Map of Erebus - Unofficial FfH2 Map

[OzzyKP]

Here is my stab at creating an interesting, playable, and somewhat accurate (based on what little I know of the storyline) map for use with Kael's Fall from Heaven 2 mod.

Version 9 (compatible with FfH version .40) Uploaded 5-12-09:
Download Here.

This huge map includes all finished, playable civs (as of version .40). The leaders/civs included are:

Bannor - Sabathiel
Malakim - Varn Gosam
Elohim - Einion Logos
Luchuirp - Beeri Bawl
Kuriotates - Cardith
Ljosalfar - Arendel Phaedra

Khazad - Kandros Fir
Amurites - Valledia the Even
Grigori - Cassiel
Sidar - Sandalphon
Lanun - Hannah the Irin
Hippus - Tasunke

Doviello - Charadon
Balseraphs - Perpentach
Svartalfar - Faeryl Viconia
Clan of Embers - Sheelba
Calabim - Alexis
Sheaim - Tebryn Arbandi
Illians - Auric

As with the last version I took care to balance the placement of good/neutral/evil civs. Civ placement has been changed around a lot due to the addition of the Sidar and Svartalfar. In order to achieve balance between alignments I have changed Ljosalfar's leader to Arendel to have another good civ in the game. I have also moved some civs to new locations. No civ should be totally surrounded by enemies nor entirely enclosed by friends. Most civs are on one main continent with the Lanun on a nearby island. Four civs (one good, two neutral and one evil) are placed on a separate continent. There should be enough room (and open civ slots) for Mercurians and Infernal to spawn.

Civs were placed according to their native land. Hippus are in a great central plain. Khazad are in a mountain range. Doviello are in the tundra, etc.

I did my best to arrange civs according to who their neighbors are in the storyline I found on the wiki. I was only able to find a description for Bannor (that the Clan of Embers were to their east, Doviello to their northwest, and Lunun in islands to the west). You should note that the Khazad and Luchuirp are now neighbors as are the Ljosalfar and Svartalfar.

Finally I tried to make the map conform to natural geographic characteristics with two large mountain chains running north and south situated in the east and the west of the main continent. In both cases the mountains divide greener land closer to the ocean and drier land in the interior. I also did my best to cluster resources to necessitate trade between civs.

Lairs and huts are randomized thanks to a new feature in .34. No extra python files needed for this version. Resources and special features are all pre-placed to ensure balance and encourage some interesting trades.

Any comments, suggestions, complaints are certainly welcome. The "development thread" is here: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=236321

Thanks! I hope y'all enjoy it!

To use:
1. Download file and unzip map into My Documents\My Games\Beyond the Sword\PublicMaps
2. Load Fall from Heaven 2 Mod
3. Select "Start Scenario" (from either single player or multiplayer)
4. Pick "Ozzy's Map of Erebus v.40"
5. Enjoy!


Version 4 (compatible with FfH version .23 Uploaded 8-20-07:

Spoiler :

Download Here.

This huge map includes all playable civs (as of version .23). The leaders/civs included are:

Bannor - Sabathiel
Malakim - Varn Gosam
Elohim - Ethne the White
Luchuirp - Garrim Gyr
Kuriotates - Cardith

Ljosalfar - Thessa
Khazad - Kandros Fir
Lanun - Hannah the Irin
Grigori - Cassiel
Hippus - Tasunke
Amurites - Valledia the Even

Doviello - Charadon
Balseraphs - Perpentach
Clan of Embers - Sheelba
Calabim - Alexis
Sheaim - Tebryn Arbandi

To use:
1. Download file and unzip map into Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 4\PublicMaps
2. Place CustomFunctions.py into Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 4\Mods\Fall from Heaven 2 023\Assets\python (copy over the existing file)
3. Load Fall from Heaven 2 Mod
4. Select "Start Scenario" (from either single player or multiplayer)
5. Pick "Map of Erebus - FfH2 Map"

 

[it-ogo]

It would be nice to have a list of short statements useful for map designing. E.g.
1) Amurites should neighbour to Doviello and Illians (source: Age of Ice).
2) Luchuirp should neighbour to Khazad (both dwarven) and Ljoslfar to Swartalfar (both elven).
etc

where everybody can add or discuss ideas. And someone to keep the current version of this list.

 

[MacGyverInSpace]

Also, I think an 'ice border' is more realistic than a world wrap. The entire planet/plane (depending on how much truth to legend there is...) should not be just small enough to contain all the civs, who are really should be imaginable as pretty small for flavour.

 

[Thennorin]

Wow, that looks good, Ozzy! I remember reading that Kael said there is no official Erebus map, so this is the next best thing. I love the idea of having maps that cater to each civ's native terrain. I also like the idea of clustering resources. It would make for an interesting scenario if the various civs always have surplus resources that make sense according to their description & location (ie, Khazad have copper + iron, Hippus have horses, Luchuirp have stone). I'll try it out when I can.

 

[feydras]

This looks terrific. Thanks for the hard work. I will try it soon.

Will this work with both .23c and with the upcoming BtS conversion?

- feydras

 

[Nikis-Knight]

Looks nice. I'd play it, but either my computer is worse than I thought, or I have less patience than most people. FfH 2 huge maps have too long wait between turns even in the beginning for me. Maybe BtS will make it easier.

Oh yeah, and when converting to shadow for BtS, you might need to replace civ specific warriors and scouts with generic ones, if you preplaced them. Otherwise, I *think* it should still work, but I haven't tried yet.

(by the way, have you seen my huge map? I need to post an updated version w/o stone, I think, to make it work.)

 

[OzzyKP]

I didn't preplace the units, I just set the starting location, so it should hopefully work fine with BTS.

I haven't seen your huge map. I only saw your 5 kings map (though you didn't post a screen shot) but I figured that was too small. Typically I don't go for huge maps, but with so many unique, interesting civs this mod kinda begs for a map to throw them all in together.

 

[Nikis-Knight]

I didn't preplace the units, I just set the starting location, so it should hopefully work fine with BTS.

hmm, how do you do that? I went in and deleted the units already set down, then replaced them where I wanted them...

Also, it would be nice to have a version with a 21 civ limit, but I don't know how to do that.

I haven't seen your huge map.

I stuck it in the scenario forum,here

 

[OzzyKP]

hmm, how do you do that? I went in and deleted the units already set down, then replaced them where I wanted them...

Also, it would be nice to have a version with a 21 civ limit, but I don't know how to do that.

I did that at first too, but I know the AI gets different starting units based on difficulty and such, and I didn't want to mess that up by just placing units. Plus I didn't want to bother trying to match up the right flavor units with each civ, there are an ungodly number of units to sort through with this mod.

There is a tag for each leader in the WB file that lists a starting location coordinate:

Spoiler :

BeginPlayer
Team=5
LeaderType=LEADER_THESSA
LeaderName=Thessa
CivDesc=Ljosalfar
CivShortDesc=Ljosalfar
CivAdjective=Ljosalfar
FlagDecal=Art/Interface/TeamColor/Ljosalfarflag.dds
WhiteFlag=0
CivType=CIVILIZATION_LJOSALFAR
Color=PLAYERCOLOR_LJOSALFAR
ArtStyle=ARTSTYLE_SOUTH_AMERICA
PlayableCiv=1
MinorNationStatus=0
StartingGold=0
StartingX=73, StartingY=62
StateReligion=
StartingEra=ERA_ANCIENT
CivicOption=CIVICOPTION_GOVERNMENT, Civic=CIVIC_DESPOTISM
CivicOption=CIVICOPTION_CULTURAL_VALUES, Civic=CIVIC_RELIGION
CivicOption=CIVICOPTION_LABOR, Civic=CIVIC_TRIBALISM
CivicOption=CIVICOPTION_ECONOMY, Civic=CIVIC_DECENTRALIZATION
CivicOption=CIVICOPTION_COMPASSION, Civic=CIVIC_BASIC_CARE
CivicOption=CIVICOPTION_EDUCATION, Civic=CIVIC_NO_SCHOOL_SYSTEM
Handicap=HANDICAP_NOBLE
EndPlayer

The trick is to figure out the coordinates for the tile you want them to start on. I'm sure there is a more elegant way of doing it, but I just placed an improvement down on that tile, saved it and then used the find function (ctrl + f) to locate the correct plot in notepad.

I stuck it in the scenario forum,here

Ah, ok. There are too many damn forums and sub-forums here, I can't keep track of it all, hah. You should list it on the wiki. If I had seen it I probably would have just played that one instead of making a new one. It looks nice.

 

[Rex rgis of Ter]

Cool Map! I liked it, but I thought Arendel should rule Ljosalfar, as she is the queen.

 

[OzzyKP]

I didn't realize that. I picked her initially, but I thought the civ was supposed to be neutral, so I didn't want a good leader to throw things off.

 

[Greeneyedzombie]

This map looks great. I'll deffinatly try it out.
Any chance that you will later change it to include all civs? I've seen an earth map with 24 civs, so it should be doable.

 

[Nikis-Knight]

I did that at first too, but I know the AI gets different starting units based on difficulty and such, and I didn't want to mess that up by just placing units. Plus I didn't want to bother trying to match up the right flavor units with each civ, there are an ungodly number of units to sort through with this mod.

And it is much harder in WB where they are unnamed! Thanks.

 

[OzzyKP]

This map looks great. I'll deffinatly try it out.
Any chance that you will later change it to include all civs? I've seen an earth map with 24 civs, so it should be doable.

Yea, I'll look into it. If it is possible, I'll definitely do it.

 

[BlazeRedSXT]

My understanding is that the max number of civs is set somewhere between the dll and the core program... so I think it would require a dll change. That said, I am pretty sure BtS upped the max number of civs, not sure what the new max is though.
Also, going to go try this map out now.

Cheers!

 

[woodelf]

AoI taught me to appreciate scenarios more so I'm giving this one a shot. I've also been a proponent of a mapscript where civs started in areas that suit them so this should be fun.

 

[R0GERSHRUBBER]

It looks good; I'll give it a go.

Why Sheelba instead of Jonas, though? I find the civ to be underpowered to begin with, especially with Sheelba. Also, based on the history, Jonas strikes me as the more significant leader.

 

[OzzyKP]

She seemed like a more "in-character" leader due to her war-like traits. Seemed more fitting for the civ.

 

[daladinn]

hello ,
let me start by saying thank you for your efforts so far and i love the concept.

now for a bit of critism on it based on the civs in question....

Bannor - Sabathiel -- pretty solid , the need to go to an early war with hippus over incense could get interesting though.

Malakim - Varn Gosam -- wonderful setup here , love the amount of terrain and the resource placement.

Elohim - Ethne the White -- here i think i found your favorite civ. copper , iron , AND mithril ... AND 3 sources of reagents , AND incense ...???

Luchuirp - Garrim Gyr -- nice placement of the gems, however they are totally missing any source of stone/marble. they will also be suffering from a lack of food resources compared to other civs.

Kuriotates - Cardith -- not bad , could be tweaked slightly.

Ljosalfar - Thessa -- needs to go to war for incense, totally lacking deer , and the forests should be denser (no need for non-forested tiles.

Khazad - Kandros Fir -- not bad ... not enough wine around for the dwarfs, would add 1 wine in starting set and a few to the west scattered. also , totally missing copper. would swap a gold for a copper in a place that could be a 2nd city.

Lanun - Hannah the Irin -- ehhh .... ouch. small island half covered in jungle. please swap the reagents for incense. and remove 1 of the temples.

Grigori - Cassiel -- very bad placement. too much jungle inside starting city radius. very low number of resources. close set of copper that is only accessible when its too late due to jungle. and a 2nd copper that will be contested. if you can get to the reagents before the jungle does thats great. but to get there early would be a risk with the calabim soo close.

Hippus - Tasunke -- nice job here.

Amurites - Valledia the Even -- horrid placement. 8 tiles of the cities starting cross are jungle. no reagents in sight. 3 temples to deal with. this person is destined to die to the kuriotates early on.

Doviello - Charadon -- not a bad setup. i think 3 sources of mithril is a bit much though.

Balseraphs - Perpentach -- overall reasonable. easy to defend and lot of reoom to grow. missing all the metals though.

Clan of Embers - Sheelba -- not bad. the starting city is what i woudl call a perfect 2nd city for the clan. might have food and coin issues but , those are minor.

Calabim - Alexis -- lack of trade routes. lack of either reagents or incense. heading south is nothing but jungle. this is probably the 2nd hardest start to have on the map. given the food and coin availability i could see the calabim deciding to just eat the settle and move on instead of settling there.

Sheaim - Tebryn Arbandi -- not a bad start. the complete lack of reagents needs to be corrected here though.

overall a decent map. seems to heavily favor the good guys though , and the nuetral are really getting shafted. the blatant favoratism of the elohim stands out clearly as well as some general lack of understand of the individual civs. for a first draft this map is great. with a few tweaks to make every civ playable i think this map will be great and more then likely the standard for multiplayer.

 

[Stalin_Bulldog]

I must agree that the Lanun start off incredibly handicapped. Growing them off the island is amazingly difficult. Considering how advanced you must be to build ships with transport capacity they really could use a better starting location. Consider removing some of that jungle and giving them some open land. Other than the starting pos though, they're really fun(I tweaked it a bit, opening up 3 jungle tiles seemed to given them enough umph to get to optics)

Although, these are minor details, on a whole the map seems very good, keep up the good work