dieseltaylor

A tough looking group of bikers were riding when they saw a girl about to

jump off a bridge, so they stop. The leader, a big burly man, gets off his bike and says, "What are you

doing?" "I'm going to commit suicide," she says. While he did not want to appear insensitive, he didn't want to miss an

opportunity, so he asked,

"Well, before you jump, why don't you give me a Kiss?"

So, she does, and it was a long, deep lingering kiss.

After she's finished, the biker says, "Wow! That was the best kiss I have

ever had. That's a real talent you are wasting. You could be famous.

Why are you committing suicide?" "My parents don't like me dressing up like a girl!"

I love maps and I love travel. I love to see scenarios where you really buy the scenery.

I am not the world greatest expert on land use, or the pre-1940's but I thought I would mention that if you desire to make great scenary you have to move your mind to a critical level.

Ali-Baba has done a really nice map - Acropolis- and it has some truly inspired touches - the soccer pitch, the worked out quarry used as an ampitheatre. That is beautiful stuff.

We have exchanged e-mails on a couple of points which are not big but are valid for discussion by my critical eye motto. The rail line has a very nice bridge but being built 100-200 metres inland would have made more sense as no bridge would be required. To the railbuilders the bridge is an expensive option to build and maintain. Its not a biggy and for most people perhaps would go unnoticed. But Ali-Baba wanted a bridge : ) And I say why not - a designer should be free to do what they want.

However if you are going to try for realism as your ultimate goal then looking at each item and say does this make sense is a good practice.

I know you can have multi-storey buildings, up to 8 levels. Think carefully as to how common were tall buildings pre-1940. Pictures of bombed cities do show taller buildings but 8 stories would be extremely rare outside a major city centre. Four stories would be fine for most tall buildings in a biggish town. Why do you get taller buildings in towns? Because land is expensive, where there is lots of land people would build a town outwards at lower level as it is cheaper.

Another thought harking back to CM*1 days is that try to think of scale - I remember an old map where apparently the natives felt substantial bridges a 100 metres apart was a likely thing to happen in the midst of the countryside over a smallish river. It may have been done for play balance but it was also jarringly unlikely.

Anyway that is my little piece on realistic terrain. If you are curious if your finalised map rouses any thoughts in me feel free to contact me through clicking on my name and sending a message for my e-mail address.

Of course you have an absolute right to design what you want, and you may know physical features I do not, so I am not at all dogmatic as to what is right and wrong. I only suggest : )