CoM II - Terrain tiles

[MrBiscuits]

On those screenshots, sure I can clearly see there are trees, but I have no idea where one tile ends and another begins and which tiles are the forested ones. It doesn't look like a grid at all in fact, just one big continuous battle area. It needs to be made to look more like a grid.

If you include an option for removing trees can we have the floor tiles textured differently depending on whether it is forest/grassland etc.?

[Seravy]

On those screenshots, sure I can clearly see there are trees, but I have no idea where one tile ends and another begins and which tiles are the forested ones. It doesn't look like a grid at all in fact, just one big continuous battle area. It needs to be made to look more like a grid.

If you include an option for removing trees can we have the floor tiles textured differently depending on whether it is forest/grassland etc.?

The optional setting to draw a grid on the battlefield is already on my list. I guess I can do it earlier than planned if that helps.

[MrBiscuits]

On those screenshots, sure I can clearly see there are trees, but I have no idea where one tile ends and another begins and which tiles are the forested ones. It doesn't look like a grid at all in fact, just one big continuous battle area. It needs to be made to look more like a grid.

If you include an option for removing trees can we have the floor tiles textured differently depending on whether it is forest/grassland etc.?

The optional setting to draw a grid on the battlefield is already on my list. I guess I can do it earlier than planned if that helps.

I don't mean draw a grid as that will be yet more clutter and make the display even busier (although it could be an option). I mean make the tiles distinct enough that a grid is not necessary.

For example in Civ 4 you can see which tiles are which even with the grid turned off and you can see the units on top of forests no problem.

https://gamespot1.cbsistatic.com/uploads...22_002.jpg

Units are visible over the top of forests (the trees are much shorter than the units )

https://zompist.com/illo/civ4-bed.jpg

[Seravy]

   

Arcanus Tundra. I think there is no problem here, except the markers and tree removal should apply to these forests as well.

[Seravy]

I don't mean draw a grid as that will be yet more clutter and make the display even busier (although it could be an option). I mean make the tiles distinct enough that a grid is not necessary.

That makes the terrain look more artificial. Not a fan but I think this is the territory of personal preferences, for gameplay it doesn't matter if we use a grid or not, they are equivalent solutions.

However not using the grid forces everyone to go with that option and no one is able to select playing with the more seamless tiles, even if they want to.

[Seravy]

Myrran Tundra :
   

Looks good to me.

Tundras have 20% chance to contain forest tiles and the tiles are entirely random, they don't form blocks.
We have already made Hills to form blocks of trees so I think it's a good idea to keep Tundras as is for variety.

[Seravy]

Comparison of CoM I and CoM II Arcanus Mountains :
   
The ground of CoM II is smoother and overall I think looks better.
The tiles that cost extra to move on are obvious.

The CoM II version has no trees, while CoM I has a few occasionally. We can add some, do we want to?

Tile distribution is 8% tiles with 2 movement cost. This leaves enough options to outmaneuver Chaos Spawn with bowmen as necessary.
Additionally there are 3-28 blocks of 2x2 to 4x4 size that are impassable terrain. This is a new feature and makes battles move tactical, especially as some unit types can enter these tiles anyway (non-corporeal, I think also flying).

The large rocks look mostly okay but maybe the bottom should be slightly less even and darker, the horizontal bottom line looks bad especially due to the shadows.

...improved version :
   

[Seravy]

Next up, Myrran Mountains.
   

This looks horrible, in particular, the ground is bad.
There should probably be less and a different shade of purple, and more grey.

The color mismatch between the two kinds of rocks isn't the best either.
On the overland map, Mountains look the same on both planes, in CoM I as well as CoM II so maybe these should use the Arcanus type rocks instead of that purple "foam". Those purple rocks work fine in the forests, grasslands and other places where they appear in less quantity but they are awful when stacked near each other.

I see two possible routes to take for this one :

1. Go with a grey color scheme on the ground similar to but maybe slightly darker than Arcanus with a hint of purple, and use Arcanus rocks.
2. Go towards a purple/dark grey ground (get rid of brown), keep the purple Myrran rocks but replace the big grey mountains with something new, darker, more purple. Possibly even could have different shapes.

Option 1 matches the overland art better and provides good visibility for units. Option 2 on the other hand might not be so ideal for visibility of units (black outline probably won't like the darker colors) and doesn't match overland mountain art, however it will be more unique and interesting.

[Seravy]

We get this with if taking the first option :

   

It works I guess but it's not very impressive.

[Seravy]

Finally, the desert, reducing the contrast gets us this :