Maps for Planetfall

i didn't see such a thread so i made it..

why does the mapscript always gives same map, is it hard coded or what?

and player always seems to start from same location..

are there any premade maps for this mod? i could make one looks like originally SMAC map, since i have the game..
i really dont remember how it looks..

I'd love to see the original planet map recreated for this mod!

Cheers, LT.

Yeah, finally found my copy of alpha centauri, now i'll start thinking how should i design the map for planetfall..

and i'm gonna make it huge, because i only play huge maps..

at first, i'll make it bare, without any resources..
and i have no idea how long this will take..

A Map of Planet would of course be awesome.
What size would you make it?

Not sure what you mean with the mapscript always giving the same map.

whenever i start a new game, it is the same map, even when i change the size, its same map, just little bit different, i can post a savegame if u want?

Better post two saves of same but little bit different maps, preferably standard size at most.

okey, here are normal saves and worldbuilder saves, i used play now from main menu, all have same options, temperate and low sealevel and random race, i tried 5 times each size, here are results:

large and huge maps are everytime same and are almost identical, biggest landmass is in south and little west, southern area is rather cold.

duel, tiny, small and stantard maps are also everytime same and are almost identical, biggest landmass is in center southern area is cold.
there is two smaller landmasses in east and west. west and center landmasses are connected by landbridge, so they are same landmass.

other notes:
starting location for player is always same.
random race always gives hive.
even if i change my race, the starting location is same.
resources and other terrain features are always same.

so there are now scenario for each size and option, there is no random map, i assume that is not an intention?

hey guys, 2 days ago i started this map, its now version 0.3..
here is a minimaps for comparison of alpha map and this map..

i know, its rather crappy, but i'm still working on this one..

Dewion said:

so there are now scenario for each size and option, there is no random map, i assume that is not an intention?

Click to expand...

Well that is very very weird. Definitely not the intention. I always get different maps. Wouldn't know what the problem could be I'm afraid.

Dewion said:

hey guys, 2 days ago i started this map, its now version 0.3..
here is a minimaps for comparison of alpha map and this map..

i know, its rather crappy, but i'm still working on this one..

Click to expand...

What size is it?
Continent shapes looking good. Only of course they're compared to the original compressed together on the horizontal plane, and there's this huge ocean which didn't exist on the original map.

Dewion said:

and i'm gonna make it huge, because i only play huge maps..

Click to expand...

like i said before..

and yes, like i said, i'm still working on that map, so ignore that ocean area..
before i'll post a next pic, those landmasses are gonna be perfect..

Cool!

Though unfortunately my slow computer can't handle huge maps, so I'll never be able to use your map.

Too bad, u can never please every one.. just buy a better pc?

my pc ain't that good either:

Win XP
amd 64 X2 dual core 3800+ running at 2 GHz with 2G ram
and Geforce 7600 GT display adapter..
modpacks and larger maps usually needs more ram, i had 1G but it was too slow..
or have u tried to increase ur virtual memory, it sometimes help?

maybe i'll make a standard size map also, who knows..

and maybe i should have to make a poll or something to see how big map it shoud be..

theres probly no utility prog that makes possible to shrink maps size easily..

and about that no random map problem, does anyone else have it? or is it just me?

now that i'm almost finished those landmasses, how shall i deal with altitudes?
lower than 1000m is lowland, higher than 2500m are peaks? 0 - 1000 depth is sheft, lower than 1000 depth is ocean and lower than 2500 depth is trench?

Your take is as good as mine. Put some peak ridges at the highest areas I guess?

Though SMAC was limited in that terrain height couldn't change more than 1000m per tile. Civ4 doesn't have that limitations: peaks can exist right next to shelfs for instance. So there's no good reason why elevation couldn't be changed to somehow create a more interesting map.

You folks do all know that there's a preexisting Map of Planet in vanilla CivIV, right? It would make a good comparison at least. (It's standard size, which I prefer for hotseat for obvious reasons).

Dewion said:

hey guys, 2 days ago i started this map, its now version 0.3..
here is a minimaps for comparison of alpha map and this map..

i know, its rather crappy, but i'm still working on this one..

Click to expand...

Very nice.

I don't know how hard it is to transform a mapscript for standard Civ4 BtS rules into one for Planetfall, but it might be worth to consider this one:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=310891

It called "PerfectWorld2" from Cephalo and creates maps, which are somewhere between Terra and Big&Small (without too many small islands). In fact it give most of the time 2 or 3 big continents (given that you use the "Break Pangeas") option and a couple of not too small islands, often some artic ones. Another option allows creation of a new world (= one of the continental land masses does not get starting postions), but does not force it (means unpredictability, if there is a "new world")

But the best thing about it is how climate, terrain, rivers and landforms are determined. Terrain looks much more realistic (e.g. a simulation of differnt altitudes leading to more cold areas even on the equator, if they are just high enough), modeling tectonic processes and luxury ressource distribution is a bit more uneven because of this, leading to more conflict.

What might make it especially interesting for Planetfall (because it was a very distinct and IMO top-feature of SMAC) are the rainfall patterns of PerfectWorld2 - they are influenced by mountain ridges, leading to a arid and a humid side of mountains.

Sounds cool.
Would definitely need some editing to work for Planetfall though.

IIRC those PerfectWorld maptypes have a tendency to stretch landplots to the north -and southpole at some spots, thus breaking the icepack continuity.

GeoModder said:

IIRC those PerfectWorld maptypes have a tendency to stretch landplots to the north -and southpole at some spots, thus breaking the icepack continuity.

Click to expand...

Yes, I noticed that as well and for some reason it seems to be almost always the northpole (at least with PerfectWorld2, never tried the former version). I don't view that as a huge problem, though - the breaking of the icepacks is a result of those islands often being tundra only. So if the script is modified in a way that tiles near the pole are always ice (either the ice feature floating on water or the land tile type), that issue would be solved.

BTW, SMAC had no real ice terrain at all (ok, no wonder as temperature wasn't a parameter for determing terrain at all) - there was just a one tile broad string of dry land running along the northern and southern edge of the map.