I've rolled around 15 Totestra maps, and I have a few concerns to bring up with the players (no naturally occurring jungles, and do people really want huge unbroken deserts?). I also want to start the players with a reasonable chance to contact and interact with everyone, but that might require some heavy-handed editing.
Did they ask for Totestra? If not, why did you pick that one? I haven't read the setup thread but that map script seems to really like vast swaths of barren desert and very few resources. It makes natural looking terrain, which is a Commodore staple, but I don't like it for much else. Just my .02.
Commodore asked for it in the OP (or at least he asked for a PBEM68-like map, which was a Totestra). The other players haven't given much input beyond wanting to play BTS.
(November 4th, 2016, 16:45)El Grillo Wrote: Commodore asked for it in the OP (or at least he asked for a PBEM68-like map, which was a Totestra). The other players haven't given much input beyond wanting to play BTS.
You tried rolling rocky? Not a map script I am familiar with
I ended up adjusting the mapscript a bit to cut down on the number of "meteor impacts," fixed the jungle bug, increased the frequency of rivers and freshwater lakes, reduced the size of deserts, and all but guaranteed multiple oases in the deserts that remained. The result is much more palatable, though the script still produces bizarre starting locations. I think I'm going to roll a few more maps and find something that looks interesting, then rebuild the starting locations from scratch.
If you're using Totestra, I recommend rolling a map that's about 1-2 sizes below the size you actually want. Totestra tends to generate ridiculously enormous maps. So far a 4-5 player map, you probably want to roll a "Duel" sized map, and then manually change the worldsize to "Small" in a text editor.
Player 1
Washington of America
152 land tiles.
(93 grass, 27 plains, 21 deserts, 2 tundra, 9 snow. 49 forests, 39 jungles, 7 flood plains, 2 oasis. 56 hills.)
13239.3 total land quality.
52.75 average land quality.
523.5 total food potential.
2.09 food per non-ocean tile.
205.0 total hammer potential.
0.82 hammers per non-ocean tile.
429.5 total commerce potential.
99 coastal tiles.
50 ocean tiles.
Player 2
Wangkon of Korea
141 land tiles.
(79 grass, 43 plains, 4 deserts, 9 tundra, 6 snow. 48 forests, 10 jungles, 0 flood plains, 0 oasis. 46 hills.)
13592.5 total land quality.
62.64 average land quality.
408.5 total food potential.
1.88 food per non-ocean tile.
193.0 total hammer potential.
0.89 hammers per non-ocean tile.
370.5 total commerce potential.
76 coastal tiles.
23 ocean tiles.
Player 3
Cyrus of Persia
157 land tiles.
(79 grass, 46 plains, 14 deserts, 4 tundra, 14 snow. 56 forests, 19 jungles, 4 flood plains, 0 oasis. 56 hills.)
13296.8 total land quality.
50.95 average land quality.
522.5 total food potential.
2.00 food per non-ocean tile.
224.0 total hammer potential.
0.86 hammers per non-ocean tile.
425.0 total commerce potential.
104 coastal tiles.
61 ocean tiles.
Novice's tool can't handle geography/terrain like this and thus its output won't really mean anything. A BFS is not how players actually claim land and not all tiles influence land-claim breakdown equally. For example, it expects the 6-o-clock position player to expand directly towards the northern jungle and yet it would be complete suicide if that player actually did that. Instead, the 6-o-clock position will likely expand directly towards the 9-o-clock position, who will then be pinned in their foodless peninsula. It'd be better to ignore that report completely rather than alter balance based on faulty information.
I don't know why people ignore the tool I made that *can* handle complex maps like this...
(November 5th, 2016, 15:36)GermanJoey Wrote: Novice's tool can't handle geography/terrain like this and thus its output won't really mean anything. A BFS is not how players actually claim land and not all tiles influence land-claim breakdown equally. For example, it expects the 6-o-clock position player to expand directly towards the northern jungle and yet it would be complete suicide if that player actually did that. Instead, the 6-o-clock position will likely expand directly towards the 9-o-clock position, who will then be pinned in their foodless peninsula. It'd be better to ignore that report completely rather than alter balance based on faulty information.
I don't know why people ignore the tool I made that *can* handle complex maps like this...
