Location of the equator in certain maps

[Meatbuster]

I don't think this has been thoroughly discussed yet, it might be helpful to know for winning the space race... so where is the equator and the allowable space elevator area (and how big is 30 degrees latitude) in the following maps?

1. Great Plains
2. Oasis
3. Highlands
4. Fantasy Realm
5. Ice Age (is all of the land 30 degrees from the equator or is the allowable elevator area smaller than usual maps)
6. Tilted Axis (this might have an obvious answer but I'm asking anyway)
7. Hub/Ring/Wheel/Maze

 

[flamingzaroc121]

the equator is the line where, when you turn on the resource thing, the tile above has the arrow pointing down and the tile below has an arrow pointing up

i think the city has to be 3 tiles up, ie each tile=10 degrees

 

[cabert]

interesting question, but what's the answer?

 

[Meatbuster]

I wish i knew, because if i did, this would be in Strategy Articles. I may have time to experiment tomorrow night. But if anyone else has the answer...

 

[gdgrimm]

I would also like to know how to read latitude on the map.

It's really annoying having to "guess" as to whether or not one of biggest production cities is going to be able to build the Elevator.

 

[kcbrett5]

I would also like to know how to read latitude on the map.

It's really annoying having to "guess" as to whether or not one of biggest production cities is going to be able to build the Elevator.

It may be annoying but it is better. Do you really think your settler in 3000 BC would be thinking "Hmmm, we better settle a little further south than this because in about 5000 years our people will want to build an elevator into space here"?

 

[wioneo]

It may be annoying but it is better. Do you really think your settler in 3000 BC would be thinking "Hmmm, we better settle a little further south than this because in about 5000 years our people will want to build an elevator into space here"?

I agree, and here are eight more words for you.

 

[VoiceOfUnreason]

Interesting question.

First point: as far as I know, the only way to see the equator on a map is to look at the resource balloons (the arrow of the balloon points to the equator).

I'm going to cover the simple case for maps - but understand that if the map wraps in the X direction instead of the Y direction, then the equator is supposed to run north south. If the map wraps in both directions, the equator is east west. If you like, think of top wrapping maps as simply being turned sideways.


Now, each map generator defines a top latitude, and a bottom latitude. The latitude of the bottom plot on the playing map is the bottom latitude specified by the generator, and the top plot has the to latitude specified by the generator (both of these subject to rounding, which I ignore for simplicity). The plots in the middle have latitudes that use a linear interpolation for these two values. Translation: degrees of latitude per plot depends on the height of the map, but every step covers the same latitude.

As usual, latitudes are handled by the code as integers, so you may have multiple plots with the same latitude.

If the top and bottom latitude are the same magnitude, but differ in sign, the equator will be in the middle of the map. The default map implementation uses +90/-90, so it has this property.

But otherwise, you need to eyeball it. Oasis is +40/0; so the equator is on the bottom.

Here's the list of standard maps that override the defaults:

• Balanced +70/-70
• Great Plains +45/+25
• Highlands +85/+10 (or -10/-85 if you put the ice in the south)
• Inland Sea +60/-60
• Oasis +40/0
• Team Battleground +80/-80

The Space elevator can be built anywhere in the tropics (+30/-30). So you can see that you can build it in the bottom 3/4 of Oasis, the bottom 1/4 of Great Plains, the middle 1/2 of Inland Sea, etc.

 

[aelf]

I don't see what the latitude requirement for the Elevator is for. It's esoteric knowledge for most people, so whether you have any reasonably productive cities that can build it often comes down to luck. Even if you kind of know where it can be built on a particular map, how often can you tailor your strategy to that?

I suppose it makes it such that you can't always win by space race, but there are already so many factors that can influence your victory decision. I'm not sure that a weird and illogical factor like this is actually helping the gameplay.

 

[cabert]

I don't see what the latitude requirement for the Elevator is for. It's esoteric knowledge for most people, so whether you have any reasonably productive cities that can build it often comes down to luck. Even if you kind of know where it can be built on a particular map, how often can you tailor your strategy to that?

I suppose it makes it such that you can't always win by space race, but there are already so many factors that can influence your victory decision. I'm not sure that a weird and illogical factor like this is actually helping the gameplay.

you seem to undervalue knowledge

It's not game changing most of the time, that's sure. Truly, you won't settle your capital 2 tiles south for this.
But before razing a potential city and keeping another, you may want to keep the one between -30 and +30. But for this you need to know where this is

 

[aelf]

you seem to undervalue knowledge

It's not game changing most of the time, that's sure. Truly, you won't settle your capital 2 tiles south for this.
But before razing a potential city and keeping another, you may want to keep the one between -30 and +30. But for this you need to know where this is

No, but I don't quite understand what VoU said, so it's esoteric to me I hope I'm not just dumber than most people

And seriously, does the knowledge actually help you get around the problem even 50% of the time this affects you? Personally, I don't often raze large cities. If the city you are talking about is size 1-5, you can just plop down a settler on your own later (if necessary) and don't lose much. And the problem usually occurs when you are not conquering much and may not have access to quality sites in the required zone. This has happened to me, especially in OCC. All this funny rule does is encourage more warmongering to get around the problem if you are not placed strategically by the map generator. Strange way to create different ways of playing the game

 

[cabert]

No, but I don't quite understand what VoU said, so it's esoteric to me I hope I'm not just dumber than most people

And seriously, does the knowledge actually help you get around the problem even 50% of the time this affects you? Personally, I don't often raze large cities. If the city you are talking about is size 1-5, you can just plop down a settler on your own later (if necessary) and don't lose much. And the problem usually occurs when you are not conquering much and may not have access to quality sites in the required zone. This has happened to me, especially in OCC. All this funny rule does is encourage more warmongering to get around the problem if you are not placed strategically by the map generator. Strange way to create different ways of playing the game

you won't be able to select a good spot for you settler if you don't understand where to send him, will you?

It's good to know that on great plains, it's the bottom quarter of the map, and not the middle third like on a standard map.

 

[aelf]

you won't be able to select a good spot for you settler if you don't understand where to send him, will you?

Lol. It's hard to explain what I meant. Nevermind

It's good to know that on great plains, it's the bottom quarter of the map, and not the middle third like on a standard map.

It certainly is good to know, but my point is the knowledge doesn't usually help when the problem does affect you (i.e. when you are not playing the warmonger and does not plan to cut a swath across the map for a space race when the map generator didn't place you in the right region). Granted, you can still win the space race without the Elevator, but when you're not much bigger than the AI on higher difficulty levels, it's going to be very hard without it. Therefore, the rule is bad. I'd much prefer if it's often possible to win a space race on Emperor without having to conquer a big chunk of the earth.

But I could just be nitpicking. I like the game

 

[wioneo]

You could just kill anybody who finishes the Appolo Program. Problem solved.

 

[uncarved block]

Well, if you check out Sirian's map resource (just search the forums yerself), he lists the dimensions of all the maps except for Fractal. A Standard Continents map, for instance, is 52 squares tall, meaning (grabs calculator) you're looking at 8 or 9 spaces off the equator, depending on how the rounding is done. Other maps are less tall, 40 and 32 being common, which would make 6-7 and 5 off the equator respectably.

What I don't know is how the maps scale up and down by size. A moot point, as my comp can only handle the smaller maps on Standard size (not even Continents!) If anyone knows where there's a listing, or would be kind enough to show the code, I'd be much obliged.

 

[Ealdorad]

Just a little tid-bit of information: the "esoteric" reasoning behind having a space elevator a specific distance from the equator is because the shortest distance out of the gravity well is at the equator.

For more juicy details see the following: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Elevator

 

[aelf]

I studied humanities, you know.

 

[Zombie69]

Here's something i drafted up quickly in MS paint, which even a former humanity student should understand.

 

[Zombie69]

Hopefully the above was correct, if not i welcome any rectification.

 

[cheesejoff]

*edit*

I think this is about right.