The Endless Waste

[Solopopo 330]

I think the north and west edges of the map are a bit of an immersion killer. There is a stark right line at the edge of the map where Chenarus stops and the endless waste begins. In Arma 3, the main maps of the game are Islands, so the issue of the map ending isn't as much of a problem. But in Chenarus we are faced with a map that is partially boarded by land, and it needs to end at some point. I think that the line that divides Chenarus from the waste should be made less straight and abrupt. It should be more wavy and natural. It's fine that the map essentially ends there, but the waste itself could be made to look more immersive, while at the same time still being identifiable as edge of the map territory. The edge of the map should be defined by the end of the forest, not a hard right line of terrain texture. I think light foliage should spread across the waste, a different sort of foliage than what we experience in Chenarus, so that we can still distinguish where the map starts and stops, and so that it could be made less resource intensive. We should still be able to tell that we have made it to the edge of the map, but it should at least appear like it isn't really the end. I've developed a habit of using the edge of the map to identify where I am and where to go in certain situations, in particular making my way to Kamensk military base. If the end of the map appeared more like the end of a dense forest, it would be much more immersive traversing it's edge. I don't mean to say that this behavior should be encouraged, but that the game should still hold on to it's realism if a player does. 

At the moment, few people travel into the waste because they know nothing is out there. But I think the nothingness of the waste could be made to seem more intentional, and players lack of desire to travel into it could be reinforced by story elements that imply the waste is a sort of practically endless desert, perhaps quarantined, one we could walk out into if we wanted, but we would surely starve if we did. I think this would be cool because this is essentially what the waste already is, which could easily be harnessed as a feature instead of a limitation of the game. Even a minor effort to make the edge of the map territory more real would go a long way in making that part of the game more immersive, especially when we are able to fly over it in helicopters.  

Edit: I am aware that the north edge of the map is supposedly boarded by mountains. This could potentially be used as a way to definitely punctuate the northern waste, a mountain so high that little-bird helicopters can't even fly over it. There isn't a mountain on the west edge of the map though. I don't necessarily think the waste needs a definitive end, but I thought the idea of limiting the maps with mountains was worth mentioning. 

Edited June 28, 2017 by Solopopo

[t3h_kgb 6]

They could just erect a political border with some form of physical barrier (say c-wire, jersey barriers, HESCO walls, or military base fence, or even a combination of them all), extend the roads off into the wastes a bit and gate them off with like a turnpike arm thing, maybe even a lootable guard shack on the Chernarus side, etc... Thus it would look as if we were quarantined in a country... Could spawn zombie Soldiers along the border as well, to sort of suggest that the quarantine didn't work and the virus has spread out of Chernarus, and there's probably not going to be much foreign aid coming our way, etc... Could also add a bit of a sea barrier (the floatie lane lines you see at pools, but with a net extending to the bottom) to deter people from just swimming around or something, though without literally anything over that way, there's not really much reason to...

Though, I do agree that either way they go, they should naturalize the border a bit better; most borders follow a natural path, not a lot of them are straight lines... Though, straight-line borders do indeed exist; look at Connecticut or Colorado or the Midwest... :P

For added horror, they could add a section of fence line that was ripped open by a whole bunch of panicked and fleeing Chernarussian non-infecteds, and were put down by the opposing military, and there was a hasty repair to it, but there's still a huge pile of bodies on the wrong side of the fence.... Those danged Beloslavian Soldiers, anyhow!! At least the Polorabians to the west had heart enough to allow non-infecteds through, at least for a little while...

Edited July 31, 2017 by t3h_kgb