Any chance you might open source it so others here could attempt their hand at doing so? I saw you said you were thinking about it, didn't know if those thoughts have come to fruition one way or another yet.
I'm a software engineer/code monkey myself, so I totally understand if that's not happening.
(November 22nd, 2012, 18:04)Qgqqqqq Wrote: You mentioned in one of the PBEM map threads that balancing for FFH2 wouldn't be too hard (thinking EitBPBEM16).
Not sure about how to achieve overall balance in general, but on that particular map it would have been a more even start if all the players had started in the middle of their slice of doughnut (assuming similar resources present).
Coastal start favoured Lanun and gimped the other players who moved away from their nice city sites in order to have non coastal Caps vs the Lanun.
Merovech explains a manual workaround for analyzing FFH maps using this tool. Warning: Clicking the link takes you to the FFH PBEM 25 lurker thread.
(February 11th, 2013, 01:17)Merovech Wrote: Oh, btw, in order to run a FFH or EitB map through novice's map tool, one has to edit a few things (thankfully, notepad has a find tool). Do all of this to a copy of the map, btw, not to the original map. Most of the following steps can be done through the worldbuilder or in notepad (or a similar program). I recommend the WB for easily visible things, like improvements, and notepad for easy-to-miss things, like base tile type. Also, these steps can be done in different orders, this is just the way I like to do them. Also, remember that most, but not all, text file editing has to be done in ALL CAPS.
First remove any mana nodes, raw mana, typed mana, and FFH-specific improvements, including map improvements, like volcanoes. You can treat mana like the resources below, but since it has no yield replacing it will artificially boost the average tile value, and because it is so militarily important, I prefer to manually balance it. FFH specific improvements (except for nodes) will actually not crash the map editor, as far as I can tell, but they may give screwy results.
Second, and this must be done in the text file, edit the FFH colors to any old color that you want. For some reason, the FFH colors are not defined by color name but by civ name, so they are not compatible with the map editor. Oddly, FFH (or, at least, EitB) maps will correctly read a color name, so you can still open a map after changing the colors.
Third, replace hell terrain with the equivalent normal terrain (Burning Sands->Desert, Obsidian Plains ->Floodplains, etc.), marsh with tundra, and scrubs with forests. I don't know how the map deals with ancient forests, but I suggest changing those to forests, and maybe editing the plot to give the proper yield somehow.
Fourth, replace the FFH-specific resources with BTS resources. I don't remember what I actually ended up replacing what with what, but some suggestions: Pearls->Oil; Mithril->Aluminium; Cotton->Silver; Reagents->Spices; Shuet Stone->Stone; Toads->Sheep; just kill razorweed; Nightmares->Horses; etc.
If one makes a mistake, novice's tool will say exactly what the mistake is.
Note: Barb units may be a problem, as in they can alter the analysis of what land belongs to what civ. FFH-specific units, as far as I know, will not actually crash the tool.
I was going to explain this all in more detail, but I'm beat. Washed dishes for five hours tonight.
LOL, now my dishwasing prowess will be immortalized for eternity. But, yeah, good call copying that over here.
Merovech's Mapmaking Guidelines:
0. Player Requests: The player's requests take precedence, even if they contradict the following guidelines.
1. Balance: The map must be balanced, both in regards to land quality and availability and in regards to special civilization features. A map may be wonderfully unique and surprising, but, if it is unbalanced, the game will suffer and the player's enjoyment will not be as high as it could be.
2. Identity and Enjoyment: The map should be interesting to play at all levels, from city placement and management to the border-created interactions between civilizations, and should include varied terrain. Flavor should enhance the inherent pleasure resulting from the underlying tile arrangements. The map should not be exceedingly lush, but it is better to err on the lush side than on the poor side when placing terrain.
3. Feel (Avoiding Gimmicks): The map should not be overwhelmed or dominated by the mapmaker's flavor. Embellishment of the map through the use of special improvements, barbarian units, and abnormal terrain can enhance the identity and enjoyment of the map, but should take a backseat to the more normal aspects of the map. The game should usually not revolve around the flavor, but merely be accented by it.
4. Realism: Where possible, the terrain of the map should be realistic. Jungles on desert tiles, or even next to desert tiles, should therefore have a very specific reason for existing. Rivers should run downhill or across level ground into bodies of water. Irrigated terrain should have a higher grassland to plains ratio than dry terrain. Mountain chains should cast rain shadows. Islands, mountains, and peninsulas should follow logical plate tectonics.
(February 11th, 2013, 20:47)NobleHelium Wrote: Washed dishes for five hours?!
Well, not my own dishes. I wash dishes on the weekend for a little extra cash. It's surprisingly relaxing.
Merovech's Mapmaking Guidelines:
0. Player Requests: The player's requests take precedence, even if they contradict the following guidelines.
1. Balance: The map must be balanced, both in regards to land quality and availability and in regards to special civilization features. A map may be wonderfully unique and surprising, but, if it is unbalanced, the game will suffer and the player's enjoyment will not be as high as it could be.
2. Identity and Enjoyment: The map should be interesting to play at all levels, from city placement and management to the border-created interactions between civilizations, and should include varied terrain. Flavor should enhance the inherent pleasure resulting from the underlying tile arrangements. The map should not be exceedingly lush, but it is better to err on the lush side than on the poor side when placing terrain.
3. Feel (Avoiding Gimmicks): The map should not be overwhelmed or dominated by the mapmaker's flavor. Embellishment of the map through the use of special improvements, barbarian units, and abnormal terrain can enhance the identity and enjoyment of the map, but should take a backseat to the more normal aspects of the map. The game should usually not revolve around the flavor, but merely be accented by it.
4. Realism: Where possible, the terrain of the map should be realistic. Jungles on desert tiles, or even next to desert tiles, should therefore have a very specific reason for existing. Rivers should run downhill or across level ground into bodies of water. Irrigated terrain should have a higher grassland to plains ratio than dry terrain. Mountain chains should cast rain shadows. Islands, mountains, and peninsulas should follow logical plate tectonics.
So Krill got me thinking about this tool again. I like to think of it as supplying map maker tools. The rotation, resizing, and mirroring functionality are nice examples. A new thought I had was to add a function that scrambled the terrain of a selected area - i.e. rearranging the tiles but not changing the overall composition.
