This is my first time experimenting with the editor for Civ 3, and this is not even my primary game - Heroes of Might and Magic is clear #1 with Civ sharing second place with one or two other games.

Yet I believe I've come up with an interesting map that looks a great deal like Malta, at least in the layout. Terrain and resource availability might not be realistic, but making the map playable was more important to me. There's a great deal of help in the attached txt-file, including information for each potential starting position.

Some might find the map a bit easy at lower levels of difficulty, as it is not too hard to gather luxury resources. Barbarian activity is set to roaming. Every starting position has some advantages and disadvantages, but it should be possible to maintain a successful civilization no matter where you start.

Comments are welcome, particularly constructive criticism. Anything missing from this introduction of my map? Please let me know. Questions are as welcome as comments.:)

The map is standard Civ3. Version 1.3 further down this thread.

Version 1.1 removed after 92 downloads.

Old version 1.2 removed after 212 downloads

Hopefully, a screenshot is attached with this message.

Well, it isn´t as I deleted it, and can´t find a way to add an attachment to this message again. Not to mention that I can´t delete this message which is now useless. I will add a better screenshot in a new message.

malta instead of doing an full screen capture try using the REGION buttton...its what i use ;)

Since I couldn´t add an image after deleting the first one (should probably have chosen another option...), I am attaching an image to this message instead.

I will be replacing Malta with a newer version in a couple of days, perhaps even sooner. I´ve added some decoration and made some minor adjustments to balance things even better.

Hm... The first version was removed after 38 downloads, but I must have done something wrong when replacing it, since that piece of information isn´t present now.
The new version of Malta has a lot more sea squares, and I´ve played around with the ocean, making exploring it somewhat more interesting (I hope). I´ve also modified availability of resources. I´m not even sure Uranium was on the map previously, but now it is present.

Comments are still welcome. I´ll be updating this map sometime in the future again, so just let me know. I still have to play the map from some positions before I am satisfied.

One more thing: I considered posting a new screenshot, but the map hasn´t been changed too much in the general layout. And a more important reason for not posting an updated screenshot is that it would spoil the fun of exploring the ocean. :-)

- Martin B. Nielsen
"Malta"

I´m working on yet another update. Has anyone played my map yet? If so, could you let me know if you have any experiences you´d like to share with me? I might learn a bit myself along the way, but it would be nice with input from other people.

The update will include placing Valletta on a hill (as in real life), inclusion of more of the exhaustable resources, and a few other minor adjustments.

This map is apparently unplayable with the 1.17f patch. Same thing probably goes for all other maps created with previous versions. I sure hope the problems with the new patch will be fixed soon.

The version posted here is still playable. However, I had to restart my update from scratch (using this file), as my 1.2 map was completely messed up. I hope I will be able to recall the improvements I made as well as think of some more.

This is a very good map!

Although:

1.) There is FAR too many Luxuries
2.) Iron & Horses is unbalanced
3.) I like the idea with the barbarians, but they dont seam to be that much of a threat, so maybe add some more
4.) I don't know if there is any hills on Malta, but the map needs some more hills/mountains
5.) In the Readme there is a little tip to each starting location, this is a VERY good idea - but it's a little hard to find out which location you are talking about!


I'm going to Malta on vacation in the spring, so I liked to learn a little about Malta's geografi while playing Civ3 ;-þ

Keep up the good work! I'm looking forward to a new version!!

Thanks a lot for your comments Ming. That´s the first feedback I´ve had.
Could you explain in what way Iron/horses are unbalanced? Removing some luxuries is on my list of priorities for the update. I will be replacing some with natural resources instead. I will also make sure that additional hills are added. There aren´t any actual mountains in Malta, although I can add additional hills. There´s a lot of those around.
I will also be reworking the text-file to make it more clear exactly what starting position the player is in. I should definitely try to formalize it a bit, so I start each section with a "You can recongnize this starting position by...." instead of having it at various places in the descriptions.
Thanks again for borthering to comment on my map.

I dont think that there is too many Horses or too much Iron, it's just a little unbalanced - some civilizations have quick access to both, some to one, and some have fight with Archers & Catapults just to get a much needed Iron resource from someone who have two.

If you move especially the horses a little around and maybe add one it'll be just perfect. I think that the later resources are very balanced, but it hard to tell, cause a lot can happen from the Ancient age to the Modern times.

Okay, I will keep this in mind. I will probably still have horses concentrated in Qormi (central Malta) with just a few more around the map. I believe I´ve already added a bit of iron to make it less likely that the player will suddenly be completely without this essential resource, but I will look at the placement of Iron in the map.

I finally completed my revision of my map. There´s fewer luxury resources, more exhaustable resources, and a number of minor changes, including an improved txt-file.
Thanks to Ming for his critique and suggestions.

Just downloaded the new version, looking forward to play it!

I'm going to Malta on Monday, so after playing this map I might be able to find my way around down there :p

I had some problems playing the old version of the map with the latest patch, so I loaded it in the editor, saved it, and it worked fine. However, I decided to upload the updated version. There's not enough changes to call it a new version.
Comments on the map are still more than welcome.

Version 1.2a removed after 16 downloads

After having modified the map and the text-file for it, I am ready to post version 1.3. Comments are still more than welcome.

Version 1.3 map changes: Modified availability and placement of some resources, and made changes to certain areas for a bit more realism.

Update: If you have the Conquests expansion, there's an updated version for Conquests available further down this thread.

Hello Malta! Greetings from your little sister! ;)
All though I haven't tried your map yet, it looks very interesting. Can't wait to try it ;)
I will be around, but I do not think I will post as recently as many of the others inhere, 'cause I am still a civ3-newbie.

Well, cya soon! =0) (Hopefully)
~Lystia

I intend to post my C3C version of this map soon. Just need to complete a test of it. Not too many changes, but I'm also planning a mod. It's just a challenging task to modify civilizations, so it will take some time. So far I've been unable to find a guide to modifying civilizations that has helped me with my problems, but I'm working on them.

This is the C3C version of my map. Comments are welcome as always.

:wavey: Hello Malta, I might download and play your map, looks like it might be a good map.

Also where is Malta at?

-lenny

its off the southern coast of Sicily.

Yes, Sicily is Malta's closest neighbour, with Tunisia a bit further to the west, and Libya to the south.
B.t.w. speaking of geopgraphy, my Malta map doesn't have north to the north, so to speak. It is turned several degrees counter-clockwise for practical reasons. Plus the main island has been streched a bit.

The map is supposed to be balanced, although each starting position is very different from at least most of the others. It might also make the game very difficult if your expanding is too slow in the early phases. But hopefully this makes it more replayable. There's different strategies that will work in different starting positions.

Creative map, but in my opinion too much goody huts.

Very impressive, and accurate :goodjob: .