The cloth map. (poll'ish)

Since the 3D level got included, I've tried to use it as 'normal' view. But I'll probably end up treating it just like I do the 3D level in GalCiv2--something for the occasional eye candy break.

And that's not just because I run on a weak rig and want the performance boost. The cloth map is an amazing improvement over the GC2 strategic map in terms of being nice to look at. Maybe it's just my crappy vid card, but I think it's better-looking than the 3D views. 3D for tactical battles seems fun, but otherwise, not so much...

I have a top of the line PC so I can view the game with all the eye-candy enabled no problem but I always find myself going back to the cloth map whenever I zoom to far in. For me there is virtually no reason to use the 3D map since everything is so much easier to see in cloth map mode. Especially goody huts. Too bad all that effort was put into the 3D. Personally, I felt the 3D art style could have been much much better. It's not terrible, don't get me wrong, but it feels a bit too generic for me to really want to look at it.

After the start I play most of the time in cloth map level - only for upgrading cities or if I see new monster roaming around I view in 3D. The reason is, that most of the time the treasures or other things are easier to identify on the cloth map than in 3D (and I may be a bit old-school

clothmap all the way

tactical battles need something akin to this too

It's good to know I'm not alone on this but also, kind of scary to think all this work goes into the graphics of the game and spell abilities etc etc.

Down the road, perhaps all spell style abilities and graphical flare can still happen on the cloth map.  Or a really dumbed down colorful 2d look instead of the 3d terrain as an option.  Not sure.  I only know that, the cloth map is where I spend a lot of time and - it's pretty boring after a while?  hmm...  Useful, but boring.  (obviously)

-AceQ

Zoomed in looks very pretty, but the symbols of what things are are far less clear in the 3D, vs. the cloth map. I like seeing things close though, so I find myself reluctantly zooming in and out all the time. Something isn't right, TBH.

like most, I am doing a lot from cloth map and only zoom in for certain things.. (monster, city improvement and others)

Frankly, I think the cloth map is probably the best game feature of E:WoM.  Admittedly it was a slight rip of the idea from SoaSE, but the implementation in the fantasy setting is really well done.

Just wish they'd put "sea shells" on the beach terrain to ID these in the cloth map.

I use a bit of both, but I actually prefer the 3D view most of the time because it feels more adventurous to me that way. Sure I could zoom out and instantly see everything around me, but it's also fun to wander around looking for things that may not be entirely obvious, which through a few plays makes it almost as easy to spot things as the cloth map (once you learn what goodies look like). I'm sure, just as in GalCiv, once i get a kingdom big enough I'll go more to the cloth map to get the quicker abstract of things going on, but let's not completely trash the 3D view. I don't think the 3D view has all of the eye candy activated yet either.

I find the cloth map much easier to use too but love the look of the 3d art style. maybe a setting to allow icon overlay on the 3d map or some other way to make the goodies stand out.

maybe a key to toggle between the icons/identifiers to allow you to highlight them if needed.

Nice idea.. maybe a toggle for the 'special' tiles similar to the icon for the resource tiles in Civ IV. This for sure could help

After forcing us to play on the cloth map and repeating that the Beta was not fun, here is the result: it was so fun that we don't want to leave the cloth map!

I like the 3D map.

I just use the cloth one to find goodies, quest objectives or my far away units. If these would be better signalized, it would be perfect. And to whom belongs a unit should be more obvious too.

Agreed. There should be a banner or something similar to tell at a glance whose units are whose. TW is good at this, but I have to click things to even know what a unit is (or hover over it). I hope who ever does the UI has something in mind for this aspect of the UI.

Awesome idea!

I also prefer the cloth map because of the more easily available information on the faction a unit belongs and where the goodys are hidden.

More faction color ,especially on later armor, as well as more obvious goodys would make the 3D view much more usefull.

Yes, because all the UI information like unit alignment, special locations, etc. is available at a glance on the cloth map. Those things are pretty hard to discern on the 3d map.

I'm about 50/50  .  I like the strategic view of the cloth map to see everything especially after I get a few towns.  I like to move on the 3d map and build just cause I like that view.   I like the fact that on the cloth map you can see what cities have units stationed there by the shield icon.  I guess it really comes down to preference.

Cloth map, sadly.

I usually use the 3d map.

Agreed.

3D Map.

Though, due to the overall crumminess of the UI/HUD, I often zoom out to the cloth map to discern details.

3D map, but not because it's the most practical.

I remember always zooming out in Sins of a Solar Empire. You almost never played the game at a zoom level where the 3D models were visible.

Same here - I play on the 3-D map but either zoom out or switch it off for a moment to find quest objectives (that nice BRIGHT gold icon is nice)

I think some things that could be more apparent on the 3-D map:

-Icon of the nation's crest a unit belongs too (i.e. a stack from Yithril will have their nation's crest under the stack) and somewhere on the unit card when you mouse over the piece on the map (maybe as the background off the text portion of the card)

-Some of the goodie huts are hard to tell from just random terrain doodads.

-Wild Wheat is flapping hard to see on the 3-D map, make it taller or something. Fertile Ground could use some more green-ness or something. If there's some grass in the middle of a barren wasteland, it would stand the flap out big time.

-Quest objectives should shimmer or have that gold cloth map icon under them.

Wow! Everyone loves the cloth map. I like it too, especially for strategic planning and movement. However, I REALLY enjoy the 3D map for fighting, city design, and seeing my characters do things. The graphics are pretty good so I like to see em.

Also, I agree with all VR_IronMana suggestions.

Gotta say this is something of a surprise to me. I thought everyone would like the 3D mode much better