[MAP] Arctic Lion (4km) [WIP]

[QuickLoad]

OK changed title and this msg as now the mapping has begun.
This will be a 4KM map with jets, airmobile inf, with a focus(Compared to the old version) of infantry cover against APCs and enemy CAS. It's snowy, very snowy - but not too snowy as the map isn't entirely white. I still haven't nailed the constrast of colors completely but it's coming together.

Aside from the logic side of things(good cover, entrenched positions, possible forward operating positions), I really wanted to do a good job on the geometry(as glimmerman/heide had suggested with mountainy terrain and a variety of vegetation).

You will notice that the valley(which is a big chunk of the center of the map) has lots of protection against outer winds(after all it's a valley), thus less snow gets into the valley and ontop of that lots of movement throughout the various buildings of the valley keep snow on (some) trees, bushes and grass near roads to a minimum. Meanwhile, farther out vegetation will have more snow around it.

The NL Airfield which has some exposure to the elements as it's only shielded on one side, along with the fact it's got minimal activity on the hills near of it mean that aside from the runway and buildings - the vegetation outside of it's perimeter(hec blocks and chainlink fences) are going to be quite white. Thus, although visibility is quite low - the area outside of the base will be very very white. To constrast the hecblocks, bunkers, and various buildings along with lights of the runway(which I still need to add, along with tarmac and such) are going to keep your eyes from hurting TOO much.

The feel of the map should be eerie, with low visibility and the apparent whiteness everywhere you go.

Gameplay-wise, i'm hoping for multiple routes to multiple objectives, and water options(expanding the coastline) is a big possiblity.

I went into this believing that i'd just have to add a couple of trees and some trenches, some sandbags - but the map needs quite a bit of work(compared to the version that you and me have played before). I hope I can nail the aesthetics, along with gameplay and logic for a great map.


7/6/17
i'll make a video shortly to showcase the changes in V1.5-2.6, here are some changelogs but I most likely forgot a lot:

V1(of the screenshots):
-Minor changes to airfield including fences sandbags tents hecblocks chinooks f16s but nothing more, mostly just experimenting with how much room is needed.
-Lower-central town recieved some more houses. Mailboxes and cars added for cover(streets were quite empty and some houses are too spread out to give infantry enough cover). bushes and trees added to remove some sightlines but not all, this way infantry have a choice of directions to pick their attack from.
-Old russian main received a little bit of cover but most likely going to be removed alto++nin a later version.
-Control Tower hill received trees, and a bunker and some sandbags and wire to help make the place not so.. empty. also helps with the defense of the place.

7/6/17-
V1.5
-Lower-central town received more trees and more bushes, a little bit of hedgegrows but they seem a bit out of place. Other changes like some more cars and some more houses were added.
-Random trees placed around mountains, going to develop into the forest later on.
-Rocks placed near the top of the mountains to help add cover but since the ambiance is so windy i'd assume trees would have some problems at the peak, especially since in some places the peak is so thin.
7/6/17-
V2
-Forests added N, NE, E and W of the central town.
-There's a shack N of the MSR from the central town, it got some vegetation to help it out, and some road hazards were added to help explain why vehicles have stopped(vehicles were on the road on the map already)
-Control Tower hill received more vegetation, more sandbags, more bunkers, improvements to the razorwire, more trees, and some stumps in the area where NL-AF have cut down to help with their sightlines down the hill. There's also an added crashed F16 but im unsure if I will keep it.
-Improvements to the central town's vegetation, road also now leads up to where the apartments used to be, 'apartments' may be replaced with a truck stop in the future, nothing there as of now except some random trees.
-RU Observation Post added E of Central Town.
-NL Observation Post added N of the Central Town.
-More trees added N of the central town, but much incomplete.
-Trying foxholes on the W forest from central town, not looking good so far.

7/6/17-
V2.5
-Terrain improvements done to the NL OP, more viable as cover for a fireteam, instead of just 1 man. Still relatively exposed against anything that has splash damage.
-Forest treeline added to the N/NE Forest from the central town, still experimenting and incomplete.
-Touch ups on forest W of central town, still incomplete.
-'Dead' forest E of the NE/N forest from the central town. experimenting but it looks pretty good, may be moved to another place unless I can somehow explain why it's dead..
-RU possible FOB location added to the NE/N forest from the central town, needs touch up.
-Foxholes W forest from central town have been removed and replaced with some light-trenches and nasty bunker sightlines(although VERY prone to flanking) which cover some of the town and the oncoming MSR, the cover provided makes it an ideal possible NL fob location. a supplied squad can make this into a very decent hardpoint. the bunkers are made of concrete so it's assumed that this 'war' or whatever has been going on for atleast a couple months, this theory also helps explain the OP's.
-General improvements to the central town for trees.

7/6/17-
V2.6
-RU possibel FOB Location NE/N forest from central town got terrain touchups and razorwire added to some blind spots, although the wire can be destroyed.
-Razorwire added on the MSR entering central town, assumed to be set up by NL to stop speeding vehicles and needed to be set up hastily. also destructible and shouldn't really do anything at all since vheicles can speed through them.

7/6/17-
V2.7 http://imgur.com/a/i0sbr http://imgur.com/a/Je2jc
-RU possible fob location NE/N forest from central town got some trees 'chopped down' to assist with sightlines. trenches alsos hould be correct height now.

7/8/17-
V2.8 http://imgur.com/a/Je2jc
-Major improvements to forests, they should now look snowy instead of fcking vietnam and summer.
-Forests have been changed to use overgrowth instead of indivdually placed objects..
-General winter forest added, general dead forest added.
-Coastline starting at where the russian main has begun, currently traveling along some east side.
-Random villager's house NW of map has been added, may become a lumbermill later on or something
-Terrain improvements NW of map, terrain improvements around russian main.
-need to add 2.8.1-
-need to add 2.9-


7/17/17-
V2.9.5
-began creating a sort of patrol-base/patrol-outpost with enough room to land a helicopter in the north/central-west side of the map. this will be one of the few 'permenant' bases which aren't just ad-hoc defenses.
-terrain improvements to west side mountains and valleys along with 'dirt' roads

http://imgur.com/a/mQu4O
7/21/17-
V2.9.7-3.0
-started working on(NL) airfield tarmac again
- patrol base's main structure created, still needs lots of improving. problem was getting the defensive structures to actually be able to cover all the angles of this mountainy/snowy/foresty terrain and it was pretty annoying, so ended up just adding a single guard tower. there will be enough room for a couple helicopters to land along with a FOB and some AA / foxholes. it will be extended underground to lead into an outer trench system which actually faces the south. because it's actually closer to the RU main than the NL main, it's to help out the RU in defense, although it is a simple extension. the other main reason for this small trench system(which btw isnt done yet) is to add additional entrances to the patrol base. atm it has the front gate and a 'uncompleted hesco flank' for entrances, the trenches will be an additional one and probably a favorable one since it faces the NL. the barbed wire defending the trenches is destructible.

the point of this system is overall to give the russians an overt defensive position, while making it possible to attack. if the NL can support their attack from the OP and vehicles they can push into CQB territory via the trenches/tunnel. it will be a pain in the *** to build though. sorry for non-concise thoughts.

the hesco's and bunkers provide amazing angles for long range combat, but for closer range combat you will have trouble fighting anyone at the walls, hence why the wire extends almost around the entire main gate.

SL's should also be able to construct a risen razorwire/tank trap deployable on the uncomplete hesco blocks to secure the flank however that'll need ingame testing.
-NL OP created on am ountain above the patrol base.
-terrain improvements in a lot of areas on the map.
-coastline extended but still very incomplete
-RU main base got more room
-NL OP got better terrain and improved trenches, also better cover to help against blindspots and assist with angles of fire. there is a slight ditch to hide from explosive fire(tank apc cas etc) but probably pointless. it is only an OP so anything more than small arms it'll have trouble fighting against.

[Mr.VdHeide]

I gave you some feedback already, so I am just gona wish you good luck!



D.J.

[Glimmerman]

Hi,

I used my (not so) l33t paint skills and edited the terrain a bit:



added coast line
added fjords on coast line
added green trees
added some more towns/villages
added airfield for oppfor, this can be a complete airbase or a improvised airstrip from a piece of road used as runway with a medium base next to it.

Reason is that I think the current map looks to much like a ski resort and added lots of trees so armor cant roam free over the mountains and infantry has some cover, vehicles have to stick more or less to the roads and as i added some more there are various routes one can take to get to the different objectives.

i also added a coastline, this so we can do a future amphibious / airmobile assault and make the airport and harbour another objective.

[QuickLoad]

Glimmerman;2162081']Hi,

I used my (not so) l33t paint skills and edited the terrain a bit:

.. i must say these skills are better than vdheide's.

thank you both for your suggestions, if anyone wants to suggest more go feel free

[Rusty_42]

World Machine seems suitable for this.

Couple of examples:



You can import and export heightmap, splice textures.

[QuickLoad]

Rusty_42;2162186']World Machine seems suitable for this.

Couple of examples:



You can import and export heightmap, splice textures.

Yeah I just checked out some videos on it and looks like a very useful asset, i'll consider it thank you

[QuickLoad]

an update.
edited the beginning message to hopefully let you know what i'm trying to achieve currently.

[Mr.VdHeide]

Good start dude, keep it up!



D.J.

[FlyingR]

Reminds me of some winter WWII map for some reason, looks very good!

[AfterDune]

I feel you, FlyingR

[arjan]

Unsure if jets would take off in that type of weather.

[agus92]

Unsure if jets would take off in that type of weather.

Actually, the colder, the better. Although you need heaters to avoid ice.

Regarding visibility, you can use instruments.

[QuickLoad]

i've started adding some trenches/defensive positions, and two large forests along with other tiny details such as a small russian campsite( a OP for the russians prior to the attack), and it's assumed that the russians were here for awhile undetected and the NL had been strengthening it's front with defensively in some places. but this is a quiet place in the 'war' and thus a lot of places like the central village have been nigh untouched and seem peaceful.

a lot of the terrain is flat and boring, so i've been trying to add some places where maybe a snow plow might've pushed them up(you will also notice places closer to human-living locations or human-activity have less snow on the trees, while more remote areas have plenty of snow). but in general a lot of tiny ditches, dug out locations, foxholes, wooden stakes, small craters, anything to help break up the flatness.

this is all a giant excuse to have more cover on the map, which is one of the big deals.
i'm super tired so i will do a video/screenshots sometime later.

other details like adding bushes next to a house to help with closing sightlines and a tree falling onto the road preventing those giant 16 wheelers from progressing(before they were just stopped on the road for no reason whatsoever).

also i noticed there were actually a lot of trucks, but.. no reason for them to be in this tiny peaceful village. so since the place where the apartments used to be no longer exists i'm planning something for that.

so far i've basically been focusing on the center of the map and working my way towards the old russian side(in the final piece russian base will be moved to the NE corner instead of N(which it is atm))

i had a question - noticed the two beta maps sahel and route 106 had massive FPS problems, but what caused this? at first I thought it was trees, but sareema has A CRAPTON OF TREES and no issues.

i was a little concerned with the amoutn of trees needed to be a 'forest'. i understand using clusters is good but sareema doesnt use them and has no issues iwth fps.

ok im off to sleep now, i promise to place screens and/or vid later

have a good day

edit: one more thing, I was looking for the bastonge kind of look in the higher places of the forest iwth the super tall 20m snowy pine trees or something like that but I can't find any, that's a shame.

[Mr.VdHeide]

Good to hear you are still working on it!

And sounds good so far, though I would love to see a bunch of screenshots of course!

Do you have the map working in game? If so, could you perhaps PM me a download link?

Don't worry too much about the the forest, if you do end up using too many tree's then you could simply lower the density in your overgrowth tool bar. Also, something worth noting is that saaremaa (even tho it is a 4km map) is in fact pretty small. It has about the same amounts of land as lets say Dovre because the island is only 2*2km. If you want to make a good forest then you should make the edges really dense and the center less dense just like Ulyanovsk has.

Good luck!



D.J.

[DogACTUAL]

Not that this is going to change your mind but could you possible give this map good view distance with good visibility, no fog and no snowstorm weather? We already have Dovre Winter with the whole snowstorm deal.

Would be nice to have an 'arctic' map with clear air and great view distance, the previous version looked quite epic in that regard.

[QuickLoad]

Not that this is going to change your mind but could you possible give this map good view distance with good visibility, no fog and no snowstorm weather? We already have Dovre Winter with the whole snowstorm deal.

Would be nice to have an 'arctic' map with clear air and great view distance, the previous version looked quite epic in that regard.

yeah i was really thinking about it since there will most likely be jets, and this weather is garbage in terms of visibility. since there will be lots of cover I think that good visibility will be nice.

I didn't get to those settings yet but I most likely will.. or maybe have multiple layouts for weather(night, day or afternoon/day + snowy). those are a low priority though because I want to get the general map done first.

snowy weather will make forest combat interesting, but urban and open combat very awkward.(likewise, clear weather will make forest combat more about the trees instead of taking advantage of the snow, so the combat wouldn't be as unique and would be more of standard PR combat) so there needs to be sort of equalibrium.

[QuickLoad]

Good to hear you are still working on it!

And sounds good so far, though I would love to see a bunch of screenshots of course!

Do you have the map working in game? If so, could you perhaps PM me a download link?

Don't worry too much about the the forest, if you do end up using too many tree's then you could simply lower the density in your overgrowth tool bar. Also, something worth noting is that saaremaa (even tho it is a 4km map) is in fact pretty small. It has about the same amounts of land as lets say Dovre because the island is only 2*2km. If you want to make a good forest then you should make the edges really dense and the center less dense just like Ulyanovsk has.

Good luck!



D.J.

haven't tried loading it ingame yet, but thank you very much for those tips about the trees
i think I may go with your treeline-dense, actual forest not-so-dense tactic but I wanted the tree combat to be uniqueish. if fps really does hurt I will probably go with yours and then add other methods of making the forests unique.

[Rabbit]

haven't tried loading it ingame yet, but thank you very much for those tips about the trees
i think I may go with your treeline-dense, actual forest not-so-dense tactic but I wanted the tree combat to be uniqueish. if fps really does hurt I will probably go with yours and then add other methods of making the forests unique.

https://www.realitymod.com/forum/f189-m ... ement.html

[QuickLoad]

https://www.realitymod.com/forum/f189-m ... ement.html

thank you, i read it twice but it's still a lot of new information so I will refine the forests later.
i took some of the tips in there and began the outlines of some of the forests for the natural look as stated in the guide

i'll make a video shortly to showcase the changes in V1.5-2.7, here are some changelogs but I most likely forgot a lot:

V1(of the screenshots):
-Minor changes to airfield including fences sandbags tents hecblocks chinooks f16s but nothing more, mostly just experimenting with how much room is needed.
-Lower-central town recieved some more houses. Mailboxes and cars added for cover(streets were quite empty and some houses are too spread out to give infantry enough cover). bushes and trees added to remove some sightlines but not all, this way infantry have a choice of directions to pick their attack from.
-Old russian main received a little bit of cover but most likely going to be removed alto++nin a later version.
-Control Tower hill received trees, and a bunker and some sandbags and wire to help make the place not so.. empty. also helps with the defense of the place.

V1.5
-Lower-central town received more trees and more bushes, a little bit of hedgegrows but they seem a bit out of place. Other changes like some more cars and some more houses were added.
-Random trees placed around mountains, going to develop into the forest later on.
-Rocks placed near the top of the mountains to help add cover but since the ambiance is so windy i'd assume trees would have some problems at the peak, especially since in some places the peak is so thin.

V2
-Forests added N, NE, E and W of the central town.
-There's a shack N of the MSR from the central town, it got some vegetation to help it out, and some road hazards were added to help explain why vehicles have stopped(vehicles were on the road on the map already)
-Control Tower hill received more vegetation, more sandbags, more bunkers, improvements to the razorwire, more trees, and some stumps in the area where NL-AF have cut down to help with their sightlines down the hill. There's also an added crashed F16 but im unsure if I will keep it.
-Improvements to the central town's vegetation, road also now leads up to where the apartments used to be, 'apartments' may be replaced with a truck stop in the future, nothing there as of now except some random trees.
-RU Observation Post added E of Central Town.
-NL Observation Post added N of the Central Town.
-More trees added N of the central town, but much incomplete.
-Trying foxholes on the W forest from central town, not looking good so far.

V2.5
-Terrain improvements done to the NL OP, more viable as cover for a fireteam, instead of just 1 man. Still relatively exposed against anything that has splash damage.
-Forest treeline added to the N/NE Forest from the central town, still experimenting and incomplete.
-Touch ups on forest W of central town, still incomplete.
-'Dead' forest E of the NE/N forest from the central town. experimenting but it looks pretty good, may be moved to another place unless I can somehow explain why it's dead..
-RU possible FOB location added to the NE/N forest from the central town, needs touch up.
-Foxholes W forest from central town have been removed and replaced with some light-trenches and nasty bunker sightlines(although VERY prone to flanking) which cover some of the town and the oncoming MSR, the cover provided makes it an ideal possible NL fob location. a supplied squad can make this into a very decent hardpoint. the bunkers are made of concrete so it's assumed that this 'war' or whatever has been going on for atleast a couple months, this theory also helps explain the OP's.
-General improvements to the central town for trees.

V2.6
-RU possibel FOB Location NE/N forest from central town got terrain touchups and razorwire added to some blind spots, although the wire can be destroyed.
-Razorwire added on the MSR entering central town, assumed to be set up by NL to stop speeding vehicles and needed to be set up hastily. also destructible and shouldn't really do anything at all since vheicles can speed through them.

7/6/17-
V2.7
-RU possible fob location NE/N forest from central town got some trees 'chopped down' to assist with sightlines. trenches alsos hould be correct height now.

[Glimmerman]

wow looking forward to those screenshots