Hi Ryan, and welcome to the forum :)

This is a good start to your project. You've asked for a few pointers, so here are my main ones:

Symbol scale.

I notice you have varied the size of the symbols, particularly the trees and/or structures (the towns/cities/villages etc) to relate to each other in a more realistic world scale - a bit like you might if you were making a dungeon map, or an artistic picture map that is also a kind of concept image of the world. However, this has left you with structures that are pretty hard to identify for what they are. I recommend that you consider making the structures at least twice the size they currently are so that people looking at the map can see the difference between (for instance) a walled city and a city without a wall. Remember that when you are mapping at this kind of scale the structures are symbolic rather than realistic depictions, so a city might well be 100 miles across according to the map scale, but it's centre is in the right place and you can see what it is without squinting at it.

That leads me to the next thing. You really need a scale bar - perhaps somewhere to the bottom left.

Placing a scale bar.

Turn on the snap grid (the button called SNAP in the bottom right corner of the window), and click the Borders/Political button |CC2BO| in the top bar to access the cartouches (scale bars, compasses etc). Pick the scale bar you want and hover over the map. Right click anywhere you like before you place the scale bar, and hit the Set normal button, and then the More button.

This will give you a scale bar that is the correct length according to it's name, and a way to place it neatly in the map so that labelling it is relatively easy.

Title and compass

In some of that ocean you might want to add a title and a compass?

...

I hope that helps :)

Suggestions are always welcome, but I think it unlikely for a while at least.

I think the bulkheads that won't cut have somehow ended up on the HULL layer, instead of the BULKHEAD layer. If you use Change Properties you can put them back on the right layer.

They're on the BULKHEAD sheet, but not the BULKHEAD layer.

Thank you, both :)

@Calibre I think I mentally included them as "ravines".

There aren't any rivers on "RIVERS Gorge" where you have the effect.

They are mostly on RIVERS.

With the really wide one being a gap between 3 polygons on the LAND sheet

If you want the rivers, or some of them, to have the effects on RIVERS Gorge you need to move those rivers to the RIVERS Gorge sheet.

This is all about sheets, not layers.

I thought that as well when I went looking, but then I checked the Mapping Guide and found this:

"...Choose the map type Perspective and the option Pick a pre-defined Template..."

It's there. You just have to pick the pre-defined Template option at the bottom of the first dialog.

This is a live mapping session by Ralf that demonstrates what can be done using Cosmographer. I've given you a link to the right place in the video for how to draw a starship (which I think was of more than one level), but if you've never used Cosmographer before you might want to start at the beginning.

I hope that helps :)

The interesting pattern emerging between this thread and the FB Group thread, is that preferences seem to be quite polarised. There are just as many people favouring HW as there are MS - mostly for the reasons you mentioned above. What one small group prefers, the other dislikes.

Prior to your comments, last night, I was working on a new land texture that was vaguely reminiscent of the HW Land Brown. Maybe (when I get the texture actually right), I should do a lighter version as well so people can chose how dark or light they like their maps?

I guess it also depends a lot on how individual mappers want to use their maps. Light is much more economical and much clearer when printing, but dark and contrasty is nice for impact when the map is used as a png or jpg.

Please continue to tell me your favourites. It all helps.

Thank you :)

@kilma.ard.venom I spent my first 2 years with CC3+ only using the default overland styles. At the time I couldn't afford any of the Annuals, but these days I've got them all. There are many very beautiful overland styles available, but the strange thing is that quite apart from not really having a lot of time to make maps, when I do overland maps I tend to automatically pick the original default CC3+ overland styles - probably just because those are the first styles I ever learned how to use.

@Royal Scribe Yes, we do it a lot in city and dungeon styles, but never really provide alternative shades in overland styles. Maybe it's time.

Ok, Ill report it to Ralf for you both.