[SPOILERS/MAP] Wherein I make Brick a new resource and blanket the map with it

[Commodore]

I'd suggest a slightly more natural "squiggly" coastline on the continents to help make it more natural and balance those distributions somewhat, but overall, looks good. Configuration 1 looks cooler to me, but what about connecting the center five islands together to make bigger subcontinents?

[BRickAstley]

I'd suggest a slightly more natural "squiggly" coastline on the continents to help make it more natural and balance those distributions somewhat, but overall, looks good.

Also, I will include variance in coastline and island shape to some degree, so it doesn't look as manufactured. But balance/workability first.

Configuration 1 looks cooler to me, but what about connecting the center five islands together to make bigger subcontinents?

I think that's a good idea, and I was thinking that myself. The main reason I was leaving a gap was to try and keep people from blocking the straits off so easily, but I suppose that between Open Borders and people not caring it'll probably be fine.

I've got dinner with the folks tonight, but I'll start on some of the actual terrain before bed and hope to have it finished by tomorrow night. I'll post pictures then of the start and general layout, take any critique that you all have, and about a day or so after that I'll look to sending the players pics of their starts and the save.

[BRickAstley]

Okay so, now fellow mapmakers, how do you do it?

I started doing the resource and terrain adding in to the map, and it's starting to drive me crazy. I'm fluctuating between trying to count each and every difference I add to a player and repeating it elsewhere for balance, to saying screw complete balance and just kinda ad-libbing it and throwing hills and lakes and rivers everywhere. And nothing feels decentish and certainly none of it looks natural to my eye, it all seems fake.

Am I missing something?, or are the tiredness of a late night + soreness of flying off the back of a boat all day + warm belly-ness of a blueberry ale of some sort all getting to me.

[Mist]

Get yourself a process. Every mapmaker has his own methods on how to get something done.

I start with a heightmap, then draw rivers, then apply terrain types, then place forests and when all that is done think about bonuses. Sometimes I assume a prevalent wind direction to create rainy, wet regions and dry mountain shadows. I use random.org extensively, draw crude heatmaps to get a desired terrain height and depth, set a general probability for a given terrain type/feature to show up in an abstract tile and then apply probabilities within a radius or over an area to break up uniformity and apply some noise. After all that is done I apply some sort of balancing tool and tweak as required to bring all the starts in line.

[BRickAstley]

Thanks, that's really helpful Mist. You're too nice for whwhat I've put you through in PB5...

I'll probably follow along with that general idea for starters and deviate from it to figure out how I wanna do it and such. I'm hoping to knock the first draft out tonight.

[BRickAstley]

Here's the WBsave.

Pics:

Sample start. Warrior gives vision on coastal settling spot, if the player chooses to risk that/take the time to do so.

Continent 1. Red Circles are settler locations, lines are the warriors.

Continent 2.

The goodie island/subcontinent/whatever you wanna call it. Fun goodies, but as the strategic resources are also on mother continents, you don't have to be here to win.

Break it, so I can fix it, and we can get this show on the road and running fine.

[Commodore]

Mad libs style first impressions, because the best laid plans of mice and men (like actually opening the map and poking around) oft go awry (newborn).

-Maybe lushen the big tundra islands, mixing in some plains/a couple grasslands. Maybe with wheat? Plus maybe two fewer silver to make it rarer, and a few rivers. Looks nice though. Fattening it would be okay too...actually being able to plant a couple cities inland might be nice.

-Start gives a nice choice, I like that. Might want to allow a little more food.

-Maybe make it only two gems, and two dye, per continent? Makes it a fight a bit more. Stone and marble too.

-Wither spice?

Looks like a fun map, pity there aren't any notably solid reporters here.

[BRickAstley]

-Maybe lushen the big tundra islands, mixing in some plains/a couple grasslands. Maybe with wheat? Plus maybe two fewer silver to make it rarer, and a few rivers. Looks nice though. Fattening it would be okay too...actually being able to plant a couple cities inland might be nice.

Mmkay, that is probably needed.

-Start gives a nice choice, I like that. Might want to allow a little more food.

I was concerned about that upon reflection, at least with making sure that either the inland start or moving to the coast are both relatively balanced. I was thinking that maybe for the inland spot the cows needed to be upgraded, but I'll have to look at it as I don't have all of the tile yields memorized. As for the amount of food overall though, do you think that for the cap more than 2 food specials are needed? I was thinking that it would, since one of them is wet corn as it is.

-Maybe make it only two gems, and two dye, per continent? Makes it a fight a bit more. Stone and marble too.

That does sound good, the problem is I was struggling to find spots for the rocky resources that would be roughly equally reachable by everybody, without having everything in the very middle. maybe move the gems out towards the sides, and have the rocks in the very middle for fightings over?

-Wither spice?

In the forgotten recesses of my brain. That shall be remedied.

Also got a PM from mist with the advice to make a 7x7 box around each start and look at balance. So I'm planning to do that first when I can open WB back up today and get that balanced, so I can send pics to the players to hem and haw over.

[BRickAstley]

Looks like a fun map, pity there aren't any notably solid reporters here.

I know right? After putting the time into this I really wanna know how things are going to turn out and so I can get good feedback on the map as it goes along. If nobody is posting pictures often then I shan't get to see it, which would be sad.

Maybe I could ask someone from each continent if they could throw me onto their team in regards to the tracker, so I can go in and snap pics for me/lurkers to look at every once in a while.

[Commodore]

Commodore is afflicted with level 1 baby spell Life Drain.

Actually, capital food is okay, I meant to say "more food around the copper locations", right now the lack of first-ring food near copper highly favors the Creative players.