Greizer85
Emperor
- Joined
- Mar 7, 2009
- Messages
- 1,210
http://forums.civfanatics.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=22184
EDIT: Some screenshots of the map (not the final version but close).
(Not sure if this is the right forum, if not then please move the thread there.)
Hello. I have just finished making a new world map for Civilization II (MGE, but maps should work in any version). You might ask why make a new map now, after 18 years (!), when there are plenty of maps available. Well, to be frank, most of them are terrible, having distorted land shapes and/or monotonous/inaccurate terrain; and the good maps are all meant for huge games, which I dislike. On my map you'll have on average 5-15 cities if you don't go a-conquering. The map size is 48 x 92 = 4416 squares, so about 10 % larger than a Standard sized map.
Apart from its size and accuracy in terrain forms, what sets my map apart is the fact it has an enlarged Europe and Japan and greatly shrunken oceans. In my opinion, moving ships around in Civ games is a huge drag, and on most world maps they're obsolete once you get to the enemy! Not so here. On this map, world-conquest is perfectly doable in a long afternoon, like a leisurely stroll in the park. (A park slippery with enemy blood, that is. ) As for Europe and Japan, I like them to look like their real-life counterparts and to be viable starting places; as there is no way to manually place resources in Civ II (lul wut?), the only ways to 'improve' a place are to add good terrain or increase its size, both of which have been done for Eu and Japan.
Due to the balanced starting locations, the map should work very well in multi-player. Take care not to pick Persia with either India or Babylon, though, as they're a bit too close for comfort. It was an unavoidable size-effect of the map distortion that is caused by an enlarged Europe. It's no fun if one player gets wiped out within the first 20 turns due to a bad combat roll. Remember: no Persia with India or Babs. India + Babylon is ok though.
Without further ado, have fun playing! And remember to give feedback, whether you like the map or not; any improvement suggestions will be taken into consideration.
Cheers,
Greizer85
P.S. Btw I wouldn't bother with generating new map seeds. The seed that the map uses now (43) is unequivocally the best out of the 64 that are possible. I know because I checked all of them. Ofc if you want a better starting place for your *own* civ, then feel free to generate a new seed. But the starting positions are pretty well balanced as it is, so again I wouldn't bother. This seed is the one where you get Coal in Scotland, Peat in Siberia and Silk in China... Please have some respect for my work here and refrain from re-seeding.
P.P.S. In the future, I may make a version of my map with altered terrain and rules to fix some things about Civ II that I consider tedious/exploit-y, and to further enhance the realism of the map. But I've recently started another project, and will need to work on my Civ V map, too, so this likely won't happen for some time (if indeed ever). In the meantime (and always), feel free to alter my map or use it in any scenarios or projects that it seems fit for. You may give me credit if you wish to; I don't really care as long as my map is out there for people to play on.
EDIT: I played a test game and edited almost all starting locations for added viability. You may want to re-download unless you're in the middle of a good game. I forgot that in Civ II you want less Hills than in Civ V, since they won't have production if you irrigate them. Should be enough food now for all starting locations.
I also noticed that North America is too narrow by just a smidgen... Gah. It kinda fails to project that whole 'Manifest Destiny' thing when it's just a stone's throw from the Rockies to the Appalachians. I moved Washington to the East one tile to make an 'illusion of width', but I'll see if I cba to edit the entire coast to make NA wider. No promises here though. I will need more than 6 downloads for that at least. Although I'm glad if even one person apart from myself finds it fun to play on my map.
EDIT: Some screenshots of the map (not the final version but close).
(Not sure if this is the right forum, if not then please move the thread there.)
Hello. I have just finished making a new world map for Civilization II (MGE, but maps should work in any version). You might ask why make a new map now, after 18 years (!), when there are plenty of maps available. Well, to be frank, most of them are terrible, having distorted land shapes and/or monotonous/inaccurate terrain; and the good maps are all meant for huge games, which I dislike. On my map you'll have on average 5-15 cities if you don't go a-conquering. The map size is 48 x 92 = 4416 squares, so about 10 % larger than a Standard sized map.
Apart from its size and accuracy in terrain forms, what sets my map apart is the fact it has an enlarged Europe and Japan and greatly shrunken oceans. In my opinion, moving ships around in Civ games is a huge drag, and on most world maps they're obsolete once you get to the enemy! Not so here. On this map, world-conquest is perfectly doable in a long afternoon, like a leisurely stroll in the park. (A park slippery with enemy blood, that is. ) As for Europe and Japan, I like them to look like their real-life counterparts and to be viable starting places; as there is no way to manually place resources in Civ II (lul wut?), the only ways to 'improve' a place are to add good terrain or increase its size, both of which have been done for Eu and Japan.
Due to the balanced starting locations, the map should work very well in multi-player. Take care not to pick Persia with either India or Babylon, though, as they're a bit too close for comfort. It was an unavoidable size-effect of the map distortion that is caused by an enlarged Europe. It's no fun if one player gets wiped out within the first 20 turns due to a bad combat roll. Remember: no Persia with India or Babs. India + Babylon is ok though.
Without further ado, have fun playing! And remember to give feedback, whether you like the map or not; any improvement suggestions will be taken into consideration.
Cheers,
Greizer85
P.S. Btw I wouldn't bother with generating new map seeds. The seed that the map uses now (43) is unequivocally the best out of the 64 that are possible. I know because I checked all of them. Ofc if you want a better starting place for your *own* civ, then feel free to generate a new seed. But the starting positions are pretty well balanced as it is, so again I wouldn't bother. This seed is the one where you get Coal in Scotland, Peat in Siberia and Silk in China... Please have some respect for my work here and refrain from re-seeding.
P.P.S. In the future, I may make a version of my map with altered terrain and rules to fix some things about Civ II that I consider tedious/exploit-y, and to further enhance the realism of the map. But I've recently started another project, and will need to work on my Civ V map, too, so this likely won't happen for some time (if indeed ever). In the meantime (and always), feel free to alter my map or use it in any scenarios or projects that it seems fit for. You may give me credit if you wish to; I don't really care as long as my map is out there for people to play on.
EDIT: I played a test game and edited almost all starting locations for added viability. You may want to re-download unless you're in the middle of a good game. I forgot that in Civ II you want less Hills than in Civ V, since they won't have production if you irrigate them. Should be enough food now for all starting locations.
I also noticed that North America is too narrow by just a smidgen... Gah. It kinda fails to project that whole 'Manifest Destiny' thing when it's just a stone's throw from the Rockies to the Appalachians. I moved Washington to the East one tile to make an 'illusion of width', but I'll see if I cba to edit the entire coast to make NA wider. No promises here though. I will need more than 6 downloads for that at least. Although I'm glad if even one person apart from myself finds it fun to play on my map.