Flora Improvement Project - Winter image - Rise of the Mandalorians mod for Star Wars: Empire at War: Forces of Corruption
The Empire has fallen and a New Republic is born out of the conflict. But in the ashes of civil war, yet another life stirs...
Empire at War doesn't have enough snow maps, and that's a fact. They have the obligatory "Battle of Hoth" map but otherwise only a few small maps with winter theme...and this bothered me. Not just because I think snow maps have a certain appeal but c'mon, even a planet like Tatooine has some type of seasonal transitions (not that it will ever get snow...but you see my point). A planet is never just "the forest planet" or "the ocean planet". There are climate variances and seasonal changes, to some degree.
That said, one planet that struck me as a great opportunity to transform to winter was Bothawui. From the Wiki:
"Bothawui experienced numerous small ice ages, which expanded and retracted across the planet's higher latitudes in seventy-year cycles."
That said, since we don't know currently what phase of the cycle Bothawui is in, why not make it during a transition period where it's snowy but not yet totally frozen? To that end, and for general use on other maps, I've improved and created some snow flora for use. Depicted here are better snow trees, tundra grasses, and snow tree canopy props (a boon to all you mappers out there, I hope).
For the trees I really wanted to give an alpine look...and those who have seen mountain snow on pine trees know that it's not just a light dusting. So, I couldn't just re-texture my other trees with white branches... I hope that this new "snow piled on" look is more suitable. Feedback is always welcome, of course.
looks Great keep up the good work!
I've always had a soft spot for this sort of semi-frozen landscape. Snowy fields with patches of grass showing inbetween. The kind of stuff you would expect with the temperature constantly hovering between 5°C and -5°C. Though I don't think snow trooper gear would be issued for mild frost like that. Maybe add some "light snow" maps with regular troopers, at least for the empire?
I get your point here however if we're going with the logic of Bothawui being a transitional period into one of their ice ages, I think it makes sense. The landscape here is tundra, like what you might find in norther Canada or Alaska and despite there being plants, it's quite cold...
However, if this were any other world just in the winter season, I would tend to agree with you. I have no problem making some other maps that are like this. Perhaps we could do one on a temperate world where you are fighting on a mountain slope or something... One half (the low half) starts off with greenery and the higher up you get on the far side of the map, the snowier it gets.
As someone who loves the look of snow on trees I must say that you have done an excellent job.
Glad I've captured the essence of what it should look like. I wasn't sure starting out how it would look... Since I wanted to do this without increasing the actual geometry of the trees and only use textures, to save memory.
This makes me wish EaW had a planetary season system.
You may be able to make several maps per planet, with different light and weather settings, and then randomize the map that is used in the planets code. No clue if this'd work though, but it would give you different "seasons" to work with.
You can add multiple weather patterns and lighting settings just in the map editor and then it chooses randomly when the map is loaded. The problem is that you cant randomize terrain textures, which is obviously important for winter settings.
The game doesn't support multiple maps per planet, but there is a way around that involving lua and story scripting. We're using it to swap ground maps on planet death events, but you could easily use that to simulate seasons.
Or simply just locations. Mos Eisley vs the Dune Sea, for example.
That too.
Only thing you have to make sure of is having the same number of base positions in the map as defined for the planet.
The main gameplay concern with multiple ground maps per planet would be the defenders not having any build pad structures left over from a previous invasion if a different map is loaded. I also don't really see how the defender would be able to designate structure and initial troop location, not unless the maps are in the same location with all corresponding placement markers present (different season/time of day maps).
Having land maps in which structures cannot be built, but units can still be garrisoned could work decently. For instance, areas of space that typically would not have land maps could have special space stations that cannot be destroyed in space combat (only having destructible hardpoints aligned with the defenders). When 'land' combat begins, a random map based on a certain entry vector on the space station (hangar, cargo bay, airlock, etc.) is chosen with the defenders receiving upgrades and some form of reinforcement from that entrance, and the attackers having to destroy it to win and finish conquering the system. Purely defensive structures like turbolaser towers would probably still work.
Looks great. It's different from Hoth which is essentially a snowball. This reminds me a bit of the Battle of the Bulge.
For shame Farseer, have you forgotten the great snow map that is Alzoc?
Hey now, i did say that there were a FEW others...with Alzoc in mind ;)
The game certainly could still use some variety in this area though.
VERY stunning
Thats so cool i am really looking forward to this
most impressive
God damn i love me some tundra landscapes! Excellent work my man! With every screenshot i get more and more excited for this mod.
Great!
I... I... I dont know what to say... its just so beautifull.. :,)
Between this and YVaW I am incredibly excited for the future of mods in EAW