I said before civ4 was released that the map generator looked horrible in the screenshots I'd seen, and it turned out to be true. IMO, all the default scripts produce horrible results. None are earth-like, none are realistic and none look good (the three qualities I look for and want most out of my maps, in the order of preference).
Then came the SmartMap and Tectonics scripts from the mod community. SmartMap, while loaded with options, still doesn't produce good looking or realistic maps, IMO - it is great for balanced maps though, not a feature I'm looking for. Tectonics produces good-looking and realistic maps, but they are far from earth-like. It's fairly common to have 5 distinct landmasses using that script, verses the two (the Americas and Eurasia/Africa/Austrailia) in the real world. There are islands too, but those don't count as landmasses (i.e. massive pieces of land).
But it would be nice to have little islands like the Tectonics script has.
Firaxis then released the Fractal script, which produced the most earth-like and best looking (I've tried custom_continents with 2, but it looks totally ridiculous) results of any script to date, so that's what I've been using mostly. For the most part, the terrain is completely unrealistic looking with single mountains here and there, patchwork lakes, forests and jungles, etc. But there's an even bigger problem with this script, and it is the reason I'm writing this post now. I just wasted 4 hours on a game, only to discover it's practically a pangea map. I hate those, and they are rather common with this script. The two landmasses were so close that they may as well have been one landmass.
I've been giving some thought to how to create the perfect mapscript (for me at least, though I'm sure many others would like it as well). Here's what I've come up with:
Earth-like
To ensure an Earth-like map, one must ensure there will be two landmasses and that they are seperated by at least one tile of ocean, though for gameplay purposes, I'd make that three tiles. So, it makes sense then to generate each landmass in it's own seperate 2d array, or it's own hemisphere if you will, right? Limit the landmass to within 3 tiles of the edge of that 2d array, and make sure it obeys the 70% water rule. It would be nice if the script randomly determined if the hemispheres would be a 50/50 split, a 60/40 split or a 70/30 split, and maybe even allow the user to choose it during setup or leave it random. Once each hemisphere is generated, you then merge them into a single map.
Realistic
As I said before, the Tectonics script produces the most realistic looking maps, so I'd suggest, with the permission of the creator of course, borrowing the climate generation and the feature generation code from this script. I'd also try to create the islands like that script produces, as they give a more Earth-like and realistic feel.
Good-Looking
Well, if you can do the first two, this third one should automatically follow. But, as I said before, the fractal script generates some fairly good-looking landmass shapes, so I'd borrow the code to generate the landmasses from this script and just modify it to fit the Earth-like requirements above.
I'd like to sit down and create this script for the community, however, I just don't have the time anymore to undertake such projects. My only real day off is Sunday, and that's my civ day - nothing messes with my civ day... nothing...
So, anyway, if someone could create this script, I and many others would be greatly appreciative.
Then came the SmartMap and Tectonics scripts from the mod community. SmartMap, while loaded with options, still doesn't produce good looking or realistic maps, IMO - it is great for balanced maps though, not a feature I'm looking for. Tectonics produces good-looking and realistic maps, but they are far from earth-like. It's fairly common to have 5 distinct landmasses using that script, verses the two (the Americas and Eurasia/Africa/Austrailia) in the real world. There are islands too, but those don't count as landmasses (i.e. massive pieces of land).
But it would be nice to have little islands like the Tectonics script has.Firaxis then released the Fractal script, which produced the most earth-like and best looking (I've tried custom_continents with 2, but it looks totally ridiculous) results of any script to date, so that's what I've been using mostly. For the most part, the terrain is completely unrealistic looking with single mountains here and there, patchwork lakes, forests and jungles, etc. But there's an even bigger problem with this script, and it is the reason I'm writing this post now. I just wasted 4 hours on a game, only to discover it's practically a pangea map. I hate those, and they are rather common with this script. The two landmasses were so close that they may as well have been one landmass.
I've been giving some thought to how to create the perfect mapscript (for me at least, though I'm sure many others would like it as well). Here's what I've come up with:
Earth-like
To ensure an Earth-like map, one must ensure there will be two landmasses and that they are seperated by at least one tile of ocean, though for gameplay purposes, I'd make that three tiles. So, it makes sense then to generate each landmass in it's own seperate 2d array, or it's own hemisphere if you will, right? Limit the landmass to within 3 tiles of the edge of that 2d array, and make sure it obeys the 70% water rule. It would be nice if the script randomly determined if the hemispheres would be a 50/50 split, a 60/40 split or a 70/30 split, and maybe even allow the user to choose it during setup or leave it random. Once each hemisphere is generated, you then merge them into a single map.
Realistic
As I said before, the Tectonics script produces the most realistic looking maps, so I'd suggest, with the permission of the creator of course, borrowing the climate generation and the feature generation code from this script. I'd also try to create the islands like that script produces, as they give a more Earth-like and realistic feel.
Good-Looking
Well, if you can do the first two, this third one should automatically follow. But, as I said before, the fractal script generates some fairly good-looking landmass shapes, so I'd borrow the code to generate the landmasses from this script and just modify it to fit the Earth-like requirements above.
I'd like to sit down and create this script for the community, however, I just don't have the time anymore to undertake such projects. My only real day off is Sunday, and that's my civ day - nothing messes with my civ day... nothing...
So, anyway, if someone could create this script, I and many others would be greatly appreciative.
Someone really needs to rewrite that crappy civ placement that was provided with the game. I suppose switching up between fractal, terratight and tectonics will keep me going on the map front until civ5 or someone fulfills my request though. Now let's just hope someone makes a mod that will keep me civving until civ5.
