[AC Creation] Worldbuilder changes

[Darsnan]

One of the things that has always bugged me about the maps that were randomly generated was that in a lot of cases they were extremely blocky. There was no randomness to them, no inlets/ bays, small lakes, isthmus', etc. This also especially applied to the landmarks, as they typically seemed to be just dumped as is onto the maps and were just big blocks of land squares with no randomness to them at all.
After a player named smacksim sat down and defined the worldbuilder parameters I started playing around with it, taking it in various extreme directions as far as what I could do with the map generator. In the end I made just two real changes which in my opinion give much better maps. Here is the modified worldbuilder section:

#WORLDBUILDER
220, ; Land base (Seeded land size of a standard world)
256, ; Land modifier (additional land from LAND selection: x0, x1, x2)
12, ; Continent base (Base size of a land mass seed)
24, ; Continent modif. (Increased size from LAND selection: x0, x1, x2)
1, ; Hills base (Base # of extra hills)
2, ; Hills modifier (additional hills from TIDAL selection: x0, x1, x2)
4, ; Plateau base (Basic plateau size)
8, ; Plateau modifier (Plateau modifier based on LAND selection: x0, x1, x2)
8, ; Rivers base (Basic # of rivers)
12, ; Rivers rain mod. (Additional rivers based on RAIN selection)
14, ; Solar Energy (Latitude DIVISOR for temperature based on HEAT) Smaller # increases effect of HEAT selection
14, ; Thermal band (Latitude DIVISOR for thermal banding) Smaller # widens hot bands
8, ; Thermal deviance (Latitude DIVISOR for thermal deviance) Smaller # increases randomness
8, ; Global Warming (Latitude DIVISOR for global warming) Smaller # increases effect of warming
5, ; Sea Level Rises (Magnitude of sea level changes from ice cap melting/freezing)
5, ; Cloudmass peaks (Size of cloud mass trapped by peaks)
3, ; Cloudmass hills (Size of cloud mass trapped by hills)
1, ; Rainfall coeff. (Multiplier for rainfall belts)
10, ; Deep water (Encourages fractal to grow deep water)
10, ; Shelf (Encourages fractal to grow shelf)
15, ; Plains (Encourages highland plains)
10, ; Beach (Encourages wider beaches)
10, ; Hills (Encourages hills x TIDAL selection)
25, ; Peaks (Encourages peaks)
1, ; Fungus (Fungus coefficient based on LIFE selection)
3,6,12,15,18 ; Ratio (Continent size ratios)
250 ; Islands (Higher # increases island count)

Note I have lessened the initial landmass parameter and have significantly increased the Islands count. By doing this the software creates smaller initial landmasses, then starts throwing "islands" (or individual land squares) randomly all over the map. As the map is generated these islands in many cases become isthmus', as well as small stringy continents in themselves (i.e. a much more randomized landmass than what the default worldbuilder gives). As a side effect these islands also attach themselves to existing landmasses, which then give the impressions of inlets/ bays, thus breaking up the coastline of existing landmasses/ landmarks.

So, if your interested, cut and paste the above into your alphax.txt and try it out.

Enjoy!

D

 

[Russia4Life]

I like it, it makes quite good looking 30-50% ocean and 50-70% ocean maps regardless of the erosion settings. I have still yet to see a worldbuilder setting that makes good looking 70-90% maps(though my idea of a good looking map might differ from others).

 

[Darsnan]

I have still yet to see a worldbuilder setting that makes good looking 70-90% maps(though my idea of a good looking map might differ from others).

I agree with you in regards to the 70-90% water maps: if you ever watch the map build in Scenario Editor you can see that the Worldbuilder places the Landmarks in the initial pass. I am assuming this is then counted against the 10 - 30% land value, which then gives a poor start for generating the remaining landmasses (this is especially true on Tiny and Small maps).


D

 

[vyeh]

14, ; Solar Energy (Latitude DIVISOR for temperature based on HEAT) Smaller # increases effect of HEAT selection
14, ; Thermal band (Latitude DIVISOR for thermal banding) Smaller # widens hot bands
8, ; Thermal deviance (Latitude DIVISOR for thermal deviance) Smaller # increases randomness
8, ; Global Warming (Latitude DIVISOR for global warming) Smaller # increases effect of warming

Have you figured out what these do?

 

[Darsnan]

Have you figured out what these do?

No. Been busy elsewhere. Maybe once I push the first iteration of BL out the door I'll tinker with this and see what it does.


D