Recommend me a good Mapscript plz!

[kornuletz]

What mapscript are you guys using?
I am looking for a good Mapscript like ErebusContinents, but with a fair start for Multiplayer.

The reason while I don't like ErebusContinents is that it gives some civilizations always the same terrain, for example Illians (my favs right now) always start in Tundra with usually some deer or beaver. While it is great for flavor, it seems kinda unfair because you get a bad terrain (tundra) with a ressource that needs a technology that requires alot of beacons for its place in the techtree (Hunting).

Am I missing something? I know that the temple can turn all into "grassland", but shouldn't that be an ability and not a necessity? Also, that comes with some research and hammers, but the early game can be wrecked by then... or?

 

[Senethro]

If you dig around in the Erebus continent mapscript with a text editor you'll find an option called flavour start. If you set that to false, or 0, or whatever any annotations say, or delete the section altogether, rename the file and pass it to your friends, you should have a good mapscript for MP.

 

[TheGreatSteve]

Tectonics, with the lines for special climate edited out so you don't get massive amounts of plains and huge deserts. Gives nice mountain ranges that don't form impenetrable walls like Erebus does. So it more suggests borders than forces them.

 

[dommain]

could try "full of resources 2"

 

[Bringa]

If you want something fair, you want a mirrored mapscript. BY FAR the best mirrored mapscript out there is LDeska's Mirror_Inland_Sea. It has a few issues with starting positions, so Shizanu adjusted it a little. You can find his version here:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=353052

What is missing from this script for myself is a setting to adjust bonus density, but there's always Blessings of Amathon.

 

[Angel-Julia]

I like ErebusContinents, though think it would be better if the mountain ranges did not isolate civs. i like the tactical needs of having bottlenecks that need to be guarded.

turning just 1-2 of the Erebus impenatrable mountain ranges into a hill gives rise to a great map where controll of the mountian pass becomes essential, and opens a lot of interesting tactical consderations.

of course we can change 1-2 mountains into hills in the Erebus using WB, though i think it would be better if we could modify the script, so it happens automatically for everyone.

 

[a_civilian]

I like ErebusContinents, though think it would be better if the mountain ranges did not isolate civs. i like the tactical needs of having bottlenecks that need to be guarded.

Note: ErebusContinent is a completely different mapscript from Erebus (which is included in FFH).

 

[Angel-Julia]

Note: ErebusContinent is a completely different mapscript from Erebus (which is included in FFH).

Thanks for pointing out the difference.
ErebusContinent looks interesting, i think i'll give it a go.

 

[Tholal]

Perfect World 2 is my favorite mapscript.

 

[Seven05]

What mapscript are you guys using?
I am looking for a good Mapscript like ErebusContinents, but with a fair start for Multiplayer.

The reason while I don't like ErebusContinents is that it gives some civilizations always the same terrain, for example Illians (my favs right now) always start in Tundra with usually some deer or beaver. While it is great for flavor, it seems kinda unfair because you get a bad terrain (tundra) with a ressource that needs a technology that requires alot of beacons for its place in the techtree (Hunting).

In my script (ErbusContinent) you can always turn Tundra and Jungles off completely in multiplayer games, or set them to their minimal setting. Both the Doviello and Illians will do fine but you'll lose fur and deer resources. If you do that though, make sure you either play on a smaller map or with more civs than normal since they'll effectively be much larger.

Also, with my latest release (2.53 now) player starts are placed differently in MP games, they still try to be flavorful but it prefers to place civs away from the map edges so even if you leave tundra on it'll try to push both the Doviello and Illians to the south, closer to the map center so they won't be burried deep in the frozen wastes.

Thanks for pointing out the difference.
ErebusContinent looks interesting, i think i'll give it a go.

I get that a lot

While I do place a lot of mountain ranges and you will get some chokepoints it isn't anywhere near the isolation created by the Erebus map script.

If you do give it a shot I'd appreciate any feedback you have, especially with MP games specifically. There's a link to my 'official' thread in my signature, while I've had a lot of feedback from a few people there hasn't been much feedback regarding MP games. If specific starting conditions in MP games are detrimental I can easily (well, relatively easily) change the way starting plots are evaluated for MP games, I just need some feedback

Perfect World 2 is my favorite mapscript.

Perfect World 2 is an excellent script. Cephalo and I share a lot of code, normally he writes it and I steal it and then give him some optimizations

The biggest difference between Perfect World 2 and ErebusContinent is that I try to force a pangaea since FfH naval combat is... lacking, and I am not at all worried about multiple continent being connected by coast (something PW2 tries to prevent). I also give you specific control over individual aspects of the climate in-game so you don't have to worry about mismatched map script files. And, I attempt to simulate part of the world rather than the entire world so climate 'bands' in ErebusContinent are much larger than they are in Perfect World 2, this is most obvious with snow and tundra.

Which is better is a matter of opinion, but if you like the landmasses you get with my script you will like Perfect World 2, and vice versa, since we use almost identical code to generate the worlds.

 

[D.H.V.]

Perfect World 2

I have tried all mapscripts for years, now I use Perfect World 2 all the time. Gives most unpredictable and realistic World. And always use options "start anywhere" and "allow pangeas".

 

[Seven05]

I am looking for a good Mapscript like ErebusContinents, but with a fair start for Multiplayer.

The reason while I don't like ErebusContinents is that it gives some civilizations always the same terrain, for example Illians (my favs right now) always start in Tundra with usually some deer or beaver. While it is great for flavor, it seems kinda unfair because you get a bad terrain (tundra) with a ressource that needs a technology that requires alot of beacons for its place in the techtree (Hunting).

FYI, I just posted a new version of ErebusContinent that lets you minimize the flavor start rules. I don't let you completely disable them because it still does a couple of things like putting the Lanun on the coast and not clearing out forests around the elves. It does allow you to force the Illians and Doviello out of the tundra and it replaces some surrounding tundra, snow and marsh tiles with grasslands (only with minimal flavor starts).

 

[Lutefisk Mafia]

SHAMELESS PLUG:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=352096

This is the Dungeon Adventure mapscript that generates an indoor labyrinth style dungeon to explore. It can make for some crazy play!

 

[Arralen]

I like ErebusContinents,

Should this read "Erebus"?

though think it would be better if the mountain ranges did not isolate civs. i like the tactical needs of having bottlenecks that need to be guarded.

turning just 1-2 of the Erebus impenatrable mountain ranges into a hill gives rise to a great map where controll of the mountian pass becomes essential, and opens a lot of interesting tactical consderations.

of course we can change 1-2 mountains into hills in the Erebus using WB, though i think it would be better if we could modify the script, so it happens automatically for everyone.

Actually, in the Erebus map script, it's all already there, but the map developer turned it off because ... read for yourself:

#This variable will make a percentage of peaks into hills in order to break
#up the worlds valleys. I set this to zero because I feel it diminishes the
#illusion of differing climates between valleys and looks bad.
        self.SoftenPeakPercent = 0.0

Put in anything between 0.1 and 0.4 for automatically generated great maps!

After some tests I'm sticking with 0.4 now, because anything below that still has a small chance to have some valley on the map cut of from the rest by unpassable mountains. With 0.4, I've never seen that.

There are some issues with player placements in huge maps, though, which might need some fixing for MP gaming - check out the minimap of the screenshot - sometimes most players are dropped onto on continent, leaving the other one open to 1-2 players alone ...

 

[Deon]

Should this read "Erebus"?

What's going on, Arralen? There was no discussion of Erebus script at all, the last page is about PerfectWorld2 and ErebusContinents .

Or do you mean in that specific post? Then she already knows it:

Thanks for pointing out the difference.
ErebusContinent looks interesting, i think i'll give it a go.

Anyway, I like ErebusContinents most, but for multiplayer it may create unfair chokepoints or terrain types. But I am usually OK with it .

 

[[to_xp]Gekko]

we have to do something about that Erebus mapscript. poison, IDK but we gotta get rid of it for the sake of all new players.

 

[kornuletz]

Thanks for all the good suggestions and tips, guys (and girls)!

The good:
ErebusContinents.py
PerfectWorld2.py

The bad: (well, outdated and not natural, not really bad)
Erebus.py


My tip for the new players: don't play the default mapscript, there are some that are more natural.

PS.The Dungeon map script looked nice, hadn't had time to really test it.

 

[Azhral]

I like the Erebus mapscript. Usually I jump into Worldbuilder and throw in a few mountain passes so everybody can access everybody. Or Peak Softening does the same thing.

Another map I use fairly often is Global Highlands. Switch on Massive Continents and 95% of the time you get a massive pangaea with seperated valleys. The other 5% you get two large continents, usually only seperated by coast (chance of this increases with larger maps). The script also removes any mountains next to coast, so you can traverse the entire coastline no problem, and there are a heap of coastal passes.

 

[Valkrionn]

we have to do something about that Erebus mapscript. poison, IDK but we gotta get rid of it for the sake of all new players.

I agree; It's being removed from the next version of RifE. Unless a player likes it enough to put it in the private maps folder.

Thanks for all the good suggestions and tips, guys (and girls)!

The good:
ErebusContinents.py
PerfectWorld2.py

The bad: (well, outdated and not natural, not really bad)
Erebus.py


My tip for the new players: don't play the default mapscript, there are some that are more natural.

PS.The Dungeon map script looked nice, hadn't had time to really test it.

The dungeon script looks interesting, but has a few bugs to work out still. Other than that, I agree with your post.

 

[Nor'easter]

Should this read "Erebus"?

Erebus and ErebusContinents are two different mapscripts.