Rivers, Canals, Bridges: Survival Resource, Transport Medium, Natural Chokepoints

[ZedsDeadBaby 2287]

I feel one or two large rivers or man-made canals would be an enormously interesting addition to the landscape of Chernarus. The potential benefits are many and varied.

 

I would like to suggest some in this thread.

 

1) Bridges

 

If a one or two large canals or rivers cut up Chernarus, bridges would need to be added at junctions with roads. I think this would be a very interesting addition to the game, because bridges create natural chokepoints. To save time and keep their equipment dry, players would want to find a bridge to cross on foot rather than swimming the length of a waterway. Further, vehicles would have no choice but to use bridges. 

 

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Both of these facts would make bridges incredibly interesting focal points of player interaction. Great care would need to be taken before chancing a bridge crossing - especially by vehicle. Squads would benefit enormously by sending ahead scouting parties to scan the area and ensure it's clear before making a run for the bridge with a vehicle.

 

Bold bandits could even try to set up checkpoints and extract tolls from players attempting to cross. What could possibly be more iconic bandit behavior than shaking down travelers at a river crossing?

 

2) Transport Medium

 

A river would provide one of the fastest possible routes inland from the coast, given the proper equipment:

 

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3) Survival Resource

 

Granted, this would require a fair amount of new feature implementation, but I think it makes too much sense not to do it eventually. Fishing should be possible in the ocean, and rivers would provide more "survival real estate" for this activity.

 

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Items required could include rod, line, hooks & bait (which could be dug up from the ground, or improvised from existing food soruces).

 

4) Visual Variety

 

A slightly less tangible but still very real benefit to the existence of a river or two is simply the fact that they would break up what can sometimes be a visually tediuous and repetitive landscape in Chernarus. Rivers look awesome, and also provide for navigation way points. Lost travelers could use rivers to get a sense for their location and direction of travel.

 

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Edited January 18, 2014 by ZedsDeadBaby

[Roshi (DayZ) 397]

Sold!

[Damnyourdeadman 1045]

I love all of your ideas,but i don't know how they are gonna work development-wise.

We could add rivers forming naturally from mountain-springs in the Cherno region.I suggest we make them wide with rapid currents that

washes away players attempting to pass them and even add big waterfalls.So we can make a natural barrier and force players to use the (limited) bridges to get accross.That would make the bridges,a hot spot where many players meet with one another and situation is unpredictable.

[broguenz 333]

I am only speculating but it looks to me like there is a dry lake/dam and canal system in place up north. Not huge, probably just irrigation.
Don't have any coordinates just spied while on holiday up that way.

 

Rivers, bridges, canoe's would make life more interesting. Spot of trout fishing to pass the time,

[IkaikaKekai 1957]

My understanding is that flowing rivers that change altitudes is not easily done (at least currently) on the engine.  That may change in the future as they make advancements on the code and optimization, but for now the only 'rivers' we can have will have to be dry, or the old cheat of 'sea level flat rivers'.

[ZedsDeadBaby 2287]

I love all of your ideas,but i don't know how they are gonna work development-wise.

We could add rivers forming naturally from mountain-springs in the Cherno region

 

In the mod, there was a reservoir near the NE Airfield called Pobeda Dam. Not sure why it was removed for the Standalone, but this is basically what I had in mind. A large northern lake or reservoir feeding a series of one or two rivers which would flow south to the sea.

 

I'm not familiar enough with ARMA and it's ilk to know if rivers have been supported in other maps or incarnations, so it's potentially an awful lot of development work (especially if we're talking about the difference between still water and flowing water) but I think it's a worthwhile idea to explore. It would add so much variety to the landscape and game features.

 

My understanding is that flowing rivers that change altitudes is not easily done (at least currently) on the engine.  That may change in the future as they make advancements on the code and optimization, but for now the only 'rivers' we can have will have to be dry, or the old cheat of 'sea level flat rivers'.

 

That's what I figured, but I think even a "still water" river would be better than nothing. Personally I would be willing to suspend disbelief at the lack of flowing water for all of the other added benefits. Still waters for version 1.0 and maybe down the line version 2.0 with flowing rapids.

Edited January 18, 2014 by ZedsDeadBaby

[zhrike 264]

Awesome idea, love it. Some of the mod maps have rivers. Celle, for example, has a river that intersects the whole map with numerous bridges. I guess they'd have to, if interested in implementing it, find a contiguously flat area long enough for a river unless and until they get the physics of water over varying terrain sorted.

[anathol 7]

great topic hope devs will notice this, definitely there should be added some rivers along the map with few bridges .... also some caves and another beautiful natural phenomena.

 

rly love that fishing photo it would be lovely if they will make ​​this movement of showing the catch

[IkaikaKekai 1957]

That's what I figured, but I think even a "still water" river would be better than nothing. Personally I would be willing to suspend disbelief at the lack of flowing water for all of the other added benefits. Still waters for version 1.0 and maybe down the line version 2.0 with flowing rapids.

 

Didn't mean 'flowing' as in you actually get pulled downriver, but that it'd look really awkward to have a bunch of 'lake' rectangles at different angles not always matching up, and I don't know if that would even work or not really.

I SUMMON FORTH THE AMAZING HORSE TO BEQUEATH US THE APPROPRIATE VISUAL AID!

There was a video linked somewhere of one of BIS' other projects where they had flowing rivers, but it was for an engine that's really heavy on resources and not available on the open market to buy.

[Vector636 30]

That would be really cool if they added all of those things, I already really like all the tiny creeks&streams around the map.

[Ymath 30]

You have my beans.

Cherno' needs a make-over asap, this needs to be top priority. 

[Daemonkid 493]

Game can't support water above sea level. That's why we see what seems to be water "objects". And I would be content if they just cut into the Chernarus earth real deep, and added a water object. But the problem with that would be varying levels of the terrain making the river look odd and uneven. You wouldn't really be able to make a bend. 

Come one DayZ team! We want rivers! NAIO! Or, at least sometime in the future. :D

[gregor (DayZ) 95]

Yes, some fights in style "Bridge crossing " for the bridges in the morning fog.

[Vector636 30]

I cant remember was Pobeda dam above sea level. I think with time they could problay make proper looking river. They could probably make a whole area devoted to rivers similar to Lingor.

[JuX 72]

Game can't support water above sea level. That's why we see what seems to be water "objects". And I would be content if they just cut into the Chernarus earth real deep, and added a water object. But the problem with that would be varying levels of the terrain making the river look odd and uneven. You wouldn't really be able to make a bend. 

Come one DayZ team! We want rivers! NAIO! Or, at least sometime in the future. :D

 

If you would travel around Chenarus, you can see there are rivers pretty much everywhere. They are simply badly dried out,

but still contain sufficient amounts of water (not for naval travel however).

[Firewarrior64 69]

Sorry mate, but rivers have been discussed countless times.

 

Now, we all want 'em of course, but the thing is that the engine (still) only supports water being at one level, the lakes and ponds are seperate objects (and also only at one level).

 

VBS3 supports rivers, but I doubt that will ever be implemented in any currently existing BI game.

 

The only option left would be to create 'fake rivers' that are at the same level as the sea. This is possible, look at fallujah for instance. However, that would require A LOT of work on the map... it would be nice to have, but I really doubt rivers will come.

 

 

 

Maybe in a future map.

[Vector636 30]

Dean did say he wanted to add to the surrounding area b4 adding a new map so it would be possible to add a archipelago similar to lingor.

[Space Milk 195]

Add sewers.

[rickenbacker 190]

I'd love to see rivers, but they'd look really odd, as the ARMA engine doesn't seem to support running water.

[[email protected] 5]

And wide and high cliffs.

[Vector636 30]

Add sewers.

 

I think Dean has mentioned being interested in having sewers, i believe they have already begun to add drainage pipes around cities.

[gregor (DayZ) 95]

Yep, VBS3 supports the rivers and my humble opinion is, that DayZ developers must really to be interested to implement such "feature"  in DayZ, "no matter what".  Such details as the rivers, wind and the visible grass from long distance could play in the survival simulator much greater role than in a milsim. Because in addition they are bound with getting of resources. Although visibility of the grass on long distance, appears to be the most difficult problem.

The small river in VBS3 looks decent (in video from 2:42), though don't know how hungry to resources it might be in game.

 

[IkaikaKekai 1957]

From my understanding VBS3 isn't available commercially because it's so resource hungry.  Hopefully they'll be able to implement rivers/streams in when they optimize the engine enough and find a way to 'dumb down' the river mechanic from VBS3 so it won't set high end gamer rigs on fire.

[UnarmedCiv 54]

RIVERS PLEASE.  You got my beans. 

 

Althought, the river would probably have to go through the outside of the known map, since theres no mountains on the map to feed the river large amounts of water.  

[IkaikaKekai 1957]

Well, there's a few spots that look like natural sites for rivers or streams, but don't think there'll be huge rivers, as much as quite a few people want don't think there'll be rivers big enough for boats to travel in to get to the center of the map.  We'll probably have to wait for the 'Western' map Rocket wants to eventually do.