Introducing Kimarnock's Ruhba -- Vandy's first CG Map

[Vandy]

Hello, All.

Well, after some deliberation, I am ready to open a WIP thread in which I will document the progress of the first map I will be making at the Cartographers' Guild.

For no apparent reason other than I like the name, the map is entitled Kimarnock's Ruhba (or, Headland).

I have hand-drawn the map and have attached a copy in this message. I'm a bit undecided as to the direction I want to go with this map. I was originally going to follow Pyrandon's Medieval City tutorial and may still. However, I am so taken by the various styles of maps I've seen here, I really am not sure how I wish to develop the map.

I will be on vacation from this Saturday through January 4th so I'm sure I'll have plenty of time to figure out how to deveop the map.

Certainly, any thought, ideas, comments, etc. are more than welcome.

Here, then, is Kimarnock's Ruhba.



Regards,

Gary

[Redrobes]

Cool - y'know theres a kiLmarnock in Scotland with almost the same locale to the coast as you have it. You could take some geographical refs from that if you like.

Going to be interesting to see how it goes.

[Vandy]

Hey, Redrobes.

Thanks for your comments. I do appreciate them. I knew there was a Kilmarnock in Scottland (that is, after all, where i took the name.. ). However, I had no idea the terrain was so similar. Kinda freaky, huh?

PROGRESS ON KILMARNOCK'S RUHBA.

Well, I'm still not sure the direction in which I will go with this map but I do believe I need to at least "explore" Pyrandon's tutorial as regards to what I've drawn.

Attached below is the "latest mark-up" of the map as I envision it. The legend for the picture is as follows:

RED - Coastline Sketch
BLUE - Hills Sketch
ORANGE STAR - Original Castle
BROWN - Initial / Oldest Settlements
PURPLE - Main / Secondary Roads
GREEN - Original / Extended City Walls

A couple of things I see right away is that I'll need to make the canvas a bit bigger in order to better "fit" the walls around the northeast and eastern edges of the map.

The overall "look and feel" just seems a bit crowded to me. Then again, I'm use to working on maps on a regional scale and not a city scale.

I'm very interested in your comments, thoughts, constructive critisicm on this mark-up. Feedback is very important to me and I don't want to go much further ahead without a "good feeling" I'm on the right track.

Thanks to all and have a great day.

Regards,

Gary

[Steel General]

Vandy - You really can't go wrong following Pyrandon's tutorial. I think the mark up is fine for the early stage you are at. One thing you may want to add are "sketches" for forests and/or crops.

I look forward to seeing this progress *ready's red marker*

*Minor threadjack* - I would say between RobA's regional, Pyrandon's city, a couple of Ascension's, and bits & pieces of a couple of other tutorials is essentially where my "style" more or less evolved from. So stick with the tutorial(s) for the first couple of maps or so, then start trying and/or mixing different methods until you find the ones you ultimately are most comfortable with.

[Midgardsormr]

I was going to ask what kind of terrain was going to be between the two rivers, but your planning sketch answers that. I'd expect that the rivers would act as a moat--the older parts of the city would be there, with light walls along the riverbanks and stronger fortifications on the eastern part of the map. Bridges would probably also be fortified, and there might be forts further upriver to control ford points. You'd not see those on this map, of course, but you'd see the roads. There would also probably be a good deal of farmland between the rivers, where it would be better protected from an invader.

[Vandy]

Hi, All.

Just wanted to post a quick note to update y'all on the progress (or, lack thereof) I've (not) made on my map.

I have tried six ways to Sunday to get this map off the planning stages and just haven't had any luck. Mind, it's not the tutorial -- it's me!

Finally, I decided to go with "what I know" and used the SC4Terraformer application to create my relief map. THAT map came out great but I am having such a difficult time in trying to get the bump map placed onto my hand-drawn planning map.

I am so frustrated, I'm seriously considering scrapping this map and simply releasing it as a SimCity 4 map instead.

The biggest reason I say this is that I've now had time to realy investigate this site and the great threads in it. I have found so many difrferent map styles I wish to try and I'm no longer convinced that Kimarnock's Ruhba is the map I wish to use to create a map using all of the wonderfu styles I've seen.

I know I don't need your "permission" to scrap this map but I would appreciate your comments.

By the way, here is a 2D and 3D view of Kimarnock's Ruhba from SC4Terraformer:



Regards,

Gary

[Midgardsormr]

I have to say that I really like this bit of coastline, but I fully understand the difficulty in getting a new map "off the ground," so to speak. Especially city maps--they tend to be much more difficult for me than regional or world-scale maps.

[Ascension]

Ooo, if I had this as SimCity map, I'd spend all of my money building bridges...for some reason some sick part of me always wants to build bridges. Nice map and I think it could certainly be developed into a town, but as previously stated, all of those buildings can get tiresome. Put it into Sim and play it for a while then screenshot it and call it done

[Hoel]

I checked your sketch. Since I'm commenting on walls this month, I've got a few suggestions.
-Let the main castle's walls follow the height contour of the hill.
-The second layer of wall follows the river quite a bit, but on the wrong side. It would make an excellent moat.
-The narrow neck of the peninsula of the castle makes a good choke point. Put the wall straight across it on the ridge. This wall can also be used to block the southern river arm
-Put a redoubt on the eastern hill to deny it to attackers
-Put the northern wall at the top of the slope on the northern ridge instead of below it.
-I you pull in the left flank of the northern wall you can make it meet the northern tip of the peninsula. A bastion on each bank could block the river.
-The islands are very undefended, are there no threat from naval forces?
-Blocking the northern river arm at mid point on the map while letting the walls on either side follow the slope of the ridges makes a good killing ground. Enemies can be attacked from the wall perpendicular to the river as well as from the high walls on the ridges.
Made a sketch for reference
That's my two bits. Hope you can use it.

[Ascension]

Don't worry about mistakes, I'm still making many of my own with a style that I've been doing for years. Every map I try to do something different and thus make even more mistakes...but that's how we learn, I guess. Unless we get Hoel to do up our fortifications for us (nice defensive layout there, bro).