I won't have time to get a version that is as close to complete as I would like ready before the New Year. So, in this thread (not the opening post), is an early version of LandMasses containing civ start options.
The three new (permanent) options added to the game set up menu are:
1) Starting Positions:
a) Standard placement; uses the default civ placement.
b) LandMasses placement; uses alternative placement described below and activates other starting placement options.
2), 3) Min/Max New Worlds (requires that Starting Positions be set to LandMasses placement):
Allows the minimum number and the maximum number of initially uninhabited land masses to be set. E.g. In a game with 4 land masses, the number of uninhabited land masses can be set to between 0 and 1 so that there is a 50% chance that civs will be placed on only 3 of the 4 available land masses.
LandMasses placement description:
If only one civ starts on a piece of land, that civ will be placed on the coastal tile that will have the least number of water tiles. If there are multiple choices, the civ will be placed on the tile meeting this requirement that is as close to the center of the piece of land as possible.
If multiple civs are to be placed, SevenSpirits algorithm is used. Civs will be spaced out with starting sites rated as follows: 'coastal city with 2 water tiles in the fat cross' > 'coastal city with 3 water tiles in the fat cross' > 'coastal city with 4 water tiles in the fat cross' =
inland city > 'coastal city with 5 water tiles in the fat cross > etc...'. This is to ensure that it is unlikely that a civ will be placed on a peninsula. No non coastal starting site chould contain salt water tiles.
BTS Forests issue:
This has not yet been resolved. A temporary option has been included so that the function 'normaliseAddExtras', which is responsible for fat cross forest spam, is ignored. This option can be set regardless of whether or not standard placement or LandMasses placement has been selected.
Other changes:
When multiple land amsses are to be generated, there are limits on the sizes of the land mass so that it is less likely that one land mass will be reduced to insignifigance.
The fantasy terrain option has been removed.
Flood plains will now appear on the appropriate tiles next to rivers that where added to the map during civ placement.
The list of options has been expanded so that options that previously governed multiple variables (e.g. Woodlands) have been split into multiple options (Woodlands -> Forests and Jungles). This change may be reversed at a later date.
LandMasses2.90