SY Nations Cup 2017 - Map Guide

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In this post you will find all the maps you need for your participation in SY Nations Cup 2017. Every map for SY Nations Cup 2017 has been created as a custom SYNC_ map and a custom SYNC_ map should be used for every game of the tournament. All of the maps have been created with a view to making them more competitive for high-level play without taking away the randomness which contributes to the enduring popularity of random map gameplay in AoC.

Some general changes which affect all of the maps include:

• Fair access to fish.
• Resources tuned for all maps, such as distances to far golds and sheep, forest distribution, etc.
• Nomad-style maps and maps with Nomad-style areas such as Migration share a model (adjusted for each map) for creating a more even distribution of resources across the map.

Where other specific changes have been made to the maps beyond this kind of general 'tuning', these are listed below.

As usual we will monitor maps and player's opinions and remove/adjust as and where necessary.



Installation:

• AoC: Transfer the .rms to "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Age of Empires II\Random" folder.
  It should now appear in the game lobby under "Custom" Map Style.
• AoFE: Transfer the .rms to "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Age of Empires II\Games\Forgotten Empires\Script.RM" folder. It should now appear in the game lobby under "Custom" Map Style.
• AoC HD edition (Steam): Transfer the .rms to "C:\Program Files\Steam\SteamApps\common\Age2HD\resources\_common\random-map-scripts" folder. It should now appear in the game lobby under "Custom" Map Style.

Tournament Maps

[tbody] [/tbody]

• Teams may choose any of the following maps as their home map.
• Maps cannot be repeated in a set. That is, a home map may not be the same as a set map or a previously played map, and any game where a losing team may choose from a range of maps, they may not choose a previously played map.

SYNC_Arabia (not a homemap)	SYNC_Arena
Oases (ponds) made smaller.	'Neutral' mines removed as they had a very high tendency to all spawn on one side. Extra tile added to some player mines to compensate for the removal of 'neutral' mines.
Spoiler: Map Screenshot ​	Spoiler: Map Screenshot ​
SYNC_Baltic	SYNC_Bedouins
No significant changes.	Uses model for more even spacing of resources across the map.
Spoiler: Map Screenshot ​	Spoiler: Map Screenshot ​
SYNC_Black_Forest (played as explored)	SYNC_Chaos_Pit
Ponds removed. Extra boars removed. Trapped forest clearings/pockets removed.	Players now spawn as 'teams' rather than evenly spaced but flanks will still be very close to enemies, as before. Player food resources altered to spawn closer to TC. Outside area uses model for more even spacing of resources across the map.
Spoiler: Map Screenshot ​	Spoiler: Map Screenshot ​
SYNC_Continental	SYNC_Cross
No significant changes.	No significant changes.
Spoiler: Map Screenshot ​	Spoiler: Map Screenshot ​
SYNC_Decentring	SYNC_Fortress (played as Regicide)
Outside area uses model for more even spacing of resources across the map.	Cliffs removed. Player buildings and resources have better spacing with the aim of reducing instances of trapped resources.
Spoiler: Map Screenshot ​	Spoiler: Map Screenshot ​
SYNC_Ghost_Lake	SYNC_Golden_Crater
No significant changes.	The first time this map has been used for a major team tournament. It's a version of Gold Rush where the gold is in a crater (instead of on top of a hill) and more spread out.
Spoiler: Map Screenshot ​	Spoiler: Map Screenshot ​
SYNC_Golden_Hill	SYNC_Hideout
Players now start with 7 tiles of gold split into two mines. Amount of shallows reduced to generally provide more even access to fishing. Fish ponds on player lands removed.	No significant changes. This version now does not have any walls.
Spoiler: Map Screenshot ​	Spoiler: Map Screenshot ​
SYNC_Islands	SYNC_JDGrossrox
Islands are typically less narrow and mines less exposed to water. Extra islands generally spawn nearer to the middle of the map.	The 'team' variant with close-spawning allies has been removed, but otherwise no significant changes.
Spoiler: Map Screenshot ​	Spoiler: Map Screenshot ​
SYNC_Land_Nomad	SYNC_Microphone
No significant changes besides minor tuning of player starting resources. Players now have 4 single boars instead of a pack of 1 and a pack of 3.	All water - including the middle and all four map edges - is fully connected.
Spoiler: Map Screenshot ​	Spoiler: Map Screenshot ​
SYNC_Migration	SYNC_Mongolia
No longer will you need to search the entire island to find your first 4 sheep. Middle land uses model for more even spacing of resources across the map.	Amount of cliffs reduced to make it a more open map.
Spoiler: Map Screenshot ​	Spoiler: Map Screenshot ​
SYNC_Nomad	SYNC_Nomad_v2
Uses model for more even spacing of resources across the map.	Uses model for more even spacing of resources across the map. Starting locations for vilagers resemble original Nomad instead of SYNC_Nomad.
Spoiler: Map Screenshot ​	Spoiler: Map Screenshot ​
SYNC_Oasis	SYNC_Rooster
No significant changes.	No significant changes.
Spoiler: Map Screenshot ​	Spoiler: Map Screenshot ​
SYNC_Scandinavia	SYNC_Seize_the_Hump
Ice patches removed from both land and water.	Uses model for more even spacing of resources across the middle area.
Spoiler: Map Screenshot ​	Spoiler: Map Screenshot ​
SYNC_Shallow_Web	SYNC_Team_Acropolis
The first time this map has been used for a major team tournament. It's an open land map with shallows all the way around the edge.	Middle water is now dockable and easy back walls have been removed.
Spoiler: Map Screenshot ​	Spoiler: Map Screenshot ​
SYNC_Team_Islands	SYNC_Twin_Puddles
Cliffs removed.	No significant changes.
Spoiler: Map Screenshot ​	Spoiler: Map Screenshot ​
SYNC_Two_Rivers	SYNC_Valley
Rivers never touch map edge.	No significant changes.
Spoiler: Map Screenshot ​	Spoiler: Map Screenshot ​
SYNC_Windmill	SYNC_Yucatan
The first time this map has been used for a major team game tournament. A version of Islands where all player islands are connected by shallows. There is an island with gold in the middle and islands with wood in the corners.	Water and forest adjusted to make it a more open and fair map.
Spoiler: Map Screenshot ​	Spoiler: Map Screenshot ​

We would like to thank SMB360 for editing and creating the maps for SY Nations Cup 2017.

 

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Version 2 of the maps have been released. Download link for the Version 2 maps and the unofficial map pack below, for changes and discussion see this topic. Download link in the OP has been updated as well.

Version 2 of all individual maps plus the unofficial map pack for practice and testing are now available to download at the bottom of this post. All version 2 maps have the prefix NC17v2_ instead of NC17_. Version 2 maps are still not considered final, so there is plenty of opportunity for feedback and testing, and we expect we'll be on at least version 3 as a final release for when the tournament starts. Thanks to everyone for their testing, feedback and help so far!

Version 2's map pool also now includes a version of nC@Valley, NC17v2_Valley. It also appears in the unofficial map pack.

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List of fixes/improvements identified which are included for v2 release:

General

• Some secondary forest clumps added back in on maps like Arabia
• Shallow/medium/deep water mixing
• Some undockable shorelines fixed
• Deep fish appearing too close to shore on some maps
• Amount of deep fish on several maps increased

Map-specific

• Arena correct number of boars
• Baltic possible improvements to be made to water/lands/inlets
• Decentring gold/stone spawns fixed
• Golden Crater starting sheep fixed
• Golden Hill shallows to middle improved
• Hideout player lands/walls and golds tweaked
• Nomad land made more regular (especially aiming to reduce ponds at landlocked map edge) and fish increased
• Rooster connections between players also dockable
• Seize the Hump possible improvements to player lands
• Shallow Web correct number of boars
• Team Acropolis player lands for smaller map sizes, also fixing the back wall issue, gold and stone spacing further enforced
• Valley from the nC Zone will be added to the map pool (with some changes, detailed top of page 2)

Explanation of LN changes:

Spoiler

LN:

- slightly normalised distances to spots
- still 8 deer close to spot
- still 4 boars linked to your spot
- forests and cliffs reduced to be a tiny bit more open

The difference with the boars is that there are 4 single boars instead of 1 + a 3-pack.

Previously you had 1 close to medium boar (14-18 tiles) and the 3-pack could spawn between close and very far from spot (between 13-30 tiles), which would make a big difference if one player had a 3-pack at 13 tiles on a diagonal axis and their direct opponent (on flank, let's say) had their 3-pack at 30 tiles on a vertical/horizontal axis, which makes them spawn even further away.

Now the boars are split into 2 close-medium (13-19) boars and 2 medium-far boars (20-26) tiles. Standard boar distance from TC on almost every other map is 16-22 (give or take one tile) so there is nothing unusual about the boars here, it's just different to most LN versions (ignoring 5b 11).

Overall I believe the effect is to reduce the luck factor and the potential to lame all of an enemy's boars whilst encouraging the need to scout to find the boars, none of which are particularly far away on a map where you are usually doing insane amounts of sheep scouting before you even have your TC up.

 

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Version 3 of the maps have been released. Download link for the Version 3 maps and the unofficial map pack below, for changes and discussion see this topic. Download link in the OP has been updated as well. These new version all have the prefix SYNC_, while playing the tournament games make sure to use the maps with the correct prefix!

 

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SYNC_Nomad has been updated and a version 2 has been released (SYNC_Nomad_v2). SYNC_Nomad_v2 will replace SYNC_Nomad as a set map, starting from Monday July 31st. SYNC_Nomad and SYNC_Nomad_v2 can both be picked as homemap, but when Nomad is a set map in a match, SYNC_Nomad_v2 should always be picked.



Version 4 of the maps have been released. Download link for the Version 4 maps below.