Gigantic Accurate Earth Map (232 x 112)

Great map, my favorite so far, though I agree with Ryan above that between gigantic and huge would probably be the best size.

But, my question is this. The jungle in Equatorial S. America and Africa, like all earth maps, uses grassland beneath. Hence, once the jungle is cleared, this becomes the best land for farms in the world, and thus huge cities arise. Yet, isn't such land in reality quite poor for farming, almost to the point of long-term insustainability? Would it be more accurate to use plains or even tundra for some of these jungle areas? I have always wondered about this, and since your maps are so accurate, and thought I might ask here.
 
Laskaris, would you consider making a map that is in between the sizes of your 2 maps? I love your maps and think that from a gameplay perspective a size smaller that your gigantic map but larger than your standard map would be perfect. Cheers

I'm flattered by your request, as I like your maps a lot myself. And I will certainly consider it. But I've been very busy both with real life and with other games, so it would be a while.

It would be a lot of work, too. Not only would I have to draw the coastlines, mountains etc. from scratch, I would also have to re-calculate the worldwide resource distribution and placement for a map with a different number of plots.

But, my question is this. The jungle in Equatorial S. America and Africa, like all earth maps, uses grassland beneath. Hence, once the jungle is cleared, this becomes the best land for farms in the world, and thus huge cities arise. Yet, isn't such land in reality quite poor for farming, almost to the point of long-term insustainability? Would it be more accurate to use plains or even tundra for some of these jungle areas? I have always wondered about this, and since your maps are so accurate, and thought I might ask here.

You are absolutely right: the soil beneath tropical rainforests is very bad because the massive precipitation of the equatorial region renders it acidic and poor in nutrients. This is not well-represented in Civilization maps, including mine.

The problem is that Civilization only has "plains" and "grassland" to represent what in the real world are many different soil types from the tropics to the boreal climate zone. I could have used tundra or even desert to represent jungle soil, but I think it would have looked very ugly. So, in this case, despite the "Accurate Earth Map" design philosophy, I actually went with the aesthetic choice instead of the most realistic one. If you disagree with it, I can certainly respect that.

I've been thinking about creating my own mini-mod for future maps where I replace the vanilla terrain types with realistic soil types. That, in my view, would be the best solution.
 
I've been thinking about creating my own mini-mod for future maps where I replace the vanilla terrain types with realistic soil types. That, in my view, would be the best solution.
Wow - that would be awesome!
 
Laskaris, would you consider making a map that is in between the sizes of your 2 maps? I love your maps and think that from a gameplay perspective a size smaller that your gigantic map but larger than your standard map would be perfect. Cheers
That would be nice!
Also, is it possible to convert your maps into python script files? I would love to play a game with them with some settings (victory conditions, no vassals, etc.) modified.
 
Geoaraujo, what you want to do is edit the file with a text editor, Notepad, or better Notepad++ (free software).

For that, right-click the ...WBSave file and edit it. At the beginning, there is a section: BeginGame where you would put various options like:
Code:
	Option=GAMEOPTION_NO_VASSAL_STATES
	Option=GAMEOPTION_RAGING_BARBARIANS
	Victory=VICTORY_TIME
	Victory=VICTORY_CONQUEST

You'll find examples in CIV4GameOptionInfos.xml or in CIV4VictoryInfo.xml.

Tutorials here or here will help you too.
 
Geoaraujo, what you want to do is edit the file with a text editor, Notepad, or better Notepad++ (free software).

For that, right-click the ...WBSave file and edit it. At the beginning, there is a section: BeginGame where you would put various options like:
Code:
	Option=GAMEOPTION_NO_VASSAL_STATES
	Option=GAMEOPTION_RAGING_BARBARIANS
	Victory=VICTORY_TIME
	Victory=VICTORY_CONQUEST

You'll find examples in CIV4GameOptionInfos.xml or in CIV4VictoryInfo.xml.

Tutorials here or here will help you too.
Thank you!
 
Can I use this to edit in factions in their true locations?

Loving the map, missing my English and Romans though.
 
Sure you can. You either pre-place a settler on the plot of your choice (and whatever other unit you want) or you give the coordinates you want in the BeginPlayer sections like this:
Code:
StartingX=70, StartingY=6

Look at the Tutorials to learn how to replace a faction by another one. You can also add a dll that would authorize you to play with more than 18 Civs. Again, the Tutorials will tell you how to fill in all the slots even with empty information (like playing with 25 factions with a 34 Civs-dll).

@ geoaraujo: I just remembered that you can also start the map through the "Customize a Scenario" (or similar) entry in the menu :). But if you always want to play with certain settings then it is better to write them in the file directly.
 
Have you made this GAEM (pronounced "gem") any bigger? I wish I'd play on a 256x256 but I guess this is the biggest I could find so far.

If only there was a utility I could find and download that'll let me choose any size I'd like.

Edit: WHERE ARE YOUR TRIBAL HUTS?
 
Anyone have any idea how much RAM the computer would actually need to play a BTS game?

It is a 32 bit game. So uses no more than 3.5mb RAM. Regardless of which OP system you use and how much RAM it has. But more graphics memory can help with mods that use lots of extra units (graphic intensive) etc. :)
 
Excelent map! At first I wanted to play on Carter's huge map, but, just like you, I'm a little annoyed by the big size of Europe compared to other regions, so gave this one a go. I have been playing on a slightly modified version of this map (by me) ever since, and the only thing bothering me is the huge time and distance to reach the Zulus ... but then, it's only one civilization havng this "problem", so ...

As someone else said on this thread, the Lambert projection would have been closer to the "idea" that we have about how Earth looks like, but there would have been inconveniences on that projection too (the very "long" Russia which would make Genghis Khan invasions to the west quite unlikely, the big distance between Europe and the Far East, the big width of the Atlantic Ocean which would make Columbus journey somewhat unrealistic to "reproduce", etc).

Personally, I think a projection somewhere in between this one and the Lambert one would have been ideal. But you can't have it all, and in the end, as I said, the advantages are way more significant than the disadvantages, plus ... I guess I'm the only one emphasizing this, but the accuracy in resource placement, forest amount and reproduction of climate vegetation and features in this one is unmatched.

Great work - and thank you!
 
Thank you. This is probably the best map I've ever downloaded. Thank you for the many hours you must have put into this.
 
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