AOK:Bridge
From GenieWiki
In Age of Kings, bridges are objects that may be placed in the map editor for use in custom scenarios. The bridge can however be represented in many other ways, and the bridge object can be used for many things besides bridges. It's most notable feature is the alteration of terrain beneath the bridge, which allows areas of desert or water to be created. This has property has been the core of many fantastic tricks, such as breaking through ice, waves, floods and desertification.
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Units
The bridge units consist of 5 separate piece which can be joined together by the designer to form their desired type of bridge. There are two sets of bridges - set A and set B. A-bridges are aligned with the NE/SW direction, while the B-bridge set face NW/SE. There are no bridges available which face straight up/down or left/right, only the two diagonal pairs. The bridge pieces are divided into two further types within each set - passable and impassable. The three normal parts of the bridge may be walked over, but the remaining three broken/cracked portions are impassable.
- Bridge A--Bottom
- Bridge A--Broken Bottom
- Bridge A--Broken Top
- Bridge A--Cracked
- Bridge A--Middle
- Bridge A--Top
- Bridge B--Bottom
- Bridge B--Broken Bottom
- Bridge B--Broken Top
- Bridge B--Cracked
- Bridge B--Middle
- Bridge B--Top
Placement
A bridge can be constructed in any way desired, however a realistic, mechanically coherent bridge is usually what looks best. One of the end portions (bottom or top) are usually placed first, followed by the rest of the bridge. The middle portions are then placed as desired, until the other end piece is reached. In the case of a broken bridge, the structure will be impassable. Broken bridges may simply have a cracked portion substituted for a middle piece, or they may employ the broken top/bottom segments to form a large gap. Longer bridges may include combinations of these parts, with middle segments standing alone in the water or entire ends washed away.
Bridges measure 3 by 2 tiles, being wider along the width dimension of the bridge. Though bridge pieces can be owned by either Gaia or human players, they cannot be selected or deleted. They do however bestow useful line of sight upon their owner - for example a bridge could change ownership like a sheep using triggers, allowing the player in possession to monitor a choke point or even have the power to blow the bridge up at will.
Terrain mechanics
Although bridges appear by themselves in the editor, the presence of a bridge piece automatically creates a corresponding terrain beneath it. The terrain under a normal bridge section is walkable water, passable by units but not by ships. This remains unchanged when the bridge is removed, allowing units to walk on water or blocking naval units. This terrain is not normally available in the editor, and can only be generated in the editor using map copy. On the other hand, terrain under bridge ends is altered to desert terrain. This terrain patch is smaller than the water left by other segments, however by placing many bridges together a large, continuous area of desert can still be created.
Tricks
Bridges are the object of many creative tricks, which can both employ the object in a novel fashion, or use its terrain properties in conjuntion with triggers to alter the landscape.
- Terrain tricks
- Cave trick
- Repairing bridges
Burning bridges
Suprisingly, bridges do have hitpoints like other units, even though there is no conventional way to damage them. The structure has 1000 HP and can be damaged (and even repaired) using triggers. The fire could for example appear on the end of the bridge, as a prelude to a burning village. Units passing through the fire could be hurt from the flames using another similar trigger.
