great leader but in the form of a signpost or better still 'a memorial'. This would be to commemorate a great event for a civ - could be first to arrive in a land, first to reach the top of a mountain range, you won a major battle (x amount of troops met in combat at this point, with x rising through the ages, and you won the majority of these battles), you were the first to reach a resource and so on. This would work in the same way as you get scientific leaders from researching a tech first but perhaps should happen with more frequency than the SGLs.
When these events happen they can spawn 'a memorial', a physical statue or totem, much like the victory point location monument. The player can then name the memorial as they wish, although it perhaps contains some detail relating to the event already and perhaps the name only becomes visible when you hover the mouse icon over it or right click on it. These can have a practical application in play as they can act as culture improvements would, albeit ones out of the boundaries of a city. They can help increase your influence over an area. They can also be captured and destroyed to eradicate a civ's influence over that region. There are many possible off shoots. How does that sound?
I would still like to see an optional feature of names over the terrain as in the screenshots at top of this thread btw.
Say you were the first to land on an island, you get something like a great leader but in the form of a signpost or better still 'a memorial'. This would be to commemorate a great event for a civ - could be first to arrive in a land, first to reach the top of a mountain range, you won a major battle (x amount of troops met in combat at this point, with x rising through the ages, and you won the majority of these battles), you were the first to reach a resource and so on. This would work in the same way as you get scientific leaders from researching a tech first but perhaps should happen with more frequency than the SGLs.
When these events happen they can spawn 'a memorial', a physical statue or totem, much like the victory point location monument. The player can then name the memorial as they wish, although it perhaps contains some detail relating to the event already and perhaps the name only becomes visible when you hover the mouse icon over it or right click on it. These can have a practical application in play as they can act as culture improvements would, albeit ones out of the boundaries of a city. They can help increase your influence over an area. They can also be captured and destroyed to eradicate a civ's influence over that region. There are many possible off shoots. How does that sound?
I would still like to see an optional feature of names over the terrain as in the screenshots at top of this thread btw.
Che Guava
The Juicy Revolutionary
I think the idea of memorials in the name of some great deed is great! It leaves interesting little markers across the board and makes your leagecy live on through the game. I do think with that there still is room for naming physical features (rivers, mountain ranges, deserts) as long as you can switch them off on the map. Maybe you can only name features within your borders unless you discover them with an explorer?
Rambuchan
The Funky President
Explorer is not a bad idea (it would give them a use!) but I believe it would be for any unit. In the early game these memorials can help to know whether another civ has explored that region or not - useful. You would therefore know if there are likely to be barbs there, gives you a slight heads up on early expansion and location of resources etc. If you can maintain your influence and keep that spot secured they could function like the very old temples - ie. netting you large culture each turn.
Yes naming areas can still work with all this.
Yes naming areas can still work with all this.
Yellowbelly
Chieftain
- Joined
- Nov 8, 2004
- Messages
- 63
For the purposes of area identification - and, in some dases, specific topographical features - I have taken to using "groupings" of city names. For example, Berlin may have adjacent cities named "North Berlin," "Lake Berlin,""Port Berlin..." well, you get the idea. It makes life a lot easier when trying to remember various locations wthout having to go to the "Find City" button.
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