Winter AOElympics Map Guide: 3v3

[Huehuecoyotl22]

Download all maps here: https://www.ageofempires.com/mods/details/19724/
If you find any error, please let me know.

21 Alpine Heights
Original by TheMadCADer (2020; Mad Random map pack). There is wood around the border of the map. Besides that, the map is very open. Players have no berries but three deer patches. These can provide an economy boost but can be difficult to defend.

22 Andes
Original by Mac B, modified for this tounrnament. The Andean mountains are cold, unforgiving, and demand the taxing task of expansion. Do you canopy your economy beneath the steep cliffs or seize the stone-rich mountaintops in the center? Put little trust in your walls, for the frozen terrain of the Andes that spots this map are unsuitable for fortifications.

23 Arctic Circle
Original by TheMadCADer (2019; Mad Random map pack). A huge sheet of ice separates teams (the kind ships can pass over). The big fish are in the deep water in the middle, but players can only dock in the shallow pools in the ice. Prepare for a chaotic blend of land and water armies.

24 Boar Isle
Original “Eye of Sauron” by kaniqua (2014; WiC Map Contest), slightly modified for this tournament. All players start on a tiny center island. You have a scout, regular amount of villagers and a transport ship. 6 sheep are very close to your town center. The center of the island is roamed by boars (3 per player) and has close gold and stone. When you migrate to the outer land you will find good wood, gold and stone.

25 Combat Ring
Original by TheMadCADer (2020; Mad Random map pack), in winter theme for this tournament. Players start inside a ring of trees. The walls of trees will be chopped through eventually and open up the map for more options with more space and resources.

26 Coniferous
Original by TheMadCADer (2019; Mad Random map pack). There are three discrete bodies of water on the map. Two are along the edges, and one is in the middle. The forests here are thick and make for easy walling, so water control is important. Ice separates all players from each other.

27 Golden Ghost
Original by TheMadCADer (2020; Mad Random map pack), with marginal changes for this tournament. Ghost Lake meets Gold Rush. Pools of water in the ice contain some fish, but you won’t be able to build a dock.

28 Himalayas
Original by TheMadCADer (2020; Mad Random map pack), with marginal changes for this tournament. Players start with no town center. Teams are together in the lowlands. Gold is in a centralised spot in the middle of the map. Stone is scattered throughout the mountains.

29 Hyperborea
Original by HJ (2015; Anniversary map pack) with marginal changes for this tournament. The first Arabia-type map in the map pool, with slightly bigger wood lines. Allies are connected via roads.

30 Kraken
Original by Zetnus (2018). A stormy northern sea map with cliffs and scattered shipwrecks. Players start on a very small island, but get a transport ship to expand with immediately. Wood, gold and stone are found on neighbouring islands. Extra starting resources aid rapid expansion. The middle of the map is an uninhabitable icy bulk that has relics to be collected, but nothing else.

31 Nomadlands
Original by TheMadCADer (2017; Mad Random map pack), with some changes for this tournament. Players start with villagers outside a rocky pit with plenty of fish. This fish can be a good source of food, but also vulnerable. The center valley is rich in food, while the outer elevation is spotted with gold and stone piles.

32 Permafrost
TheMadCADer (2020; Mad Random map pack), with marginal changes for this tournament. In 2020 the permafrost is melting and forest fires are common. Players cannot farm near their starting town center. There are fish and hunt on the map which are forward. Aggressive play can pay dividends.

33 Poppyfield
Original by The_Prophet (2014; WiC Map Contest), with marginal changes for this tournament. Players spawn in the center of the map, rich in deer and with some sheep, gold and stone. A thin ring of trees separates from the outside with an abundance of further resources.

34 Rockslide
Original by Chrazini (2020; Masters of RMS). A terrible natural disaster shattered the whole region not too long ago, bringing political instability to the table. Each clan is going to look for primary resources to rebuild their cities, but will have to venture out of their hidey-hole through the wild open fields to find bigger resource deposits. The center island forest where players spawn is surrounded by a shallow river. All stone is located in the corner forests.

35 Stranded
Original by RFR_Kringle (2014; WiC Map Contest), with marginal changes for this tournament.
Stranded is a Momad-style-map. All the players start on a tiny island together, with villagers and a transport ship. Everyone then boards their ships and goes for the mainland where the resources are.
What makes this map stand out from a traditional Nomad map is that you can follow other players, so there’s a lot of strategical opportunities. For example, 2 players can decide to land where the strongest opponent landed. Or, all the players of a team can decide to go for a certain part of the map, or split up, etc.

36 Taklamakan
By Huehuecoyotl22 (2020). The Taklamakan desert is located in Xinjiang. A cold desert with rare snow. The second map that is very similar to Arabia. You won’t find any oases though, just some clusters of bushes and shrubs.

37 Team Island Hopping
Original by The_Prophet (2014; WiC Map Contest), with marginal changes for this tournament.
Like in Team Migration a team starts on a tiny and resource-limited island. Multiple islands with big forests wait to be inhabited in the wintery seas.

38 Vinlandsaga
Original by TheMadCADer (2020; Mad Random map pack). Reverse Ghost Lake? Players start out with only a small patch of buildable terrain around them. Beyond that is ice. All the important things are in the middle of the map.

39 Winter Glush
Original “Glush” by Papayapapst (2014; WiC Map Contest).
It is a double map, so you start with a 2 town centers, but here is the clue: not double the resources. Your first town center is on a green land with some wood patches. You have sheep, berries, 2 boars and 5 deer, but no stone at all and just 2 gold piles. The second town center though is located on an island, which only has 4 sheep and tons of stone and gold on it.
Invade the enemy water and island? Or attack him on land to get him out of wood? A lot of possiblities here!

40 Glacial Springs
Original by Zetnus (2020; Spring Brawl Map Contest). A snowy map filled with thawing springs and shallow streams flowing to the sea. Streams follow several possible symmetrical layouts. Players start on buildable shallows. Resources are standard.

41 Antarctica
Original by Zetnus (2020), slightly modified for this tournament. Players spawn relatively close to each other on the big island. Apart from bushes the resources are scarce on land. The sea has good fish, but the outer ice sheet is habitat of penguins that viciously attack everything coming close – even fishing ships.

 

[Huehuecoyotl22]

Since it is now possible to change unit statistics in a random map script since the last patch, we could change the penguins on Antarctica. They now have 25 HP and 3 attack. So 2 villagers with loom can easily win vs. a group of 2 penguins.
This makes it still dangerous to be close to the water, but you will no longer lose a fishing ship or the half HP of a scout just because you looked away for a second.