Map Generation: Horizontal Plot Shifting

[Barathor]

I'm not sure whether I started noticing this after one of the latest patches or after the expansion was installed, but has anyone else noticed that the horizontal plot shifting has been acting a little wonky lately? I just want to see what others think. Or maybe I started noticing this because I’ve been playing more Continents maps lately (I used to play on low sea level Small Continents most often, but wanted to try something new).

For anybody wondering what the heck I'm talking about, it's the adjustment made to land formations during map creation to center them on the map or to place the major oceanic rift towards the edge, so that you don't have too much land running into the wrapping edge of the map. It's just nicer looking and avoids the bit of awkwardness encountered if your empire happens to fall on the edge of the map where it wraps.

Also, I'm only speaking of the horizontal shifting. The vertical shifting seems fine, and I believe map scripts like Pangaea purposefully try not to center the land formation so that there isn't always too much jungle and too little tundra.

Large, thick areas of the map lying within the edges of the map seems to happen more often now. It's nothing major, but it would be nice if it was functioning properly. Do you even think the function is being used? On many of these maps that I've observed, I can clearly see a nice, large vertical area of water that would be perfect to have the wrapping edge fall on.

It doesn’t happen all the time, but often enough. Also, it seems to happen the most with Continents and sometimes Pangaea (if the mass isn’t as clumpy and large). Another script I tested, Small Continents, doesn’t encounter this very often at all either. Most of the snaky continents are all centered on the map.

Also, I’ve noticed Continents and Pangaea use their own custom method of FractalWorld. I think this also happens to be where plot shifting takes place. Maybe the only reason this doesn’t occur as often on Pangaea is because it’s an easier determination when the mass formed is large and clumpy. Are these custom methods, like ContinentsFractalWorld, something new or have they always been a part of these map scripts?

Here are some test maps I generated; 4 Continents and 1 Pangaea. Not all were broken. I’d get centered continents every now and then. Again, most of them seem pretty obvious where you would place the map edge. The top is the map that was generated, and below it is my adjustment, with the vertical line as a reference.

 

[The Wreckoning]

As far as I've noticed, the wonky shifting is only on the initial session. After a save & reload, the map is centered properly.

 

[SalemSage]

I thought that was deliberate.

If the map was centered properly at the beginning of the game, you'd be able to tell where in the world you were, which would kind of ruin the mystery of exploring a new world. That's what the first few turns are all about, right? Working out if you're in the centre, or on a corner, or something?

But it would be good if after you've explored X% of the map, it centres properly.

 

[Lyoncet]

I thought that was deliberate.

If the map was centered properly at the beginning of the game, you'd be able to tell where in the world you were, which would kind of ruin the mystery of exploring a new world. That's what the first few turns are all about, right? Working out if you're in the centre, or on a corner, or something?

But it would be good if after you've explored X% of the map, it centres properly.

The player's map centers on only what they've explored, so that's a non-issue. There is no situation in which you'd gain more information from the map being properly centered, because you wouldn't see how it was centered until your mini-map had pulled back far enough, and to do that, you have to do the exploration anyways. So no, I seriously doubt it was deliberate.

 

[SalemSage]

Oh right, now I get it.

Yeah, I guess that IS a problem. Thanks for setting me straight.

 

[Lyoncet]

Yup. The developers are just too clever with their mini-map shifting!

 

[compwiz1202]

I think that in previous Civs, researching some tech shifted the map so you knew where you were, but I never noticed if it happens in CiV.

 

[S.K. Ren]

Yeah but you can still see the edge line in the fog of war for where the map splits if you look hard enough which is kind of weird.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

I think that in previous Civs, researching some tech shifted the map so you knew where you were, but I never noticed if it happens in CiV.

The way it works now is that in the beginning, your mini map is centered on your civ and zoomed in. You don't know where in the world you are located until you explore more territory. As you explore more and more, the mini map view slowly pulls out and centers on the actual center of the map, rather than your civ.

It's a really neat addition and is executed well enough that it's almost unperceptible unless you pay attention.

Yeah but you can still see the edge line in the fog of war for where the map splits if you look hard enough which is kind of weird.

That really only happens on worlds that don't wrap around the edges, i.e. flat worlds (the European map script being a good example). It does happen at the North and South poles as you can't cross them, but considering on most maps the North/South poles are wrapped in tundra/snow/ice, it's not like seeing the edge is a big giveaway, IMHO.