[0.952][Suggestion] Start with the map Revealed

from Elemental Forums

The game should start with the entire map geography revealed. 

First, the cloth map is beautiful and covering it up for the majority of the game is a crime.

Second, it gives the player a reasonable understanding of where they are in the world.  Which allows the player to better formulate a strategy for expansion, and place their opponents geographically.

Third, it could be applied to provide a cinematic start of the game, where the camera starts pulled back to the cloth map and tracks and zooms until it's focused in on your sov, standing alone in the wastes (which I think would be awesome).

 

Edit:  I need to clarify...

This is what you see when you use the cheats to remove Fog of War. 

Everything.  All the monsters, all opponent units, cities and ZoC, all goodies, all quests, resources, everything.

Now imagine this map without the labels, lines, and units.  Like it's just a map.  No quests, no monsters, no resources, just the map.  Rivers, mountains, oceans, forests and that's it.  When I say "reveal the map", that's what I am talking about.

You still need to explore to find resources, monsters, and your opponents.

(I posted this idea as a reply in the 100 turns of AI thread, but I think it deserves it's own subject line.)

11,571 views 5 replies
Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top

Don't like this idea at all. It would just kill the exploration part of the game.  Now a toggle put into the game to remove the fog is fine so that both sides can play the game they way they like.

Reply #2 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Bellack, reply 1
Don't like this idea at all. It would just kill the exploration part of the game.  Now a toggle put into the game to remove the fog is fine so that both sides can play the game they way they like.
End of Bellack's quote

Perhaps it's not clear, I don't want to remove the fog of war, just the inky blackness.

For me the exploration is about finding resources and places to settle which isn't really a matter of geography at all.  I like Fog Of War, I don't want to see everything.  But I struggle to understand why my sovereign doesn't know anything about the world.

I'd be fine with a toggle.  And I think this could easily be modded in.  But I think the game will miss out on a "Wow!" moment for reviewers and new players by hiding the beautiful cloth map.

Elemental: Reforged
Reply #3 from Elemental Forums Top

FWIW, enable cheats and the FOW toggle is there.  Control-U.

Reply #4 from Elemental Forums Top


I think what the original poster was suggesting was an opening "flyover" video across the map - perhaps highlighting the competing sovereigns - like the one in the beginning of the Game of Thrones series, and then to go back to a hidden map... which would be seriously cool, but I don't think it's even close to possible....

Reply #5 from Elemental Forums Top

I generally just cast Eye of the Eagle to get that feeling. It is so much more fun when you have to learn and cast magic to get that sense of the world.