Better Maps

[Adriddae]

http://wiki.battlemaster.org/wiki/Better_Maps


If the polygon concept there, or something like that gets implemented, battlemaster would be the most amazing game ever! (Well it already is, but this would make it more amazing).

[songqu88@gmail.com]

It's supposedly ongoing, along with a great many things. Bedwyr or one of the devs would know more. On a hunch though, I'd bet it will synch with the release of the new estate management system.

[Bedwyr]

Still ongoing.  Polygons are difficult, and we may be doing an iterated approach using the existing regions first.

[De-Legro]

I've been working on something along these lines for my own fun. The problem with polygon maps is, do we try to match them to the existing maps, which presents a fair few technical challenges, or do we create new maps from scratch, designed to support them. The method Tom originally posted was mostly about map generation using the polygons, and the algorithm he uses would need some serious tweaking to ensure each polygon region was of a good size, distribution was reasonable etc.

[Alpha]

I hope this comes to be. I'm probably most excited for this than any change in my history of BM.

[Perth]

No kidding.

This, combined with an awesome new estate system, would be perhaps one the biggest most awesome changes in BattleMaster yet.

Not only that, but I think awesome maps like that would definitely help draw more people in and add some more sex appeal to the game.

[Foundation]

Hehe, don't know about that ast one there, Perth, but yes, we are considering map changes, but its priority is not as high as the estate system and a few other projects.

What will most likely happen is a few iterations on the current map and making it better.

[Anaris]

To be clear: this is a cool idea Tom has had, that may or may not come to fruition within a reasonable time frame.

Do not expect it to happen any time soon.

Estates, though, are underway

[MaleMaldives]

Would be cool if the map consisted of a bunch of small regions that could be designated farm, forest, heavy forest, river, mountain, town, or city. Regions would be formed by gathering these regions under one lord. This way regions wouldn't be rigid. Through conquests, or same realm lords competing for land would change  regions shape. Bold lords could try to make a very large size region, but penalty for size would start happening. Also a lord would be able to change the function of small region with exception of heavy forest, river, and mountain. If a lord wanted to increase the population of his region he could change farm land into town districts, and then need to wait for it to be populated. Similarly a lord could try to create a city, by changing town regions to city. If to many lords try to make large cities and towns then there will be a food deficit on the continent, and lords choosing to have massive farm land could make huge profit. Forests could be cut down and turned into farms, but if production stayed to low for to long then it would change back to forest. Anther thing is lords could plan on the placement of roads, walls, and bridges through the small regions making their land very customizable, and the continent always changing.

[squishymaster]

NO!!  I love Age of Wonders don't change the maps 

It had to be said 

[De-Legro]

Would be cool if the map consisted of a bunch of small regions that could be designated farm, forest, heavy forest, river, mountain, town, or city. Regions would be formed by gathering these regions under one lord. This way regions wouldn't be rigid. Through conquests, or same realm lords competing for land would change  regions shape. Bold lords could try to make a very large size region, but penalty for size would start happening. Also a lord would be able to change the function of small region with exception of heavy forest, river, and mountain. If a lord wanted to increase the population of his region he could change farm land into town districts, and then need to wait for it to be populated. Similarly a lord could try to create a city, by changing town regions to city. If to many lords try to make large cities and towns then there will be a food deficit on the continent, and lords choosing to have massive farm land could make huge profit. Forests could be cut down and turned into farms, but if production stayed to low for to long then it would change back to forest. Anther thing is lords could plan on the placement of roads, walls, and bridges through the small regions making their land very customizable, and the continent always changing.

Some of that would take MASSIVE changes to the system. Things like walls and roads are abstract right now. If lords could actually position them in the map then we would need a whole new travelling system to account for it. Really in terms of game play I don't see that the change is worth the extra complications.

The first part about having small regions that bind together to form a region, is basically what the polygon system that is proposed does. The smallest map element will be the polygon, knights have an estate in one of these polygons, and can claim the polygons adjacent to the estate. Knights can for a region together that combines their estates and so on.

[Nosferatus]

What about detailed sub maps of regions? showing the overview of the city/region, with temples, guilds, RCS and any other building that are able to be build in game, but now as a lord you could decide where to place certain buildings, and the way your city looks.*
It doesn't have to have any effect on the game at all, other then just the way stuff looks for people.
So now you don't see the buildings on a list, you actually see them on a map. (imagine a city build in imagine of the blood stars or some other religious or national symbol...)

*to a certain extend, I understand that it could take lots of work to make a city map fully customizable by it's lord(including streets and all the regular houses, how there aligned and where there placed).

[De-Legro]

What about detailed sub maps of regions? showing the overview of the city/region, with temples, guilds, RCS and any other building that are able to be build in game, but now as a lord you could decide where to place certain buildings, and the way your city looks.*
It doesn't have to have any effect on the game at all, other then just the way stuff looks for people.
So now you don't see the buildings on a list, you actually see them on a map. (imagine a city build in imagine of the blood stars or some other religious or national symbol...)

*to a certain extend, I understand that it could take lots of work to make a city map fully customizable by it's lord(including streets and all the regular houses, how there aligned and where there placed).

Considering all the projects that are underway that actually add to the game play. Something comestic like this, in a game that is largely text based, would probably not be a priority. Besides we would need someone to actually draw all those images, and then need to spend time either coding a complicated DIV or Table grid arrangement for them or a canvas sprite engine, handle all those annoying things like z-drawing orders, overlapping images etc.