LotC Maps and their Future?

[Jihnyny 5233]

 

I don’t like Aevos (Braevos).

Despite Almaris having quite poor terrain and size problems aswell, nations were easily found and the map was easy to travel through (by road).
 

Spoiler

 

The infamous stone-trees that are around the map, (used the savanna as an example), and the horrid terrain between a regular mountain range.

 

I find it an ugly, unfinished and poorly made map, that held no thought behind it in terms of roleplay or build making. The use of hilly and mountain terrain is painful on roads and the unusual diversity of biomes, (along with the lack of ability and permission to terraform) has been annoying.

The fact that we will probably have to last on this map for another 1-2 years, before moving onto another rushed or poorly designed map made by a random fiverr is something I don’t look forward to. However, at the same time I want to move away from this map. The addition of lore regions is great @squakhawkand his team did a grand job, (aswell as the builders that tried to make the map look nicer), but at the end of the day it is ugly and nothing can save it. 

Shoutout to Shadow and the Solgaardians for giving Norland a new look though, and Sean for making the awesome orc mountain 

 

IMO Lotc maps should be built to last, instead of constant migration. The map should be built to last more than 3 years.(But not actually play on it for that long)

It shouldn’t be riddled in horrid hills or mountains and should be quite flat. The desert shouldn’t be neglected and it should have a decent sized area with a savanna and rainforest that current nations can integrate into.

Stop with the cancerous North that no one but darkspawn lairs use. It doesn't have to have a large piece of the map.

Add an archipelago, have around 2 mountain ranges, make the map WIDE instead of circular, make it like a rectangle. With a PRE-SET ROAD that goes from west to east. So if staff want to follow with the soulstone system, they can simply have 3. West, Centre, East.

 

What’re your thoughts on the current lotc map and what do you look forward to in the next one?

[Epicethan4 948]

I think Aevos looks fine imo, however I would personally prefer a SMALLER map. Not super small, but around 60% the size of the current map. I feel as though there's too much territory to the point it deincentivies conflict.

[Random 1697]

Tbf your horrible FOV makes the screenshots you added look extra shitty

[TomFunks 756]

There's certain parts of the map that feel really disjointed from each other, especially in how they're blended. The example of the savannah/desert is a good one but also the fantastically large trees and mushrooms seem a bit strange, though that's just subjective.

I like that there's some distance between the cities, though I think it should be a bit shorter. Definitely not a short walk, though. I think something like the distance between Numendil and Haense is fine (roughly 6 tiles, though I know that measurement is rough since they're not all equal size). If the map were somewhat smaller, this distance wouldn't feel so rough. I very much dislike using the soulstone system but I enjoy the travel between cities so making it feasible is preferable.

East to west road sounds cool, also.

[Jihnyny 5233]

12 minutes ago, Epicethan4 said:

I think Aevos looks fine imo, however I would personally prefer a SMALLER map. Not super small, but around 60% the size of the current map. I feel as though there's too much territory to the point it deincentivies conflict.

the thing about this map is that it was supposed to be smaller than almaris (which it is) if you count almaris's southern and northern continent as one. Though Aevos is around the same size as the main almaris continent iirc.

10 minutes ago, Dr Random K. said:

Tbf your horrible FOV makes the screenshots you added look extra shitty

it does make it look worse i agree, but the map still looks horrible in normal fov. The assets are bad and the mountains are poorly made / formed. I heard one time in #ooc i think, that some builders were asked with smoothing the mountains out bec they were far worse before.

2 minutes ago, FunkehMelon said:

There's certain parts of the map that feel really disjointed from each other, especially in how they're blended. The example of the savannah/desert is a good one but also the fantastically large trees and mushrooms seem a bit strange, though that's just subjective.

I like that there's some distance between the cities, though I think it should be a bit shorter. Definitely not a short walk, though. I think something like the distance between Numendil and Haense is fine (roughly 6 tiles, though I know that measurement is rough since they're not all equal size). If the map were somewhat smaller, this distance wouldn't feel so rough. I very much dislike using the soulstone system but I enjoy the travel between cities so making it feasible is preferable.

East to west road sounds cool, also.

the blending is horrid, that is real. and the tree assets are bad too IMO. like, i understand why they're doing it, but it feels like far too much. The dark forest / cherry blossom one works decently because of how large and spacious they are. But the oak trees or the pine trees in the north just seem lazy.

its the terrain and road design that makes places closer / further i think. But the Numendil and Haense distance is around a 5 minute walk iirc. only 2-3 on horseback. IMO its a great distance too, from capital to capital.

yeah just a 'kings road' that is pre built, and then nations can join together. Because the map would be wide, instead of circular, the distance between each capital wouldnt be far, unless you're going on a specifc x to y point, which then you can simply soulstone to the east, west or centre part of the map

[OP bandamont 901]

whoever makes maps for lotc got fetish for mountains
theres a good map that https://www.gamepressure.com/newsroom/modders-recreated-kingdom-come-deliverance-map-in-minecraft/za2aeb
lotc can learn from, a good looking map with actual mountains and hills, would work way better and look better than 90% of the map.

on the fantasy spots - should def exist but, it can't be as huge as they are rn, dead spots that provide nothing to majority of the playerbase, most of those r made for 10~ people to interact with

[_RoyalCrafter_ 5285]

I like bigger maps. Almaris was 10x more fun for me in terms of its size because you could ride for a long time and explore terrain. With horses and ss it takes no time to go between nations so its a pointless argument. In  terms of conflict, god forbid nations place their land strategically, instead of being tossed into a pit filled with snakes to see which snake will eat everyone else. From talking to people, i think the most active maps were pretty big anyway. Large land gives more space to do events, which encourages more exploration and new terrain. I feel like a lot of this map is having events repeat in same location, which makes it boring.

 

Fantasy biomes follow much of the same argument, but another reason for it is 'its a fantasy server.' I want crystal caverns, floating islands, mushroom forests, crazy canyons. etc. Half this map is useless, so much is occupied by a shitty frozen-over environment in the north, and the southwest has lag-inducing forests. (Not to mention its all ugly) If you have more crazy biomes, it will give more variety to lair identity. Every darkspawn lair atm is in the north and are like 'uhh we're tough guys coz we live in the north.' Imagine finding some witch coven in a land with prismatic crystals sprouting through it, compared to the 10th morbillionth tundra shack. Not to mention, the possibilities fantasy biomes give to lore in terms of events, explanations, and even player-submitted animals and plants. ITS SO BORING WITHOUT ANY OF THESE BIOMES. Imagine a warclaim / skirmish talking place across cracked islands or something, might be cancer but would look cool.

I voted for 1-2 year time, mainly coz i'm sick of aevos. but if the maps were good ideally you'd want them longer. Its annoying to basically roleplay everything being upended for the 16th time when settling a new land. Ideally, new locations like islands would be revealed overtime on this map. As a sidenote, I think it would be much more interesting if when a new map dropped, the old map is not destroyed but kept alive as an NPC thing. You'd probably get issues with claimaints and shit or whatever, but at this point idk how dwarves and elves who have lived over multiple maps have not killed themselves due to this endless cycle of destruction. Mix it up a little bit.

Another sidenote, cool biomes good for trailers and attracting new players.

[Jihnyny 5233]

17 minutes ago, _RoyalCrafter_ said:

I like bigger maps. Almaris was 10x more fun for me in terms of its size because you could ride for a long time and explore terrain. With horses and ss it takes no time to go between nations so its a pointless argument. In  terms of conflict, god forbid nations place their land strategically, instead of being tossed into a pit filled with snakes to see which snake will eat everyone else. From talking to people, i think the most active maps were pretty big anyway. Large land gives more space to do events, which encourages more exploration and new terrain. I feel like a lot of this map is having events repeat in same location, which makes it boring.

 

Fantasy biomes follow much of the same argument, but another reason for it is 'its a fantasy server.' I want crystal caverns, floating islands, mushroom forests, crazy canyons. etc. Half this map is useless, so much is occupied by a shitty frozen-over environment in the north, and the southwest has lag-inducing forests. (Not to mention its all ugly) If you have more crazy biomes, it will give more variety to lair identity. Every darkspawn lair atm is in the north and are like 'uhh we're tough guys coz we live in the north.' Imagine finding some witch coven in a land with prismatic crystals sprouting through it, compared to the 10th morbillionth tundra shack. Not to mention, the possibilities fantasy biomes give to lore in terms of events, explanations, and even player-submitted animals and plants. ITS SO BORING WITHOUT ANY OF THESE BIOMES. Imagine a warclaim / skirmish talking place across cracked islands or something, might be cancer but would look cool.

I voted for 1-2 year time, mainly coz i'm sick of aevos. but if the maps were good ideally you'd want them longer. Its annoying to basically roleplay everything being upended for the 16th time when settling a new land. Ideally, new locations like islands would be revealed overtime on this map. As a sidenote, I think it would be much more interesting if when a new map dropped, the old map is not destroyed but kept alive as an NPC thing. You'd probably get issues with claimaints and shit or whatever, but at this point idk how dwarves and elves who have lived over multiple maps have not killed themselves due to this endless cycle of destruction. Mix it up a little bit.

Another sidenote, cool biomes good for trailers and attracting new players.

I love big maps. I think big maps are cool. Big maps will allow for more space in between builds, which means more possibilities with builds and perhaps a longer time on a map. However, the problem with big maps is the current tile and war system, aswell as the travel system. Bring back carts, ferrys, buff horses and casual running on the main 'kings road'. 

i dont like fantasy biomes personally. Probably because I dont dig the very vibrant and clear fantasy style of lotc. (idk how to explain it, i prefer when the fantasy is sort of lowkey?) If there are fantasy biomes, i'd like it if there was more major eventlines like miniguy keeps creating with the other ST, instead of the shitty community focused ones we had last map. (they were rply great)

i hate migration. i hate how when we move, NL's must make a build within x time, and certain nations cant go where they want to because its been already picked by y nation. i hate how we just spawn casually with an entire city and roleplay as if nothing happened. I hate how its barely mentioned within a year. I hate how alot of shit gets lost due to it. 
IMO the perfect map wouldn't be an island but just a massive contintent that we move through time by time. And half of the map we played on would be unplayable, while the other would still be playable with the addition of a new region expansion. 

[wowj 9760]

3 hours ago, Jihnyny said:

darkspawn

its the third era please dont use this word

[PrinceJose270 1211]

We must make Hawaii. But with each island being a purely diff biome (Which can mean theres multiple islands of normal and fantasy)

Give boats, ferrys and pirating a reason to thrive

[Jihnyny 5233]

1 minute ago, wowj said:

its the third era please dont use this word

a creepy spooky dark affiliated individual 

 

[xo31 3984]

30 minutes ago, _RoyalCrafter_ said:

Every darkspawn lair atm is in the north and are like 'uhh we're tough guys coz we live in the north.'

Why would dead people need warmth 

[ImmortalShadowZ 1306]

3 hours ago, Jihnyny said:

Shoutout to Shadow and the Solgaardians for giving Norland a new look though,

Thanks for the shout out, I think I should give my stance on this as I been building actively nonstop on it but alot of the key ideas of the post I agree with.

 

Terrain for this map has been terrible, it has been heavily reported that LOTC hired a terrible paint builder a month or so before it was released as they had been scammed with others before. That being said when the nations began building their plots, alot of the landscape was (and often still is) terribly made with random scattered assets that have no effect in the biome except because they made it look like the builder did something. 

 

2 years now that I've spent terraforming this map has made me dislike alot of the choices made. Lacking of actual woodlands for instance and overall nature. YOU SHOULDN'T THINK A JUNGLE TREE TURNED INTO BIRCH LOG IS A COOL LOOKING WOODLANDS.

 

Anyway, next map needs to limit the overall heights and flesh out the mountains and the nature of biomes so you can have more ET. Style events like the mountain climb and also let nations not build random horrible Terrain to climb up to their mountain home.

 

On this map roughly 70% is a Plains biome with nothing to help generate rp for events and exploration. I'll leave that in mind

[Morigung-oog 5697]

What people seem to fail to understand is that a larger distance between nations makes it far less easy to find Roleplay. As someone who’s experienced four maps + Axios to some extent, I’ve seen a range of map sizes and I’ve never really enjoyed larger maps. In order to make them really work, you’d probably need to add more soulstone slots. I don’t want to spent 30 minutes going from empty nation to empty nation to use the server for its intended purpose.

[Andustar 4143]

Whilst I don't necessarily dislike large maps, they can be very frustrating to navigate at times and often result in mutual roleplay hubs between communities (i.e. the Red Rose Tavern in Athera) becoming far more sparse. If they are to remain the norm going forward, I would appreciate the addition of a wider range of fast travel options. This has often been a controversial add-on that has frequently been subject to debate, but I do honestly consider it a necessity if you truly desire a vast sprawling landscape.