What makes a good "battle space" ?

[ParaGraphic L]

I've just started looking around in visitor and wilbur and the whole island creating process.

I had allready sketched some nice countours for an island that could have variaty like Sahrani but would allow for some more strategic places to capture; instead of two big parts of land I choose 3 and instead of having a town a the connecting parts I thought the middle part would be a more logical capture and hold location then just a town.

But I would like to know what makes an island a good place to have in ArmA? I'm a pretty casual gamer myself, play some co-op missions every now and then and I really just would like to have some nice looking scenery.
But what makes an Island GOOD for big assaults? CTI's? large scale PVP's? or just an interresting coop?

I've been checking on google earth for small places that would not be to hard to recreate in ArmA but would also make a great battle space.

Most small islands are vulcanic so with a large mountain in the middle and have almost no flat space.

Then I stumbled upon this small island and I thought PERFECT:
http://www.baltlantis.com/public/ruhnu1.jpg
+ map (http://www.liisetalu.ee/img/suurkaart.jpg)

it's a simple shape but would something like that make a great useable island?

So to summon this up; any hints on what to look for when creating an island?

NOTE: I've not yet made anything! and I have not made any real plans for an island so far! I'm just gathering information. I have a LOT to learn before being able to make something decent.

[madine75]

I think this would be a great island.. There seems to be good mix of low hills and flat areas, with a few clusters of buildings. The island appears to have a reasonable road network which is always a bonus - you know where not to drive.

The only thing I might add would be an offshore island or two - just large enough for a small "base" and a chopper pad or two..

I mostly play SP and do a little SP mission making. I'm currently doing a couple of missions with the ADF mod, with a "Peacekeeping" slant, as the ADF seem to do a bit of that in the South Pacific.

[Allie]

What makes a good battle space ??

Good question http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/smile_o.gif

I think it doesn't matter, its more personal taste.
Its not that we need specific locations, its just
MORE we need.
I allways think its more important to have a lot of
different places to fight at then say have a lot of
different uniforms to wear.
One thing we still missing is a nice winter island.
Also theres a lot of places that have had "real" battles
which we could replicate for ingame.

Its al up to you my friend, all is possible.

Later,
Allie

[Mr_Tea]

Make it look real, not like faked reality. That`s enough.

[[APS]Gnat]

Lovely looking island and it looks like much of the landscape and types of plants/trees are ArmA perfect.

I think if the island isn't too big, then try to use a good amount of undulating terrain to make your "battlespace" interesting. I don't mean large hills and mountains so much, I just mean slightly rough country. More for foot battles and less chance of armour dominating.

[NoRailgunner]

Big islands need some logistics like harbors and airports, don't forget to make electric grids too. Maybe it helps if you take the living point of view - how and why should people be there.

[ParaGraphic L]

Thanks for the hints guys!

Allready got some help from Opteryx with height map, but I'm going to experiment with al types of heights and fields. I have a lot to learn and even more to experiment with http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/smile_o.gif

So as I understand from all of the above posts, is that you can have a battle on every type of location?

But for example what would make a great Tank battle location?
1. Large areas of flat farm land?
2. Lots of small hills?
3. Combination of the above?

and with what type of growth?
a. with loads of grass and bushes
b. much sand and rocks?
c. patches of forrest

I'm not really looking for the RIGHT answer, but what would make an OPTIMAL area to fight in with ALL types of units? Maybe even more important, what are wrong decisions to make when creating an island?

[lwlooz]

This is a great question and I hope you can get some more opinions in here.

Some of my personal observations as to what makes islands good battleground in my opinion:
- AI compatibility : No big complex towns , no steep hills everywhere , as few bridges as possible , no narrow points.
- "Breathing Space": I have found that islands that put too much stuff(elevations,objects,..) into not enough space limit replayability.
- "Bumpy ground" . Instead of having flat land have some little elevated knolls here and there. I think the BDM islands for OFP did a great job there.
-"Road Network": This is a important one for me . Having a good road network is really the main factor as to how many different scenarios you can do on your map. Even tho I am not quite sure,it seems to me that having multiple approaches to as many objectives as possible is always a winner. If you have an area that is far away from the next road or roads that really lead nowhere(Sahrani has both problems I think) you lose a lot of battle space.

Well,I guess thats me done stating the obvious
http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/smile_o.gif

As for the terrain type I think that rolling hill terrain is best. Would stay away from steep mountains . Only wastes space in my humble opinion