What if different water terrains had effects similar to hill bonus?

[kalpit00]

With the map pool including hybrid water maps, I thought of an idea to make the water gameplay more diverse and microintensive. Age is a complex game as it is, but in water battles, if one person loses initial momentum, it is impossible to win back water in the same age. Their best bet is using demo ships, which is always a gimmick (comparative to mangonels vs xbow - sometimes works, sometimes doesnt).

First and foremost, and I believe this question has already been answered, Are Hills on Water a thing? I am just curious why we arent seeing elevation on water, is it just because it is unnatural? if that is the case, I have an idea.

What if different water terrains would give bonus attack to ships, kinda like hill bonus does? Like on islands, to encourage more warfare in the middle of the sea, what if the water in the middle has patches of deep water, and water near the shore is normal water, and ships in deep water deal +25% more damage to ships in normal water. This will encourage players to sort of utilize the middle of the sea for micro purposes, while also allowing the player who might have fallen behind in numbers to mass again at their docks.

I have to say, the map script has to include spots of deep water near the shore as well though, just to give players that micro potential near their own docks as well (like how a hill near a gold is both good and bad for a player depending on if they get the hill). Otherwise the water game play might become a campfest, like Black Forest 111.

I have some other ideas as well, on both land and water terrains, some of which are already implemented in the game, and I want to know what thoughts do you guys have on them.

The cracked terrains making buildings take more damage. On a map like islands where the neutral islands of gold is of importance in late game, if their terrain is cracked or has a feature allowing ships to deal more damage to a castle or tower on it, it would include an element of high risk high reward (like going into the middle in maps like golden pit or gold rush).

 

[Huehuecoyotl22]

Some maps do have elevation on water, among the most popular ones are:
Tsunami
Cape of Storms
Aquapolis
(Loch Ness and some other maps only have the outermost tile(s) of the water elevated, so that ships attacking docks have a lower attack.)


Cracked terrain is only for buildings, so we would need terrain that affects units, which could be possible, but it will add another element to the game, which will change the game; then there would be room for civ bonuses again, e. g. civ A's ships move faster on that terrain, civ B's infantry is unaffected by slower movement speed on quicksand, etc.

Probably possible, but do we want it?

 

[derpina276]

For some specific maps its fine for me, as long as it does not effect current maps.
So as Huehuecoyotl22 already said we can just use the hill water maps imo.

Paying attention to demos, repairing gallies 24/7 is enough apm for me tbh. Also having to pay attention to water color seems a bit much to me.

 

[nimanoe]

I think a big problem with hills on water is that it becomes a lot more stale, with people camping the hills instead of fighting. It also makes galleys more powerful, as ranged units can utilize hills much better.

I think your idea could be fun for a different (perhaps a bit gimmicky) map, especially cracked terrain for the middle island seems interesting, but I don't think it should become standard.

 

[RobChang]

One of my ideas when having done a water balance redesign was that the Japanese Unique ship the atakebune can only move on shallows but not in deep water making it a super defensive ship that can only be used there. To make them more viable Japanese would also get a Water Unique Tech to be research in their Imperial Harbour = Fortified Harbour that spawns a ring of shallows around the harbours so that atakebunes can be used there to defend. But thats all just fantasy :D

 

[SaladEsc]

I think water could be made more interesting with variable moment speeds between units. Right now it's just a case of rock, paper, scissors or a highest number's game, there is no perceivable difference between the movement speeds of the ships. I think it could be interesting to add a 'light' and 'heavy' variant in some way. Terrain (deep vs shallow water) could come into play here, but honestly it becomes too complicated unless it's intuitively done, which is not the devs' strength 11.

 

[ThePopeOfDope]

I don't think elevation and damage bonusses make a lot of sense on water.

As a kid however I always dreamt of terrain affecting speed: galleons move faster in deep than in shallow water, units (except camels) move slower in the desert, units wading through marshes to cross a river move slower...

I always liked that idea, and the tactical versatility it offers.