When designing maps, the given map size (Tiny, Small, Standard, Large, Huge) is completely independent of the chosen tile dimensions. But it has a huge impact on gameplay.[…]
Always learning something new
. (If I had just known before…
) [Edit: No irony here, I just didn't know!]
[…]This creates a sharp imbalance between the well-connected European and Mediterranean civilizations, and the isolated West Asian and African civilizations. Similarly, the East Asia map features a dozen South Asian and Southeast Asian civilizations squeezed into the jungle belt while the Chinese, the Kushans, and the Mongols get free rein over the forests and floodplains in the north. It is unfortunate that these maps are among the few without a European focus; but that's the way it is.
That's naturally the way it is on real earth maps, but there you got a point asking for balance and improved gameplay. For real earth maps bring their share of simulation, immersion in history and role playing already with them. That's no purpose in itself; such maps need some extra work to contribute to an interesting game experience. We know, how rewarding BTS treats extended land ownership, green "good land" and floodplains. China, India and Russia, whoever is settled there, will always dominate, which makes games on real earth maps, even if you're much enjoying historical accuracy and replaying history,
a bit too much predictable.
But I'm not saying that to pay a little tribute to the gameplay-balance-what-if litany, that I criticized here earlier (
if it's nothing but a parroted doctrine). It's just necessary to do something about an oversized green Siberia – and generally nudge the real world maps a little more in the fun direction.
It's been a while, that I played a game on Jabarto's Eurasian map, but I recall I lost to China… That much for historical realism. And I do remember, the resources are distributed in a monotonous way. But since HR's new ressources have to be added anyway, this could be dealt with in one go.
Europe 90×90 could use a Polish start location. Eastern Europe is pretty empty compared to crowded Western Europe. I would also add the Kushans north of the Caspian Sea; it might not make geographic sense, but it would help balance. That entire region is otherwise gobbled up by monster Mongol or Russian empire. (We really could use a Balkan civilization like the Bulgars.)
At least Poland, and I'd add Ukraine as a pure scenario Civ. I don't know if that's concurring with Xyth's general policy to just clone a fake Civ from an existing, that would have "wrong" unique units and buildings. If so, the leader name could be Sviatoslav. He would be borrowing his face from Casimir.
Rather than displacing the Kushans, one could just worsen Eurasia, make it more arid and inhospitable. Other mods make use of Barb spawning to balance superabundant fertile areas (Realism Invictus, not the other one).
I'm not quite sure, if this map has the Celts starting in the Burgundian area. Not really needed there, because France will probably kill them sooner or later anyway.
Xyth, you might as well forget about the 90x90 map. As I mentioned earlier, the rivers would need a complete overhaul. They're a mess. And since you're not much getting out of map design, you could just as well pick a different Europe map. The
one, I adapted for my 0.9.3 HR game, was originally created by PW90 in 2007. Nothing special really, but not bad. I can't remember, if I had to remove anything, before I loaded it from HR. So if you want to take a look, but are unable to open it, I'm going to send or post my adapted version.
More importantly, it would be good to have a dedicated world map, that does justice to the specificity of HR, that means, to shifting the focus away from Europe. civ_king, if you like, let us participate in your plans.
