Creation.py map script early rough draft

[Eldric IV]

That's strange, it worked for me right from the download. Did you accidently edit when you looked at the code? Until I start messing with the default start locations, I definately recommend using the mapmod.

I did not look at the code until after it froze my game. I will post screenshots of the error message (it is just the same error message 5-10 times) tonight when I get home from work.

The unmodified Creation.py works fine and the Dreiche-modified Smartmap.py also worked fine. It was just the Dreiche mod Creation.py that gives me errors.

 

[cephalo]

I did not look at the code until after it froze my game. I will post screenshots of the error message (it is just the same error message 5-10 times) tonight when I get home from work.

The unmodified Creation.py works fine and the Dreiche-modified Smartmap.py also worked fine. It was just the Dreiche mod Creation.py that gives me errors.

Now that I think about it, you might replace the spaces in the name with underscores. I may have done that instinctively without realizing once I downloaded.

 

[cephalo]

Ok, I just posted an update.

This new version takes care of a lot of nuts and bolts kinda stuff. I improved water generation. Filled in unreachable areas with peaks so you don't have to sit there and glance longingly at the mithril you finally found but can never use. Made it so the sea is not split in two by a small land bridge. I didn't like the way that looked, and it could potentially gimp the AI. All land squares on the map edge are now peaks, because fictionally I wanted to avoid the question, "Well, what's right over there? It's too close the be the end of the world." Now that it's peaks, your citizens can more easily remain blissfully ignorant of geography. Also I re-enabled the bonus normalization to make starts more fair.

Also, for the time being, I copied and pasted David Reichert's flavour mod in there to help out with starting positions until I finish those. So you don't have to worry about that.

Edit: Most of the changes I made reduced the playing field somewhat, but I also shrank the maps more directly. There really was just a bit too much space. The economies really couldn't expand into that much land and there was no reason to go to war until the end game pretty much.

 

[Eldric IV]

The spaces in the name were the culprits. Once I replaced them with underscores everything worked perfectly.

 

[Halancar]

I tried the script posted in the first post, but all I got was Great Plains-like maps : all plains, many rivers, no sea, no mountain, barely any hill, little clumps of forests here and there...

 

[cephalo]

The spaces in the name were the culprits. Once I replaced them with underscores everything worked perfectly.

The new version now comes with the mapmod until I can get some better starts. So you don't have to worry about it anymore.

I tried the script posted in the first post, but all I got was Great Plains-like maps : all plains, many rivers, no sea, no mountain, barely any hill, little clumps of forests here and there...

That's a map crash, and they still do happen from time to time. If it's a repeated problem, make sure you don't have an old map script called 'random.py' in your public maps folder. Rename it if you find it, it conflicts with the random.py in the python system.

 

[cephalo]

I'm hoping to have an update soon. My new starting plot code is very accurate as far as matching climate with the appropriate civ and looks very nice. The only trouble is when differenct civs have the same preferences. For example, Doviello and Illians like the same icy terrain. They have a strong tendancy to want to start in the very next valley as the other. Often this means that one or the other may be trapped into his valley by his neighbor, making an early rush war absolutely necessary for expansion. I can make it so that closest neighbor distance is a stronger factor in placement, but I can't do that without weakening that civs terrain preference. The same is true for the dwarves.

Is it a really bad thing to have close neighbors like that? Or is the fiction more important?

 

[Shakiko]

I really like the "valley-iness" this script creates and the resulting gameplay changes it produces (like forts on crucial passes becoming really nice now)
But is it just me or is it possible that the last changes kinda overdid the Peak stuff ?
Each map created with 1.01 so far did not only produce peaks at the "corner of the world" (which is a great idea, btw !), but also created peaks right at the coasts to oceans making it kinda impossible to get any decent sea cities.
(see Attachment #1)


I also really like the huge, semingly endless rivers flowing through half a continent, but sometimes it's quite hard/almost impossible to find spots NOT being a river tile.
While this is nothing negative per se, it still feels sometimes like every part of the map was part of a rainforest because you have rivers everwhere.
(eg. attachment #2)
Perhaps there is a way (?) to drop the frequency of rivers just in non-rainforested areas ?

I improved water generation.Made it so the sea is not split in two by a small land bridge

2 thumbs up !

Is it a really bad thing to have close neighbors like that? Or is the fiction more important?

Personally I don't care about such close neighbours "sharing" the same preferred land type - on contrary, or me that's what FFH's first chapter of the game, "survive", is about.

On top of that it's just a drawback to get a starting location close to another civ if other civs have plenty of space to expand ... perhaps you can just change the number of civ's assigned to each size of the map to correspond with the changes you made ?

 

[woodelf]

I eagerly await the next update since I don't have time to play right now. Your changes look spot on.

 

[cephalo]

Each map created with 1.01 so far did not only produce peaks at the "corner of the world" (which is a great idea, btw !), but also created peaks right at the coasts to oceans making it kinda impossible to get any decent sea cities.
(see Attachment #1)

The current rule is that if the valley's drainage doesn't flow into water, then it's deemed a higher altitude than sea level. I believe that I can soften that effect however. I'll look into it for the next version.

 

[cephalo]

I eagerly await the next update since I don't have time to play right now. Your changes look spot on.

Hopefully I'll have it published over the weekend. It's gonna be good one too. Starting plots will be tunable and according to fiction almost without fail. The unique improvements use a similar system as civs to control placement. This was rather difficult because many of the XML related functions in the DLL are not exposed to Python. What I was able to do was find the improvements that are placed, and then move them and their units(Barbatos) to where I wanted them. Ancient tower placement will always be in a place that makes some sense now, though I won't say too much about it since there should always some mystery associated with ancient towers...

All I need to do is generate alot of maps to see if anything unacceptable happens. There's still some bugs and likely some things are not working as well as I think they are.

 

[vivictius]

Im also really enjoying this scrypt, I've found that even on a medium map there is plenty of room for 12 civs and staring barbarian cities. I usually dont manage to find everyone until turn 300+.