Cloth map?

Elemental has been on my radar for awhile, but I don't know much about it. It's a stylish fantasy turn-based game from Stardock, which seems like pretty good credentials right there. What is this 'cloth map' I hear talk about? I gather that is a graphics option with fewer textures for low-end PC's? Or am I just wrong about that? The screenies I've seen here....are those 'cloth map' or are those the 'full throttle, hi-end PC' versions?

Thanks for any info.

elemental

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The cloth map is feature that kicks in when you zoom out to a certain level. Stardock has said that your comp power will determine when the regular graphics go away and the cloth map kicks in, and if you have a crap PC you could play the entire game on it. It is basically a 2D representation of the map that looks like it is an old cloth map, hence the name.

Here is the the cloth map. Here is the normal graphics, albiet not as polished as they will be on release.

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For lots of cloth map screenshots check out the "Report Bad Starting Locations Here" thread stickied at the top of the Elemetal BETA forums. Keep in mind that thread was for reporting bad maps, so some of them will be quite humorous.

I guess I can link it: https://forums.elementalgame.com/364701

Anything that doesn't look like that is Full engine.

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Thanks for the info. I really like the art design of this game and am looking forward to 'seeing it in action'. Maybe they'll post some videos when it's closer to release-time.

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Philocthetes

Join Date 10/2003

+153

The idea of the game playing well on the cloth map level is not just about supporting low-end hardware. It's about making sure that the core gameplay is fun, regardless of how pretty anything might look for folks playing on posh rigs. Strong visuals are a dime a dozen in computer 'strategy' games. Fun mechanics are harder to come by.

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