The islands grow real trees

September 26, 2026 · feature

When the war was rebuilt, the steppe's woods became real oak groves and spruce blocks. Up in the air game, though, the island kept its old trees: a brown post with a stack of green cubes on top, dotted over the hills like game pieces. Today the island grows real trees too — and so does every island in the Brick Sea.

Country worth flying low through

Every tree on the island grows where it belongs now. Down in the meadows it's broad oaks and white-trunked birches. Up the slopes, where the grass thins out toward the scree, the woods turn to spruce and Scots pine. And along the roads stand tall, narrow poplars, the way a country highway ought to look. A hillside reads as one wood now, not a scatter of blocks.

They stand where the old trees stood, so the valleys and ridgelines you already hedgehop through are the same ones — they just look like country now. Get down on the deck and they make a fine altimeter, too: an oak tops out around fourteen metres and a poplar nearer eighteen, so a treetop flicking past your canopy tells you just how low you've gone.

A crimson Sparrowhawk skimming the island hills above a country road lined with tall poplars, a broad oak throwing its shadow across the meadow in the foreground and two umbrella-crowned pines on the hilltop behind — A Sparrowhawk skims the hills above the cross road: poplars along the verge, a lone oak in the meadow, pines up on the crest.

A crimson fighter banking low over rolling green hills dotted with oaks and pines, a paved road winding across them to a sandy beach, a timber bridge running out over the sea to a battleship at anchor — From a few hundred metres up: oaks down toward the beach, conifers on the high ground, and the highway running every ridge to the bridge.

The Brick Sea's islands too

On the naval map, the islands you steam past have their woods now — oaks and birches down by the beaches, spruce and pine up on the higher ground. The cover is still the hill itself, so put the island between you and their guns, not a stand of pines. But a captain threading the islands is sailing past real country now, not a row of green blocks.

Two warships on opposite sides of a wooded island on the open sea, a destroyer tucked in against one shore and a cruiser out in the open beyond the other, more wooded islands on the horizon — A destroyer tucked in behind a wooded island, a cruiser out in the open on the far side.

Shade on High-fidelity graphics

Switch on Settings → High-fidelity graphics on a desktop and the trees around you throw their shadows across the grass, so a low pass in the morning sun is all stripes of shade and light. Phones and tablets keep the classic block trees they were tuned for — they cost a phone next to nothing to draw, and the fight plays exactly the same.

See you on the deck.