New map script

[musicfreak]

So, from looking at all the complaints in this forum, I think we can all agree that the current "Rhyes_Terra" map script is not ideal. Personally, I think the Terra map script itself isn't the best script for the job, so I started on an alternative one based on Earth2. But I'd like to know, what map script do you think the map should be based on? And what changes should be made (besides the obvious...start locations, marshes, etc) to make it more "RFC-like"? Thanks for your input.

 

[BurnEmDown]

Check out the preview threads on page 2, where Rhye explained some of the features of Rand, I'm sure you'll find some useful things there.

 

[Fierabras]

I suggested Earth.py, or even better, Earth2.py as well (see post). You might want to change the water level (lower) to ensure there's enough room for civs to spawn, as Earth.py creates very lean strips of land.

 

[Arkaeyn]

I actually mostly like the scripts for RAND. It's because it's so close to great that I get nitpicky.

The two main flaws I find are that starting locations for several civs have too much desert/plains/tundra, and that the perfect balance for natural "chokepoints" seems too difficult to achieve - civs are either totally cut off from one another, or a little bit too open to barbarian invasions.

 

[musicfreak]

I suggested Earth.py, or even better, Earth2.py as well (see post). You might want to change the water level (lower) to ensure there's enough room for civs to spawn, as Earth.py creates very lean strips of land.

Yeah I'm currently using Earth2.py, and I'm going to just increase the randomness of both the map and start locations depending on the likeliness.

I actually mostly like the scripts for RAND. It's because it's so close to great that I get nitpicky.

The two main flaws I find are that starting locations for several civs have too much desert/plains/tundra, and that the perfect balance for natural "chokepoints" seems too difficult to achieve - civs are either totally cut off from one another, or a little bit too open to barbarian invasions.

Really? I personally don't like it. Not just the shape of the world, but the terrain. Like you said, there's too many clumps of one terrain. I think high likeliness should be fairly close to an actual world map, so that's why I decided to use Earth2.py (and I'm also editing the actual script instead of just adding code at the end, thus making it much faster than Rhyes_Terra).

 

[Arkaeyn]

A map quirk that I find interesting, and I'm not certain if it's a problem or just a quirk, is that there are occasionally large inland seas that coastal civs find themselves next to. This screenshot has one of the largest that I've seen.

Are these good? For Greece, it makes one of their UHV conditions more difficult, but that one was ahistorical anyway. It also makes naval units somewhat less useful. And it's not supremely historical - the Caspian Sea has not been a center of Civilization-style history.

On the other hand, having them on the map is perfectly realistic, and ensuring that coastal civs don't spawn next to them may be more trouble than it's worth.

Thoughts?

 

[ZachScape]

I look at it as an alternative to the Mediterranean, but usually I can build canals once I get math.

 

[Ambassador]

@musicfreak

Still active with the new mapscript? I'm also interested since I share your complaints about the old one.

 

[Arkaeyn]

I've been playing with Tectonics, and I like it generally, but the resources are too sparse for RAND, and it does a thing where it has nothing but hills in 5x8 or so areas, which is rather annoying.

 

[musicfreak]

@musicfreak

Still active with the new mapscript? I'm also interested since I share your complaints about the old one.

Not really, sorry. I've had a lot of stuff to do lately. Hopefully I'll get something at least playable in the near future, but don't count on it.