I never understood why people think the beach terrain is so ugly, and I probably never will.

Nice find though! As far as I can remember, I haven't seen it before.

Looks good, Basse!

_{Great timing, just before the PTC}

Isn't this trick used in the ES campaign of the conquerors, the battle at Manzikert? I thought people already knew it.

[This message has been edited by den cekke (edited 08-11-2011 @ 11:18 AM).]

I've never played the campaigns

Fred! You should be ashamed of yourself!

Isn't this trick used in the ES campaign of the conquerors, the battle at Manzikert but with water?

Yeah, I remember that farm section, but I'm not sure if it's the same thing... but then, I haven't played the ES campaigns in years, so it very well could be.

nice timing, I'm sure people will use this for the ptc gj

I'm not knocking the idea of having a guide, but I thought this was extremely well known. It's the same idea as in the ES campaign, as farm terrain covers up beach terrain.

[This message has been edited by Julius999 (edited 08-11-2011 @ 11:37 AM).]

I thought the same about "your" irrigation trick Lord Basse used, Julius

Well, at least everybody can know how to make an irrigation system easy

Hear hear - I for one don't give a flying foodle where a trick originated, but I always appreciate an insight on how to do stuff! I think sometimes people on these forums set a little too much store by who did things first...

I've done this trick before using other water terrains, although I never thought of applying this to shallows.

I thought the same about "your" irrigation trick Lord Basse used, Julius

As did I. But he insisted on giving me credit.

That one I definitely hadn't seen before!

On second thought I have used this trick myself many times, but with water. How it slipped my mind that it was the same thing but with shallows is beyond me.

It is found in the theme of Cappodocia in the Battle of Manzikert from the Battles of the Conquerors campaign. Still, well done on demonstrating it step-by-step with pictures.

i did this, and if you apply elevation right, it comes out even better. you get a near perfect irrigation system.

*Makes more notes for PTC11* I still don't use enough elevation...

Off-topic: NowhereT, if you still haven't ditched Copperbeard, I suggest you take a look at this.

how is something to look realistic if you don't use elevation? even prairies aren't flat.... although I do find those hard to make. I haven't developed a good terrain mixing process for grasslands yet.

CarolKarine, most fields I've seen don't have "hills" on them, maybe one could add a bit elevation at some places, but that would probably ruin the shallow

@Watson - I haven't absolutely ditched Copperbeard, but I also haven't done anything on it for about a month... I played Bertie's Quest (I think it hit the blacksmith at the same time as something of mine so it caught my eye), it was a nice and different game

@CarolKarine - Elevation can add a lot of realism to a scenario (even the stepped elevation AOK offers!) but I keep forgetting to add enough and it becomes an afterthought :/ Although, as Basse says, a lot of fields in real life actually are pretty flat. The fields by my house, for example probably have a net change of maybe +1 elevation in AOK terms, and I live on the side of a hill!

[This message has been edited by NowhereT (edited 08-13-2011 @ 12:02 PM).]

Try to get into the habit of placing elevation first judging by the type of landscape you want, adding any cliffs and water in the process. I'll usually have a large area of map done first like this before moving onto anything else - almost as if I've used a height map to layout the earth.

I find it easier this way to make more realistic maps as you arn't building unrealistic elevation around houses, your building houses depending on the landscape. Your placing roads where flatter ground is and building villages in spots near water and defence, you're elevation isn't so random and you're cliffs arnt square.

Well, that's the way I see it. Then you can just alter the elevation slightly if need be as you go and start terrain mixing nicely. I usually do all my elevation/cliffs etc first, then my dirt 3, dirt 2 and dirt 1 around the hill edges and cliff basins, using grass 3 to help blend it too. I then start to manually place trees/rocks and then other objects until it develops into a nice looking scene, terrain mixing along the way if necessary.

Similar concept with towns and villages, placing roads, farm and buildings around realistic points in the landscape.

[This message has been edited by Tetsuo Shima (edited 08-13-2011 @ 12:11 PM).]