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How do you deal with road/river with angle other than 45 degree?
Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2018 11:48 pm
by exsonic01
This game uses square tile. This means that the game engine can depict 0, 45, and 90 degree nicely. But other degrees (30 or 60 or etc), they become step-like expression in this game.
How do you deal with those roads / rivers / any linears structure which have any angle other than 0, 45, and 90? Do you just simplify them as 45 degree so that they all have nice linear description? Or make them as close as possible to satellite, so that they become step-like structure? What would be the best option for this game's AI and gaming experience?
RE: How do you deal with road/river with angle other than 45 degree?
Posted: Thu Dec 06, 2018 12:58 am
by CCIP-subsim
Rivers are less of an issue because you can just use a water tile (or any combination of water, stream and bog tiles).
Roads are a bit trickier. As far as I'm concerned, there are three options:
1) Try to follow the real-world path of the road as closely as possible, even if it means creating zig-zagging roads where in real world there are straightaways (this is an option I generally don't like, especially because it can mess up LOS if you try to put any trees or buildings close to such a road)
2) Deviate from the real-world path of the road and make it fit the 90/45 degree angles as much as possible, sacrificing a bit of accuracy in order for better looks and smoother play (this is my preferred option and I'm doing this extensively on my Chechnya map).
3) Don't use road tiles at all, and instead use other terrain tiles such as "paved" which work roughly the same for pathfinding and LOS and can fit a wider variety of shapes (this is quickly becoming a favoured option of mine as well, especially inside cities - because making roads that way uses up fewer terrain tiles than normal roads)
In the end, you don't have to pick just one - but how you go about it is up to you. Basically, when you're designing roads, you can think of it as a rule:
You can choose from: 1) Roads that play well, 2) Roads that look good, 3) Roads that fit precisely with their real world counterparts.
Pick two.
RE: How do you deal with road/river with angle other than 45 degree?
Posted: Thu Dec 06, 2018 1:19 am
by exsonic01
ORIGINAL: CCIP-subsim
Rivers are less of an issue because you can just use a water tile (or any combination of water, stream and bog tiles).
Roads are a bit trickier. As far as I'm concerned, there are three options:
1) Try to follow the real-world path of the road as closely as possible, even if it means creating zig-zagging roads where in real world there are straightaways (this is an option I generally don't like, especially because it can mess up LOS if you try to put any trees or buildings close to such a road)
2) Deviate from the real-world path of the road and make it fit the 90/45 degree angles as much as possible, sacrificing a bit of accuracy in order for better looks and smoother play (this is my preferred option and I'm doing this extensively on my Chechnya map).
3) Don't use road tiles at all, and instead use other terrain tiles such as "paved" which work roughly the same for pathfinding and LOS and can fit a wider variety of shapes (this is quickly becoming a favoured option of mine as well, especially inside cities - because making roads that way uses up fewer terrain tiles than normal roads)
In the end, you don't have to pick just one - but how you go about it is up to you. Basically, when you're designing roads, you can think of it as a rule:
You can choose from: 1) Roads that play well, 2) Roads that look good, 3) Roads that fit precisely with their real world counterparts.
Pick two.
Thank you!!
OK, so far I tried zig-zag or step-like pattern, but I may increase the portion for 45 degree more.
I have a question about 'paved' tile. It seems that 'paved' tile looks wide, making a road with 'paved' tile make the road looks ugly. I think this tile fits better with paved field, not paved road. Is this still good to use 'paved' tile for the road?