Sven's Europe

[SvenJJ]

Sven's Europe (v1.4)

Hello Everyone!

This map of Europe is my first stab at making a map for CiV. The vast amounts of land available in Russia in many European maps has always bothered me somewhat. Though geographically accurate, it never quite sat right with me from a gameplay perspective.

Sven's Europe aims to cut back on this Russian bias by cutting a lot of the land west of Urals out in favour of filling out Mesopotamia, Arabia, Iran and the 'Horn of Africa'.

After a hectic last year at university and the recent release of Gods and Kings, I've decided to come back to this map and make some much needed improvements. Version 1.3 has been updated to include the Gods and Kings Civilizations and resources while v1.0 will remain compatible with the vanilla game.

The map is roughly somewhere between Large and Huge at 114x75, featuring 22 Civilizations and 22 City States.

Civilizations

England
Spain
France
Germany
Rome
Greece
Ottomans
Persia
Russia
Arabia
Babylon
Vikings
Egypt
Mongols
Austria
Dutch
Sweden
Carthage
Byzantium
Celts
Huns
Ethiopia

The Trouble with Barbarians

During my first few playthroughs the African nations seemed to struggle with the large amounts of barbarians that would spawn on the continent and this is a problem that is being worked on. The current solution is to fill the vast Sahara with mountains, preventing masses of barbarians from spawning there. With the release of v1.3, the size of the Arabian desert has increased significantly so I'd appreciate feedback to see how the AI/Player copes with the inevitable increase in Barbarian activity there please.

Coming in the next release:

Balancing based on user-feedback on strategic resources, terrain and city-state/civilization placement.
Response to user-feedback regarding Barbarians.

Long term goals:

Rebalance of Resources - Less Abundant?


If the barbarians are proving troublesome then feel free to turn them off in Worldbuilder.

As this is my first attempt at a map I am very keen to hear what you guys think and I'm keen to develop it further based on your feedback.

Enjoy...

SvenJJ

 

[SvenJJ]

Screenshots

 

[SvenJJ]

Nearly a week without a comment. Has anyone tried this map out yet? I'm keen to hear what you guys make of it.

 

[Dr.NEO]

hey, great map of europe, i thing that this is the most ralistic map of europe i have ever play
great job

 

[Montijin]

Resources fixed set on the map or can you randomize where they spawn?

 

[gunnergoz]

It is a nice map and well done. It is a good example of thinking outside the box. Re-orienting the map to better fit the countries in is innovative and takes a bit to get used to but once you are playing, it does not matter much. My only complaint is that, without barbarians, there is no friction for anyone and you can build where you like. And the abundance of space seems to work against the creation of realistic borders (if that matters to you - it does to me, I try to replicate history). For instance, I was playing Egypt, trying hard to keep the Arabs, Babylonians and Persians from getting over to my side (North Africa.) Eventually, they just did an end run and sent settlers over the water of the Red Sea and built cities behind me on the upper (Southern) Nile, where they never were historically. Only a history freak like me would care but it did irritate me. Oh well, that is part of the problem with the Civ V game paradigm. The cities are more like regions or states and they do not play well on large and huge maps in my opinion. Smaller maps seem somehow more suited to the Civ V experience. But yours is a good map for warfare - I'm sure many will enjoy it, and so keep up the good work.

PS, I did edit it in WB and put some of the special sites (e.g. Fountain of Youth, El Dorado, etc) in the regions of certain City States, to encourage warfare over the more historical cities. For example, I placed one in Constantinople and another in Jerusalem, a third in Carthage. Anyone who can conquer one of those city states will reap big benefits in production and income so this may induce the AI to try to take those CS...human players will certainly want to try to take them.

 

[SvenJJ]

Thanks for giving the map a try guys. I'm glad you seem to be enjoying it!

My only complaint is that, without barbarians, there is no friction for anyone and you can build where you like. And the abundance of space seems to work against the creation of realistic borders (if that matters to you - it does to me, I try to replicate history).

I know, it's not ideal at the moment and it is something I am looking to see if there is a solution for. If you go into the worldbuilder and turn the barbarians back on, you will find that you get a more 'realistic' Europe but the Egyptians just get crippled with the hordes from the Sahara. (I guess those Berbers are just feeling particularly fiesty!) I'm trying to see if there's a way to lower the spawn rate of barbarians in desert tiles. If there is then barbarians should be back in the next version.

I'm also considering adding an extra City State or maybe two in Africa to try and calm them down a bit.

In other news I am currently making a small version of the map for those wanting a quicker game.

Resources fixed set on the map or can you randomize where they spawn?

The resources are set but with a quick trip into the world builder you can clear them and set them to random. Give me a shout if you're not sure how to do this.

 

[ShahJahanII]

It seems you have met my friend Eazyseeker.
If so, has he told you about our East Indies Scenario?
You will be the 4th member of our project (if you decide to join) and the 2nd map maker.
Your map didn't appeal to me at first because of its "slant".
But a closer look proved it to be amazing.
If you could apply the same method to a map of the East Indies, you will make a great team member.
A bit about us,
I, ShahJahanII am an American, and came up with the idea which was inspired by my fascination with Asian history.
Lenin1978, a Canadian, later joined as a map maker
Eazyseeker is from somewhere in Europe and has been the only real modder in the project
I need our map to be standard size and be accurate, with rivers, rescources, and physical features.
Gameplay is equally important.
The starting locations of many civs are shown in the main thread, so take a look at them and tell us what you think.

 

[bwoww78]

I know, it's not ideal at the moment and it is something I am looking to see if there is a solution for. If you go into the worldbuilder and turn the barbarians back on, you will find that you get a more 'realistic' Europe but the Egyptians just get crippled with the hordes from the Sahara. (I guess those Berbers are just feeling particularly fiesty!) I'm trying to see if there's a way to lower the spawn rate of barbarians in desert tiles. If there is then barbarians should be back in the next version.

I'm also considering adding an extra City State or maybe two in Africa to try and calm them down a bit.

an alternative, in the absence of avoiding desert barbarian spawns, would be to turn off barbarians and manually place camps/barbarians in world builder. While tedious and requiring some trial & error, I'm pretty sure that no new camps would spawn, but the units would (and even if the units don't, you could stack, as appropriate, in certain regions). it's a lot more work, but once done right it could help in guiding realistic settlement.

btw that's the best part about these kinds of maps (that don't auto-place cities): there are few more satisfying civ moments than when AI settles cities at exactly the right spots (with the right names) or compete historically over the same territory. and it can change with every replay!

In other news I am currently making a small version of the map for those wanting a quicker game.

i don't know how small you're thinking, but Felly's 35x35 Europe is a GREAT map. if you're going for the same concept as before, my only (tiny) request is to maintain enough space for London & Paris to not "immediately" fight for the 2/3 tier tiles.

 

[labrynianrebel]

Sweet, I hate Russia's ridiculous land bonus in europe maps as well. And more Mesopotamia = more civilization that can fit.

 

[Psycadelic_Magi]

I really like the map, but all the strategic resources seem to be set at 1 (Or possibly 2 for horses, I can't remember...) This makes combat a little dull... Even more so I imagine in the late game. While fighting over limited resources can be fun, something like for instance conquering a civ to get access to 1 or 2 Iron isn't very rewarding

 

[labrynianrebel]

Do you think you can expand the map east to include the rest of the Arabian Peninsula and Ethiopia? I really like this map, but I also really like Ethiopia and they're being added in Gods&Kings.

 

[SvenJJ]

Hey folks!

Thanks for the positive feedback and constructive criticism! Sorry I've been away so long. University and all that...

As the first post says, I'm playing about with Gods and Kings now and I've already tentatively updated the map to accommodate it though I'll be uploading a far more comprehensive update soon.

 

[Liberty87]

This is my favorite map of Europe so far! I absolutely love it. It doesn't feel like you wasted any part of the map space and the civs are all spaced out very well. I can't wait to play on it when the comprehensive update you mentioned gets released.

 

[nokmirt]

I am going to try this map, to play as the Vikings. I am thinking of doing a CiV GnK story, to practice writing again. Let's see if we can't get bring those violent Norsemen back to life.

I'll be playing to the Medieval Era. All classical sea units will be changed to be able to cross oceans. This will make things interesting I think. The galleas will be left out, due to it having cannon. I wish there was a war galley replacement or something. However, most of the combat of the day was done through ramming, or lashing the ships together to make a large floating battlefield.

I'll let you know if I have any problem with worldbuilder.

The problem I am having is the civs are starting at random positions on the map. The Vikings spawned in the desert. You have the circles with the start positions on the map. How come the civs down start the game there? Sorry it has just been too long since I used WB.

Okay, I got the mod to start with TSL. What was happening was that I kept changing my difficulty level to emperor, which is what I play on. That can be easily changed in WB. I put the resources on random. One thing though, are the resources set to standard? There is no way to change the amount of resources placed on the map? Standard will be fine, but is there an option in Worldbuilder to change the amount of resources? In any case the map really looks great, a wonderful job there. I just need to know those few things. Thanks for any help.

 

[SvenJJ]

I'm not sure as to why the Civs are starting in random locations. They seem to work perfectly fine for me! You're using the Mods section and then Load Scenario in Civ right?

As far as the resources go I've placed them pseudo-accurately and tried to keep things as balanced as I can, trying to make historical city locations attractive to the AI. But this raises an interesting point, I can easily clear my resources and set it to random. I'd be interested in hearing people's preferences... (For the moment you can go into Worldbuilder...Misc... Clear Resources and then Save)

Also, a small point. Should I include those pesky Huns and if so where should I put their capital?

 

[PawelS]

I like this map, I'm happy there are no vast amounts of land in Russia and the Middle East is included. I think it's a good idea to expand the map at the right edge to include Ethiopia and the rest of Arabian Peninsula, which would allow the players to navigate between the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea.

I prefer pre-defined resources, if there are people who like random resources then you can make 2 versions of the map.

I think you should add some Coast terrain in the Mediterranean, especially between Sicily and Carthage, which would allow the Punic Wars to happen. And don't forget to put copper on Cyprus, this is where the island's name comes from

 

[nokmirt]

I'm not sure as to why the Civs are starting in random locations. They seem to work perfectly fine for me! You're using the Mods section and then Load Scenario in Civ right?

As far as the resources go I've placed them pseudo-accurately and tried to keep things as balanced as I can, trying to make historical city locations attractive to the AI. But this raises an interesting point, I can easily clear my resources and set it to random. I'd be interested in hearing people's preferences... (For the moment you can go into Worldbuilder...Misc... Clear Resources and then Save)

Also, a small point. Should I include those pesky Huns and if so where should I put their capital?

Thank you. I got the true start locations to work last night. What I am going to do is change the map so there is no ocean, because for the story, I am only playing to medieval times. This way I will not have to worry about changing ship units in the xml. I most likely will play the map with your resources and see what happens. The version I have created I will call Sven's Random CiV map.

If I was going to add the Huns. I would have them someplace adjacent to Austria, perhaps as far east as possible, but lower than the Mongols starting position. Of, course I can add them to my custom version of your map. Perhaps it would makes things interesting.

For my story scenario I will have three goals as the Vikings.

1. Take Norway and settle it, without losing lands in Denmark, from Germany (Saxons if I am correct).

2. Conquer the British Isles and Ireland

3. Simulate King Sigurd's journey to the Holy Land in 1107 AD, and try to take Jerusalem.

I'm not sure how many turns to give myself to do all of these. I suppose it does not matter. The point is to have fun and tell a story as I go along.

 

[SvenJJ]

A wee update to v1.2 to see how things go. Removed all of the random city states that were popping up, varied the strategic resource amounts and added some coast here and there to allow for Punic Wars/Viking Invasions before ocean-going vessels arrive on the scene. Oh! And the Huns are around now, so watch your backs!

Also, the barbarians have been turned back on to see how they act with an extra Civ in Africa to keep them in line... (Let's hope Dido will forgive me )

Oh! And good luck with the story telling Nokmirt!

 

[nokmirt]

A wee update to v1.2 to see how things go. Removed all of the random city states that were popping up, varied the strategic resource amounts and added some coast here and there to allow for Punic Wars/Viking Invasions before ocean-going vessels arrive on the scene. Oh! And the Huns are around now, so watch your backs!

Also, the barbarians have been turned back on to see how they act with an extra Civ in Africa to keep them in line... (Let's hope Dido will forgive me )

Oh! And good luck with the story telling Nokmirt!

The new changes sound quite interesting. I'll check out the new version later. And the extra civ in Africa? Ethiopia?

As far as the story telling goes. Thank you SvenJJ. Right now I am doing some research on the Viking raids and that time period in general. With the barbs back on it will be tougher to settle Norway, there does need to be some resistance however. It would be really cool if the Swedes, or other civs, settle in that direction. We'll see what happens.

I added Ethiopia to the map, and another sea route from Denmark. Ethiopia I gave copper and gems. Basically, they can take the place of Nubia. Nubia had gold and copper in ancient times, but I figured since Egypt had more gold, gems would fit nicely for resource balance, as well as trade. I am thinking of trying a practice game with Ethiopia. The rest of the map and your resources I left alone. One change that may be needed is upping some strategic resource plots. Usually 2 for a plot is nice to see at least. It could be you balanced them that way for a reason, it seems you have plenty of strategic resource tiles to fight over. I like that.