So I am far more pleased with this edited version of the map I uploaded earlier. I have added more vegetation here and there as well as erased and replaced cities in both the forest and port cities.
Well this is looking delightful, Sickle! Not sure I'd want to go anywhere near it in reality, but...
For the wall problem, if you still wanted to try an alternative, you might be able to work around the varicolor bridge symbols in the HW style, using them as stretches of "wall" between the towers, and maybe with the X or Y axis stretched (depending on where you are) to pull the bridge out of shape a little, to become something a little less "bridge-like". Or you could try drawing simple lines between spaced-out towers to represent the line of the wall, so the towers are then just key points along the wall, such as gateways (if any), or important watchtowers.
If you are looking for a way to make a wall, I can tell you what I did on a map I'm currently working on. Admittedly, up close it may not.be perfect, but unless you are making your map poster size, it should work.
Make two separate sheets - a WALL sheet and a WALL TOWER sheet. Make sure your wall sheet is ABOVE the wall tower sheet in the drawing order, so that the walls are.drawn first.
Next, on the right hand side of your screen, you should see some general drawing tools. Straight line, curve line, a poly and a smoothed poly, among a couple of others. I would choose either the straight or curved line, but it's up to you.
Now, you can do this one of two ways. What I did, for the two walls I had to make, was.to use two of the human towers, to set up as guard towers. I put them on my wall tower sheet. Then I changed to the wall sheet, and used the straight drawing tool to draw a line between the two towers. Oh, make sure the fill style up at the top is on brush patterns, solid line.
Then, I changed the fill style to bitmap fills, and I chose the cobblestone fill, but you can choose any fill style you like.
Next click on change properties on the left side of your screen. Click on each line you drew, then right click, Do It. Which will bring up a window. The fill style you want should be there, that's why you choose it first, if not, then chose one now. Click a check mark on change the fill style, and then also the line width below it. Change the line width depending g on how high you want the wall to be. I think I chose 15. ( I always add the decimal, to show where the placement is, so that 15 doesn't become 1500). Then click okay.
Last, select your wall sheet. In the effects add a bevel (or lighted bevel, your choice). Then you can change the numbers to get the height of bevel you prefer. One note: down below on the effects window, you may want to click on the one that says map units. Otherwise the proportions may not be right.
The other way is to simply do everything for the wall.first, and THEN place your towers, but I wanted my towers to look like they were part of the wall.
So final cut of this map. I'm very pleased with how this has come along. Now to work on the many bloody villages, cities and towns. I'm dreading that big freaking city on the north coast.
Thank you, thank you! :) I am very pleased with how its turned out.
Much of the wall isn't actively occupied. A patrol is sent once a month to go from one end of the wall to the other, to check all of many now abandoned posts. But at this point certain towers are left alone. Whatever has taken up residence has proven to have no interest in leaving and isn't welcoming any company. So long as said creatures don't wander out to the interior farmlands, the guard are willing to leave them be.
Oh there are probably more problems than people on this map. If you look close at the forest you'll see some large dead trees. They're the central points for the territories of different werewolf packs that hunt through the forest. On the edge of the moors, close to the wall and port cities you'll see large graveyards where the dead are buried by the inhabitants of those two provinces. This has attracted a rather large population of ghouls. The moors are infested with them. Shadow dragons make their homes in the caves on the northern area of the mountains and the large dark castle located in the same area is home to a particularly powerful vampire. The port cities have their own troubles with people vanishing and large areas becoming vacant almost overnight, indicated by the black areas of city and ruins. The dead do not rest easy so on those foggy streets. Even inside the walls there is danger though to a lesser degree. The land and skies are watched carefully on the walls but the water is harder to manage. All kinds of unwelcome visitors might swim upstream in search of easy hunting.
Comments
I like most of the adjustments you made and I think you could go even further with adding more vegetation.
Yalk Trees
I forget which map they are on, I think Southern Hemisphere.
For the wall problem, if you still wanted to try an alternative, you might be able to work around the varicolor bridge symbols in the HW style, using them as stretches of "wall" between the towers, and maybe with the X or Y axis stretched (depending on where you are) to pull the bridge out of shape a little, to become something a little less "bridge-like". Or you could try drawing simple lines between spaced-out towers to represent the line of the wall, so the towers are then just key points along the wall, such as gateways (if any), or important watchtowers.
Make two separate sheets - a WALL sheet and a WALL TOWER sheet. Make sure your wall sheet is ABOVE the wall tower sheet in the drawing order, so that the walls are.drawn first.
Next, on the right hand side of your screen, you should see some general drawing tools. Straight line, curve line, a poly and a smoothed poly, among a couple of others. I would choose either the straight or curved line, but it's up to you.
Now, you can do this one of two ways. What I did, for the two walls I had to make, was.to use two of the human towers, to set up as guard towers. I put them on my wall tower sheet. Then I changed to the wall sheet, and used the straight drawing tool to draw a line between the two towers. Oh, make sure the fill style up at the top is on brush patterns, solid line.
Then, I changed the fill style to bitmap fills, and I chose the cobblestone fill, but you can choose any fill style you like.
Next click on change properties on the left side of your screen. Click on each line you drew, then right click, Do It. Which will bring up a window. The fill style you want should be there, that's why you choose it first, if not, then chose one now. Click a check mark on change the fill style, and then also the line width below it. Change the line width depending g on how high you want the wall to be. I think I chose 15. ( I always add the decimal, to show where the placement is, so that 15 doesn't become 1500). Then click okay.
Last, select your wall sheet. In the effects add a bevel (or lighted bevel, your choice). Then you can change the numbers to get the height of bevel you prefer. One note: down below on the effects window, you may want to click on the one that says map units. Otherwise the proportions may not be right.
The other way is to simply do everything for the wall.first, and THEN place your towers, but I wanted my towers to look like they were part of the wall.
I do wonder how expensive it would be to maintain that wall though, 2 guards per tower? That city is never getting invaded
Much of the wall isn't actively occupied. A patrol is sent once a month to go from one end of the wall to the other, to check all of many now abandoned posts. But at this point certain towers are left alone. Whatever has taken up residence has proven to have no interest in leaving and isn't welcoming any company. So long as said creatures don't wander out to the interior farmlands, the guard are willing to leave them be.