Terrain bonuses (and debuffs) on units

[Ryze]

My idea is: the terrain where you fight matters.

- Cavalry fighting in a terrain that is 'flat' should be at its strongest.

- Archers on top of 'hills' should have bigger range (already in-game, I think).

- All units fighting 'uphill' should be weaker (both in attack, defense and mobility).

- Cavalry and archers in 'forests' should be weaker (cavalry should have lower mobility, attack and defense; archers should have reduced accuracy).

- Cavalry in 'swamps' and 'hills' should be very weak (again, lower mobility, attack and defense).

- etc...

How feasible is this?

[sanderd17]

Some of these are easy, like just take the height difference between target and source, apply some formula and use that in the damage calculation. Other ones are more difficult, like determining the "flatness" of a terrain. That's normally comparing the height of n tiles around the unit. If you have to continuously do this for 200 units fighting, you end up with big lag probably. The same for detecting forests.

[JuliusColtranePille]

Some of these are easy, like just take the height difference between target and source, apply some formula and use that in the damage calculation. Other ones are more difficult, like determining the "flatness" of a terrain. That's normally comparing the height of n tiles around the unit. If you have to continuously do this for 200 units fighting, you end up with big lag probably. The same for detecting forests.

let's wait how the fundraising turns out and than one can possibly reconsider implemented gameplay-features and all that nice stuff. :-)

that terrain-thing would be awesome... but imho the general fighting-simulation should be put towards fighting in formation (yes ... a known problem) ... so that you can effectively manage your battle tactics (and that this plays the most important role on the outcome of the battle)

that and the lag will make the game 100% more fun :-) . because i think the graphics and cultures and technologies are already AAA :-)

lookin forward!

[Ryze]

Some of these are easy, like just take the height difference between target and source, apply some formula and use that in the damage calculation. Other ones are more difficult, like determining the "flatness" of a terrain. That's normally comparing the height of n tiles around the unit. If you have to continuously do this for 200 units fighting, you end up with big lag probably. The same for detecting forests.

Would it not be better to determine 'flatness' of the terrain while loading the game and add the flag 'hills' or 'forest' to the terrain itself (I have no idea if the engine allows that, by the way...)? That flag would in turn create an "aura" that would apply to all units in the area. It's better that calculating that for each and every unit... Did I misunderstood what you said?

[sanderd17]

Would it not be better to determine 'flatness' of the terrain while loading the game and add the flag 'hills' or 'forest' to the terrain itself (I have no idea if the engine allows that, by the way...)? That flag would in turn create an "aura" that would apply to all units in the area. It's better that calculating that for each and every unit... Did I misunderstood what you said?

When you play simulation games in Atlas, you can change the terrain while playing. Also, even in regular games, you can harvest wood, so forests disappear. So caching isn't that easy.

[Ryze]

When you play simulation games in Atlas, you can change the terrain while playing. Also, even in regular games, you can harvest wood, so forests disappear. So caching isn't that easy.

Yes, I should have remembered that... On the other hand, it's only an issue with forests (in regular games). What would the performance hit be if you added the 'aura' to all trees instead of adding it to terrain itself?

As for simulation games, I have no idea xD