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

[Blue Monkey]

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 .

It sounds very doable, but also potentially frustrating giving the precision needed for a good result. There may be some other possible ways to accomplish what you want. I'll keep ruminating on it.

 

[r16]

and ı would love to hear them , too . Here's the last year's attempt . One central planet , a belt that acts as the star system of satellites , other planets and the wormholes to other "realms" and a space map to act as the galaxy . Having LotM as the template with its a couple of added landmark terrains . Ordinary mountains on which starships can fight as land units and the volcanos at the edges keep the fight "one directional" ; scenario requiring that sides enter the system from their respective ends of the wormhole and the lot . Spoilered it , for some reason it loads up slow .

Spoiler :

 

[Blue Monkey]

with that terrain pcx set & the reduced size image it's hard for me to see what is mountains and what is volcano. Could you post a full size image of a smaller area - maybe the part around the cities & with volcanos in as well? A brief description of which specific terrains are "space", "satellites", and so on would help me understand what you are trying to do as well.

Just occurred to me: People have figured out how to reduce the frequency of volcanic eruptions to the minimum but it seems to be hard-coded that we cannot completely eliminate them. It may be that a line of supernovas exploding and leaving behind some sort of debris is something you want to indicate a dangerous region of space. If not, selecting another terrain to represent the impassable space may be necessary.

As to other alternatives: Using a terrain other than volcanoes avoids the eruption problem. The key thing is making it impassable. Since you will be changing the look anyway as far as settings go it doesn't really matter which terrain you choose. The Impassable flag is the same for both standard and landmark versions of the terrains. The graphics can look completely different, but that setting will be the same for both. From the minimap it looks like you are using both Tundra and Desert in the bottom part of the map - so they are probably not good choices for impassable terrain. If you are using Sea and Ocean for space, and they both look the same then you could use Ocean for the impassable terrain. That might be the simplest solution since the "space terrain" sets are already using the water terrains you would just need to change the settings without manipulating any graphics. If you don't want to go in that direction with your design then one of the terrains that covers grassland is the choice: Volcanoes, Mountains, Hills, Forests, Marshes, Jungles ... There are versions of forest that overlay plains and tundra but some of the forest settings apply to all types. Size and shape of Marsh and Jungle are less restricted than Mountains and Hills, so I'd recommend one of them. Look at the pcx - it's easier to see and understand quickly than to thoroughly explain in words. Basically - the graphic extends beyond the tile designated by the game engine. The graphic can be made large enough that it always covers the underlying tile (Grassland). By making a graphic that blends with the surrounding "space" terrain it can be effectively invisible. alternatively you could make some kind of visible barrier, such as cloudy nebulae. A long straight line of cloudy nebulae might look odd, however. Which brings us back to considering possibilities of visible variations between the landmark and standard versions of the Ocean terrain ...

I'm sure you get the main point: you can use any terrain even if the landmark version looks quite different from the standard one. As long as you know both versions will be impassable. And the terrain you choose can be made to look like just about anything.

 

[r16]

thanks for the valuable information . ı long thought there was a button or something in the scenario properties to make volcanos inactive for the duration of the game . Those are landmark deserts in the picture , with no ability to road them . If every ship of all ages require two sources to build it and you can't get across the landmark desert to the (ı think 7) plain tiles left there you can't sail across the atmosphere to the space without inventing a rocket or the like first . Sea tiles would be present only in the lower half and an almost everlasting gripe was the presence of "coasts" in the star sytem and galaxy . Hoping somebody would have some overlarge terrains to be painted in space so that the coasts would be covered like that inner sea in the triple AI presence . While ı had a crude attempt at making landmark hills as the setting for dwarves and goblins as underground , at least in the desktop that decided to seize up on me . Will have it at home and hopefully have a larger image by Monday . But ı think giving up Ocean will be restrictive in the simulation of space affairs .

 

[Blue Monkey]

If by "coasts" you mean the strip of beach between whatever terrain is in the tile & the water then the simple (perhaps not easy) solution is to replace it by filling that area with a bit more of whatever space terrain you will have next to the planet.

 

[r16]

yes , that was the reason for repeated posts that showed my "progress" over the last few years , hoping for some "deliverance" that would see volcanos covering the coasts and similar extensions downwards to cover the tiles that come under . And perhaps sideways as well .

Spoiler :

to cover the "inner sea" and that area that would remain between the landmass and the arrow of the "solar system" . ı replaced that old scenario's regular mountains with snow covered ones to increase the contrast . Otherwise the mountains were supposed to be painted like Space / Ocean and snow covered mountains only on the planet .

 

[Blue Monkey]

Thanks for the new image. I have a much clearer sense of what you are doing now. The standard volcanos (like all the overlays) show some of the base terrain underneath - usually it's grassland. Long ago i did some experiments with LM volcanoes and it's possible to make the image large enough to cover the whole tile so no base terrain is seen. It would be fairly straightforward to use a graphic that matches whatever terrain you use for space. In the game files it will still be called Volcano, but what the player sees in-game - in the 'pedia for example - can be called something else.

EDIT:
This is a quick & dirty example of what I mean. Specific shape doesn't matter so much - just make sure you've covered the whole diamond (tile). On a premade map you could even have "one tile" planets by using the area for a volcano/mountain/hill that stands alone. I may have not have placed the planets in the right spots in this image. You get the basic idea though - use one tile islands of whatever terrain is desired.

 

[r16]

thanks for all the ideas and information . The Sun and the planet would certainly cover a lot . My attempts at times involved replacing the whole volcanos .pcx covered with single colour and it was leaving triangles of mismatching colours on the edges where the terrain was changing from one typeto the other .

 

[Blue Monkey]

thanks for all the ideas and information . The Sun and the planet would certainly cover a lot . My attempts at times involved replacing the whole volcanos .pcx covered with single colour and it was leaving triangles of mismatching colours on the edges where the terrain was changing from one typeto the other .

Without a picture it's hard to know exactly what was going on there, but it sounds like hard edges to the tiles rather than blending colors across tiles. On a pre-made map like yours the pcx files can be tweaked and tuned. Like all terrain design it takes a lot of patience.