Let's Talk: Terrain Height

Honestly, I do not play 1v1 on a 800 planet, I use a 400, but I guess valid point. Still a lot of metal, excuse the exact scenario mentioned, but just notice the numbers per size lol.

See, I called it, people be hatin. I deserve it honestly, I only called it because I knew there wouldn't be a God had I not been attacked for that post.

"0.5" is just a relative value for density. It could map to 16 spots/km^2 or it could map to 13.5 spots/km^2.

Since metal density should have been constant between planet size for a linear relationship, I calculated the true density relative to surface area to see what the actual relationship was.

Nvm, misread the calculations. Carry on!

Why does that seem so much more gross than the typical phrasing with expletive?

EXCELLENT.

I've always thought multi planet metal distribution was off. There'd be smaller planets with more metal than planets that are sometimes even 25% to 50% larger than them.

No bueno.

Is it possible to make it so we can define a "base" density (and layout, if there are different types) of metal as part of the individual biome definitions, and then have the slider multiply those? That way you can have, say, the desert/sand regions of a planet scarce in resources, while the more mountainous regions have more metal but grouped together, while grass has a medium amount of metal more evenly distributed? It would give terrain a bit more variance and a greater strategic role.

Something like This would go a long way to making some solid distinctions between biomes by it would need to be handled carefully because of spawn placement.

Mike

Suggestions:
1. Map elevation visualisation: https://forums.uberent.com/threads/map-elevation-and-path-visualisation.38758/




2. Use 3D glasses.



3. Play on Tergiverse IV. That planet have natural height curves.
The TA map 'Painted desert' took place on that planet. Courtesy to Slamz.



4. Use shadows. Shadows casted by terrain and different sloped terrain should have different lighting. Although that doesn't help during the night when there are no shadows.

We need a healthy middle ground here. Heights have their disadvantages - they often create annoying pathfinding bugs that weren't avoided even in Starcraft 2. They might also limit or increase the number of strategy options, depending how intelligently they are designed. The high ground advantage is definitely something interesting but sometimes it might be broken for various reasons. With heights certain units with big range can snowball much stronger than on open ground. I'd rather have relatively flat map than fight with pathfinding bugs, weird looks, limitations with unit movement or badly/randomly designed maps.
This can be circumvented but only Superouman can do this right and he needs his map creating tools!

Shadows don't work because the light source is constantly moving and sometimes non-existent. When the light source is directly behind the camera, you can't tell height differences.

I do like the idea of building contour lines directly into the art work... but then you can't determine if the incline is going up or down...

The moving light is simply a big challenge.

Well that is a small problem compared to the nightside of the planet. Depending on the reflectiveness of the terrain it might not even be a problem when the camera aligns with the sun and looks straight down. Dirt might make it hard to discern a hill while it might be easier to the see the curvature on a reflective metallic surface.

That is usually pretty easy to see just by zooming out. IRL the topography of holes are quite different rather than just being inverted hills. IRL holes would become filled with water or sediment while peaks are ravaged by wind and rain so the topography becomes very distinct and sharp around ridges and peaks while it gets smooth in holes and valleys. Ingame you are also gonna move the camera around and see the edge of the planet every now and then, so you will naturally identify the topographic contour lines when you zoom in.

Indeed. Procedural planet generation is also a big challenge. A map maker could accentuate the terrain with different methods while the procedural planet generator have to do it with generic solutions that have to apply to all generated planets.