User Created Maps

[vyeh]

There might be a need for a map with 5 symmetric starting positions. Vets map has 4.

[Russia4Life]

There might be a need for a map with 5 symmetric starting positions. Vets map has 4.

I am not familiar with that map could you post it or direct me somewhere where I could view it?

Also is there a preferred size for an online map? Flat round? Islands land bridges Continents? How mountainous? Rainfall? Any other relevant information I would need to make a widely enjoyed map?

I am quite busy today, but after I come up with some ideas and whatnot I will probably start one Monday or Tuesday.

__________________________________________________ ____________________________________________

Any opinions on the basic layout of the one I did in this post? Something very symmetrical like this is very easy for me to do, save for the rainfall patterns caused by elevation that can take some effort to keep things balanced, still not too hard though. Was the central area too overkill on resource bonuses I could easily tone things down if that's the case.

While fiddling with the world builder settings further, (and getting frustrated and not achieving the results I wanted) I decided to take a break and make a map. I am not sure what the demand is for an Online Multiplayer map, but I made one anyways.

It is a 4 player flat map, with well balanced starting areas. Each containing a narrow choke point leading to a resource heavy central area for players to fight for control of. All land and sea traffic must go through this area so controlling it not only allows you access to this resource laden area but also allows you to contain the other players.

The starting areas all have access to a Pholus Ridge type land mark and a freshwater lake. These Freshwater lakes can be connected to the rest of the water on the map via a city being placed in the appropriate spot. There are 4 rivers on each starting landmass. There are also a few hills and mountains throughout the area allowing for almost all of the terrain to be moist or rainy, one of which is a mountain range which also allows a defensible position just before the players choke, should control of the choke point be lost.

There is water on both sides of a thin strip of land preventing a direct sea route to other players starting locations, if determined though a city could be build on that land to allow the passage of ships. Doing so will take some effort though because the whole strip is covered by rocky terrain and fungus.

The center area contains a volcano, one side covered with a dense jungle and the other is known for it's rich uranium deposits. The water directly surrounding this central area is known for its geothermal energy.

[Russia4Life]

Wish you would have replied, but oh well I got impatient and threw something together anyways. It is not finished yet though. I definitely want some kinda feed back before I put fungus, pods, elevation, and rivers on it.

Anyways, this is what I got so far.

[bdanv]

I am not familiar with that map could you post it or direct me somewhere where I could view it?

the original map that was used for the veterans tournament is attached to this post

bellow you can find Mart's version of the vets map that has a balanced number of rainy tiles:

[Russia4Life]

the original map that was used for the veterans tournament is attached to this post

bellow you can find Mart's version of the vets map that has a balanced number of rainy tiles:

Thank's for posting that.

Big rectangles might get boring or something but it don't get much more balanced than that. Get's hard to get creative when you have to do it for 5 bases on a relatively small map. The islands could be expanded a little bit more probably. Definitely not the most creative map ever but for only spending an hour on it I think it turned out ok. did a super zoom out on the Screen shot because that was the only view I could get the whole thing to fit in.

I am too tired to try improving it anymore right now.

[vyeh]

I took a quick look at the map. I wouldn't place pods on it. The serious players probably want less randomness.

Besides adding fungus, I would add some small and medium islands.

Also some freshwater seas (inland lakes). I'm sure you are planning to look at the the minor landmark and natural landmark entries in the map editor to add more variety, but could I suggest that you think about adding monoliths around the starting positions?

In the early game, monoliths are a great boost for the players.

By the way, when you edit a post (like you did in #32), the forum doesn't indicate that the thread has been updated like it does for a new post. If you had created a new post, I would have seen that there was a new post.

I started a new thread in the multiplayer forum to call attention to the 5 star map. I think you pointed out elsewhere that there are people who only look at their own forum.

[Buster's Uncle]

Russia, thank you for your contributions to the community- I'm sure they're much more widely apreciated than the posting indicates- (and I'm jealous of the volume of reaction you get, even so.)

A lot of us are interested, but just have nothing to add to the discussion.

[Russia4Life]

I took a quick look at the map. I wouldn't place pods on it. The serious players probably want less randomness.

Besides adding fungus, I would add some small and medium islands.

Also some freshwater seas (inland lakes). I'm sure you are planning to look at the the minor landmark and natural landmark entries in the map editor to add more variety, but could I suggest that you think about adding monoliths around the starting positions?

In the early game, monoliths are a great boost for the players.

I am definitely nowhere near finished just wanted input on what I had already. Not sure how much fungus to put in, the areas are not exactly large so I do not want to overkill it, but I still want enough that if you want to capture mind worms or use some other kinda fungus strategy you will have that opportunity. As for land I was thinking of adding on to the existing land so they are not just big rectangles that looks rather boring to me. Lakes and islands are a good idea too, I already had plans to add more islands in, it is tricky keeping spacing good as to not give a start location too much of a benefit.

I wouldn't have put monoliths in so it is a good thing you mentioned them. I usually get my monoliths from pods but if they are left out then adding them in definitely make sense.

By the way, when you edit a post (like you did in #32), the forum doesn't indicate that the thread has been updated like it does for a new post. If you had created a new post, I would have seen that there was a new post.

I started a new thread in the multiplayer forum to call attention to the 5 star map. I think you pointed out elsewhere that there are people who only look at their own forum.

I didn't realize that it did't get updated, if I knew that I'd have messaged you. Guess I am learning new things still. Not used to this forum yet. Other games I play have much better forum features, and are far more active(Yes I realize this is a 10 year old game). Don't misunderstand, I have nothing against Apolyton I think it is a great place for information and is by far the best forum I have found for SMAC.

Russia, thank you for your contributions to the community- I'm sure they're much more widely apreciated than the posting indicates- (and I'm jealous of the volume of reaction you get, even so.)

A lot of us are interested, but just have nothing to add to the discussion.

Well I guess you are welcome, I don't think I really deserve thanks for anything.
I don't let the volume of responses and feedback(or lack there of) get to me I realize this is a rather old game, and the activity on this forum is relatively low. Even if everyone hated what I made I'd still make stuff I guess(probably would stop posting it though), it is a good way for me to sit down and relax for a few hours. Then I can spend more time later playing a game on it.

[Russia4Life]

Hopefully I am close to done. Still no fungus or monoliths yet, I did everything else I wanted to though, including an overhaul on the existing landmasses. The side bases were hard to keep symmetrical so I gave up trying for symmetry. I made them as close to balanced as I could though, hope there aren't many complaints on it. Anyone with an idea on how much or where to put fungus I am listening.

Side note: The middle doesn't look like a star anymore but thinking of a better name was not really high on my list of ways to spend my time.

[Buster's Uncle]

You might want to have a look at Darsnan's new Worldbuilder thread at CFC. He'd love to hear what you think.

[Russia4Life]

I gave it a look, thanks for mentioning it. I don't spend much time there except for civ 2 related stuff.

[vyeh]

Remember in the early game the effect of fungus depends on whether you are native life or non-native life. For native life, fungus acts like roads; it only cost 1/3 mp to enter a fungus square. For non-native life, fungus is a barrier; it may take several turns to enter a fungus square.

So strips of fungus is one way to go. That allows the native life units (which the Gaians or the Cult will quickly capture as well as wild) to zip along. The areas between the strips allows the non-native units to move.

How about placing The Ruins at (95, 89) and the corresponding points on the other continents?

[Russia4Life]

Remember in the early game the effect of fungus depends on whether you are native life or non-native life. For native life, fungus acts like roads; it only cost 1/3 mp to enter a fungus square. For non-native life, fungus is a barrier; it may take several turns to enter a fungus square.

So strips of fungus is one way to go. That allows the native life units (which the Gaians or the Cult will quickly capture as well as wild) to zip along. The areas between the strips allows the non-native units to move.

How about placing The Ruins at (95, 89) and the corresponding points on the other continents?

Placed fungus in kinda a strip formation, 50 tiles worth plus the fungus generated by the ruins which I added because you requested it. I also added some sea monoliths, and 4 monoliths per landmass not including the ruins. Should I add more sea fungus? I was going to add more but again, not sure what is generally proffered for a multiplayer map. I put some around the islands and around the central landmass.

If no other suggestions or requests I'd venture to say that I am finished. Don't really care about the name of the map, Vyeh if you feel like naming it I will give you that privilege. other wise I will just call it "5 multiplayer map"(real original name huh)

[Petek]

Status report on game played on the 1024x2048 map:

I abandoned the game I was playing as Morgan in MY 2216. The main reasons for doing so were that the game was bogging down, I don't play Morgan very well, and the presence of pods doesn't seem to work very well on these mega maps.

So, I regenerated the map to remove the pods. Started a new game with me as the University and the other six original SMAC factions. As before, gave each faction a free former and adjusted the research rate to x3. Here's a status report on my new game:

Faction: University
MY: 2175
Research status -- Started with: Info Networks and Cent Ecol; Researched: Planetary Nets, Ind Econ, Ind Base, Biogenetics, Ind Auto; Currently researching: Social Psych (will be discovered in 7 turns)
Research rate: Breakthroughs every 7 turns.
Number of Bases: 32, plus 11 CPs active and 7 in production (Note: At zero efficiency, the bureaucracy limit is 302 bases!)
SE choices: Free Market, Wealth
Running Econ: 50%, Psych: 0%, Labs: 50%
ECs on hand: 101
SP status: Built WP and VW. Currently building HGP (which also is being built by Morgan).
No commlinks yet.

Who's who

Tech: Provost Petek
Mil: CEO Morgan
Pop: Sister Miriam
Wealth: CEO Morgan
Territory: Brother Lal
Overall: Chaiman Yang

I observed something that I don't recall seeing before. I built a condensor. I got the message that "Our Formers have altered the rainfall patterns near $BASENAME0." Right afterwards, I saw that approx. six moist tiles with farms became arid. Is that right? I know that raising or lowering land can change the moisture content, and that condensors raise the moisture of surrounding tiles. Perhaps I just hadn't noticed this in the past.

For anyone who's interested in the details of the game, I've attached a log of various events.

Petek

[Russia4Life]

There is something you don't see everyday morgan has the largest military.

How is the game running now without pods?

[Petek]

There is something you don't see everyday morgan has the largest military.

How is the game running now without pods?

It's much easier to determine base placement, since the resource specials are now known.

Petek

[Russia4Life]

Somehow I missed this part in your post after I first read it.

I observed something that I don't recall seeing before. I built a condensor. I got the message that "Our Formers have altered the rainfall patterns near $BASENAME0." Right afterwards, I saw that approx. six moist tiles with farms became arid. Is that right? I know that raising or lowering land can change the moisture content, and that condensors raise the moisture of surrounding tiles. Perhaps I just hadn't noticed this in the past.

I have seen boreholes create rainy tiles before and got a similar message, (you can actually see this happen in the map editor by placing the borehole cluster in various places on the map they may cause rainy tiles to appear). I cannot recall the exact wording of the message at the moment. I do not recall ever getting that message for a condenser before though but I guess if you think about it you are sucking moisture out of the air to cause the surrounding area to get wetter which I guess would logically cause rainy or moist tiles east of it to become drier due to less moisture reach it.

Were the tiles to the east of the condenser by chance? I am curious about this.

[Buster's Uncle]

In regular games, I frequently get "[some faction's] Formers have altered the rainfall patterns near $BASENAME0.", with the base named usually being my youngest. I also get "Our formers" when I build condensors, boreholes, or raise/lower, which I do a lot late-game.

For both, it never seems to have anything to do with my base that is named in the message, and, outside the effects supposed to occur, I rarely notice any effect anywhere, let alone the vicinity of my named base- though it's hard to keep track even on the small maps I favor. Seems buggy. Will copy to scient.

[gwillybj]

I don't think it's a bug. The message that rainfall patterns were altered is a helpful feature, and terraforming does not always have to be followed by the moisture of tiles changing - that is, aside from the normal effects condensors and boreholes have on their neighboring tiles.
Having another faction mess with your rainfall patterns can be annoying, sometimes enough to go over there and do something about it. Being made aware that your terraforming may be causing your own faction some grief is definitely helpful information.

[Petek]

Somehow I missed this part in your post after I first read it.

...

Were the tiles to the east of the condenser by chance? I am curious about this.

The "formerly moist, now arid" tiles were on all sides of the condenser. Other tiles may also have been affected, but I only noticed the ones that had been farmed.

Petek

[Buster's Uncle]

I am completely puzzled. Am I having a disconnect with everyone over this? The pop-ups are giving me wrong informtion. How is that not a bug?

[Petek]

I am completely puzzled. Am I having a disconnect with everyone over this? The pop-ups are giving me wrong informtion. How is that not a bug?

I think this is a case of you, me and gwillybj reading the same words, but having different interpretations. In my last status report, I referred to a pop-up message regarding the effect of terraforming. I didn't remember the base name, and so I used the variable $BASENAME0 instead. I was concentrating on the effect of building a condenser. You observed that the base name in the pop-up doesn't correspond to what happens in the game (not my game, but in general) and that that seemed buggy. Then, it appears to me, that gwillybj thought that you considered the pop-up message itself to be a bug.

Vyeh has confirmed in the "Fixing SMAX bugs" thread that the base name in the pop-up message is incorrect. However, it was not my intent to raise this issue.

Petek

[gwillybj]

Whoops. Sorry to add to or create confusion. I should have paid attention to "buggy" vs "a bug". Buster's Uncle is correct that the basename given is not always the base directly affected, if any, and therefor the subroutine that identifies the basename bears at least a looking-into.
Being one who micromanages land use (terraforming and resource-gathering), I make a mental note of the basename given then go about my regular routine, noticing moisture changes as I make my rounds.
So for me the pop-up is an alert that bears acknowledgement generally, but not necessarily literally.

[Buster's Uncle]

Yes. Getting the message is great- or would be, if the effect reported was ever observable or the pop-up even generated the right basenames.

[vyeh]

Russia4Life,

I'm involved with a new SMAC MP forum. The link is:

http://www.weplayciv.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=19

Could I upload your 5 star map there?

[Petek]

Status report on game played on the 1024x2048 map:

Faction: University
MY: 2200
Research status -- Since last report, researched Social Psych and Ethical Calculus
Currently researching: Gene Splicing (will be discovered in 2 turns)
Research rate: Breakthroughs every 15 turns.
Number of Bases: 51
SE choices: Free Market, Wealth
Running Econ: 50%, Psych: 0%, Labs: 50%
ECs on hand: 1811
SP status: Built WP, VW and HGP. Currently building PTS. Morgan built the ME.
No commlinks yet.

Who's who

Tech: Provost Petek
Mil: Lady Deidre
Pop: Provost Petek
Wealth: Provost Petek
Territory: Provost Petek
Overall: Provost Petek

Big surprise when University Base experienced an industrial collapse (-1 minerals in each square for the next 10 years). Thought I had random events turned off.

[Russia4Life]

Russia4Life,

I'm involved with a new SMAC MP forum. The link is:

http://www.weplayciv.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=19

Could I upload your 5 star map there?

I made it at your request consider, so go ahead and do what you want with it.

How do you think it turned out by the way?

[Buster's Uncle]

Russ, you should totally check that link out- it's jumpin' over there.

[vyeh]

I made it at your request consider, so go ahead and do what you want with it.

How do you think it turned out by the way?

Thanks.

I like it.

I'm organizing a game. I may have 5 players, mostly beginners, interested, so I am going to suggest your map so I have a chance to work with it.

You are very welcome to join!

[Russia4Life]

Russ, you should totally check that link out- it's jumpin' over there.

I went there earlier when I first responded to the post I was just short on time so I didn't sign up there or anything then. I have just now registered there with the same name as here.

Thanks.

I like it.

I'm organizing a game. I may have 5 players, mostly beginners, interested, so I am going to suggest your map so I have a chance to work with it.

You are very welcome to join!

Glad you liked it.
I replied on one of the threads there I think it was the one you are referring to. Just hoping I do not get pwnd to hard if I get in, beating silly AI's on transcend is one thing playing humans will be something totally different. Especially since I expect the game rules to be totally different from what I normally play.