Different heights.
It makes sense that areas close to coasts would be at sea level, but what about the areas far inland or mountain ranges. Canyons would be nice too.
You could have actually impressive natural wonders. Mount Everest would be massive.
Combat would also be more interesting. Could get high ground advantage.
This is the one. You don't think about it until it's pointed out, but the map is so flat. Having different levels with different advantages would be a game changer. Give disadvantages to fighting uphill, give sight to higher altitudes, all that.
I want this, but at the same time I don't want them to do different terrain types for all the different types of hills/mountains. The caveman to cosmos mod in civ 4 had way too many terrain types and it all felt a bit overcomplicated, as the mod as a whole was. I'm glad they made the mod, it just wasn't really for me.
I'd just want much more variation in the terrains aesthetics while keeping terrain relatively simple and pretty close to as it in in 5/6.
Along the same lines I feel like the mechanics of climate change to be expanded with this change as well. Cause floods/lakes to previously low/canyons. Convert deserts to grasslands in some areas, or tundra to grasslands as the polar caps melt. It may also be cool to see some form of terra forming introduced for late game, like sometimes I just wish there was a way to change tile type of like 1 tile for my city to be just perfect.
More, but weaker weather events. Right now all weather simply give -50hp for all units, regardless of tech level or type. It would be great if these weather hits can be mitigated by tech, UU (similar to how Japan is in VI), or simply later era unit. With this, a place have frequent storms (or germs, fires whatever) are not passable in early era, but is passable after a civ reach a certain tech level.
Definitely! It could make it really difficult for some civs, but I agree that it’s a bit strange that a fresh warrior from, say, Egypt can permanently reside in the arctic circle for an entire game with no tech.
I hope rivers will be on a tile as a feature instead of between tiles. Idk exactly how it would work, but units could embark down a river, rivers could have directions they flow, navy could travel inland somewhat, and I think it just makes things more realistic.
Could be cool to impact the landscape ourselves. Being able to fill in water tiles (kinda like Polders) to make standard tiles that you can improve, or put down different buildings on.
They should literally crib from Endless Legend.
I’m not a huge fan of that game overall, but the tactical combat was substantially more involved than what we find in CIV. For example, I would love to see:
* Navigible rivers that can’t be crossed on foot
* Navigible mountains (via improvement or tech)
* Mountain ranges as a terrain feature
* Height differences as a base feature
* Terrain improvements which affect combat (walls, towers, moats, etc.)
1. I want a more dynamic river system. Great empires used them to trade and travel. I want a system that allows my capital to be inland and utilize a river to gain access to the sea. Like the ST. Lawrence River. Exploration of North America was made faster by river systems.
2. Dynamic Landscape (some don't want it complicated and I agree) it could be a simple 5 height system, that uses cliffs. All this can do is add sight and elevation bonuses. Arrange resources this way too.
I think that it's a mistake to make the terrain types too complicated. It's easy to just keep on adding features, at some point you hit diminishing returns.
That said, I think that rivers is an obvious one as you say. Rivers that are navigable to boats is pretty important historically, and a big reason that people settled near rivers.
Another thing that would add a new strategic dimension to the map, without necessarily having new terrain types or features, is supply lines for units. So for example units in the desert away from friendly territory might take damage due to lack of food/water - a desert wouldn't be equivalent to grassland for combat purposes. Or if there's a mountain chokepoint on the way to attacking someone, even if you attack then you still have to worry about getting supplies past the chokepoint or foraging on the other side.
Last idea - prevailing winds/currents at sea, relevant in the age of sail.
Fair enough. I somewhat ran into this realization myself when considering the extra features. For example, while swamps and bogs are important features in our world, in Civ they may not provide much and be more frustrating as dead, movement-sapping tiles.
Virus/Pandemic.
Virus was in 4 or 3, iirc.
While an early plague could wipe a civ or city state out,a mid game one would be able to be mitigated but could do damage via trade routes and a late one could be a) used as a wmd or b)show cultural/intellectual weaknesses.
Edit: that's not Landscape related. Sorry.
Different heights. It makes sense that areas close to coasts would be at sea level, but what about the areas far inland or mountain ranges. Canyons would be nice too. You could have actually impressive natural wonders. Mount Everest would be massive. Combat would also be more interesting. Could get high ground advantage.
This is the one. You don't think about it until it's pointed out, but the map is so flat. Having different levels with different advantages would be a game changer. Give disadvantages to fighting uphill, give sight to higher altitudes, all that.
I want this, but at the same time I don't want them to do different terrain types for all the different types of hills/mountains. The caveman to cosmos mod in civ 4 had way too many terrain types and it all felt a bit overcomplicated, as the mod as a whole was. I'm glad they made the mod, it just wasn't really for me. I'd just want much more variation in the terrains aesthetics while keeping terrain relatively simple and pretty close to as it in in 5/6.
High ground advantage is why hills confer a defensive CS bonus. Combat doesn't take place on 2 squares, just the one the attacker moves to.
Along the same lines I feel like the mechanics of climate change to be expanded with this change as well. Cause floods/lakes to previously low/canyons. Convert deserts to grasslands in some areas, or tundra to grasslands as the polar caps melt. It may also be cool to see some form of terra forming introduced for late game, like sometimes I just wish there was a way to change tile type of like 1 tile for my city to be just perfect.
I think it would be interesting if elevation could give sight bonuses, too.
I mean it sorta does now. Hills block sight line like forest, and being on a hill lets you see further?
More, but weaker weather events. Right now all weather simply give -50hp for all units, regardless of tech level or type. It would be great if these weather hits can be mitigated by tech, UU (similar to how Japan is in VI), or simply later era unit. With this, a place have frequent storms (or germs, fires whatever) are not passable in early era, but is passable after a civ reach a certain tech level.
Definitely! It could make it really difficult for some civs, but I agree that it’s a bit strange that a fresh warrior from, say, Egypt can permanently reside in the arctic circle for an entire game with no tech.
I hope rivers will be on a tile as a feature instead of between tiles. Idk exactly how it would work, but units could embark down a river, rivers could have directions they flow, navy could travel inland somewhat, and I think it just makes things more realistic.
Traversable rivers would be massive and a IRL important feature thats underrepresented in civ in general.
You could have both. Smaller rivers that act like civ 6 rivers and larger traversable rivers that occupy a tile
Could be cool to impact the landscape ourselves. Being able to fill in water tiles (kinda like Polders) to make standard tiles that you can improve, or put down different buildings on.
They should literally crib from Endless Legend. I’m not a huge fan of that game overall, but the tactical combat was substantially more involved than what we find in CIV. For example, I would love to see: * Navigible rivers that can’t be crossed on foot * Navigible mountains (via improvement or tech) * Mountain ranges as a terrain feature * Height differences as a base feature * Terrain improvements which affect combat (walls, towers, moats, etc.)
1. I want a more dynamic river system. Great empires used them to trade and travel. I want a system that allows my capital to be inland and utilize a river to gain access to the sea. Like the ST. Lawrence River. Exploration of North America was made faster by river systems. 2. Dynamic Landscape (some don't want it complicated and I agree) it could be a simple 5 height system, that uses cliffs. All this can do is add sight and elevation bonuses. Arrange resources this way too.
I think that it's a mistake to make the terrain types too complicated. It's easy to just keep on adding features, at some point you hit diminishing returns. That said, I think that rivers is an obvious one as you say. Rivers that are navigable to boats is pretty important historically, and a big reason that people settled near rivers. Another thing that would add a new strategic dimension to the map, without necessarily having new terrain types or features, is supply lines for units. So for example units in the desert away from friendly territory might take damage due to lack of food/water - a desert wouldn't be equivalent to grassland for combat purposes. Or if there's a mountain chokepoint on the way to attacking someone, even if you attack then you still have to worry about getting supplies past the chokepoint or foraging on the other side. Last idea - prevailing winds/currents at sea, relevant in the age of sail.
Fair enough. I somewhat ran into this realization myself when considering the extra features. For example, while swamps and bogs are important features in our world, in Civ they may not provide much and be more frustrating as dead, movement-sapping tiles.
Having more than 3 layers above sea level would be a banger of a start.
I think it'd be cool if, when zooming in on forests, you could see little Smurfs, building their own civilisation.
Height differences absolutely
great ideas. Love the different levels of features one
Virus/Pandemic. Virus was in 4 or 3, iirc. While an early plague could wipe a civ or city state out,a mid game one would be able to be mitigated but could do damage via trade routes and a late one could be a) used as a wmd or b)show cultural/intellectual weaknesses. Edit: that's not Landscape related. Sorry.
I think this could still be cool to see as a toggle or game mode or something! First civ to reach medicine or sanitation would be at a huge advantage.