Topographical accuracy?

[Peeking Duck?]

Before I begin - Sorry if this has already been covered

Will there be topographical accuracy in the detailed view/battle screen? One of the things I loved about Konami's L'Empereur was it's portrayal of each city (albeit in chunky blocks) with relatively accurate terrain features. If you attacked London, then crossing the Thames was of prime importance, etc.

Will CoG have similar feature, or will we get a random generated map for each battle? If so, will there be means to mod the battle maps for a given area so that we may create accurate region portrayals?


cheers
-Peek

[sol_invictus]

Until Ericbabe gives you the official answer I will take a crack at it. It is my understanding that when a battle occurs, the program will generate a battle map that depicts the topographical features of that area/region. Since the map is divided into regions I don't think we could ever actually fight a battle for the Pratzen Heights, but if France invaded England and attacked the region that contained London, I would guess that the Thames would be depicted in some way and come into play.

[ericbabe]

Maps are randomly generated. If any of the invading units cross a terrain feature, then it is factored into the algorithm, including rivers. Number of villages and roads and fortresses is proportional to the development properties of the province in these areas.

We are considering an expansion pack that would focus on the detailed combat and would include a map editor and some historical battlefields. Possibly also historical orders of battle for major battles as well as an orders of battle editor.

By the way, a battlefield editor is far and away the most popular feature-request in regard to which we have received inquiries, and so if we do a game expansion then it would certainly be chief among the features we would try to implement.


Thanks,
Eric

[Reiryc]

I'm fine with randomly generated maps because it will help keep the game 'fresh' since you won't fight over the exact same map over and over.

With that said however, I'd also like to see in the proposed expansion, certain regions with say, paris, london, etc etc, with a detailed 'accurate' map of the area at the time. This would help, imo give the fresh randomness of battles out in the 'fields of yurupe' while at the same time grounding the game with some historically accurate maps as well.