New terrain

[Midnight_Carnival]

Hello
(with great trepidation I venture beyond the off-topic, hoping not to incur anyone's wrath by doing so)

Even though I am a total noob, I have a suggestion for a possible addition to Mainline, arrogant as that my seem.

I think you could consider adding a new type of terrain: "farmland"

You have (very pretty) animated windmills which serve no purpose beyond eye-candy. Ok, a windmill is seldom alone, there are out-buildings, threshing-floors, ect... Having a windmill or a farm fundimentally alters the topology of an area.

I know well that tiles are actually huge, in that a mountain fits on one tile, as does a village, but if a huge tree will alter the type of terrain, how much more so will a windmill? You also have farmland as a type of terrain, but it counts as grassland. While cavalry might not find it any different to ride through or fight in a wheatfield, I am not sure that the same could be said for infantry.

I propose that windmills + farms become "farmland", the way I see it it would work as follows, for human + orc + dwarf infantry and possibly woses it = forest, for elves it would give 50% or so defence, for cavlalry units it = grassland.
It would not heal units of course.
In farms there are fences, buildings and crops, that makes for quite a bit of cover I think.

I know you don't want to make the game too complex, and you are more at the "refining" phase of game development than the "adding new stuff" phase, but I think my idea could have some merit.

Thank you for hearing me out.

[Simons Mith]

We've already got 'farmland' terrain; it's currently a variation of clear. OTOH the idea of a terrain type for 'terrain with buildings in it that aren't fortifications, but don't heal you' isn't too bad.

But to be honest I think a better way would be just to create a variation of the existing castle terrain, and use that. Creating such an urban terrain tile (needs a better name than 'urban', though) would definitely be useful because there are several scenarios that try to make 'cities' by mixing village and castle hexes, and they do tend to look odd. However, such 'cityscape' tiles have already been requested several times in the past, it's just that no-one's got round to drawing them yet.

[thespaceinvader]

Farm is already in existence, and is a simple graphical variant of grasland. it doesn't need to be any more complex...

[Aethaeryn]

Farm is already in existence, and is a simple graphical variant of grasland. it doesn't need to be any more complex...

Agreed. Keep it simple.

[Gambit]

While I don't personally subscribe to this law, Wesnoth philosophy states that if you don't KISS you'll have a HUG.

[Turuk]

Since the art already exists and is used in the game, that part of the idea is done. You want the terrain to now give a different effect towards infantry unit by making it work like a forest, while for riding units it is still just grassland.

My only issue with that is that you are assuming that it most resembles a forest because the crops are at their peak, and that the crops being grown are wheat, corn, or other plants that reach a tall height. An orc chasing a human through a field of soybeans is not going to have much more of an issue than on grassland.

[Sangel]

An orc chasing a human through a field of soybeans is not going to have much more of an issue than on grassland.

For some reason, I find this image humorous to the absurd.

[Grey_Area]

Hey, before you ban me, I am not trying to pick a fight with myslef, it's just that M_C won't log in for some silly reason, and this account could barely log in over a period of about 15min.

Anyway, Point taken.

I also like that Wesnoth is simple and want to keep it that way.

my main thing was that the graphics existed, but might as well not have, I wasn't complaining or anything.

My only issue with that is that you are assuming that it most resembles a forest because the crops are at their peak, and that the crops being grown are wheat, corn, or other plants that reach a tall height. An orc chasing a human through a field of soybeans is not going to have much more of an issue than on grassland

, or cabages, oh wait, the orc could trip over those.

Actually my point was not just about the visibility in wheat/ corn/ sugar cane: The thing is that cultivated land is different to wild open grassland. There would be furrows, irrigation ditches and fences, moreover, in Wesnoth, the Orc and the Human would not be on the same field, farmers usually grow hedges or put up fences arround their fields.
Having said that, I can see that in a wild open field there would be thorn bushes, rocks, gullies, ect... so my argument kind of falls flat

such 'cityscape' tiles have already been requested several times in the past, it's just that no-one's got round to drawing them yet

Yes, as a wise man once said, ideas are cheap.
We could also do with dungeon/inside castle tiles, they would feature in just about every campain I ever played so far... I tried to draw them, but unitl my Gimp prowess increases I can't offer any help.

[Turuk]

The thing is that cultivated land is different to wild open grassland. There would be furrows, irrigation ditches and fences, moreover, in Wesnoth, the Orc and the Human would not be on the same field, farmers usually grow hedges or put up fences arround their fields.
Having said that, I can see that in a wild open field there would be thorn bushes, rocks, gullies, ect... so my argument kind of falls flat

Yeah, you pretty much responded to your own point. Grassland is regarded as "flat" terrain, but in reality that is not the truth. The plains of the US are a good example, as they are rolling and have numerous gullies and ditches that would just as easily trip you up.

[Araja]

An orc chasing a human through a field of soybeans is not going to have much more of an issue than on grassland.

Wow that's funny and I don't know why

Well, debating about Wesnoth terrain in comparison to real terrain seems a bit odd, considering that in Wesnoth terrain you can run straight up the vertical walls of a castle whilst being shot and stabbed at, or stand on top of a mountain and behead someone in the river below without having to move.

[Turuk]

Wow that's funny and I don't know why

Because it conveys a mental image of a human fleeing for their life and an angry orc brandishing a sword and chasing them while dashing through plants that only come up to their knees.

Well, debating about Wesnoth terrain in comparison to real terrain seems a bit odd, considering that in Wesnoth terrain you can run straight up the vertical walls of a castle whilst being shot and stabbed at, or stand on top of a mountain and behead someone in the river below without having to move.

HAPMA.

[Araja]

HAPMA?

[thespaceinvader]

HAPMA - Hexes Are Possibly Miles Across. In this case, WINR is probably more appropriate, though. The reason why one can attack an opponent in water from the top of a mountain is game balance. It is not realistic, and it won't be, because in this case, gameplay trumps realism.

[Turuk]

TSI covered it very nicely.

HAPMA?

Search is your friend.

[A Guy]

If HAPMA, then are heroes in campaigns giants?