oh dear , r16 is still trying to make a scenario !

[r16]

just a map , yet

to avoid a rather typical r16 piece

the aim was to make a scenario that would have a place for every single Civ III ever made ; on the basis of the weirder and dumber the better

was to be a Master of Orion game , with maximum number of Civs and units

to be "released" on 02-16-2016 , because it looks cool

not good enough for release . Frankly ı not much of anything , let alone scenario making . Decided it would have to be more comprehensive then available last year . In the interim , my old computer "died" , the game in the lap top was showing signs of "trouble" and in August Steam "fried" the lap top as well . So , it took a bit of time to restart

to be "released" on 02-17-2017 , because it looks cool

it's a 320 by 320 map ; doesn't wrap around in either axis , as such not a world map per se . Was begun as an Alien venue , where the Aliens do eat anyone , including various "Companies" like Weyland-Utanni and the Predators . Became a Galactica versus Cylons thing where you really need to find Earth to win the game . Became generic

as sometime in the future Civ III will be played on 1000 by 1000 maps without such an eyesore and gotta deserve it . So , here we go

not the original background image ı had in my mind , but should work . ı kinda deleted the red eyeballs , because watching too much Star Wars gives me the impression of red eye = evil and ı won't go the path of Japanese were totally evil while their enemies were not . ı still have the original though

so we have Orkland , small Earth from Vanilla clipped somewhat (ı misread its size) , the Pangea and Scariff . Visible area shows Asia where people kinda venerate dragons and the jungles where they will live in this scenario . Seperated by the "ocean" you can not trade over so that when you reach the last Era in an epic game your vessels to fight for the galactic domination will be Trek's Federation ships , 1701 and the lot if on Earth . Pangea might result in Klingon / Romulan vessels , while Orkland produces all the rest . For obviously Scariff will be all about Stardestroyers and the most awesomest fighters and the lot . By keeping resources seperate for each planet , ı am hoping to have 4 seperate unit lines for each player ... Because ı will also allow the cheating very early Great Wonder to discover some UFO left by some extinct Alien race to travel and settle on the other worlds . Maximum number of units is the aim , right ? To this end

ı was hoping to build an extremely easy way-in-a-way of adding units . Take the pangea , where dinosaurs are preplaced barbarians . Assume they are somehow tamed and become the armies of peoples there . Then ı arrive in my awesome UFO , made by Kinboat if ı remember correctly and somehow find humans there . They would be different than people back home ? Why , the units of Sandris were reported to be shorter then average ... Or maybe Earth will have the Sandris size , while people on the Pangea will be the normal size ? And obviously they will the ones to invent the Mechs ; no more dinos eating my people ! And when the Cylons land there they will do their own dinosaurs to blend in , now that only two centurions exist and you know , Caprica Six . So ? So , Godzillas . So people , even the unit maker himself , will check what's in and suggest this or that unit . If Mothra is so unfit to serve as B-17 Bomber , some other unit would be offered . There is Godzilla in flying style , but it would perhaps be a poor choice to carry others of its type . ı promise ı won't stop anyone doing a shipzilla or zepzilla , honest to God

this participation thing is important . If it might interest more established scenario makers , it would be surely better . Meaning new units , new graphics , new concepts , far more experience in trouble-shooting . As said , my only concept of game balance is that ı lack it . Even a cracked editor where you might add more landmark areas to give an alien look to the planets . ı use Landmark Mountains becuase the Lord of the Mods has graphics for it , which ı might paint in future time to look more like coast . You will be able to settle in seas , especially important in Scariff and to give the impression of bases in space . While settling on the Tundra will be intentionally difficult by making all early settlers wheeled . Afterall we don't want spacefaring galleys , right ? So hopefully , before 02-18-2018 ı hope to make something that would be worthwhile

that people would not be angry to discover their entire unit lines were like plundered . There's a Warhammer scenario that keeps unit makers busy . While any Leman Russ looks the same to me , there are somely lovely Orcs which ı had unit-tested before . Will certainly use the ones in the LotM . Some scenarios of magic would also do , in the spirit of Magic being Tech you have no clue on . Maximum number of units is the aim

so , do ı stay on this or restart an 360 by 360 with wrapping in both axes , for a more free-flowing type ? Would really love a full 32 or 64 resource .biq to ease resource placement , this one might attempt to do with placing units seperately named iron or copper , placed here or there . ı think this one has one or two in already . Though ı can still copy the LotM


CFC regulars will remember ı tend to have problems , tons of problems . If nothing happens by Monday , ı will trust to add the biq as well . Hopefully with more additions

 

[Blue Monkey]

just a map , yet … to be "released" on 02-16-2016 , because it looks cool … to be "released" on 02-17-2017 , because it looks cool …

You're not alone. I've been working on the Ancient India scenario since I was trying to make it for Civ2. Still not ready for public display. Barely more than a map, a partial tech tree, & some unit lines.

not the original background image ı had in my mind , but should work . ı kinda deleted the red eyeballs , because watching too much Star Wars gives me the impression of red eye = evil and ı won't go the path of Japanese were totally evil while their enemies were not . ı still have the original though

By background image you mean for the title screen? Like these?

Spoiler :

Title screen mages in this post are all reduced size versions of ones I've made in the past. If you want that I can make it for you. Inlcuding adjusting the eye color. Either post the original image or send me a link to the source image.


Then you have choices for how to arrange the titles over the image. You can even put your scenario name on the image as shown in the examples in the spoiler above. Also - there are two sizes of image screens possible - the original size Firaxis uses, or a wide screen version.

Spoiler :

Even a cracked editor where you might add more landmark areas to give an alien look to the planets .

Use Quintillus' Cross-Platform Editor. It will let you place landmark terrain. It's also a good way to make maps from images.

that people would not be angry to discover their entire unit lines were like plundered.

If you give people credit for their work it's not plundering. Things are posted for all of us to use.

so , do ı stay on this or restart an 360 by 360 with wrapping in both axes , for a more free-flowing type ? Would really love a full 32 or 64 resource .biq to ease resource placement , this one might attempt to do with placing units seperately named iron or copper , placed here or there . ı think this one has one or two in already .

I'd recommend using the map you have. Once you have a biq that works you make versions with other maps by importing the rules.

 

[r16]

thanks for the answer and the ideas . Now that ı can't play ı will have all the time to draw maps and the lot . Besides the version here is perhaps too close . Assuming you manage to get started in more than one planets , you might possibly send your biplanes from Earth to a planet maybe "thousands" of lightyears away . ı can always claim portals or stargates from ancient civilizations , but ...

as it's a numbers game ı would really like the option having a possibility of starting in different places . What was the rate of ships sinking in ocean ? ı know preplacing galleys in sea or ocean tiles sink a great many of them as the game starts but some do survive . While it's true the AI would never use it ı could have "motherships" in space that might or might not survive , jump over the barriers and settle in the seas of the target planet . Say if it's 1/3 or ships will sink in sea per turn and if ı pre-place 4 on the map , will 2 survive ? More to the point , will they always be the same ships ? The game is "supposed" to be replayable and it perhaps it shouldn't be the same ship that survives in every one of the 10 attempts . ı could have 4 settlers on 4 worlds but this seems to prevent quite a bit of the "chance" aspect that should interest poor players like me to re-try .

ı saw no issues on my laptop over the weekend , and as far as ı know , the biq has no viruses and stuff . Shows the status by the end of the first post .

...

and sure enough , the forum software seems not to recognize a biq , or a .rar file ... What am ı doing wrong now ?

 

[r16]

ah yes , it always helps to rant against Xenforo , mysterious things happen immediately . Once again , no malware to the best of my knowledge but it's always good to be prudent . The only download so far is me , to check whether it's really there .

 

[r16]

this post is about the difficulties ı had with adding units . Copy paste this and that in the Pediaicons , letters not matching , game crashes for this and that . Back in my old computer when ı exited the game , it wouldn't start again so ı would have to reset or similarly close the machine and so on . Became a real chore after ı crashed out for the 10th time on a given day . So , ı figured this out over time ; there is this English author of the 1950s who had this short but famously witty book on human behaviour in business relations , say the best laid out offices belonged to companies that would soon go bankrupt because they were thinking about the colour of the carpets and the chairs instead doing real work .

so in a new scenario we are about to start , we first have two icons . One large LG and one small sm . The game will not manage to shut down the game for failing to find them in Art\Civilopedia\Icons\Units . As the scenario gets developed one just adds proper icons into the relevant folder and copy pastes them to the Prediaicons .txt . The .biq is the normal Conquests one with added ones . Just names and no stats . A-0001 followed by A-0002 and so on . Just no names , no nothing . Say one starts with A-0001 Infantry and say feels complete with A-0116 Truck ? Time to rename A-0001 Infantry to just Infantry and so on . If the pediaicons text file is examined , all the ANIM names are D-001 , easy to change them as required . Dosya or folder 116 where you put in the truck of your choice , merely renaming the INI file properly . Or just replace D-116 with folder name truck .


was collecting units and testing them last year with this system . Using 100 units against 100 barbarians to see how they acted in game . Replacing folders as required . Would download 100 units from the site , take them home , placing each one . say ı might have 10 knights , 40 tanks and so on . Next time ı might well place planes or ships . Unit 1 was a knight ? Take it out from Folder 1 , put in a spaceship and rename the space ship INI to Folder 1 . Had some fun , too .

one day it went bad . ı noticed game crashing for no good reason . Apparently deleting INI files across the entire game . As if looking for similar units that shared or similar lines in INI files . ı can't tell whether it was a smart thing lookin for Civ III Plus itself , disregarding the fact that it wouldn't be there anyhow , a ransomware getting ready to take over my entire computer , a glitch in the Civ .exe or a bad unit of some sort . ı stopped playing Civ after that .

so , this is not a thing ı can recommend , but it seems that ı will be using it . Certainly not if one can not reload the entire CiV again . Though if proven safe ı will gladly enlarge it . ı had one for 4000 units on my now dead old computer , with 8000 folders properly numbered .

has the empty folder , a biq , a rtf file to help "documentation" and the pediaicons text file

 

[r16]

regarding the title screen , if assistance was available ı think it might be better if the Japanese flag was touched out .

a point of interest is indeed the range of planes . What's the rebase factor is it 4 so that a bomber with a range of 8 can be redeployed to a city 32 tiles away . Or is it 6 so that it will be 48 ? Might mean a lot if am to do another map , to which maybe ı should copy the regular 180 x180 map of Vanilla ?

 

[Bluemofia]

Rebase distance is hardcoded, unfortunately. It is always 6x the operational range, so if you have a bomber with Operational Range of 8, it will be able to rebase 48 tiles.

Also, by touched out, are you looking for something like this:

 

[Blue Monkey]

I DL'd the picture & will work on it today. Changing the dragon's eyes will be easy - removing the flag even easier

 

[Blue Monkey]

Here you go.

Full-size Previews (jpegs at 90% quality)

Spoiler :

Wasn't sure what color you wanted the eyes, so went with the stereotypical yellow. The darkened rectangle under the wing is where the menu buttons appear in-game. Some images with light colors in that area (the clouds in this case) need a little shade to help the button labels read well.

The zip at the DL page includes 4 variations. All are in PCX format, indexed, with the two reserved colors being the typical magenta and green. One variation each of standard and wide screen have "Civilization Conquests" to match Firaxis' layout. The other variations have a reduced size logo - to leave room for adding a specific scenario title. I have all 4 variations saved as images with separate layers, so minor changes or addition of a scenario title will be relatively straightforward.

EDIT: The Standard size is built using Dogmouse's title screen template. The widescreen uses Varlin Saliptor's.

 

[r16]

ı say awesome .

and thanks to Bluemofia , for the range . This is far too much to avoid in the kinds of maps ı might use . Multiplanet option from the start will result probably only for the human player , so possibly it can do with human-player-only planes that can not rebase , but can be loaded to land transports or carriers . Would it cause game to crash ?

 

[r16]

a first trip to the downloads section (after the new format of the forum) shows 410 or so pages of Civ III units . At 20 per page that makes about 8200 which is then presumably within the capacity of 2500 PRTO lines ı have added by now . This, if ı learn the way of changing unit appearances according to the age . In the way the worker who has survived millenia in a simple tunic suddenly develops a yearning for pants when you make it to the 3rd era .
have started to think about placing resources as well . To improve game speed ı am to be utterly ruthless about harbours . Because ı have previously read that in large sized games the calculations of which locations that have unbroken contact with each other take too much time . Harbour , of 30 shields worth in the unmodded game , can not exist in mine . +1 Food aspect goes to Fishery , stolen from the LotM , though it might well need renaming . Training veteran naval units goes to Barracks , while aircrew might well be trained in airbases which might also serve as a SAM battery ? Trade connections to be realized by two or three different buildings . A Spaceport where applicable , a modern port that might need specific resources to build and the Ancient Port that requires stone within the city limits . Check the map and place the single stone resource in a place no coastal city can use it . You have condemned an entire continent to isolation so that it will be doing its unique unit line . Great or small wonders will be available if you really need a trade connection .

will start from the Dwarves , because this messing with max number of units originates with them . Have played the LotM for years in preference to many other scenarios . ı can micromanage a few cities and do good if everything goes well , too . Isengard was superb in this regard with auto-produced settlers and max number of buildings to compensate . As was the Dwarves . ı actually modded the basic biq once to join them , but the the screen becomes a mess when you can do 30 Isengard units in addition to 30 Dwarves with 40 odd buildings also available to choose . Hence the pockets that can do only one line . Thinking about 50 . Considering the unmodded game has 40 odd units to last 540 turns . So , r16 takes a paper and begins jotting down . A-0100 will be the Dwarven Settler , A-0101 Worker of Khuzdul . See , the LotM has it as the Dwarven Worker but when there is pollution to clean up , because the AI wants to win the race to a Great Wonder and stabs in the back , assembling a force of Workers , Orc Workers and Dwarven Workers can take time with attendant frustration . Especially if you have to find them in stacks of 50 , with the Army marching to some battlefield while the workers are peacefully mining or something . All Workers will have names starting with Worker .

then it comes to A-0104 , with an urge that should be the F-104 . Which is awesome despite its Lockmart connotations . Caused me all sorts of thinking . For due to some "insider joke" , the Dwarven jet is to be the F7U , the murderous gutless Cutlass . And yet the thing is also obvious . If ı invent a background story like "remember , we come from the stars ! We know stuff" , it also helps to the goal of max number of units . If we start building planes right from the start , ı can use up to 4 different versions with a single slot in the .biq . Discover Mitril and do a Starfighter in the Stone Age . It changes its camo in Era 2 , and again in 3 and you might make it look like a TIE fighter in the last era . Yeah , 4 birds with one stone . PRTO_A0104 taking care of 4 , leaving like 8196 to take care of .

then it stinks in a way . What's the point of making Dwarves poor in attack , awesome in defence , to make sure you will need to find a spot on a different continent to build Elves awesome in attack , poor in defence ? Historical reference and stuff : the Hobbit Triology , the War of the 5 Armies or something ... If you have jets to bomb the enemy , why bother with all that archers , swords , the whole lot ? So , the back to backstory ... Coming from the stars we have enemies up there and we operate in total silence or something . Imagine Lizardmen having bases in orbit . Or some computerized defence systems that engage anything that looks out of place and allows the rest to go on killing eachother in peace . How to make this ?

ok , this must be getting confusing

1) am the human player , with almost every single unit needing two specific resources and not much trading allowed , am set out to build many different units and multiply that with up to 4 , changing shapes as time passes

2) that requires me to be building jets in the stone age , which will kill the feel of the game ; required it is that one should feel like a replay maybe a year or two later

3) so the evil AI has a base up there , maybe protected by Lizardmen , but certainly out of reach until ı develop the tech . And there are interceptors . The Jet Fighter of the game ranges 9 . As far as ı know radius of operation is half , so that it can engage my bombing attacks within 4 or 5 tiles any direction of its base . Let's make the interception range something like 45 . So whenever my shiny new F-104 attempts to bomb people it gets intercepted

4) to make that ı will have increase the possibility to full ; "Chance to Intercept Enemy Air Missions" tab in the general settings to 100% . Not only that . Massively increase the power of the interceptor . If the regular Jet fighter has ratings of 8/4/1 , increase it to maybe 80/80/1 . So , whenever my shiny F-104 tries to bomb some Orcish invasion , it gets shot down . Like that ... So , just don't bother

5) until you start building something like T-65 with a rating of 200/200/1 or whatever . That would be too passive , though . Enter Cutlass . ı have been accused of having some stupid imagination ; just let me tell you that the regions just above the core of planets have this massive pressure that does strange things while crushing material into fine Mitril we all know and adore and covering a structure with mitril slag goes a long way to disrupt lazer fire . So , what happens at air combat ? Considering that the bomber at 0/2/1 can sometimes shoot down the 4/2/1 Spits , even the the MiG-29s of the unmodded game . What should be the ratings of the Cutlass ? Would 0/90/1 , in relation to the interceptor , always make it the winner ?

6) to make that reasonable the Cutlass can only fly reconnaisance . While the interceptor of the AI can only conduct air superiority . So , no aerial stuff , as long as you don't want one . Massive range to the interceptor , so that it can cover the whole planet , but no rebasing so that the AI will not fly all its birds into a city of mud wellings which is defended by a spearman while ı have a stack of 10 archers to attack and invade next turn . Does the game crash if ı was to tick only the Interception box and not the re-base ?

7) true competition requires at least 3 as the saying goes . We are to be at eternal war with the Lizardmen , but say , will they provide aircover to Orcs if ı sent my 104s against them ? Or the Orcs need their own starbase while being mere foul smelling wolf riders otherwise ? One really needs to know such stuff , for ı would have to add eagles to their unit line . Or maybe , dragons that fly . A birdstrike here on earth can really take your head off , if you are that unlucky to be that fast as you collide with that creature . And does an interceptor engage my planes at areas the AI has not scouted yet ? Because the lizards would have to start with a wonder or science that gives the whole map to them

8) building planes and keeping them stockpiled for 500 turns is too much even for me . So , staying with my 4 planets here , maybe ı should allow one arena where they can be used . Say , ı pick up the one on the left , build the small or great wonder of Stargate , which is the Airport which we all know from the unmodded game . And say , ı have also 4 airfields on 4 planets . So , ı build my 104s on the Orcland and send them in stages to Scariff , the watery one on the right side . With no Lizardmen in sight , but people there know how to make planes . If you don't want , you simply don't . If you want , good hunting ; they will have their own 104s . The Stargate naturally auto-produces an unit to carry my planes up there now that they won't be rebasing on their own . If this "flying aircraft carrier" is an air unit , will the Lizardmen interceptors shoot it down ? ı think it must be a land unit , do you think such a set-up would work ? Just ignore the Air pressed at the picture , was busy finding the Printscreen on the keyboard

 

[Oni Ryuu]

This may help for era specific units

I’ve not used it myself so I can’t give you any further advice.

 

[r16]

ı was pretty sure ı posted and thanked on the first day ı read that .

well , thanks again . Was aware of it but it helped to recognize that ı would need to mention each era seperately . If not , possibly the worker would revert to his tunic while the rest of the world was inventing Fission or Computers .

 

[r16]

oh-kay, progress report ... Plodding to 4000 PRTO_ lines added . Maybe will not need as much but ı think it's better to be ready before the start . Instead of being forced to do it later and risk losing data by some silly mistake . It's somewhat tedious and has burned me before with its monotony . ı avoid that with new maps and the like . The picture here is a composite of various Printscreen prompts and suitably decreased to save bytes ı have left for adding stuff to the forum . Number 1 points to a "regular planet" where the resource combinations within will prevent the civs there to settle on the tundra and sail their galleys in "space" before they discover the required techs . Though the detail is rather small , there's a mountain near "1" and a sea monster belonging to an eternal enemy , overpowerful and enslaving , to deny trade between the continents . The aim being as many different unit lines as possible , without swamping the human player's patience . If a city can produce 15 different archers and 35 tanks at the same time , ı think ı would stop playing immediately . Scrolling down and down to fight the 49th warrior , the only one you haven't so far built ? Yeah , right ...

let's say 2 and 3 are in the same system many , many lightyears away . They might be planets , 2 might be a moon of 3 , whatever . My designs are so predictable and self repeating that ı prefer random maps , broken into bits on basically a whim . If you start on 2 , you will be alone there with the specific resource couple . This goes on basically with random musings . Obviously this is the place where you can fire a cannon from one planet to the other . Yeah , the Martians . You will lack ships on 2 for a while and will have to airland your settlers . Until you make it to that grassland island on 3 , where you meet the "locals" and "inspire" them to join . Only because you are henceforth out of cannon range to fire your cylinders , this being an immobile helicopter that can't rebase but can carry settlers in game mechanics . As these all crystalize the mental flow is like this :

...the War of the Worlds scenario where Wrymshadow had this entire Martians line who obviously shot their people across the void with cannons . Units exist ? Cool . That scenario was made by Thorgrimm and ı never passed my first captured city , with the advice that every human town would never convert and had to be erased and the impact on trade connections needed a month of calculations . Even with the new laptop . As ı think about all that and whether there was any unit like Thor , hammer and cape and all , ı decide this is the planet of Grimmtor and you might well start in the satellite with the specific resource set to give the Martians and need to shoot your settlers and tripods with cannons to reach the mainland . Only to have your backside kicked by the people there ; 'cause you see this is a planet with magic ... The tales of the Grimm Brothers , am ı right ?


actually led me to goof big time when ı noticed the thread was up in the forum ... then leads to Civilopedia entries to " justify" what goes on :

grimmthor is the name of a planet that orbits a gas giant. Also the name of its dour people who are born into an environment that sees traces of Dark Matter all over the nature. As interaction with Dark Matter without detectors, computers and force field manipulators is a gut feeling that requires extensive practice to perfect, the people were left in destitude by the Galactic Tyranny in a programme named MAGIC after its directors. Many years of having nothing else to do would finally end in the spectacle of people who had never heard of a toothbrush loading and offloading spaceships across the galaxy at a fraction of cost of workers from more developed worlds or even specially designed droids. "Lifting" containers each weighing a thousand earth tons as if nothing.

so there you are , with mighty tripods you bang across the skies and they are only good for defending the island . Including the spectacular wading machine that acts as a coastal ship . To capture the continent you will have to use Stone Age Warriors and up , even tanks half the combat power of your tripods , all carried across in galleys and the like so that ages later you will have two ports on those two lonely tundra sections to enable you trade between the planets for the starships you will need to go and kill the galactic tyranny . But then as the Human player nothing stops you from moving your capital to the Continent and gifting a city or two to the AI ...

as part of a continent that lost many parts during the "boxing" , the planet of magic is grasslands , some mountains and tundra with much forests and so little plains . Should there be more diversity like swamps ? What does a planet of magic require as terrain ?
　
thinking more and more about leaving some "ocean" tiles inside boxes for visual variety and you can enter only with using submarines or bona fide spaceships . Does anybody know a way to load land units onto ships from the scenario start ? So that ı could place an immobile "ship" in an ocean , "discover" it with a submarine or a shark , attack it as if search/research , capture it with its treasure inside . And use the captured units in the game , the artefacts aspect supposedly in Civ IV or V , ı don't really know . If this fails , has anyone done a ship as a treasure itself ? ı know there is an energy cube released as an unit . Such effort would be wasted it was merely a treasure that gave 50 pieces of gold and vanished afterwards ... Maybe a capturable unit of 10 000 shields so that its disbanding can practically rush anything ? Or upgrades into a powerful unit that you would be hard pressed to do on your own ?

 

[Blue Monkey]

3 comments:

Your map looks very interesting & fun. To make sure the barriers are completely impassable you may want to use 2 rows of mountains instead of one.

If you want a different sort of alien besides the Martians, Supa has made a set of Selenites. The previews are gone from the thread, but if you click through to the downloads pages you can see what they look like there.

A big eye-opener for many map-makers is when you first discover that what the game calls a certain terrain is not what it has to look like. There are several versions of terrain where the water is "space" - with stars and nebulae and so on. Sets by: Pounder , Leaven , Lukree , sepamu92 (uses some of the land pcx for space rather than water). Each has its own charm. And it is possible to take parts of those sets and combine them or re-use them in another pcx. For example, you could use Landmark mountains for your mid-ocean dividers, but have them look like asteroid belts, or even more empty space, just like the ocean, or anything else you can imagine. By using Quintillus' editor there are even more Landmark terrains than in the standard set, which opens up even more possibilities for terrain that looks like nothing on Earth.

 

[r16]

thanks for all the links and the ideas . A single line might be enough . For some of the varieties presume that you start with a spaceship preplaced and can settle (which then requires seas to be available for cities) . Since all the weird tricks will be available only for the human player and not the AI this should cause no problems . Thus you will have to jump over the border , but as far as ı know the game mechanics forbid this into unknown areas and "Radar" covers only for two tiles . Was supposed to use the Selenites as an alien race in the last year's attempt and have tested them in the game . And of course ı will really need a divider or two but was hoping to get a full terrain maker to deal with it . It always ends up in having a "promising" scenario that should interest other forum members for ideas and help and am afraid it really takes time . Should have started this in 2010 ...

 

[Blue Monkey]

And of course ı will really need a divider or two but was hoping to get a full terrain maker to deal with it .

This sounds like you want something like the custom Landmark terrain graphics I described. Without worrying about specific graphics files for the moment, what exactly do you want the divider to look like in game?

 

[r16]

well , in this version it might be just like the coast . Without a complete change in the game everytime you put a "land" tile it gets surrounded by appropriate numbers of coasts . We might get away with the borders as such . Though , ı think it was Zergmaster that was busy with a new version of terrains that involved using 4 tiles to form a complete circle . So , an unlikely future development might be creating a small map and surround it with a completely round atmosphere . Naturally , ı would have no idea on whether this would be possible .

another composite image of mine . Same map with the Martians above , basically my trials about whether there could be other depictions . They are on different parts of the map but brought together on the picture . Ice planet on the lower Right was my first boxing . Each map offers "different" options ; the ice people here can really settle on the tundra . Am making Tundra impassable for wheels and human player would start on island on the "small sea" ... Has a couple of hills that can be settled with lakes in between , so that the human player can reach the "big ocean" and go settle in the landmark seas , or maybe the grassland . While the ice people are there as glorified barbarians to take my cities and cut the flow of trade . If their workers can manage a road network we can also capture their cities . Snow covered mountains prohibit the ice people to settle on the edge and have orbital canoe flights . And of course their settler is uncapable of being carried in their ships . Spaceflight waiting for my discovery of it and building of workers that can walk over ice and settlers to build cities bases .

the desert one is a different take . ı am such a fan of the LotM where deserts are unsettleable . Let's say there is this abundance of Red Matter here , or Red Mercury as it is like more known on Earth and it's like Pandora with gravitational fields such weird that rocks fly in the air . The ships start from zeppelins here and you can like go to heavens to the "satellite" and improve on your ships . Sinks in Sea , sinks in Ocean attributes last for the duration of the game and zepps will surely be destroyed in space sooner or later .

the jungle planet on top Right was devised to have the dino unit line ; and you will have noticed that ı love inner seas . The settlers of all civs can not go to the Tundra here , for most of the game .

the ocean planet is also a replacement , this time for the Scarif of the initial map . Mountains deny settling on the edges on both , though it's more open to invasions . AI would never do much but we might have occupy a few planets on our own . What to do here ? An ocean planet ? ı could have rather poor land units and try to capture or defend cities with a massively inflated variety of ships , dromons and what not fighting as artillery . Or maybe ı am on the land and there are resources in the sea . You might notice a road like strip of sea going into the ocean . Atlanteans , AI defending itself with a massive monster on the road and ravaging my lands with its amphibious infantry ? ı am thinking of creating specialized races , with no land units to make . Say , a naval one that autoproduces land units with upto 4 buildings and all the rest is galleys , galleons and the like . Similarly a air minded one that would have a 5th builidng for ships and has all sorts of planes .

inspiration is required and thinking about it , ı could stage a "wonder race" in the jungle planet . No ports whatsoever there . Only two great wonders that "allows Water Trade" , which ı must have for the spaceships of era 4 . One on the mainland and the other ? Maybe in the islands at one corner , maybe on the sea bed on the other corner . And the AI being dumb , would attempt to build them both in the inner sea . Ruining any possible chance for me to win the game . So ı have to deny them the chance . Like by killing them for example . The game balance and challenge aspect would of course lead one to help the AI with giving a head start on the race if the wonder needs the existance of 40 libraries in the empire , with preplacing 35 cities and libraries for each AI there , all conveniently around the innAnd mountains cover the edges , though it's more open to invasions . AI would never do much but we might have occupy a few on our own .

 

[Blue Monkey]

Without a complete change in the game everytime you put a "land" tile it gets surrounded by appropriate numbers of coasts . We might get away with the borders as such .

"Coast" is one of the three water terrains. Setting one of the water terrains to impassible may have unexpected consequences which are different from making a land terrain type impassible.

Also keep in mind that if you want the border/barrier terrain to look different from the standard version of the same terrain you are changing the appearance but don't have the ability to change every single flag and value to make one different from the other. It is still hard-coded that both have the same settings for impassible / impassible to wheeled.

So , an unlikely future development might be creating a small map and surround it with a completely round atmosphere . Naturally , ı would have no idea on whether this would be possible .

Combining a blue atmosphere with black space is possible. Lukree's space terrain has a coast that looks very much like atmosphere that thins as it gets further away from the land. I've done some experiments with making the Coast a brighter "sky blue" and the Sea and Ocean darker. Nothing worth posting yet. It's entirely doable but making those changes requires editing every land pcx that contains coast as well as the CSO files, and my experiment hasn't extended that far yet.

 

[r16]

ı am planning to use volcanos as the barrier , and it will be covered on both sides by Coast so ı might re-install Irfanview and paint the Volcanos in coast like colours , but my previous attempts ended no where . Last year's version intented to simulate the star system of a single planet where volcano's were unpassable to divide that planet and the star system from the rest of the galaxy and Landmark Forests and regular Mountains were to be the rest , requiring them to be painted space like . While the planet would have to with snow covered Mountains , which led me to replace each and every single one by hand .

the terrain pack in LotM has also this dark colours for sea and ocean and of course they might even be the same , ı was never that far to write down the credits .