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Elevation 1.0b

[Update roadmap here][trello.com]

Elevation is a modification for Kingdoms and Castles that adds a new dimension (literally) to the game and expands many gameplay elements to challenge players.

Thank you to NuclearLemons (Nuc1earLemons on discord) for being a massive help with the development of this mod, and for so many of his ideas which helped me along the way and without which, I think the mod might have been in a very different state if even extant.


Elevation blocks of tiers (heights) 1-8 are added to the game; all game systems are modified to accommodate them, notably including pathfinding:

All land-based units in the game may only scale 1 elevation block level at a time (see below).

Sample path from a given point A to B


The game shoots a ray out of the mouse and intersects it with the ground plane, and uses the hit point to select a tile. Because this does not factor in elevated terrain, it can be difficult to select tiles at certain camera angles. Therefore a secondary bird's-eye view camera mode has been added. By default it can be toggled on and off by pressing "T".

The toggle hotkey as well as some of the traits of the camera's movement may be customized in the ModMenu.



Land-based units deal additional damage to a target if they are on higher ground than the target during an engagement. Additionally, the higher unit in an engagement receives less damage from the other. Melee units may only engage given a maximum difference of 1 elevation tier to their attack target. Ogres, catapults, and dragons are not affected. Ogres and catapults do, however, move slower on elevated terrain.



New mechanics regarding tower ranges have been introduced. When built on elevation, each elevation block the tower is on will provide the same range boost a castle block would, saving a player the extra cost of building the bottom blocks of a tower.



Furthermore, Archer Towers and Ballistae may exceed maximum range when placed on elevated terrain by one range unit per elevation block. This is to encourage strategic castle construction and defense formation.

Two new self-destructing (like the Rock Removal) buildings are added to the base game: the Scaffolding and Dugout buildings. Scaffolding allows you to raise the height of terrain by one elevation tier on a tile, and the Dugout allows you to reduce the height of terrain by one elevation tier on a tile.

Changes made to terrain by either building are reversible by using the other to undo changes. However, a tile may only be modified to be 1 elevation tier higher or lower than its original height.

Happiness-emitting buildings receive a range and impact bonus when placed on elevated terrain. The higher the terrain, the greater the bonus. This applies to most buildings, except the Tavern (large/normal), Theater, and Jousting Arena.



Two new buttons on the Map Edit Menu (terrain manipulation options before playing a map): an up arrow and a down arrow.

When either are selected, brushing the terrain increases or decreases terrain height (visually updates on mouse button release) and paints barren tile fertility

Elevation features integration to Zat's ModMenu, which allows it to have a highly customizable experience. Currently, it features settings allowing you to customize the Top-Down Mode Camera, enable or disable a visual display of pathfinding pruning, and customize (or disable) combat bonuses enabled by the mod.

Here are a few seeds I found and loved while testing the mod:

LLS819106447
LM1648341392
IM44252509
LM1154604071
LM197391179
LM532417387
LL1752513718
LL1230395821
LL1573504641
IL233558071
IM1899852576
IM1076254903
LM1551560029
LM785969446
IM842184693
IM598703620
IM339646834
IM1930776288
LM1617544760
LM1457724415
LM83657052

• New terrain generation system that places rocks, stones, iron, wolves, and forests specifically around terrain formations
  
• New terrain generation settings, buliding bonus settings

If you would like to report a bug or an issue, or even a suggestion, please feel free to open a discussion here in the mod steam page. However, for bug reports please check if it's on the mod update roadmap[trello.com] to make sure you're not posting about a bug that is already being worked on.



This mod reduces performance. This is a controllable effect to an extent, as specific things cause decreased performance: Long-distance paths, land unit pathing, and transport cart pathing. Villager paths are especially optimized compared to units such as knights, vikings, ogres, or catapults, but in long distances (spatially dispersed working vs. storage positions, etc.) the effect of elevated terrain complicating pathfinding will be noticeable. Thus, compact cities -- much more significantly than less populated ones -- will create improved performance compared to less dense cities.

As far as units and transport carts however, there is nothing to be done; pathing is especially complicated for them and recalculated on a fixed interval. Try to limit use of these if you suffer performance issues:

• Player/AI Land Units
  
• Transport Carts

when possible to reduce frame drops. Vikings (normal/heavy/thief) and ogres also contribute to frame drops. Dragons do not contribute to frame drops. Ships also do not contribute -- that would be the case regarding the New Lands mod.

Some images taken while using other mods, including New Houses