[Wesnoth-dev] Terrain Help

[James Barton]

Sorry I've been silent for some time - a dangerous little substance 
called WoW got into my bloodstream, and has consumed much of my life. 
Fortunately, treatment seems to be working.

Anyway, as I a sizeable chunk of the bare bones help system we 
currently have in place, I thought I'd offer a bare bones 
implementation of terrain help which I have lying around. I posted it 
to the forum some time ago, but as we know, the forum tends to eat 
things.

Feel free to flesh this out (a medium workload job, given that it's 
probably all-or-nothing), or implement it as "better than our current 
system, still open for improvement".

James
a.k.a. Sangel

PS: The following are offered in the order they are found in the 
game.cfg file, and may not be entirely complete given later versions. 
Also, don't mind the tags - they were for forum use originally.

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[i]Shroud[/i]
When faced with unknown terrain, areas not yet visited are covered in a 
shroud of ignorance, represented as pitch blackness on the map.

[i]Fog[/i]
Some maps are covered by the fog of war. While it is possible to see 
the outline of terrain, the movements of enemy units are concealed 
except within direct view of your own units.

The distance a unit can see is determined by the furthest hex it could 
move to, plus one hex.

[i]Deep Water[/i]
The deepest of rivers and lakes and the majority of oceans, deep water 
is too deep for even tall units to wade across. Very few units can move 
in deep water, save the merfolk who dwell there and the unswerving, 
unbreathing undead.

[i]Shallow Water[/i]
Several feet deep, shallow water is shallow enough for most land units 
to ford, but deep enough to severely hinder movement and defence. Of 
course, it has little impact on flying units, save for the spirits of 
the dead, who are loathe to cross running water.

[i]Merfolk Village[/i]
Carved from coral reefs and rocky outcroppings, Merfolk villages are 
primarily underwater, making them difficult for land-dwellers to 
defend, though they do offer the usual gold and healing benefits of 
villages.

[i]Pier[/i]
A short wooden wharf designed for ships to dock at, land units can walk 
on wharves and sea units swim under them. Defensively, they are 
unremarkable structures.

[i]Swamp[/i]
A morass of sodden soil and bog, cattails and quicksand, swamps are 
treacherous terrain for the majority of units, both hard to move 
through and difficult to defend. Certain aquatic units, however, find 
them very favourable terrain.

[i]Swamp Village[/i]
Usually built upon raised platforms above the soggy swampland, swamp 
villages offer respite from the difficult terrain around them for most 
units. Easier to defend than barren swamp, they offer the same gold and 
healing as most villages.

[i]Ice[/i]
In the harsh of winter, lakes and rivers - and sometimes even coastal 
waters - can freeze over, becoming ice. Every bit as difficult as snow 
to move across, very few units enjoy benefits on ice.

[i]Bridge[/i]
Spanning across bodies of water, bridges offer both faster movement and 
better defence for land units than attempting to ford, making them key 
strategical points on many maps. Keep in mind that aquatic units can 
swim underneath bridges.

[i]Sand[/i]
Patches of dune and drifting sand, most units find sandy terrain more 
difficult to cover than firm ground, and have poorer defence as well.

[i]Road[/i]
While stone roads tend to follow the easiest route from place to place, 
making them perfect for travellers, they offer little benefit in 
warfare. Units move across roads no faster than across other open 
terrain, and gain no defensive benefit.

[i]Dirt[/i]
Whether trampled into dust by constant use or laid bare by blight, Dirt 
offers no real differences to Grassland when it comes to movement or 
defence.

[i]Grassland[/i]
The most common type of open terrain, Grassland is easy for all units 
to move across, though it does not offer much by way of defence.

[i]Village[/i]
Offering both healing to units occupying them and gold to their 
controller, villages are important strategic points on many maps. In 
addition to this, villages offer improved defence for most foot units, 
making them easier to hold than most terrain.

[i]Human Village[/i]
Offering the usual healing, gold and defensive benefits, human villages 
are unremarkable compared to other types of villages.

[i]Tundra[/i]
Open ground made difficult by deep drifts of snow, nearly all land 
units find tundra both difficult to move in and hard to defend. With 
the possible exception of the Yeti, if it exists, most units prefer to 
avoid tundra where possible.

[i]Snow Village[/i]
Offering shelter from the cold and snow around them, snow villages 
offer the usual healing and gold benefits, along with considerably 
improved defence when compared to the surrounding terrain.

[i]Hills[/i]
While more difficult for many units to travel, hills offer better 
defence than open ground, and can be tactically important. They are 
also favoured terrain for Orcs and Dwarves, who move considerably 
faster in them than other races.

[i]Snow Hills[/i]
While often covered with snow, large drifts tend not to pile up on 
hills to slow movement. Snow-covered hills offer the same movement and 
defensive considerations as uncovered hills.

[i]Mountains[/i]
Steep and rugged terrain, mountains offer superb defence, but at the 
cost of great movement difficulty - most cavalry and heavy infantry 
cannot move in them at all! The primary exception to this is dwarves, 
who are at home in the mountains and are not slowed by them at all.

[i]Forest[/i]
Offering slightly better defence than grassland at the cost of greater 
movement difficulty, forest can be useful for most units, though 
cavalry have difficulty moving and defending in the close-packed trees. 
Elves, on the other hand, are true masters of the forest, both moving 
with ease and gaining exceptional defensive bonuses there.

[i]Snow Forest[/i]
Common during winter in the northern lands, snow-covered forests offer 
the same costs and benefits as snow-less forests.

[i]Cave Wall[/i]
Solid walls of rock, cave walls define the boundaries of caverns, and 
no units can pass them.

[i]Cave Floor[/i]
Alternately smooth and rugged, with various dips and rises, stalagmites 
and other interesting features, caves can be pretty places, but are 
also pretty awful places to fight for the majority of surface-dwellers. 
While Dwarves and Orcs are entirely at home in caves, Elves in 
particular suffer in enclosed spaces.

Being underground, cave maps tend to be shrouded, and are almost 
inevitably perpetual night.

[i]Dwarf Village[/i]
Rising from floor to ceiling in most caverns, dwarf villages offer the 
usual healing and gold benefits, along with better defence for most 
surface dwellers.

[i]Castle[/i]
Stone fortifications, usually old, castles provide good defence for the 
vast majority of units, along with easy movement - assuming someone 
else isn't already occupying one, of course.

Leaders may recruit units onto surrounding castle squares if they 
control the keep.

[i]Encampment[/i]
Hasty fortifications thrown up by armies on the move, encampments offer 
similar defence to castles, with the same ease of movement.

Leaders may recruit units onto surrounding encampment squares if they 
control the keep (tent).

[i]Cave Fort[/i]
Elaborate fortifications constructed to control entrance to cave 
systems and fortify key points, cave forts offer all the defensive 
benefits of surface castles.

Leaders may recruit units onto surrounding fort squares if they control 
the keep (throne).

[i]Keep[/i]
The central point of any fortification, keeps vary in design and shape, 
but their purpose is always the same; allowing the leader of an army to 
command units in safety.

Leaders on a keep may recruit units onto surrounding encampment, fort 
or castle squares.

[i]Canyon[/i]
Deep chasms in the ground, canyons are relatively rare, but completely 
impassible for all but flying units.

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