Your walls/bridges across the river could look like arched Roman-style aqueducts but instead of transporting water, they'd let people across. Then you could drop pitch or rocks on top of any intruding boats. Narrow-spaced archways could then only allow smaller boats and pretty much deny anything other than canoes or fishing boats. Of course this could only really be depicted in ISO or profile views but you could do up a shadow that shows the arching. Catapult stations are a good idea too, especially on the high cliffs, as are the chains. Oh and by the way, this looks outstanding so far and as SG said, the colors are very sweet.
If the radiance of a thousand suns was to burst at once into the sky, that would be like the splendor of the Mighty One...I am become Death, the Shatterer of worlds.
-J. Robert Oppenheimer (father of the atom bomb) alluding to The Bhagavad Gita (Chapter 11, Verse 32)
My Maps ~ My Brushes ~ My Tutorials ~ My Challenge Maps
This is more of what I had in mind; you've found the words for it where they escaped me--thanks for that. I don't know that I can put the chains in the map, but I can sure add it to the description in the wiki.Originally Posted by Ascension
To be honest, I'm not especially familiar with the way medieval cities operated; would I want to stop shipping from passing through here completely by making narrow-spaced archways that would only allow smaller boats?
Well, that depends. Can boats travel up a river or something or is this just a bay? From the few things I have read about this port I know it is located in hostile territory. So it needs strong fortifications. But trade is also the lifeblood of the city, especially trade by water. So I think they wouldn't really want to limit the size of (trading) vessels.
Anyway, I think with chains in the water, catapults, trebuchets and ballistas on the walls and cliffs and those arches from where defenders can throw down rocks, pitch and other kinds of nasty stuff, you really wouldn't want to sail your boats too near the city. I am thinking the city has its own navy and might even have some fireships (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_ship). Sail them into the enemy fleet that is packed in that gorge and things will get really nasty
You can't really map the chains, but if you are going to label the city, maybe you can label some of the (chain) towers?
Last edited by Gandwarf; 01-17-2009 at 06:26 PM.
Check out my City Designer 3 tutorials. See my fantasy (city) maps in this thread.
Gandwarf has fallen into shadow...
It depends on what's up-river. If the cities further inland are in competition, then forcing oceangoing vessels to offload here and reload their goods onto river ships means the city rulers can get a bigger cut of the profits--they get to tax two boats instead of just one, can force more of the goods into their own economy, etc. On the other hand, that'll make the city a bigger target. Everyone will want to control it, so they'll have to put a significant part of that extra money toward defense.
Also, if it becomes too much a problem to bring goods through this river, it's a good bet that they'll go somewhere else. Like water, trade follows the path of least resistance, and sometimes building a new coastal city at the head of a land route is easier and cheaper than dealing with a draconian local government.
Bryan Ray, visual effects artist
http://www.bryanray.name
Go with wide arches then, there would be a port authority/customs house here anyways and that navy too.
If the radiance of a thousand suns was to burst at once into the sky, that would be like the splendor of the Mighty One...I am become Death, the Shatterer of worlds.
-J. Robert Oppenheimer (father of the atom bomb) alluding to The Bhagavad Gita (Chapter 11, Verse 32)
My Maps ~ My Brushes ~ My Tutorials ~ My Challenge Maps
I had a few minutes since I'm off work today. I think this one is just about ready to add to the wiki.
Seriously gorgeous, ig! I especially like the way you incorporated the scale bar into the title, though I'm not sure of its general effectiveness. It took me a few moments to interpret what you were doing. It may be, though, that I was really slow on the uptake.
Whether it's effective or not, though, I like it.
Bryan Ray, visual effects artist
http://www.bryanray.name
Nice work IG! Will be a great addition to the WIKI.
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Very sweet looking map, industrygothica! Repped of course...
I love the coloring and the way the walls and docks turned out.
The only nitpicks I have:
- There is still a lot of unused space within the city walls. But it doesn't really bother me.
- How are the people getting down from the cliffs?
Check out my City Designer 3 tutorials. See my fantasy (city) maps in this thread.
Gandwarf has fallen into shadow...
An excellent blend of the aesthetics of art and the function of cartography. Well done and much praise (wish I could achieve something like this).
If the radiance of a thousand suns was to burst at once into the sky, that would be like the splendor of the Mighty One...I am become Death, the Shatterer of worlds.
-J. Robert Oppenheimer (father of the atom bomb) alluding to The Bhagavad Gita (Chapter 11, Verse 32)
My Maps ~ My Brushes ~ My Tutorials ~ My Challenge Maps
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