Hey, I’m curious about people’s thoughts on how different games handle terrain in turn-based strategy games like Advance Wars 2 and Fire Emblem. Some use simple mountain tiles, while others have ridges or more complex tile elevation. Do you have any thoughts or preferences on which approach you enjoy more, or how it affects gameplay?

Here are several random screenshots:

Advanced Wars 2 (mountain tiles)

Red Alert (ridges are basically just walls, no elevation)

Red Alert 2 (ridges, elevation)

I guess in RA2 you can have elevated bridges, boats go under bridges, which is a cool concept not all games support.

Into the Breach (mountain tiles, afaik no elevation)

Fire Emblem (mountain tiles)

I’ve been working on my first game for a few months now, I’m almost to a point where I’ll have to commit to one style or the other. In 1 to 6 months I’m hoping to have screenshots firing at full capacity, just need to have my bare minimum placeholders do a little trick called existing.

And honesty, any completely unrelated (to mountains/ ridges/elevation) game design ideas/questions are also welcome.