Teston

[Bishop Odo]

I really just a lurker here, but I have a few thoughts. Please take these with a gain of salt; after all they could be nullified with a little background information.

First bridges are expensive and you have two, very close together, to the point of really just needing one and they need to be protected. Since your doing a siege map, I would think a tower or fortified gatehouse would be in order, as well as a toll house. From a farming point of view, the best land is on the other side of the river, why not farming village near the bridge that would be protected by the bridge tower.

Since your current village is high up on a hill, with springs, that forces the river around it, I assume it limestone plug of sorts, but there is no sense of it rockiness, since the map is so green, there are no exposed rocks but gullies and ravines. I would assume the village up top has vineyards and orchards as well a pasture land.

The river could have banks and sandbars and where the river hits the limestone there would mostly be a large pool as the water inevitable tries to find its way around or though the limestone impediment scouring out a deep pool.

Just a few of my thoughts.

[Korash]

Good points there your Holiness and deserve some answers (and give me a chance to work some of it out in my head at the same time.)

My initial though on seeing what the generator gave me was a hill with the town on it and I went with that. The geology of the area came in very late in the game, so a lot of that logic went out the window I was trying to work mostly with what I was given and not force reality on it. Having said that though, I did try to justify why the town was so high up the hill. What I came up with is something like there was a HUGE flood that came by and forced people to take to the only high ground around (this outcropping) and it stayed long enough that a permanent settlement developed. As the waters slowly receded, the townies started to build further down the slope.

I figured that the hill is situated on a very large flood plain and was in a relatively secure area (hence no real need for defensive works. The one reason that I did think of as to why the pop would stay on the hill instead of onto the plain was a bit of paranoia about another flood. I realize that the bridges should have been wood, but I was thinking that the town has been around for a hundred years or so, surviving mostly as a minor stop over on a trade route, so the expense of stone might have been worth it. Why the two bridges? The original had two river crossing? I just never really gave it a thought.

Rocks on the out cropings was another area I thought of adding, along with those cliffs, but decided not to. Worth thinking about again I guess. The siege aspect of this map will be as in a before and after type of thing. This map being the before, and the siege version being after the town finds that the area is really NOT as secure as they thought. The bridges will have defensive works on the town side, trees cut back considerably, palisades all over the place to the south, refugees on the commons, and much mayhem else where. Or at least that is the plan I just need to learn how to do that. And find the time.

As I write this, I am thinking more of going back to do the rocks, but I hit a wee bit of a snag last night. Working at 1am, I said to myself, "Self, I think we have done enough for today", and myself said that that sounded like a good idea. So me and myself decided that I (me) would post the latest WIP (which I did), while myselves would save the work to date. Then me, myself and I went to bed. Waking this morning I find that my selves forgot to save the work before closing Gimp down. :'( Oh well, 4 hours down the drain, and live and learn. = Save, and save often!!!!!

[nolgroth]

Awesome map. I almost tried this myself a few moons back, but never got past the random town gen. I like it and if you've a mind to post any Gimp conversion notes, I'd appreciate that.

Again, great map.

[Korash]

Ah....notes....?!?

I knew I forgot to do something

I always intend to make notes on the tuts that I use, but even after I print them and am working from those, I ALWAYS forget to write things down.

I am new to Gimp as well and I really should be making notes, so I will try to go over it again and do that for the new one. I will also try to remember what I did with this one and post that too.

[Korash]

Well, redid the work that I didn't save the last time.

The woods are a bit different and the drop shadow for them is an extra pixel longer. I also added some rocky texture and bumps to some of the exposed areas. I tried to add some cliffs on the north part of the river but that went absolutely nowhere. I think that making the drop more precipitous might help, but I don't know how to do that.

Any comments or can I call this one done?

[torstan]

If there's going to be a siege surely there should be a wall?

Looks great. Very convincing mountain you've got there.

[Korash]

No siege yet. This is of the town during a more relaxed and peaceful time. Before the siege. Once I am finished with this map, I will try out the siege scenario, with the walls, the diminished woods and all that stuff.

Anything that needs improving/changing?