Giant Earth Concept Map (256x256)

This is a 256x256 map of the world. It was made to combine a number of gameplay ideas I’ve had throughout the years. I don’t see it as a finished mod, but more of a testing ground for how an earth map can play.

What is most notable about this map is the accuracy: Earth is round, a Civ3 map is not and you can never make an accurate map. However, you can make something that feels accurate, by twisting and distorting some areas (like making Europe bigger) and using accurate terrain.

Some information:

• The map features modified terrain, most notably Jungle is now unsettleable Taiga Forest in Russia and Canada to restrict settlement in these areas. I spend a lot of time studying atlases, Google Earth, vegetation and climate maps to get the terrain correct, while also taking gameplay into account. Mountain chains, rivers, etc. are all very carefully placed.
  
• The resource placement is also very accurate. It takes both historical and present day resources into account. Furthermore, American civilizations start with different resources than others, but by trading technology resources will spread around the world as contacts are made.
  
• In general settlement has been restricted, only West European civilizations can load settlers into ships, and mountains and desert cannot be crossed before the Middle Ages, meaning that the game plays more like real life.
  
• The unit stats and lines have been revamped. For example, Archers are now the main early defender instead of spearman, and the flow of units is somewhat different, but it plays very well.
  
• Governments are changed. The tile penalty of despotism is present in the early government. To compensate for this the food output of irrigation is two instead of one. This is to simulate the great population expansion in the modern era.
  
• There are 22 civilizations, I did not add more to keep loading times in check.

So far my tests have shown that it plays best on levels of Monarch or higher. The AI needs to perform at a certain level to be on par with the human player in regards to overcomming the terrain restrictions.

Lastly, it's essentially still a work in progress so the civilopedia is not up to date and some arrows in the tech tree are missing, but the changes are not more radical than you should be able to figure it out easily.

If you want to have a closer look at some of the features of the map you can check this thread out.

You are FREE to use, modify, and post your own work of the map as you like, without asking for my approval. In fact I would like to encourage you to do that! However, I highly advice you to play it first and try and understand the basic concepts. If something seems weird, feel free to ask me why I made it like that.


DOWNLOAD

(Edges of map not shown in preview)

In game shots:


It utilizes some .pcx graphics from RedAlert, Pounder, Ogedei_the_Mad, Snoopy, myself and possibly a few more people.

I definitely have to try it

Downloaded. This looks beautiful.

This looks like a very enjoyable map. Just looking at the world-wide preview - haven't had a chance to play on it yet - the taiga/forest seem to come so far south that there is very little room for any steppe nomads to transit Asia. Is Mongolia one of the civs? Or is there some other game-play reason for that?

The Mongols are a civ. They can travel all the way to Persia and China from the outstart, but only to Russia in the Medieval Age.

They actually have quite a lot of space. They are usually one of the bigger civs, though not in the top three.

Yoda Power said:

The Mongols are a civ. They can travel all the way to Persia and China from the outstart, but only to Russia in the Medieval Age.

They actually have quite a lot of space. They are usually one of the bigger civs, though not in the top three.

Click to expand...

After posting here I came across your remarks in the other thread.

Yoda Power said:

I admit that the area north of the Aral Sea should be Plains, but I changed it for gameplay reasons. The area is not very densely populated (especially in a historical context, the current population centers of north Kazakhstan are a very recent phenomenon). My problem was that Russia, Persia or Mongolia would settle the area. So I applied a very broad definition of "Desert" in Central Asia. I even removed some hills too.

Click to expand...

Now I get a sense of what you are doing with the custom terrains. Sounds like playing the Mongols should be both challenging & enjoyable. Between you and others like Civinator I'm learning a lot about how to use terrain to guide play without making the player's options too restrictive.

Yoda Power, as far as I have seen into your files and game, you have done a great job!
This is not only a beautiful map, but in combination with the modified and added units in the game a complete epic scenario - and this under 10 MB.
Some parts, especially restricting some eras by the use of the wheeled flag in combination with giving this flag to many early units, reminds me to the map I´m working on.

Absolutely what Civinator said!

As for making deserts impassable for wheeled - that's something I've been doing for years! Makes so much sense from a gameplay point of view, the only real unfortunate side effect is if I want units to traverse deserts, they also have to traverse jungle, mountains, marshes and tundra (the other terrains I set as wheeled)...

Very nice indeed!

I appreciate your appreciation.

My approach to restricting settlers is that I want to push the player/AI in a direction, without forcing them to settle in specific places, e.g. as in Cheezy the Wiz' Earth mod. My theory is that the less you force upon the AI the more diversified games you will get. This clashes with creating a map that plays realistically, but I think I found a balance with this map.

Very impressive map, YP. Looking forward to checking it out in more detail.

Yoda Power said:

I appreciate your appreciation.

My approach to restricting settlers is that I want to push the player/AI in a direction, without forcing them to settle in specific places, e.g. as in Cheezy the Wiz' Earth mod. My theory is that the less you force upon the AI the more diversified games you will get. This clashes with creating a map that plays realistically, but I think I found a balance with this map.

Click to expand...

That map was good, but I love how he left the following up even after all these years.

Cheezy the Wiz said:

CREDITS:

Everything:

Cheezy the Wiz

Click to expand...

Anyways, as for your mod/map, it's awesome. I think I might try it with CCM. One question though. Why did you decide to connect Ireland with Great Britain? I'm fine with that, but I'm curious.

Aleenik said:

Anyways, as for your mod/map, it's awesome. I think I might try it with CCM. One question though. Why did you decide to connect Ireland with Great Britain? I'm fine with that, but I'm curious.

Click to expand...

Remember, if you just import the rules from CCM you will end up with Jungle in Siberia. It will probably take some editing.

Ireland and Britain are linked for gameplay reasons. The English get a disadvantedge for not being able to establish contacts so quickly (bad for their research trading options), so they have as much room for expansion as possible. The AI usually play them pretty well, because they get a strong enough domestic base to support tech advancement before they establish a colonial empire. The opposite is true of Japan, which usually remains a backwater civ. Originally my hope had been to even this out by giving Japan some badass wonders, but I never got that far.

Aleenik said:

That map was good, but I love how he left the following up even after all these years.

Click to expand...

Cheezy the Wiz said:

CREDITS:

Everything:

Cheezy the Wiz

Click to expand...

Yes, it seems, this perfectly shows his character!

Cheezy, this is now your last chance to clarify an important fact in the download you offer -or better the only important fact in that download - or I will do that for you!

Edited: Now I clarified it myself, as Cheezy wasn´t able to do it over all these years: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=12364312&postcount=56

as civinator said, this makes an EXCELLENT little scenario!

im playing as england and thoroughly enjoying it!

i did make a few little changes though.

i added in austria just for gameplay's sake.

i like playing with higher HP units, so i upped (and staggered) the HP's to 4/5/7/9.

i upped the initial (and cossack) settlers cost to 100 shields and 4 population to slow initial growth, made colonists cost 150, but only 3 pop, and modern settlers cost 200 and 5 pop. i just like these settings. and based on the game ive played, it could even be higher, though this seems to strike a good balance so far.

i also added in a source of gold in cornwall. i know this isnt strictly accurate, but i figured it could represent the tin of the bronze age (which was discovered at the same time as gold and possibly as a consequence of the search for better bronze alloys), and to allow britain to build banks, and adam smith (and therefore have an economic advantage!) it's worked quite well, though im obviously biased haha

i thoroughly like the "old world"/ "new world" agriculture tech ideas! it really makes a huge difference and allows new understanding of one's land after all agriculture options open up. this idea should absolutely be expanded upon in future mods and scenarios!

-i didnt, though would now, up ship movement rates. my tricked out (ie magellan, lighthouse (though these two dont stack), and seafaring trait) galleon, with movement of 8 would take 21 turns to reach india from England. by the time "colonial infantry" arrive, they would be obsolete! given the size of the map, ship movement must be upped.

-i also think that the same wonderful terrain restrictions you used could be applied to the sea. currently i was able to settle the eastern US with galleys as well as sail one over to china without obstacle! could we possibly put something in west africa/the atlantic that isnt passible for galleys?

-also, egypt goes crazy with expansion into africa. there isnt anything preventing them from settling down into the Central African Republic. certainly, a W african civ would help, but perhaps these terrain tricks can be applied to the Sudan region to box in egypt?

-i love the trade station idea. well implemented!

-divine monarchy govt has 0 unit maintenance. intended?

im sure there is more, and i know this isnt really a polished scenario, but its a blast and a beautiful map! well done!

Originally the terrain restrictions did apply in the sea too. Colonization was not possible before the medieval age. But even though this is historically correct, I found it to be unbalancing and too much a restraint on the AI, so I changed it so that colonization takes off already by the end of the ancient age.

Egypt is restricted. Initially they can't expand further than the northern area of Sudan. What happened in your game was that the AI build roads across the desert and started spreading into Sahel. This is another reason why european colonization should not come too late – it should balance civilizations like Egypt, Carthage, Inca, and the Aztecs, who will eventually expand out of their native area.

The Divine Monarchy is probably a mistake, but I'm not currently home to check.

Couldn´t road building be scratched for deserts.
You got Fertile Desert as a LM-terrain (I think) so perhaps couldn´t this be the only way to build roads on.
A little adjustments in Sahara to add more fertile desert instead of desert so that wheeled units could move in roads only at the fringes of Sahara and perhaps as one strict cross-over as a possibility as a caravan road.
Never nice to see future masses of roads and even railroads crossing Sahara. Crossing that desert is not easy, perhaps not even in our time.

Fertile Desert is actually just Flood Plains, not a LM terrain. Your idea would work, but keep in mind the problem is not that big. As it is now the only places that can be settled in the Sahara are the oasises, so you'll only see clusters of roads around the oasis spots, and the occasional road/railroad linking the cities together.

In my tests the European nations became the dominant players in Africa, not Egypt or Carthage. The only exception was when I played a Middle Eastern civ and made an effort to colonize the area. Even then, the Europeans beat me to getting a foothold in the south and western parts of Africa.

Im making a little story with this map to show off how it can play.

Master Yoda , why there are no resources in Siberia? I know there are few metals, at least. Intentional - not to tempt Western Europe to settle there?