Civ1's standard Earth map is a bit cramped when it comes to Europe and all the civilizations that start there. So I've designed a Europe map which can be used instead. It also includes start positions for all civs (see below).
The coastline is very similar to that of Europa Ultima by El_hidalgo. The terrain was made from scratch, since the way how terrain works in Civ1 is different from any other Civ version.
Attached is a picture of the Europe map. I've used the terrain graphics from the Civ1 info section of CivFanatics, so the rivers look a bit strange, but this will of course not be the case ingame
Btw, rivers w/ shields are marked for your convenience
Usage
1. Make a backup of MAP.PIC from your Civ1 installation (or simply rename that file). While you're on it, you might want to make a backup of CIV.EXE as well.
2. Put the new map file MAP.PIC from the attached .zip archive into your Civ1 installation directory.
3. Put the program "start_positions.exe" from the attached .zip archive into your Civ1 installation directory and run it once. It will edit the standard starting positions in CIV.EXE to match the Europe map instead of the standard Earth map.
4. Run Civ 1, and select "Earth" at the main menu.
Note:
If you run "start_positions.exe" again, it will revert the change of starting positions, so you can use this program to quickly switch between Earth starting positions and Europe starting positions.
Edit:
source code of start_positions.exe in case anyone is curious and/or afraid of malware
Starting Positions for non-European Civs
Civs from other continents had to be given non-historical starting locations:
-> The Zulus start in Morocco, at the Atlantic coast.
-> The Aztecs share a starting point with the Egyptians, so they are basically a backup replacement for those.
-> The Americans and the Chinese share a starting point in Scandinavia, pretty much keeping them "out of the way".
-> The Indians and the Mongols share a starting point just north of the Caucasus mountain range.
Map Borders
Civ1 will insert arctic and/or tundra terrain at the topmost two and lowermost two rows of map tiles. Nothing can be done about that so far. It's not that big of a deal, though, and mostly a cosmetic issue.
To avoid any interactions between the western and eastern edges of Europe, I've inserted a wide ocean corridor confined by two vertical lines of mountains. Since the AI will not settle on mountain squares, this should be more than enough to keep them on "their side" of the continent.
AI Tests
All starting positions are AI-friendly, so the AI-controlled civs will always be able to expand nicely, unless directly hindered by other players, of course.
During the testing stage, most civs have been able to become the dominating AI civ at least once, including the Russians, Babylonians, Germans, French, Aztecs, Greeks, Indians and Mongols.
Due to the limitations of the AI when it comes to oversea expansion, the English, Americans and Chinese are much less likely to win a game, though.
Overall the AI fights will be far more balanced and entertaining than they used to be on the standard Earth map.
The coastline is very similar to that of Europa Ultima by El_hidalgo. The terrain was made from scratch, since the way how terrain works in Civ1 is different from any other Civ version.
Attached is a picture of the Europe map. I've used the terrain graphics from the Civ1 info section of CivFanatics, so the rivers look a bit strange, but this will of course not be the case ingame
Btw, rivers w/ shields are marked for your convenience
Usage
1. Make a backup of MAP.PIC from your Civ1 installation (or simply rename that file). While you're on it, you might want to make a backup of CIV.EXE as well.
2. Put the new map file MAP.PIC from the attached .zip archive into your Civ1 installation directory.
3. Put the program "start_positions.exe" from the attached .zip archive into your Civ1 installation directory and run it once. It will edit the standard starting positions in CIV.EXE to match the Europe map instead of the standard Earth map.
4. Run Civ 1, and select "Earth" at the main menu.
Note:
If you run "start_positions.exe" again, it will revert the change of starting positions, so you can use this program to quickly switch between Earth starting positions and Europe starting positions.
Edit:
source code of start_positions.exe in case anyone is curious and/or afraid of malware
Starting Positions for non-European Civs
Civs from other continents had to be given non-historical starting locations:
-> The Zulus start in Morocco, at the Atlantic coast.
-> The Aztecs share a starting point with the Egyptians, so they are basically a backup replacement for those.
-> The Americans and the Chinese share a starting point in Scandinavia, pretty much keeping them "out of the way".
-> The Indians and the Mongols share a starting point just north of the Caucasus mountain range.
Map Borders
Civ1 will insert arctic and/or tundra terrain at the topmost two and lowermost two rows of map tiles. Nothing can be done about that so far. It's not that big of a deal, though, and mostly a cosmetic issue.
To avoid any interactions between the western and eastern edges of Europe, I've inserted a wide ocean corridor confined by two vertical lines of mountains. Since the AI will not settle on mountain squares, this should be more than enough to keep them on "their side" of the continent.
AI Tests
All starting positions are AI-friendly, so the AI-controlled civs will always be able to expand nicely, unless directly hindered by other players, of course.
During the testing stage, most civs have been able to become the dominating AI civ at least once, including the Russians, Babylonians, Germans, French, Aztecs, Greeks, Indians and Mongols.
Due to the limitations of the AI when it comes to oversea expansion, the English, Americans and Chinese are much less likely to win a game, though.
Overall the AI fights will be far more balanced and entertaining than they used to be on the standard Earth map.
