A Question on Art and Gameplay: Swirls

agree. i like them from artistic point of view, but from functional point of view.... meh, dont really change the game mechanic positively

Ubers current path tuning them down is fine.

I don't care about swirls, but the swirls in the transition between biomes looked nice

Another swirl fan here!! it kinda gives it a funky look, kind of like DotA 2 looks.

Just throw in some fibonacci factor and you're set

+1 for swirls and swirl slider.

Its ....... stylish

... well as long as there is a slider.

Death to swirls!

thats what 0 is for on the slider

with 11 being the upper end.

they look cool and distinctive, but I suspect they are not and should not be included due to gameplay reasons. an area of swirl would be a path to nowhere, so not a crucial point to fight for controll over - a defendable choke point to nowhere. it would be too small for naval engagements, and possibly even too small for the larger ships and subs to move in. it would be too thin for siginificant land engagements, and too small for the more significant building sizes. an area you could use, but never do.

Pro - it would look very good, give a reason to have amphibious tanks/walkers/hovers (give them a point to ambush from), and create an (small) area that is more air orientated.

if it had more positive game effects other than visual I'd be convinced, but it sounds like extra work for little benefit.

the interesting question about swirls:
Do northern hemisphere swirls swirl in the same direction as southern hemisphere swirls?

Obviously they shouldn't. But maybe we can devise a complex technological solution to reverse them to make us northerners feel more comfortable

I don't like that swirls too much. They somehow generate "off-lands" which aren't really usable by naval nor land units. Moreover the style doesn't look that awesome to me, someone might also consider that such "awesome" effects wear off after a while.

A world generator parameter might be an appropriate solution, but it contains the danger of having too much parameters/sliders; so it could become difficult to find a multiplayer game matching the personal preferences or aversions.

#bringbacktheswirls

Swirls don't have to effect gameplay at all. The light green water could be shallow enough for land units/to build, and too shallow for naval.

This is entirely true. I would however counter that for PA, the vision is to have multiple entire planets to fight over, so a few areas of no-mans land aren't going to do much to reduce the overall available area for massive shooty combat. It could also be argued that they would become an area that would help create choke points, since naval and land units would find them difficult or effectively unusable terrain, only the amphib or aerial units would be able to easily pass, and that could be taken advantage of in offensive or defensive planning.

I personally like the aesthetic, and would love for it to be included as an option assuming the dev time is available to do so

you're totally right ^^

It is clear that it must be tuned down. In the concept video they are huge and in large number. Also, it is not fun gameplay wise, just try to recreate them in any rts game and you will see why.

Well all I'll say is; I'm glad that Neutrino disagrees and is willing to give them a chance.

I don't think he disagrees as he said that the swirls in the game will not be as exaggerated as in the concept video.

Fine, I'm not arguing about interpretation.
I'm glad that they will make an appearance at some point and I hope they are as close to the pre-visualisation as possible, taking into account gameplay considerations and the limitations of the engine, etc.

It's also good to remember that swirls can quite easily be between biomes - you could have VERY exaggerated swirls between a desert / mountain biome for example, and it would have very little effect on gameplay while still capturing the coolness of the original concept video.