MapMaking Question

KevinJ · 07-12-2020, 03:28 AM,

I'm just starting to jump into map design. My question centers around the elevation delta. How do you decide whether to use 15, 25, 50, etc?

It seems like you would want to use smaller elevation deltas when dealing with flatter terrain and higher elevation deltas when you're in mountainous terrain.

How about Jerusalem and its surrounding environs? Jerusalem occupies some very hilly, and rough terrain. A delta of 50 seems to minimize the role the terrain played during the 1948 and 1967 battles. For example, the Abu Tor neighborhood in southern Jerusalem occupies a hillside bounded by valleys and wadis on its northern, eastern, and southern slopes. The area doesn't seem to be cliffside as much as it is gradually rising topography. It's steep but climbable. The existing Jerusalem map has an elevation delta of 50. Wouldn't a delta of 25 better reflect the topography around Jerusalem.

I'm far from an expert when it comes to map making and topography. I'm interesting in hearing about best practices with regards to the elevation delta.

Thanks!

**Jason Petho** · 07-12-2020, 04:12 AM,

It depends.

The main thing is to keep in mind the limitation of vehicle movement and how it crosses elevations. Vehicles cannot cross a hex side more than 50 metres (up, it can still go down). If you have two stacked elevation changes with a 50 metre delta, the road is no longer functional to traffic. The same goes three stacked elevation changes with a 25 metre delta.

As well as the limitations of graphical displays in 3D, which is a maximum of 3 elevation changes. Meaning you can't have a level 5 surrounded by level 1's, as it will show a graphical error.

In cases of high elevations changes, having a lower delta will reveal a lot of areas that this will be the case. Have a 50 metre delta will limit the amount that this happens and reduce the need to "improvise" to get the elevations you require. The biggest issue is that the elevations span 250 metres across, and with steep slopes you're going to find that you don't have enough room to display the elevation correctly. I noticed this a lot in the mountainous areas of the Vietnam game we are working on.

I also chose the 50 metre delta when I made the CS Middle East Jerusalem map for those reasons.

KevinJ · 07-12-2020, 05:18 AM,

That makes perfect sense. Thanks Jason.

I noticed the 3D graphical display limitations as well. I guess you have to make some practical concessions especially when you are making a large map like the Jerusalem map.

By-the-way, the manual section on scenario design and the videos are excellent resources - even for technology challenged newbies like me.