[Map Script] Tectonics

[DCMike]

I seem to get the best results when I select a Large map. Most of the maps come out looking great. So far, I think this is my favorite map script.
Thanks LDiCesare!!

[Unimatrix11]

First of all : I really appreciate the work done by You, LDiCesare, since i always had some issues with civs standard continental maps...

Only 2 suggestion i have to make:

1. Isn't (more than) 70% of the earth's surface covered with water ? So 'earthlike' should be 70/30 imho.

2. About the straight lines of climate as mentioned by someone else before: earth's axis is tilted (as You know of course) and if i get it right (my brain is not working really right now) that should make the transition from one climate zone to another according to the lati(longi?-)tudes somewhat smoother (less abrupt)- but i could be totally wrong on this one - if so just ignore this point, please - it's just an idea...

... Okay i tried them now... man those maps are HUGE, too Huge for my taste and they really do need more water... make an option for 80% please. I wonder if the size setting has any effect at all, cause large could still host 18 civs easily. But i really like how those maps have A LOT of chokepoints.

[LDiCesare]

I'll make an option (or more than one) for more water. Don't expect it soon though, as I have hardware problems and lots of trouble connecting myself to the web these days. Hopefully this should be fixed in a week or two. Else I'll have to buy a new computer...
For climate, I know it's too straight. I'll be checking that too. I can always revert to the default climate generation as an option if you only want the mountain ranges part.
For passes through the ranges: I'm not going to code that directly, but I'm going to try to make it more likely to happen.

[Uchuu-kun[SM42]]

I do like the idea of more realistic map generation, but I think there's a flaw in your resource script - I just got 9 beavers in a tight little 3x3 square in the arctic region. Unless that's not regulated by the map script, in which case I apologize.

And yeah, the linear "streaks" kinda bug me.

[Bill3000]

More importantly, I see way too much glacier. Some civs are doomed, because for some reason some of them actually start in the middle of the ice area.

[Fosse]

This is my favorite homemade script! I would agree that there seems to be a lot of glacier/snow in some maps, and not unusually there will be one or two civs starting in that.

I love the terrain shapes and ranges though. Very interesting maps.

Is there a way to generate maps in World Builder itself? I always have to quit World Builder and either regenerate the map or quit tot he main menu.

[siroxo]

Is there a way to generate maps in World Builder itself? I always have to quit World Builder and either regenerate the map or quit tot he main menu.

In the main control panel you click the "map mode" button, and then a button will appear on the bottom row of the main control panel (NOT the map mode control panel) to regenerate the map.

Also, nice script. I've enjoyed playing it a couple times now.

My only two complaints are:

Like others said, there is too much ice.

Also, with the 60% water option, sometimes there are two or three main continents bodies, which are connected by a single strip of land, or by the icecaps themselves, creating a pangea-like game. I don't know if this is by design, but maybe there should be some guarantee of multiple continents.

[Spocko]

Where to put the script file?

I downloaded the tectonics script - I can't wait to play with it. But - where does it go?

Thanks!

[siroxo]

LDiCesare, I think the Ice problem comes from this fact: you allow land plates anywhere, but also have these lines of code in ClimateGenerator.getTerrain :

		if (latitude > 81):
			return self.terrainIce
		if (latitude > 72):
			if (moisture < 40):
				return self.terrainIce
			return self.terrainTundra

thereby hard-coding Ice to be on any land near the poles. While climactically this makes sense, It gives a real disadvantage to some civilizations.

Two possible solutions: either make it so only water plates appear at the northmost and southmost latitudes (so no civs or barbarians spawn there), or change that 81 to a 95 or so, and the 72 to a 90 or so.

@spocko, it goes in your
/Documents and Settings/user/Documents/My Games/Sid Meier's Civilization 4/PublicMaps directory

[Bill3000]

The 81 shouldn't be 95, considering the fact that there are only 90 degrees to count. It should still closer to 90, though.

[LDiCesare]

I do like the idea of more realistic map generation, but I think there's a flaw in your resource script - I just got 9 beavers in a tight little 3x3 square in the arctic region. Unless that's not regulated by the map script, in which case I apologize.

I haven't changed the resources part, so that is a problem with the default script here.

I have made a better version of the script, but lost it due to reinstalling windows on my computer and forgetting to back up that folder. I'll try to make a new version which includes more water. I think I remember thr proportions I used...
I'll change the ice zones. The problem is the latitude is 0-90 but there is ice generated in the upper parts and the globe view, when zoomed out, show that the top of the map latitude is probably only about 75-80... I'll try to correct that too.
I don't provide a guarantee of different continents, but I'm going to recode the following:
2/3rds of land plates on the same hemisphere. Makes it more like Earth (north hemisphere lots of land, water in the south) and more likely to circumnavigate. More water, abotu 70-75%. I hope I can get it right again...

[LDiCesare]

Version 3.2 uploaded. This mostly adds a new option (70% water).
Less ice.
Peaks are more likely to happen (sometimes when two plates collided the resulting land wouldn't be as high as it should have been).
Land plates are more common in one random hemisphere than in the other, leading to more probability of being able to circumnavigate the world. It also often leads to at least one separate continent even with small number of players.

[hardjoy]

My recent game with the latest version of this script resulted in a terrific map with multiple continents and many islands, and quite a race for circumnavigating the globe. The mountain ranges are as beautiful as ever.

[alms66]

One thing you may want to experiment with, to help improve the script, is allowing for the splitting and combining of plates during your drifting iterations (and possibly doing a longer iteration cycle). It's somewhat new in geology, but there's some evidence to back this up.

When plates collide with enough force they may combine to form a large super-plate, though the link remains weak, and is the most likely area of fracturing during future drifting. Very large plates often do split into smaller plates when they drift over areas of opposing circulation in the magma, producing "rift vallies".

Also, if you can do anything about it (don't know, as I haven't looked myself), you might want to prevent civs from starting in the polar regions. That artificial arctic "starting" location is just plain absurd, and it happens rather frequently.

[siroxo]

Originally posted by Bill3000
The 81 shouldn't be 95, considering the fact that there are only 90 degrees to count. It should still closer to 90, though.

Oops, was thinking in terms of percentages, but you're right, it's latitude, so it's in degrees.