Custom Maps
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[edit] Custom Maps
Many Planets4 game hosts create their own star maps for their games. Because the number of players in a game varies, the default maps (Echo and Epsilon) are not always ideal. Also, some players either prefer to start closer together or father apart, promoting either early conflict or a slow buildup of forces.
[edit] Choosing or designing a map
When choosing a map, the two primary factors you must consider are planet count and map size.
- Planet count
How many planets do you want in your map? For most scenarios, an ideal map should have no more than 40 planets per player, and many veterans prefer 10 to 20. A smaller number of planets will promote early conflict. The danger of having too many planets is that empires will grow so large as to be unmanagable, and that the game may become boring or tedious. Remember, in most scenarios the winning player will end up controling most of the map! How big of an empire do you want them to have to manage?
- Map size
How close do you want neighboring planets to be? If your map is too large then hyperspace races may have too much of an advantage. But if the distances are too small then warp races will have an advantage, and the smaller distances will trivialize some strategic elements such as supply lines.
Map size can be difficult to judge. It's best to choose one map as a reference point and decide if you want something larger or smaller. For example, consider the Echo Cluster. It has 500 planets, and is 2000 x 2000 lightyears in size. The average distance between a planet and all of its neighbors is 100 to 110 lightyears. The average distance between a planet and its closest neighbor is about 60 lightyears. The density is 1 planet per 8000 square lightyears. You might want to consult a table of these map statistics for reference.
[edit] Where to find maps
Many VGAP4 hosting sites already have a large library of custom maps to choose from. Check out Drewhead's collection of maps and RCWorld's map collection.
[edit] How to create custom maps
Links to map-making utilities can be found on the resources page. Here are just a few tips:
- ClusterGen
ClusterGen is extremely quick and easy, though it doesn't give you as much control as some other map-making programs. Basically you just enter a few parameters (size, density) and press the Generate New button. But you can always use ClusterGen as a starting point, and then customize the map with some other program. - ScriptZ0r
While not primarily a map-making program, ScriptZ0r can be used to tweak maps. You can create a map from any VGAP script/scenario file by using File > Export map. Also, you can move planets around and create new planets. - Excel
Using an excel spreadsheet like this one, you can just enter the planet names and coordinates (using formulas if you like) and then press the Save Script button. Open the script with ScriptZ0r and then export it to a map. - MapMaker
MapMaker is a fully-featured map editing tool. - VGAP4 Mapper
VGAP4 Mapper A tool to look at, edit, and print maps. - Map Generator
Map Generator is a random galaxy generator. This tool can create galaxies of many shapes and sizes, including Spiral and Ring galaxies. It allows for customization of star heat, name, and location (You can drag stars around the map to where you want them!). You can specify what kind of temperature distribution you would like from Flat to Random to Very Cold to Very Hot! Allows for loading, and then customizing, of externally created maps. This tool requires v2.0 of the .NET framework to run. This can be obtained as an optional update on Microsoft's Windows update site http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com. Many thanks to Jochen for hosting the tool as a download on this site.
