Online resource maps etc?

[Greizer85]

Hello. I'm in the process of creating a reasonable sized, aestethic, evenly playable Europe map (something I haven't found for any of the Civs in all these years). 60x51 iirc. The outline of the map is finished, as are most of the rivers and some of the terrain. What I'd need now is good maps of the climate areas (tundra, plains etc), elevation (hills, mountains) and most importantly, resource placement from a gameplay perspective. I will not e.g. make all of Turkey and Spain into hills. I have found some maps online but they have conflicting information... Some have half of Russia as tundra and some only the very north, etc. And I've found almost no resource maps!

So if you can recommend any good online maps, I'd be grateful (and so will you when you get to play my map, if you have a bad computer ). I realize I could buy a book/borrow one from the library, but right now I don't have library access and I'm kind of tight in the financial department.

 

[NiRv4n4]

Spoiler :

A good topographic map. Sorry about the size

Has biomes, quite accurate. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biome#Map_of_Biomes for key.

A lot of this would depend on time period. If ancient, there would be lots of grassland/forest mixes, with plains in the south and east of Europe. Here is a map -

The orangish colors should have lots of plains, and the light green should have plains scattered about. I would suggest no plains for the dark green. The subarctic area should be grassland with a bit of tundra, and the tundra should be... tundra, with some grassland in the south. Try to make your land cover changes gradual, and it will look better.

I am afraid that there would be no way to accurately place all resources, as records from the ancient times up until the early modern period are quite sparse. Place resources where you thing they would belong, i.e. copper and iron in Scandinavia for Vikings, and marble in Greece and Italy. Or, if you are attempting to make the map from a modern perspective, simply place the resources by the country's export rate for that particular item.

 

[Greizer85]

Thank you for the maps! The first one is the same that I currently use to make the elevations, but this is a bigger version so it's much appreciated. The other two are not as useful; I live in Finland and I can assure you there is not even a smattering of tundra here except in the very north. I've realized though that I must make at least 1/3rd of Russia into tundra regardless of the real geography, if I don't want to go with the other option (which is filling the rest of Europe with resources and leaving Russia barren, something that is even more unpleasant imo). Likewise 1/3rd will be plains too.

As for the resources: my aim is to balance them so that there's few extra resources on the map. Sure, it hurts the AI, but I hate seeing 50 Oils and 80 Furs scattered across the map. So it would be helpful to know which deposits are the biggest and most important, and more importantly where they are; mere export figures will not suffice since I want to place my resources on the exact right squares, not just thereabouts, give or take. I realize that I will have to make many compromises; but I had a very good book about most modern resources before moving temporarily to another apartment... Now it's buried under tons of construction dust in another city 300 kms away.

Ancient era will be taken into account mainly in the amount of forests (so that people apart from Russians have something to chop too ); also with animals etc I will have to be approximate since a herd of cows or sheep is not exactly a 'fixed' resource.

So, still need that resource map. What sites do you mapmakers usually take the resource distribution from? Chime in and you'll soon get to play on my map!

 

[Shiggs713]

here ya go , last map site you'll ever need.

 

[Greizer85]

here ya go , last map site you'll ever need.

Holy hemp production of Poland in 1916 - sir you are correct! Thanks a gazillion. May the water that you find in the desert at night not shine at you in the dark... Or shine, if you would prefer it. This link should be stickied everywhere that links have ever been stickied to. Related to mapmaking at least.

Now, to read those exam books for English... I'm sorry whatchamacallit, oh yes to make a map I mean. Thanks for ruining my future... In a sweet way, fwiw.

 

[Shiggs713]

yea i frequently post it around if I see someone talking about wanting a map. Your not the first to suggest it be stickied

 

[techathon]

OH, I forgot to thank you for giving me that site. so, Yea