Unexplored lands shows as "clouds"

[Drago Askani]

Clouds mean beware the wrath of your mighty overlords...the Furbies!

 

[CivCube]

Ok, hexagonal cloud cells everywhere That implies roughly the same temp everywhere on the lower atmosphere levels in all the planet and relatively small distorsion caused by Coriolis "forces". I can't say much about the rotation speed of Civ V planets , but I can assure that the surface temp is not equal everywhere

You win. Or we could say it's the same temp everywhere because the world is inside your computer.

 

[r_rolo1]

If the temp was the same we should have similar terrain everywhere ...you can't have iced ground and jungle at the same temp

Seriously, they could had smoothed the edges a little more. They did it with the borders, so why not with the clouds ?

 

[Ihmemies]

I'm glad the clouds are way down. It was so annoying in Civ4 to zoom out and have your view obscured by clouds, and hearing only the wind. It made zooming far away impractical in Civ4.

At least in Civ5 you won't run into same annoyance...

 

[-PET-]

I agree with the OP. Unexplored land should be dark - it adds to the sense that you are a brand new civilization starting out and the known world stretches only as far as you can see.

This might seem like a small detail, but Civ crafts a sense of immersion the way few other games do, and this is a blow to that experience.

Exactly my point

 

[Thormodr]

The designers purposely used clouds I think. It evokes thoughts of heaven and good feelings. Not threatening at all like dark areas.

They also used art deco and explained it that they wanted you to feel like you were always progressing through the ages.

No more bad things like random events, goodie huts with negative reults, unhealthiness, etc.

I do like the look of the clouds though. Pretty well done.

 

[The Leviathan]

Hello there,

I just noticed in some previews that the undexplored land is no longer BLACK. It's actually white, like some clouds.

Am I the only one who finds this disturbing? I mean one of the best things I loved was starting the Civ V game and exploring. Yea I can still do that, but black had a special feeling for me. Black means the "unknown". Black wants me to not be black.

Hard to explain what I have in mind but ... anyone?

racist


but seriously clouds look amazing, infact during Greg's stream one of the things that made my jaw drop the fog of war and the light that shines down down on selected units from the clouds. It really looks amazing and gives the perspective that I am the god or atleast higher power that directs this civilization.

 

[bernlin2000]

I disliked them in early screenshots, but it looks like they darkened them up later on. Early on they were really really bright, and I think I might have had to wear sunglasses to play the game. It should look nice now, although it'd be cool if there was an option to make them black again, without having to lower the settings.

 

[City Builder]

I really like the clouds much more than just black. It's a great option for when we are zoomed out looking down at the landscape, feels so much better than just blackness on my screen. What would be great is if there were some storm clouds thrown in every now and then to just change it up a bit, and see some small flash of lightening and hear some thunder every once in a while when zoomed out far enough to where it doesn't happen so frequently as to bother the player at normal playing zoom levels.

The thing that I thought looked strange in 2kGregs play through on ustream was that it seems that just the edges of the clouds move around, so it appears very static over the majority of the cloud cover, and only around where we have sight into the landscape do the clouds swirl around a little. Still... Much better than them being completely static that's for sure. It's a nice effect over all.

 

[Drago Askani]

Clouds
Really
Are
Pretty.

 

[ehecatzin]

I really like the clouds, they still cover the same function as blackness, to hide unexplored terrain. But by adding clouds they managed to make the fog of war a phisical part of the world, and not just...black.

It even creates a nice effect if you have some spaces without exploring (wich often happens), "oh look those unexplored spaces on the sea looks like solitary clouds...instead of a black hole in the ocean.

 

[mqduck]

I agree with the OP -- much prefer the black to clouds.

Oh yeah? Why's that?

The whole "it's optimistic and uplifting, like the Art Deco graphics!" garbage...blech. This is the same kind of idiocy that has seemingly every company painting their walls and patterning their cube dividers that same shade of taupe. "It makes everyone work 5% harder!" No, no it doesn't.

I'm sorry that you don't like your job, but there really is such a thing as style and it really does affect your interpretation of things. Pretty clouds evoke different thoughts than pitch blackness.

As for "we can afford the processing power for them" -- if you ever wondered why the system requirements are so high for a turn-based game, decisions like adding the clouds is a big part of it. Some people are not going to be able to run Civ V even at the lowest settings. This kind of feature bloat is why you need a multi-core machine to boot up Windows and check your email these day.

You're not making sense. Clouds are off at the lowest graphics setting. Therefor, if some people can't run the game even at the lowest setting, it's not the fault of the clouds. Stop picking on them.

Are you in a curmudgeonly mood today, haphazard1?

(Why yes, I am feeling especially curmudgeon-ish today. Why do you ask? )

Just wondering.

 

[happyturtle]

I liked in the playthrough how the revealed barbarian encampments shown through the clouds. And then when he ran into Krakatoa... that was really cool how it went above the clouds.

I think it will probably also be less annoying to me when there's a few squares unrevealed in the middle of the ocean if they're clouds rather than black squares. I won't feel compelled to waste a caravel just to get the last bit of black off my map.

 

[haphazard1]

Oh yeah? Why's that?

Does it need an explanation? It's a preference. Some people like oatmeal, some prefer bran flakes, others like bagels. I happen to like unexplored areas to be dark...mysterious...forbidding.

I'm sorry that you don't like your job, but there really is such a thing as style and it really does affect your interpretation of things. Pretty clouds evoke different thoughts than pitch blackness.

I like my job quite well, thanks. Except for every third Monday which is crammed with meetings, anyway.

Art styles do not represent the same things to all people, or fit all situations. The Art Deco and the clouds represent a sort of "relentless cheerfulness" that could become rather oppressive if overdone. Much like that institutional taupe. Who was it who said "If everyone is thinking the same thing, no one is really thinking" -- can't recall at the moment. But it seems appropriate.

 

[mqduck]

Does it need an explanation? It's a preference. Some people like oatmeal, some prefer bran flakes, others like bagels. I happen to like unexplored areas to be dark...mysterious...forbidding.

Actually, I allowed you to answer my question right after I asked it, then responded to your answers. It was part of my conceit of formatting my post as a conversation.

 

[VikingMaekel]

Clouds dumb down Civ V!

Seriously though, this is such a non-issue.
Put your graphics on low and you'll see black hexes instead

 

[Maniacal]

I wish the rest of the map was filled in with dragons, mermaids, ships and random assumptions by your cartographers. The clouds seem a bit odd to me too, but I am sure I will get used to them asap.

 

[wilson1225]

They're steam clouds!

 

[CoZe]

As explained on one of the gameplay streams, the developers found black to be too negative. Clouds are a bit less 'abyssal'

how about pink clouds and double rainbows then ? some little ponies and unicorns would add some 'positive' feelings too !

 

[HisDivineShadow]

It makes sense that the FOG of war would be white... Fog is white (when viewed from above).