Two terrain type ideas

[Glowing Fish]

I know it is a little late in the game for new terrain types, but I had two interesting ideas for terrain types.

The first would be Kelp Forest. This would be a deep water tile, only it would have kelp growing in it. For the normal mermen line, it would have the same movement rate as normal ocean tile. For Naga, and creatures with movement type "deepsea", it would slow down their movement. And, for the mermen hunter line, it would have the same defense as elves archer units get in forest. There could even be a Merman Hunter upgrade with ambush, for Kelp Forests.

I know that this would be a lot of work to add, and there isn't a lot of good reasons for it. The only real reason is that water combat is pretty boring, because there is only two terrain types.

My second terrain type idea would be something that could be "holy ground" or "blessed ground", and it would only effect Undead. All Undead units would have there movement points and defense drastically cut down on this type of Terrain. The main use of this Terrain would be in certain scenarios, since multiplayer is pretty balanced. I was thinking there could be an underground scenario, with a small group of mages, spearmen and fencers, running from the Undead, and only able to fight them off because of the present of the Blessed Ground.

Anyone like any of these ideas?
They probably aren't vital enough to take up development time, but you never know what idea is going to light people on fire.

[MRhe]

I really like the "kelp forest" idea. Would add some variation/interest to the water battles.

[romnajin]

I like those ideas, but would units on blessed ground have to take off their sandals?

[Neoriceisgood]

I absolutely love the kelp idea! It's a great way for variety among water tactics.

[turin]

The Kelp Forest idea is OK; but it should be done by making a terrain that is an alias of both water and forest, IMHO.

Blessed ground ->
I don't really like the idea.

[Glowing Fish]

I absolutely love the kelp idea! It's a great way for variety among water tactics.

Well, since my GIMP skills are not too good, do you have any ideas for what the graphic would look like?

[JW]

The Kelp Forest idea is OK; but it should be done by making a terrain that is an alias of both water and forest, IMHO.

Blessed ground ->
I don't really like the idea.

I disagree with your first comment but agree with your second one. A kelp forest wouldn't be easy for elves to move through.

[romnajin]

Maybe like
http://tepserver.ucsd.edu/~eshepard/Images/KELP.jpg

[Eleazar]

My second terrain type idea would be something that could be "holy ground" or "blessed ground", and it would only effect Undead.

Not a bad idea. I think a campaign developer reasonably competent in WML could add this to his campaign as a custom terrain.

Seaweed forest has been suggested before. (not sure if it's been rejected or just never done) It would make the oceans more interesting, but it would also add an additional terrain type to keep track of (makeing it an alias of forest and coast would just be weird)

[Sly]

I like the "kelp" idea , but if it's a combination of water & forest, it won't fit :

- Water units would have the same defense as in water since it's the best ot the 2 => no difference

- Non-water units would have the same defense as in forest ... so the elves swim extremely well in kelp (70% defense)

[Tux2B]

I like both ideas...
Blessed terrain would be one where undeads get -1 moves and only 10% defence.
But in that case there must be an opposit terrain, with a bonus for undeads, so it does not become an unbalancing type of terrain.

[JW]

Agreeing with the above 2 posts.

I think the kelp hex should be it's own terrain - not an alias.

[Temuchin Khan]

I also like both these ideas.

Would it be possible to make a branch of the White Mage that was capable of "consecrating" a hex and making it Holy Ground?

I have mixed reactions to the suggestion that there should be an Undead alternative, though. I could see making some sort of "Cursed Ground", but I think it would be more interesting if it wasn't a strict parallel of Holy Ground, but worked in its own way. Maybe non-chaotic units that stand in Cursed Ground could be poisoned, and/or become Walking Corpses when they die?

Kelp forest would be a good way to vary water terrain. And water needs that variety!

How about Coral Reef as another type of water terrain? Coral Reef would be like shallow water in many ways, but would be impassable to units that are weak to pierce, unless they can fly -- not just Drake fly, real flight. And Coral Reef would also be impassable for large sea monsters. But I'm just brainstorming. Can anyone think of other/better ways Coral Reef could be fleshed out as a type of water terrain?

EDIT: Coral Reef, unlike Shallow Water, would rarely be near the shore. It would usually be surrounded by other water tiles. Also, for units that can stand to be upon it, Coral Reef should be good defensive terrain.

Also, there should be Sea Cave tiles which differ from ordinary caves, insofar as they are completely underwater. Sea Caves should be easily passable for sea monsters and Nagas, but only with difficulty for Mermen.

[Casual User]

How about if we made a sort of parrallel between land and sea squares.

-shallow water would be like grassland for water units (but better defense, say 50%)

-kelp would be like forest for water units (60% defense with 2 mp)

-coral reel would be like hills for water units (same as kelp)

-deep water would be like shallow water for water units (say 40% defense and 2 mp)

And, of course, we could have units who are more adept in kelp, in coral or in deep water like we have units who are more adept in forest or hills.

[Temuchin Khan]

How about if we made a sort of parrallel between land and sea squares.

-shallow water would be like grassland for water units (but better defense, say 50%)

-kelp would be like forest for water units (60% defense with 2 mp)

-coral reel would be like hills for water units (same as kelp)

-deep water would be like shallow water for water units (say 40% defense and 2 mp)

And, of course, we could have units who are more adept in kelp, in coral or in deep water like we have units who are more adept in forest or hills.

Interesting. And how about a Sea Canyon terrain? Unlike the normal canyon, it would not be impassible for water units, but they would at least have to move through it very slowly, for fear of the sea monsters that might be hiding in the depths of the canyon.