The fog of war is ugly.

[Aheadatime]

I don't mean the unexplored fog, I think that's awesome. I mean the fog of areas you've already explored, but don't currently have vision of. It's difficult to distinguish between the terrain types (desert, plains, grass), resource icons are muddier, and even the features are harder to tell apart (woods, rainforest, etc).

This is because of color contrast. I'm colorblind, and so I have a keen understanding of how important color is to visual comprehension. Since Civ games contain a great deal of visual information, you should be able to quickly perceive any relevant differences at a glance. Load up a game of Civ5 and notice how easy it is to tell the difference, at a glance, between jungle and forest, between plains and grassland, between hill and flatland.. particularly in the 'already-explored-but-no-current-vision' fog. This is because the colors and textures are so clearly distinguished.

Civ6 isn't as approachable visually. The fog blends all features together in a sort of beige vagueness, which requires one to stare a bit longer, or perhaps zoom in, to really visually comprehend some of the map information. This is quite significant to me. When you think about it, a large percentage of the game will consist of you having only a handful of cities with the rest of the map being explored-but-no-vision. So whenever you want to glance around the map with your cursor and plan invades, plan city placement, choose an area to scout/fortify, check up on enemy city progress, etc., you'll be staring at a recognizably sub-optimal map scheme.

I hope there's an option to modify the fog visuals, because this really makes the map unattractive to my vision. On a side note, hills are harder to distinguish between flatland than in Civ5, but not because of color. It's just because their texture isn't noticeable enough.

 

[MistyRonin]

Personally I love both the new fog of war and unknown land as they have been design. I think its by far the best in the series.

But I'm in favour for an additional hypercontrasted option for people with health issues, like color blindness.

That has been talked here:
http://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/terra-incognita-should-be-black.576093/

 

[Aldor]

I like the new FoW over land, but over water it's not so great IMO. Or maybe it is too dense there and should be a little lighter.

 

[Jarru]

Visible map looks pretty imo. Unexplored map also looks nice, but fow map looks like covered in mud -- not so pleasant to look at.

 

[Gorbles]

There is information about this in the tooltips, right? Sorry, I haven't seen much focus on tooltip / UI information recently.

Certainly, while I sympathise in that colourblindness isn't always catered-to, Civilisation is not a game that lives or dies on split-second decisions. It might just be getting used to the mid-fog effect which will take time.

 

[Cyon]

No i think it looks nice!
Especially the dangerous beasts on the unexplored map!
<==========

The friendly villages though could be a bit more clear, either ad an icon to them (the archeology sites have icons) or make them pop out.
also the fog of war of the ocean on the minimap needs to be a bit bluer to see the shape of the continents better.

 

[qadams]

I agree, it's an eyesore. I like the parchment of the unrevealed map very much, but the current FOW is ugly and unappealing.

 

[thecrazyscot]

I think it's absolutely gorgeous. More contrast options are always good, though, and some work definitely still needs to be done to make hills and villages easier to spot, as well as rough terrain under resources.

 

[Ryika]

I think the one thing that really annoys me about the fog is that it gives me a feeling of... well... loneliness? Can't even really describe it, but some drawn textures just aren't the same as having 3d-cities and other stuff around.

And some concerns about readability also sound reasonable.

But "ugly" it certainly is not in my eyes, I find that it looks really good.

 

[demidyad]

I like it but I wish they really committed to the aesthetic and depicted resources, barbarian camps etc as hand-drawn illustrations on the map, as opposed to overlaying a shader effect on the 3d models. It would make sense, as if a cartographer from your empire had specifically marked and drawn attention to certain elements.

 

[need my speed]

Yes, it looks nice, but it also looks very nonfunctional. For two reasons; one being that it's a map, with icons - though not icons that stand out, like resource bulbs do - not a realistic drawing of how the world would look, two being that the map is light brown while unexplored areas are dark brown - no, this light brown map should be a darker shade of the visible world, not a lighter shade of the unexplored world.

 

[qadams]

... this light brown map should be a darker shade of the visible world, not a lighter shade of the unexplored world.

I agree!

 

[gunnergoz]

I personally would have preferred a different approach to the "unknown explored" part of the map that is now out of player units' sight. I'd give it an effect kind of like looking at a map through wax paper, just blurring details a bit and giving a hint of color to match the papyrus effect of the "unknown unexplored" sections of the map. As it is now, I find it hard to read what has been explored but is currently out of my sight.

 

[Zaarin]

I think the one thing that really annoys me about the fog is that it gives me a feeling of... well... loneliness?

I agree about the loneliness, but that's part of what I love about the design. I find loneliness a very evocative feeling but one that's also very difficult to evoke, and I have to say the paper map does it very well.

I think the whole design is gorgeous; Civ5's puffy clouds have always been an eyesore, IMO. The parchment map would definitely make the short list of my favorite Civ6 features.

 

[racha]

My initial reaction was to agree with the OP, I just hope after playing the game for a while I can get used to it or even like it.

 

[Ryika]

I agree about the loneliness, but that's part of what I love about the design. I find loneliness a very evocative feeling but one that's also very difficult to evoke, and I have to say the paper map does it very well.

Yeah, I actually agree with this, but... well, it should be constrained to the earlier parts of the game in some way.

If they actually had mechanisms to make more and more of the map into actual 3d-landscape during later eras then I'd very much applaud the design, but as it stands it just lacks the feeling of the world being "uncovered", and growing together to me. It feels like the world is stuck in the dark ages even during the information era.

Good concept for a mod I guess.

 

[qadams]

It seems to me that obscured but discovered areas of the map — those not visited recently and in the fog of war — should still look much more like the known map itself and much less like undiscovered areas.

 

[DutchJob]

The parchment maps look cool although some more colour in already discovered land could be nice. Especially as you go through the ages. The parchment style doesn't fit the satellite era I think and could be replaced by a modern map look.

What's definitely missing now though is the topless mermaid. You always see them on old maps.

 

[grandad1982]

I don't think it's ugly but I do think it makes it harder to see the map at a glance and gain a good idea of what's around you. Seems like a QoL issue to me. Hopefully a mod will change it to a transparent covering of some kind.

 

[Zaarin]

Yeah, I actually agree with this, but... well, it should be constrained to the earlier parts of the game in some way.

If they actually had mechanisms to make more and more of the map into actual 3d-landscape during later eras then I'd very much applaud the design, but as it stands it just lacks the feeling of the world being "uncovered", and growing together to me. It feels like the world is stuck in the dark ages even during the information era.

Good concept for a mod I guess.

Now that you mention it, seeing it update to something more transparent with Satellites would be immersive. Though I'd probably still miss the parchment. The Ancient through Renaissance is always my favorite part of the game (just like it is of real life history), so I don't mind seeing a little part of it stick around through the end game.