A long list of maps got significantly better with the last update including:
Acropolis, Archipelago , Arena , Baltic, Bog Islands, Ghost Lake, Golden Pit, Hamburger, Hill Fort, Kilimanjaro, MegaRandom, Mountain Pass, Nile Delta, Pacific Islands and Socotra.
Some of these maps went from unplayable to playable (Kilimanjaro, Pacific Islands, Nile Delta, Hill Fort) and some went from wall FC to actually good maps that include a Feudal Age (Ghost Lake, Golden Pit) and MegaRandom got more or less a complete overhaul reducing hunt and allowing for non Mongol civ picks.
I am extra happy that the map pool got drastically better thanks to the Golden Pit and Ghost Lake changes.
Full list of changes:
Acropolis, Archipelago , Arena , Baltic, Bog Islands, Ghost Lake, Golden Pit, Hamburger, Hill Fort, Kilimanjaro, MegaRandom, Mountain Pass, Nile Delta, Pacific Islands and Socotra.
Some of these maps went from unplayable to playable (Kilimanjaro, Pacific Islands, Nile Delta, Hill Fort) and some went from wall FC to actually good maps that include a Feudal Age (Ghost Lake, Golden Pit) and MegaRandom got more or less a complete overhaul reducing hunt and allowing for non Mongol civ picks.
I am extra happy that the map pool got drastically better thanks to the Golden Pit and Ghost Lake changes.
Full list of changes:
Maps
- Acropolis: Increased the amount of starting gold to 4 gold tiles per player.
- Acropolis: Removed extra boars from the map.
- Acropolis: Hilltops will no longer generate forest on Deathmatch or Infinite Resources modes.
- Acropolis: Extra deer and predator animals will no longer spawn when using Deathmatch settings.
- Acropolis: Relics are now generated slightly further from players’ bases.
- Arabia: Starting stone and gold resources have been adjusted to spawn a minimum, set distance from each other.
- Arabia: Huntable animals will no longer spawn directly next to berries.
- Archipelago: Land masses will generate away from the edges of the map—even on smaller sizes—to prevent fully-enclosed bodies of water.
- Arena: A third gold and second stone deposit have been added as guaranteed forward spawns outside of each player’s wall.
- Arena: Huntable animals will no longer spawn directly next to berries.
- Baltic: Each player is now provided with extra gold and stone deposits.
- Baltic: On tiny, small, and medium-sized maps, Relics have been re-balanced between the players, with the fifth relic spawning on the shallows or ice island in the water.
- Baltic: Forest generation has been adjusted for more consistent results.
- Baltic: The number of cliffs have been reduced and spaced out throughout the map.
- Baltic: Player starting locations have been adjusted with circular placement and slightly larger starting areas.
- Black Forest: Reduced the number of straggler trees that spawn.
- Bog Islands: Gold and stone deposits no longer appear near the edges of water.
- Bog Islands: Extra gold and stone deposits have been redistributed more evenly throughout the map.
- Bog Islands: The lake in the middle of the map now has a more consistent, circular shape.
- Bog Islands: Players now consistently spawn at an equal distance from the center of the map.
- Four Lakes: Fixed a bug where road terrain tiles would mistakenly appear in small clumps.
- Ghost Lake: Adjusted the generation of forests and player starting positions to ensure an equal amount of land and forest for each player.
- Ghost Lake: Reduced the density of forests to promote a more open, aggressive battlefield.
- Ghost Lake: Removed cliffs from the map.
- Ghost Lake: Ponds now only appear in the center of the map.
- Ghost Lake: Far gold and stone resources are now generated per player.
- Ghost Lake: Relics are now generated per player on tiny (1v1) maps.
- Ghost Lake: Each player’s primary gold mine (7 tiles) is always towards the center of the map to encourage aggressive play.
- Golden Pit: The center pit is now consistently circular.
- Golden Pit: Players spawns have been balanced to start an equal distance from the center pit.
- Golden Pit: Reduced the density of forests to promote a more open, aggressive battlefield.
- Gold Rush: Extra stone mines have been split from two, six-tile piles into four, three-tile piles.
- Gold Rush: Extra stone mines are now consistently generated near player starting positions.
- Hamburger: Players spawns are now in a perfect circle, ensuring equal access to the water.
- Hamburger: Adjusted how fish are generated to ensure that deep fish appear along the entire length of the water.
- Hamburger: Starting resources have been slightly spread out from their previous positions.
- Hamburger: The first and second gold and/or stone deposits will now spawn away from each other.
- Hamburger: Fixed an issue where extra gold, stone, and relics could appear on the central island.
- Hamburger: All starting resources now generate away from the water and central forest.
- Hamburger: Fixed an issue where the central forest would fail to spawn on larger map sizes.
- Hill Fort: Thin lines of forest no longer appear between players on 1v1 matches.
- Hill Fort: Fixed an instance of the map where extra berries would fail to generate.
- Kilimanjaro: Starting fish will no longer spawn directly adjacent to berries.
- Kilimanjaro: Huntable animals will no longer spawn directly next to berries.
- Kilimanjaro: Gold and stone deposits will now appear further from shorelines.
- Kilimanjaro: Forests are generated more evenly throughout the map.
- Kilimanjaro: Starting stone and gold resources have been adjusted to spawn a minimum, set distance from each other.
- Kilimanjaro: Player starting positions and the Kilimanjaro mountain are now more centered in the maps.
- Kilimanjaro: The mountain is now generated correctly on the Ludicrous map size.
- Kilimanjaro: Far gold and stone will no longer spawn together in clusters.
- Kilimanjaro: Quicksand now appears as a layered terrain, meaning it no longer prevents construction.
- MegaRandom: Introduced numerous new map variants while revising and removing some older variants. The resulting maps tend to offer more open, aggressive battlefields.
- MegaRandom: Increased the variety of seasons.
- MegaRandom: Extremely large or extremely small deposits of gold and stone will now spawn less frequently.
- MegaRandom: Starting gold and stone deposits are more evenly distributed around the map.
- MegaRandom: Revisited the starting food resources in order to provide a more equal balance regardless of civilization choice. The maximum amount of huntable food is now 2 deer and 3 rhinos or elephants—a combination that will spawn roughly 2% of the time.
- MegaRandom: Huntable animals will no longer spawn directly next to berries.
- MegaRandom: The chance of a grouped start for Team Games has been increased (similar to Lombardia).
- MegaRandom: The Nomad start now takes after the classic Nomad or Land Nomad start: where there are no clear bases and villagers for each player are scattered throughout the whole map.
- MegaRandom: Introduced the possibility of starting with a Fishing Ship or Transport Ship.
- MegaRandom: Introduced the possibility of starting with a Feitoria at 1%.
- MegaRandom: Introduced the possibility of starting with a Fortified Palisade at 2%.
- MegaRandom: Reduced the chance of starting with a Stone Wall from 2% to 1%.
- MegaRandom: Increased the chance of starting with a Horse or Camel from 12% to 20%.
- MegaRandom: Decreased the chance of starting without a Scout from 10% to 3%.
- MegaRandom: Decreased the chance of starting with a Castle from 2% to 1%.
- MegaRandom: Increased the chance of starting with a Outpost from 1% to 6%.
- MegaRandom: Extreme scout option (i.e. Militia, Spearman, Skirmisher, etc.) now appear less frequently, and only when there isn’t a large amount of deer.
- MegaRandom: Fixed various issues with stuck or inaccessible resources.
- MegaRandom: Fixed various instances where lands and resources were generated unevenly.
- Migration: The main gold pile has been split from one 8-tile deposit into two 4-tile deposits.
- Mountain Pass: Increased the amount of available food on the map. Forage bushes have been added, Deer now appear in packs of 4 instead of 3, and more Sheep and Deer appear throughout the map (overall).
- Mountain Pass: Fixed a bug where Villagers and resources could spawn stuck inside of a mountain.
- Nile Delta: Relics have been re-balanced among the islands. Depending on the size of the map, large islands will spawn with 2, 3, or 4 Relics, while one relic will always spawn on the starting islands in the middle.
- Nile Delta: Increased the amount of available food on the map. Ostriches now appear in groups of 4 instead of 3, and the number of Ostriches, Elephants, and Goats that spawn throughout the map has been increased.
- Nile Delta: The total amount of gold and stone available has been increased and evenly distributed on both large islands.
- Nile Delta: Adjusted how forests are generated to prevent large, empty clearings on larger map sizes.
- Nomad: Shore fish are now generated more evenly.
- Pacific Islands: Reshaped the outside areas and player positions to be more evenly shaped.
- Pacific Islands: Adjusted the number of starting animals to 8 buffalo and 1 rhino.
- Pacific Islands: Shorelines have become a more ideal habitat for (and thus have become more populated by) box turtles.
- Pacific Islands: Deep fish can now be found on the map, though in low numbers.
- Pacific Islands: Deer have reproduced in higher numbers and moved into the interior of the islands.
- Pacific Islands: Starting forests are now more consistent for each player.
- Pacific Islands: Increased the amount of forested area on the large middle islands.
- Pacific Islands: Extra forage bushes have sprouted on the middle islands.
- Pacific Islands: Gold and stone deposits on the middle islands appear further from the shorelines.
- Pacific Islands: Starting gold and stone deposits no longer appear too close to player Town Centers.
- Pacific Islands: Tigers will no longer appear on the mangrove shallows, only on solid land.
- Pacific Islands: Deer and tigers no longer spawn during a Deathmatch or Infinite Resources game.
- Pacific Islands: Water masking now features darker shades of water.
- Socotra: Additional forest has been added to the edges of the island while maintaining the openness at the center of the island.
- Socotra: Starting gold deposits now consist of one 5-tile and one 4-tile gold.
- Socotra: Starting stone deposits now consist of two 2-tile stone deposits.
- Socotra: Gold and stone can no longer generate directly beneath the Town Center.
- Socotra: Adjusted the amount of food available at the start of the match; players now begin with 5 Zebra, 6 Goats, 1 Elephant, and 6 Berry Bushes.
- Socotra: Removed the generation of extra stone nodes per player.
- Socotra: Huntable animals will no longer spawn directly next to berries.
- Socotra: Predators (lions) will now only appear at the center of the map.
- Socotra: Balanced how extra gold is generated throughout the map.
- Valley: Removed the starting deer that spawn for players.
- Valley: Added more shore fish to the lakes in the valley.
- Valley: Now uses circle positioning to make sure the river spawns as intended.
- Valley: Extra Deer will no longer spawn during a Deathmatch.
- Wolf Hill: Reduced the number of relics that spawn in the center of the map.
- Wolf Hill: Reduced the number of herdable animals from: one large group of six to a group of four, and three smaller groups of three to two groups of three.
- Wolf Hill: Added 4 Berry Bushes near each player spawn.
- Wolf Hill: Boars are now separated instead of spawning next to each other.
- Wolf Hill: Deer and boar no longer spawn during a Deathmatch or Infinite Resources game.
- Wolf Hill: The small clumps of forests that spawn around the player’s base no longer appear during a Deathmatch or Infinite Resources game.