Yoda Power
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- Joined
- Sep 24, 2002
- Messages
- 13,870
Winner of the "Map of the Year 2013" contest 


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