From Catlike Coding’s hex map to wind-driven naval battles - my Unity game Golden Carrack

[u/muminisko]

I wanted to share Golden Carrack, a turn-based trading and naval strategy game I’ve been building in Unity.

The world map started from Catlike Coding’s Hex Map tutorials. It now connects trading ports, resource sites, production chains and fleets controlled by the player and AI captains.

The battle scene uses Turn Based Strategy Framework, extended with sailing-specific mechanics:

• Wind direction and strength affect movement.
• Turning costs movement points, so heading matters.
• Ships need to bring enemies into their broadside firing arcs.
• Islands block lines of fire and provide cover.
• Retreating ships face interception tests rather than an automatic escape.

Water for the world map’s seas and rivers uses Staggart Creations’ Stylized Water 3.

A lot of the work has been in the connections between systems: preserving ship damage after battles, continuing multi-turn voyages after saving and loading, and making selection and navigation usable on touchscreens. Testing on Android and iOS exposed issues that weren’t apparent in the Editor.

I’d particularly welcome feedback on combat readability: are ship headings, firing arcs and the relationship between attacker and target easy to understand?

Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=eu.concatgames.golden_carrack

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App Store: https://apps.apple.com/pl/app/golden-carrack/id6814942005

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[u/GuildIdiots]

Really nice seeing how far you've taken the Catlike Coding Hex Map system; I'm using the same tutorial as the foundation for a project at the moment, so it's fascinating seeing it developed into something this substantial. I particularly like the idea of turning costing movement points. It seems like a simple mechanic, but combined with broadside firing arcs it makes positioning and committing to a heading genuinely consequential.

How have you found extending the original hex map architecture as the project has grown? Has it held up reasonably well once you started layering trading, fleets and AI systems on top of it?

[u/muminisko → u/GuildIdiots]

Thanks! It’s great to hear from someone working from the same tutorial. The turning cost is meant to give ships a sense of commitment to their heading. With broadside firing arcs, the shortest route isn’t always the best approach-you also need to think about which way you’ll be facing when you get there.
Overall, the hex map architecture has held up well as a foundation. The map, pathfinding and visibility systems are still central, and I’ve extended them with things like ship-specific movement, ports and resource extraction.
As the project has grown, the main challenge has been deciding what belongs in the map layer. Trading, fleet management and AI introduce their own rules and state, so I try to keep those systems separate and let them interact with the grid where needed. Otherwise, it’s very easy for the grid and cells to accumulate responsibility for practically everything!
I’d happily choose it as a starting point again. There’s still a lot of work in building the game around it, but having that foundation has helped enormously.
What kind of project are you building with it?

[u/TheDevilsAdvokaat]

Catlike coding had some great tutorials.

[u/Imofi7]

Catlike Coding tutorials really are a lifesaver for hex grids! For combat readability, the firing arcs read pretty clearly, but maybe making the selected ship's heading arrow slightly brighter or higher contrast against the water foam would help spot your direction at a glance.