Map climate

[Dragonxander PR]

As a mapbuilder and perfectionwhore when it comes to the game's maps, I've spent some time experimenting with the map scripts. One feature I didn't experiment with until recently was the map climate. This is what I've found (I'll submit images if requested):


Temperate: the game's default and the most used.

Tropical: expands jungle substantially, places scattered jungle tiles on the temperate latitudes. It also shrinks the cold regions substantially, making furs and deer quite scarce (on smaller maps, even almost non-existant). With the extra jungle, one gets extra grassland.

Arid: expands steepe and desert substantially. It isn't as food defficient as many would expect, given that many of the rivers are on floodplains. Even so, the expenses of foodless desert are still around.

Rocky: it has the temperate region's biomes, but it has extra hills and peaks. At least here there are more significant mountain ranges in terms of strategic value (unlike the flat temperate, which almost never has any significant peak groupings). Its downside is that rivers are often flanked by hills, making them less usable for farming and other riverside improving.

Cold: the tundra and ice reach farther into the Equator, and the world is somewhat more dry. This makes it harder to cope with, especially since many players would likely start on either cold-bordering or cold-isolated areas.


Any further thoughts on this?

 

[Bushface]

Only one: what did you expect ? It seems to me that the conditions produced by each type are exactly what one might anticipate.

 

[Dragonxander PR]

I know there are some complaints about certain landmass arrangements when using certain climates, such as the scarcity of production in Archipelago. I also notice there's also lack of discussion on strategies surrounding the map types.

 

[TheMulattoMaker]

Have you noticed Stone more often than usual playing on Rocky, or does it just have more highlands?

 

[Dragonxander PR]

As far as I know, the "Rocky" map climate favors minerals. Then again, I do consider that construction stones (marble and granite, the game's "stone") are much rarer than what they should be.

 

[TheMulattoMaker]

I do consider that construction stones (marble and granite, the game's "stone") are much rarer than what they should be.

Me too. I'm a wonder whore.

 

[Skwink]

I like to play with cold.

 

[Dragonxander PR]

Something I would like to have for the map settings is a three variable climate selection system, like that of Civ III; one in which temperature (warm, temperate, cold), humidity (arid, medium, wet) and terrain roughness (the 3 billion, 4 billion and 5 billion years of geological antiquity, the earlier the rougher the terrain) are available as options. If I had such system available, I'd choose either warm or temperate, humid and 3 billion years of geological antiquity.

 

[DroopyTofu]

So do you find that playing with different map settings hinders the game very much? They all seem like they would make the game slower, so I always wuss out and play on temperate.