Invisible fish

[Yekaterina]

In A25, sometimes we can't find any fish, even if they are right under our boats. Please can we have a different model to indicate the locations of fish, so that fishing becomes a more viable economic option? A massive thank you to the artists who are willing to help me  

The minimap says there are 3 schools of fish in this region of water, but I am afraid I cannot see anything apart from the water...

@Stan`

[Silier]

@vladislavbelov would it be possible to render them after water so they would remain visible?

Though not sure how that would look.

@Yekaterina play with water settings, at certain combination they are pretty visible

Or we could force selection footprint to be visible like heroes have.

[Gurken Khan]

11 minutes ago, Yekaterina said:

In A25, sometimes we can't find any fish

I always had that problem. I think deep water is a problem there:

That never stopped me from fishing, though: I align my view with the minimap, max zoom in and then scan the screen with my cursor...

 

[vladislavbelov]

51 minutes ago, Angen said:

@vladislavbelov would it be possible to render them after water so they would remain visible?

Though not sure how that would look.

I don't think it'll look good. I see at least 3 possible solutions:

1. Make water more transparent on all maps where the fish is invisible. It doesn't require engine changes, but the water won't look real for some maps (not so much dirt/mud as it should have).
2. Make the fish selection ring visible always but more transparent than usual color.
3. Add a semi-transparent fish icon over a fish area.

[wraitii]

There's other solutions: add some flying birds, more fish that jump out of water.

[Gurken Khan]

More fish jumping - and their splashes make the selection ring visible!

btw now it doesn't say 'Tuna' for every fish, but usually 'Fish'; maybe there's a nicer solution...

[vladislavbelov]

11 minutes ago, wraitii said:

There's other solutions: add some flying birds, more fish that jump out of water.

Maybe bubbles on water.

[maroder]

1 hour ago, vladislavbelov said:

Make the fish selection ring visible always but more transparent than usual color.

 

21 minutes ago, wraitii said:

There's other solutions: add some flying birds, more fish that jump out of water

yes to the above. But no unrealistic transparent water please.

[Gurken Khan]

If fish are visible in shallow water against the ground, would it be possible to add a second layer to deeper waterbodies to make fish more visible?

[Stan`]

I don't particularly like the idea of fishes jumping out of water, I'd be more in favour of something like this

Maybe something analog to auras can be done

[hyperion]

1 hour ago, Gurken Khan said:

btw now it doesn't say 'Tuna' for every fish, but usually 'Fish'; maybe there's a nicer solution...

Goldfish, they are colourful, so you easily see them.

[Gurken Khan]

Ah yes, the famous ancient goldfish-fleets...

[Sturm]

Problem solved!

 

Edited August 10, 2021 by Sturm

[wowgetoffyourcellphone]

15 hours ago, vladislavbelov said:

• Make the fish selection ring visible always but more transparent than usual color.

This isn't bad, as long as it's very faint. Lighter than the hero transparency. Is there a way to test this with very light alwaysvisible selection ring? I've tried it in DE, but it's just too visible.

 

15 hours ago, wraitii said:

There's other solutions: add some flying birds, more fish that jump out of water.

This would be ideal.

13 hours ago, Stan` said:

I don't particularly like the idea of fishes jumping out of water, I'd be more in favour of something like this

Maybe something analog to auras can be done

Looks like Candy Crush to me or "Clash of Clans"-ish.

[Stan`]

20 minutes ago, wowgetoffyourcellphone said:

ring? I've tried it in DE, but it's just too visible.

 

Did you try messing with the texture.

21 minutes ago, wowgetoffyourcellphone said:

This would be ideal.

Birds yeah, jumping tuna, not so much to me.

21 minutes ago, wowgetoffyourcellphone said:

Looks like Candy Crush to me or "Clash of Clans"-ish.

That's the settlers 6 I guess it predates that

[smiley]

1 hour ago, Stan` said:

jumping tuna, not so much to me.

A jumping tuna is more likely than a stationary tuna given that they need to swim continuously at quite high speeds to literally survive.

The model doesn't look like a tuna, so might as well just rename it to generic fish. Especially considering that none of the civs live somewhere close to where Tuna fisheries is aside from Maurya and Kushite.

That is of course assuming the objection is due to realism.

[Silier]

1 minute ago, smiley said:

Especially considering that none of the civs live somewhere close to where Tuna fisheries is aside from Maurya and Kushite.

That would depend more on map than on civilisation.

[smiley]

1 minute ago, Angen said:

That would depend more on map than on civilisation.

I meant more as in all current maps depicts relevant locations and all maps currently featuring tuna are geographically inaccurate.

[Stan`]

23 minutes ago, smiley said:

The model doesn't look like a tuna, so might as well just rename it to generic fish. Especially considering that none of the civs live somewhere close to where Tuna fisheries is aside from Maurya and Kushite.

That is of course assuming the objection is due to realism.

You mean the blue tuna doesn't look like a tuna? XD

 

[hyperion]

1 minute ago, smiley said:

That is of course assuming the objection is due to realism.

In reality it's hard to spot fish. So job well done.

Maybe a hotkey to select all gaia in a selection rectangle, like observers can is all that's needed. Wouldn't be limited to fish either. There are other things hard to spot which is a given if it has to be realistic and look beautiful.

Anyway, any of the make ugly but functional visual changes for competitive play belong into mods.

[smiley]

14 minutes ago, Stan` said:

You mean the blue tuna doesn't look like a tuna? XD

I haven't taken a close look at it, but from an in game perspective, not really. I guess that's a bluefin but compared to human models, those are kinda out of proportion. Although, at this point, this is nothing more than nitpicking. Also might be because I see most species up close quite often so irregularities are amplified.

[wowgetoffyourcellphone]

Probably just make the two fish versions variations of just one generic fish template. I'm sure we don't want to have multiple fish templates based on multiple species and have to worry about if a species of fish is right for each map. It's hard enough keeping land animals straight, and fish are under water and not as visible to players. One generic fish template is the way.

[wraitii]

Caesar III used birds to highlight fish areas, which I think is a decent and semi-realistic option, if water cannot be made transparent / people don't want jumping fishes.

[Stan`]

Birds are doable  I'd like to have more anyway.

[Gurken Khan]

2 hours ago, wraitii said:

if water cannot be made transparent / people don't want jumping fishes.

Currently fish are jumping; maybe one has to know where they are, look closely and wait for it, but eventually a fish will jump.

Any feedback to my earlier suggestion to add a second layer of water?