With the release of Tuparro on the EP8 patch, I would like to give a place to showcase my current collection of custom maps. This will take quite a bit of time to completely get them all published here, but I thought I'd start with a few of my sexier, more original maps.
I absolutely NEED your feedback. I'm a decent player, but am by no means a top-level competitive player. I will include my own thoughts, creative processes, even some sassy remarks, but I'm only as good of a map coder as the community helps me to be. In the creative process of making maps, some are good, some are bad, some are hot garbage. Some just need some tweaks, and some just end up completely different from what I'd planned.
With that in mind please be respectful with feedback. I'm not perfect, and neither are you
If you like a map, let me know! If you don't like a map, tell me why! What could be done to make it better? Or is the design flawed from the get-go (that's ok!)?
Lets get started!
Appalachians
Probably my most... unusual map, Appalachians is extremely unique in its layout. While in a 1v1 game, its not exactly the most interesting, the layout changes depending on the player number and team sizes. A 1v1 spawn simply has a single trade route, one socket per player directly Northwest of their TC, 3 whales (one central, one directly southeast of each player) and a central cliff separating the players. On team games and ffa games the map never gets wider, only longer along the coast. Every player has their own "valley," trade post and whale, but very little can be walled in. The entire coastline is icy, preventing wall laming along that side. Games on this map are messy, and positioning is extremely important.
Cerrado
This is a bit of a spicy map for aggressive play. Most of the food on this map is tied up in berry bushes, to represent the incredible diversity of edible plants native to this region. Its got a bit of an RE flair to it, but don't worry, resources maintain balance between each side of the map. Coin mines entirely avoid the centre of the map forcing a player to expand. A simple, central trade route spawns for 2 player/team games, while a circular route spawns in FFA games. Due to the low number of hunts, Japan doesn't overwhelm on this map and other civs that are able to upgrade berry gathering are able to shine a bit (Spice Trade, TWC farm ups, civil servants/imperial bureaucracy).
edit: slight change to textures
Chupat
This map has been given many... affectionate nicknames... the region represented by this map is the southern area of Argentina, in the province of Chubut. The players are divided by a large impassable segment and a winding river. A small trade route and a large number of mapuche settlements dominate the south. A few stray llamas chill over by the trade route too. While the river has no fish, each player does have a home city flag, allowing players to strategically use war ships to their advantage, should they choose to. It also opens up a few fun possibilities such as aztec's dock big button, or japan's caravel full of petards. In short, this map is a bit of a spiritual successor to Orinoco (and a dash of Hudson Bay), with players divided by a central choke. However, unlike Orinoco, this map has actual resources on it. While turtly, defensive, boomy play is definitely very strong on this map, in my testing I found that early pressure and containment tends to work equally well. Additionally, revolts backed with ironclad potential have a certain... je ne sais quoi... I've never had a game play out the same way twice on this one.
Falklands
This map is a starvation map with a twist, namely that it is an expansive water map. There are extremely limited resources, with only 3 whales (1 safe per player, one central) and all fish exclusively in the shallows by the islands. On the islands themselves there's a decent amount of food, but limited wood and coin. Theres a small trade route on the far sides of the islands too. Controlling and contesting the centre whale, and the opponent's trade route may prove fruitful; due to the low wood access, lategame skirmishes are not optimal.
Ganges
If this is you, then you will love this map! Ganges River is a map with an extreme amount of food, but a very small amount of mines. The natives on the map are Sufi and Udasi, both of which are very food heavy units, so do with that what you will. The map is divided by a central winding river that is rotationally symmetrical and which has 3 wide crossings. Apart from the vast number of elephants, this map is a fairly plain no-tp map with just a few chokepoints to keep things a little more interesting.
Guatemala
A request from n0el, this one is a bit of a throwback to Vanilla! It features FOUR ponds, each with 2 whales/ abundant fish, and AZTEC MINOR settlements. I'm just gonna let ya'll know there's some busted upgrades & units in there and leave it up to you to see them for yourself. This map has two variants, standard and Sudden Death. Sudden Death gives each player an Aztec Temple they must defend, which if destroyed causes them to instantly lose the game (similar to regicide or wolloseum). This helps prevent hot-garbage dumpster-fire hour long port mirrors (ew). Lots of safe wood on this map, but other resources are not so forgiving.
this map is still under construction :)
Mojave
My newest map, Mojave! Features Navajo settlements, oases, and a unique layout of canyons. This was based off the cave map, but made for more competitive play. The map isn't perfectly balanced yet but it fairly consistent.
heres some sexy glamour shots
heres some sexy glamour shots
Manitoulin
This is my most controversial map of all, featuring not one, but two rivers between players. The central portion has a dominant TP line, and players will need to contest this early in order to have access to resources. This map tends to lead to very quick games (I have used a galleon rush successfully) or games that end in a trade monopoly. Each player starts with a few sheep to help kick start their economy.
I'm currently in progress on revamping this map a little bit, to be more consistent. It was among the first maps I made, and while I am proud of how it turned out, I've come a long way as a map maker and want to give it a bit of a touch-up.
Mississippi
This map is one of my personal favourites. Honestly, I can't believe there wasn't a mississippi map on RE
This map has 3 seasonal spawns. A summer spawn featuring the shallow river with crossings, a winter spawn with an unbuildable icy river (and a few sheep + stronger treasures), and a spring spawn which is essentially a more balanced Amazonia. Each side of the map has a TP line and a Cheyenne settlement (a favourite minor civ). The number of resources available on the map is exceptionally high, but due to the layout of the map, perhaps a bit tricky to defend. If needed I may release a version that disables the spring spawn, as I know a river map is not always the most ideal and leads to messy stalemates.
Nahanni
Nahanni represents the Eastern section of the Yukon and is a bit of an unusual map. Each team starts on a high plateau with both the north and south sides sloping down into the central valley. It's got some serious RE Rockies vibes, with a splash of Northwest territories. The lush lowlands have small ponds with herds of moose. The real spice on this map in 1v1 games comes from the gold mines. While the high plateaus have only 2 silver mines (one close to tc, one a bit south) the remaining mines on the map contain 5000 coin, but there are only the 5 of them (placed symmetrically and identically each game), meaning that controlling specific mines becomes essential. This map forces you to not just think when and how you want to take a fight, but also where. Lots of chokepoints, potential for monitor laming mercenary builds, and just general map-control battles. In team games the entire team begins on the plateau section, placed circular; the map coin mines are simply silver mines to help keep balance in check. FFA games causes the whole map layout to change, where each player is in an open section surrounded by cliffs (think Himalayas) with the central portion of the map having a circular TP and little ponds.
Philippines
Another request from n0el, this is a very water heavy map, featuring small central islands with gold mines, sufi settlements, and whales placed along the centre map. Each player controls a narrow section of land with safe fishing behind them. The general lack of land on this map is its defining feature. Gameplay centres around controlling the centre section of the map for access to coin.
Tuparro
This map represents the region of Iquitos, Peru. It features a swampy marsh in the lowlands (with Carib tradeposts) and a barren highland (with inca tradeposts and fixed coin mines). There are also two, seperate trade route spawns; one is a single long route, ideal for atp builds, the other is two seperate routes where each player has a safe tp available on each route. Please note that on the two route spawn, the travois dudes spawn on opposite sides, thus preventing a "first pass bias." The treasures are quite strong on this map, as are the potential native upgrades (especially for archer infantry). Its one of my favourites currently and the one I have playtested the most extensively. It is extremely consistent in fair resource spawns and I'm really pleased with it.
Upper Andes
This one is basically a supremacy "Forest Nothing" with an extremely dense forest lowland, but the players starting on a barren plateau. The resources on this map are difficult to protect, and the only access points to the plateau are around the TC locations. This map also has Huari Stronghold treasures, a gaia building, which if sieged down contains a 500 coin crate that can be gathered. There are Inca settlements on the map, increasing in number with the player count.
Uyuni
Uyuni represents the Bolivian salt flats and holds a special place in my heart. It was the first "real" map I made, where I went from just copying and pasting while changing a few integers to actually working out new, independently written code. Its a bit messy by my current standards and I plan on revisiting this one to fine tune it, but it is fairly consistent. It has lots of llamas, tons of coin and an obscene amount of food on the map. Strong treasures stay in the northern region by the trade route. There is a distinct lack of wood, and will be difficult to gather safely if the game goes long. There's also a twist, the entire salt flat is unbuildable. Only the little coin islands and central peninsula are able to be built on.
Zavkhan
Zavkhan is modelled after the western region of Mongolia. It features a winding river surrounded by cliffs on both sides. There are only 3 wide crossings (almost a full screen wide) on the river and 2 tp slots, which is strategically placed going to somewhat impede walling. The cliff passageways are not excessively narrow, but a frigate could potentially control a very large section of the map: but you'll have to train it, not ship it.