[Suggestion] Visual faction differentiation

from Stardock Forums

Not sure if this has been mentioned somewhere else already, but here it goes.

I know a lot is being done in the faction differentiation department and I'm thoroughly impressed with many of the changes that have already been implemented, but as I play and encounter the different kingdoms/empires I notice that they're all rather similar. What I mean to say is that I envision Gilden as a desert nation, Tarth as a nomadic swamp tribe, etc. However, when I'm wandering around their territory they're just another grassland country.

In my opinion, instead of spreading "grassland" in territory they control perhaps they could spread a more appropriate terrain. Such as Gilden spreading desert terrain, Tarth spreading swamp, etc..

I'm not sure how simple or even plausible it would be, but I feel like something like this could add a bit of visual differentiation on top of the great changes that have already been made :P

8,659 views 6 replies
Reply #1 from Elemental Forums Top

It's quite possible, in the past (in EWOM), we could add factions (or mod them) to have desert/snow/etc terrain as their defaults. However. if I recall correctly (been a while), they made it so that you only get territory bonuses on Kingdom (grass) and Empire (dark grass) terrains, and most of those modded factions got shafted as a result.

Reply #2 from Elemental Forums Top

Or a spell to make certain areas more productive and change them to the preferred type rather than just change automatically?

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Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top

Perhaps. The way the fertility/production mechanic works as is, does kinda inhibit this, I suppose.

I'd just like to see something give more visual distinction to kingdoms in particular, seeing as they're all humans, basically. Right now the only thing that really separates them at a glance is hair color.

Reply #4 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting b_rad136, reply 3
Perhaps. The way the fertility/production mechanic works as is, does kinda inhibit this, I suppose.
End of b_rad136's quote

It is quite possible to mod in new ZoC art for factions. In no way does the fertility system prevent this. You can make a factions ZoC look like anything you want.

Reply #5 from Elemental Forums Top

+1

age of wonders did this, they had snow, and swamp lands extending outward in your zoc, it was really cool looking and useful to tell what faction was where even at a glance. Personally I think they should all be spreading some type of life, which gibes with the general lore and is intuitively a good thing (as opposed to say, spreading perpetual winter), but that doesn't mean the life all needs to look the same or even necessarily earthly life. 

I imagine the Tarth spreading royal hunting forests, or even jungle, all the better for hunting in, which could double as extra protection (pre-roads I guess) due to the movement penalties usually associated with it which they ignore, I'd love to see some of the magic focused ones spreading a type of primate living elemental landscape.

Reply #6 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting DsRaider, reply 4

Quoting b_rad136, reply 3Perhaps. The way the fertility/production mechanic works as is, does kinda inhibit this, I suppose.

It is quite possible to mod in new ZoC art for factions. In no way does the fertility system prevent this. You can make a factions ZoC look like anything you want.
End of DsRaider's quote

It's not possible. It was a bit possible in E:wom, but it is very not possible in FE. The environment types are really hardcoded.