[MAPSCRIPT] FaireWeather.py for Colonization

[cephalo]

I like the overall appearance of the maps.

But how can i remove/undo the increase in size of the maps ?
I removed the getGridSize method, as i would do with Civ4, but it stopped working at all... (Generating all grassland map.)

Edit.: For now hardcoded different numbers in the getGridSize method, and it works, but i would really prefer the script using the values as defined in the XML.

Set the getGridSize function back like it was, and change the size in the function. In this map, the resulting map size is a combination of the mc.distanceToEurope variable(which overrides the default distance to Europe) and the size portion that may have land on it. This was an easy way prevent the possibility of tiny maps having no Europe, since six tiles is alot of space to ask for on such a small map. So try to incorporate the formula with your map size.

Another thing you'll want to consider is that in this map, no matter what the end size is, the map first generates a large, fixed size height map and climate map, and then shrinks them down to the proper size. This prevents the problem that PerfectWorld had generating tiny maps directly with the same methods as with large maps. In PerfectWorld large maps looked very natural, while tiny and duel maps sometimes looked very blocky and not at all random. The issue that you might run into when changing size is that if you do not use the same aspect ratio as the large map, the result may appear stretched. If you want to change the aspect of the map, change the mc.hmHeight and mc.hmWidth variables to the same or similar ratio slightly larger than your largest size map.

The reason I like the map sizes in the map is because one of my main complaints about the default map is that is very un-epic. Instead I used the 100 height that we find in the huge Americas map, and then stretched it east/west a little so that not counting the bands of water to ensure a continuous Europe, it's basically a square aspect.

My hope is that it will inspire some modder to put something out there so that we can have an exploration game again! Bring back Fountain of Youth and maybe One of the Seven cities of gold!

 

[Commander Bello]

Looks quite good so far

I have taken the liberty to direct the German forum to your thread and d/l section.

 

[cephalo]

Looks quite good so far

I have taken the liberty to direct the German forum to your thread and d/l section.

Thanks for doing that. We monolinguistic Americans are always in need of some help in that regard.

 

[N35t0r]

Shouldn't the maps be more than twice as tall as they are wide? After all, excluding Alaska, the continent is about 1 and a half times taller than it is wide, more if you tilt it to avoid all the empty northwest atlantic and southeast pacific...

 

[cephalo]

Shouldn't the maps be more than twice as tall as they are wide? After all, excluding Alaska, the continent is about 1 and a half times taller than it is wide, more if you tilt it to avoid all the empty northwest atlantic and southeast pacific...

They can be. My reasoning for making them wide was to provide plenty exploration room without making it so tall that the four powers never meet each other. If alot of people prefer tall maps that aren't as wide I can change that. I can also make them smaller in general if it is needed.

I played on a huge map last time, and I was really raking in the treasure. Maybe it's a bit too much.

 

[SoupLLJK]

PerfectWorld was my favorite script for Civ4 - look forward to giving this a try.

 

[Falc]

Well, on my first try I got this rather odd map (see attached screenshot).

The 'Europe' zone wrapped around the north-east corner and extended along the north pole past the island there, and then back down to where I started (the selected tile). I don't really think that's supposed to happen...

 

[cephalo]

Well, on my first try I got this rather odd map (see attached screenshot).

The 'Europe' zone wrapped around the north-east corner and extended along the north pole past the island there, and then back down to where I started (the selected tile). I don't really think that's supposed to happen...

That's fine. The idea was to make the whole coast 6 tiles away from Europe. The rule is that the Europe area is continuously connected to the map edge. If part of the Europe area gets 'pinched off' then it is removed.

 

[cephalo]

I would like to hear more opinions on the map. I have a couple of concerns that I'm not sure about.

Do you think that the maps are too big?

Would you prefer a thinner map rather than a squarish one?

I intended to make privateers more dangerous with the 6 tiles from Europe distance, but I'm getting my butt kicked by privateers now. I'm finding that I really need a frigate with my first 5000 gold. Is that a good thing?

What do you guys think?

 

[Refar]

I reduced the distance from Europe back to 4.
3 units will need 2 Turns most of the time (Tho in theory they could make it in just one, if the harbour is in a good spot), wile 4 units will nearly allways make it in 1 Turn. This way 4 units (Merchantman and FF enhanced Caravell/Galleon) do have a clear advantage, but are still vulnerable wit good timing.

-----
Privateeers are still kicking butt, even with 4 distance.
My First pruchase was a Galleon, to start shipping out treasure ASAP.
Then a few Privateers. The AI never recovered from this...
-----

Another thing about Europe - there are different types of "Europe" waters (East/West mmost notable). Does the Script place these properly ? Because i had some oddness with ships embarking on the west coast but - sometimes - popping back at the east coast...

Can not be sure if it is connected to the scripts, or just some random .

The size is very taste-dependant. I reduced the size (to about 75% of what you had) and still felt the map was a bit too big (Standard).
Had obscene amounts of treasure too - bought me 2 Galleons to ship it all out - but this is rather nice of course

Squar-ish vs. Thin is a matter of taste too.

There is however something i dislike about the shape (It is still a lot better than the default script, still...): It tends to generate 2 Semicontinents - usually connected by a landbridge.
Most of the time in the East-West direction.

If somehow possible to turn it 90 degrees, it would be closer to the "Americas" feel. Would also facilitate thin-ish maps better.

 

[cephalo]

I place 'east europe' and 'west europe'. The 2 turn journey on the east side of the map and the 4 turn journey on the west side. I don't use north/south europe.

Also, it is actually possible for 'east' Europe to wrap around an island to appear on both sides of it. Europe will penetrate as far as 1/3 the way into the map width.

With a distance of 4 to Europe, I felt I was able to evade privateers most of the time. I eventually felt the need for one frigate when I had the extra cash and the privateers became more numerous. Maybe that's how it should be.

 

[Refar]

While you felt it was too easy to evade AI privateers @4 distance, 3 (eventually 6 but 3 in the beginning) Privateers were enought to completely cripple all 3 AIs at the same 4 Distance...
Apparently this is one of these issues the AI is just bad at...

The Europe issue was definitely not "a peace of europe wrapped around a island" lol, but since you placed both East/West on the map i think something not related to the script caused it.

 

[cephalo]

I haven't actually gone on the offensive with privateers. I got burned a few times losing to caravels, or being pounced on and sunk by a fleet of enemy privateers just by showing up, and I was thinking this is sooo not worth it. I don't wanna cripple myself just to cripple the AI.

At 6 distance, the little buggers actually wait for you near the Europe squares. Sometimes one frigate isn't enough to prevent losses. Still not sure if I like that or not.

 

[macondo]

first of all... thanks for your fantastic work, i really enjoy your perfectworld script and this one...

finally a huge map is a really huge map when using your script. i really love the size. but i noticed the nearly infinite amount of indian villages, perhaps it makes sense when there are less villages on the same map.

i get so many treasures, cant buy enough galleons to bring them to europe and later it takes 50+ turns to get them to the next city. in my last game i got an early scout and not many turns later i had 20 treasures in my cities and many more moving across the map, additional to the gold that was directly transferred to my bank account...

when i have this on my mind and seeing the stupid ai not getting many treasures this is very unbalanced. i find it logical when the cities are not placed in every region of this map in the same amount... there are always better regions for a village/city where more cities and villages are founded than in other regions. is it possible to create bigger regions with only a small amount of cities, like deserts?

btw. the indians really like to attack without reasons except their superiority when having 10+ villages... that makes it really hard. using this map script with dales/snoopys patchmod with a more intelligent and aggressive ai could be an overkill.

 

[cephalo]

Yeah, it's kinda funny to have treasures still rolling in from accross the map when you are almost done with WoI.

I haven't messed with the placement of villages at all.

I think I'll have a drop down option for some finer ajustments in the size. Like a huge, huge map or a smaller huge map with just as many players but not so much room. It's not so easy to change the size of this map so maybe some dropdowns are needed.

 

[macondo]

how does the city placement work in map generation? is there are defined distance between cities... perhaps this distance can be increased and so there are less cities on a map. that would be great if that could be an option for a dropdown. i really would like to play a huge and well balanced map...

 

[avain]

Hi cephalo!

Excellent map script, a clear upgrade from the originals.

But:
- the maps are too big for their respective sizes
- there are too few islands for my taste -> can this be changed/improved somehow? I'm not talking about archipelago maps, just a tad bit more smaller islands

anyways, thanks for the great script!

 

[Refar]

When you are adding more options

A "No Ice Caps" variant would be cool.

 

[cephalo]

Hi cephalo!

Excellent map script, a clear upgrade from the originals.

But:
- the maps are too big for their respective sizes
- there are too few islands for my taste -> can this be changed/improved somehow? I'm not talking about archipelago maps, just a tad bit more smaller islands

anyways, thanks for the great script!

While I've been playing, I find that the thing I hate most is when I accidently make landfall on a smallish island without realizing that it's an island. You can't waste too much time exploring before putting down a city after all. Defending an island against the King is waaay harder, and it's also harder to distribute the colonists that may grow there. I can make the map generation bumpier for more islands as an option, but are you sure you want that? I don't like having too many options, only ones that are necessary.

 

[Refar]

I like to make the Landfall on a front island while forming the main colony on the continent.

Makes WoI a lot easier, since the REF or at least big parts of it will often be marooned on that same island... (It's a cheesy exploit of course, and hopefully going to be fixed...)