Random Map Contest

City Ruins – 27.8 Points 1st Place

by PleaseBeGentle_

Your scouts report they have found the entrance to a prosperous city, once known for its famous sea food, now fallen into ruin and claimed by bandits. You've setup camp outside the city walls and claimed some still standing buildings. Rumor has it you might not be the only one trying to claim the city's precious relics.

I'm just dumping my Design philosophy here. It's been a while since I made El Dorado so I wanted to push myself further this time. Using a checklist of requirements I started on my journey: * Make a unique RMS which feels like a single player scenario * Should be viable in 1v1, 2v2, 3v3, 4v4 on any map size * No easy walling * Fair for all civs * Map center and outsides should be equally important * Both ranged and melee should be viable * It should contain water * It should contain elevation * Should contain some gameplay reference to often played maps. I think I succeeded in making it unique by having players start with a small town, in a way it's like Empire Wars light. The main catch here is the resources and buildings being spread out so far it makes walling very difficult. This is further increases by making resources scarce and spread out. Due to the player just having arrived in this area the map has a nomad start. You start with less herdables/hunt but instead are given 8 farms which are far from the tc. Furthermore the center city contains ponds with fish traps for really good (albeit risky) food. This should let you achieve very fast feudal times (if you don't waste time trying to wall to no avail). Neutral res are split up between the center and the outside with the former making up about 2/3 of the total gold/stone. This should promote players fighting for the middle while still giving those sticking to the outside a fighting chance. To further incentivize players to fight in the middle a touch of wolf-hill has been added. A center hill featuring the only 5 relics on the map is always visible. Players might want to fight in the center to deny lakes to the enemy while also fighting for the center resources + relics. Not to mention, the center city is on a hill which is higher than the outside. Around the city is a moat which is on a lower elevation than the rest of the map. The only way to get in/out of the city is through this moat. This should promote sneaky demo's or other boats in imp. The lower elevation does make it easier for land units to clear out the moat and gain a foothold. Some micro potential can be found in the sides of moat which are sailable elevations! The moat also contains some shore fish to make it easier for players to justify docking it early on. The outside being wide open should allow cavalry to shine here. To give archers a shot at surviving the open plains small hills are spread all over the place to promote positional play while not making it possible to camp the same hill all game. Meanwhile the center city should give a good stage to archers and monks due to the many obstacles. Another point was making the map fair resource wise. There's only 4 cows so britons and tatars shouldn't be that strong. There's only 1 elephant and 3 deer so mongol shouldn't be that strong either. There's 8 farms so slavs might actually have a small boost (farming in the open is very scary though so it's not risk-free). The moat contains some spread out shore fish so I don't think indians will be that great. Japenese might have a good time with the fish traps in the middle. These traps are VERY exposed though so it should be easy to deny them with some army. There's 4 berries available so frank shouldn't have that much advantage either. Finally the references to existing maps. I think I kind of combined Hill Fort + Arena + Arabia + Four Lakes + Wolf Hill + El Dorado + Nomad with a touch of scenario feel. Should be pretty unique right? Wow, that was a long explanation / rant. I had a fun time making this map and hope to see it played it in the future :)

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AlgernonR

Cool concept. I would have liked to see a bit more of an open middle area, so players could create their own chokepoints rather than the map creating then. Makes melee pathing and fighting quite akward. The balance of water and land seems good and the start is certainly unique.

HenkDeSuperNerd

I think you achieved all your aims with great succes! I didnt test fishing on the map, but just having control of the middle as a strategical position + having easy control over the relics already is crucial. The start plays smooth and indeed with such spread out resources people might not wall and go for an agressive (eagle)scout opening, altough a fast castle is very tempting with the fast uptimes you can achieve. Altough i don't think any civ has very clear benefit from the start, I think civs with good early food eco and benefitting from relic control might be crucial here: Lithuanians and Aztecs. With the nomad start + all the camps prebuild, you only have to collect food in dark age so the Lithuanian bonus (and perhaps mongols, berbers, aztecs, khmer, britons boni) might come in clutch.
AI wasn't holding up very well (as I think they dont capitalize on the fast uptimes possible) so I'm not sure how a post-imp fight would look like and how expanding around the map might play out. (I played an aztec 1 TC push with eagle warriors and monks)

Chrazini

Due to time constraints, I am not able to give a full explanation of my scores right now. Please contact @Chrazini#5687 on Discord if you wish to have detailed feedback on your submission.

Zetnus

-Definitely an original map, with a lot of thought put into the design.
-The player and/or neutral farms can end up in unbalanced positions, or overlapping other resources, or directly adjacent to an enemy mill.

T-West

Oh boi, this map is epic. The use of set_gaia_unconvertable to create a destroyed city filled with outlaws and resources to capture is absolutely wonderful.
The outside of the map is filled with scenery objects that fit the theme. They’re not distracting and random like the useless plants, oh no. They all serve a purpose and lend character to the map, giving it the feeling that someone has lived here before. Even the subtle details work well, such as the different colors of the water in the moat and in the city, the beach terrain leading up the hills, and the Rocks laying about the remnants of the city streets. The statues, sign posts, and bits of road give a sense of direction, hinting that the now chaotic ruins once had a system of order and purpose. I feel tempted to go wandering about the ruins, looking for missing pages of an old book to give to a Hermit. Or to go explore the Monastery, in search of half-written chess-by-post letters to retrieve and deliver to a faraway Monk, as the last memories of colleagues lost to the ruins of the city. Everywhere I look, I see something calling out to me, promising a new and unique adventure.
But more than that, each part of the map serves a distinct gameplay purpose. The convertible Fish Traps in the city provide a source of Food, claimable from the Dark Age. At the same time, they provide an almost-living object in the city. Yes, someone once lived here and built these Fish Traps. And now we can use them ourselves. The calmness of these ponds containing further provides a clean visual contrast to the destruction and rubble strewn throughout the city’s center. And the Relics keep you coming back in the Castle Age, providing an incentive to return to the city even if losing the initial fight for the ponds. At the same time the outside parts of the map are crucial too, providing the Gold and Stone needed to fight for control of the center. The outlying Farms are an interesting gamble: you save Wood by capturing them, but in doing so leave your Villagers vulnerable to raids.
For something to improve: sometimes the “FX scenery” spawns in inappropriate locations. I’ve seen Rocks and mines spawn on top of Farms. Villagers can still Farm, but their pathing looks to be blocked by these objects. The FX Fires can also spawn in the water, which simply looks out of place, or on buildings, which players may mistake as building damage.
Perhaps my biggest balance concern is the power granted to players who control the water. While Docks are useful for Fish Traps, they are even more useful for warships. Ships are much stronger than land units (I had to nerf them heavily back when I touched up the maps for the Mangrove Shallows Cup), and I worry that the placement of ponds in the center of the city will lead to ships dominating the middle of the map. But it will take a good deal of testing to figure out what the meta is here, and whether this item proves actually to be concerning.
There also are some Shore Fish in the moat surrounding the city. I’m not sure how valuable these are compared to the Fish Traps in the middle, but it might be worth it to remove these. I feel the map would work better if players are encouraged to dock inside of the city, rather than in the moat.
There also seem to be Outlaw units that spawn inconsistently. Sometimes there are a couple of them in the city streets, sometimes there aren’t any. A bit more consistency here would be nice. They do fit in very well with the theme, but their presence might prohibit Dark Age Docks in the ponds if they are capable of killing Villagers (I actually don’t know how effective the Outlaws are as “Wolves”; I’ve never really played with them before).
Overall this map is simply breathtaking. It is clearly the work of someone who has mastered the art of random map scripting. Every aspect feels imbued with a sense of care and careful consideration that serves not just to make the visuals unique and memorable but flawlessly to tie them in together with gameplay and balance. And at the same time this map pushes the boundaries of scripting by introducing a new use for gaia units beyond anything seen in a competitive map before. Absolutely incredible.

Marsh Madness – 26.0 Points

by Biz

An unwallable map combining land and sea. Resources are spread out, and map control is heavily rewarded.

Food sources near the starting base are normal. There's lots of extra food further away. There's very little Gold & Stone near the starting base, but much more is scattered around the map. Docks are the only buildings that can be placed on the shallows terrain. Nothing can be placed on the rocky terrain. Villagers can harvest the fish in the central waterway, but they can't reach the fish on the outer edges.

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AlgernonR

Cool concept. The land madness-style woodlines make wood control difficult to secure, while being very important for the water control. On land madness we usually see scouts, while water/land hybrids makes archer play smooth so I think the map makes several different strategies viable. The only thing I dont really like is how the minimap looks - and the fact that the distance to other terrains used to create the woodlines sometimes make them quite akward - small or thin strips when generating in certain areas of the map.

HenkDeSuperNerd

This masterpiece is an impressive project. Very impressive use of terrain masking! Not only does it look visually appealing, but it also is very clear what is the function of each terrain: the ring of rock clearly is unbuildable, and the marshes and rocky shores clearly are shallow varients. I also like that there are some map variants with extra islands, which keeps the map refreshing, but I think it is the right amount of variability without making the map too unpredictable. I think you manage very well to make it an unwallable map with a lot of complexity. The lack of food is interesting but I managed to have a smooth darkage by using the fish. My concern is accessability of wood, which might favour one player more than the other, but as far as I can see from generating multiple seeds I havent seen this to be an issue, so I'm not sure what you did but it seems to work very well. Let's just hope the game wont crash from opening such a massive script, thxDE

Chrazini

Due to time constraints, I am not able to give a full explanation of my scores right now. Please contact @Chrazini#5687 on Discord if you wish to have detailed feedback on your submission.

Zetnus

-Very nice work mixing the terrains in a visually appealing matter.
-Provides more diversity of playstyles compared to Land Madness.
-Perhaps guarantee a bit of gold to be in a closer position to players.

T-West

This is a twist of the “Land Madness” map, but with a great map name. There is El Dorado-like water on the sides, with an extra neutral resource island to fight over like in Frisia. There’s some nice terrain blending on the shallows, adding a “Slippery Springs”-like feeling to the map.
The map does feel a bit empty, though, and maybe some straggler trees, rocks, or other scenery between the clumps of trees would help make it more interesting.
You have to appreciate the use of 1000 create_land and create_terrain commands.

Watering Hole – 25.8 Points

by MyteaLancer

In an arid land all forms of wildlife congregate around an oasis of fresh water, lush grass and trees. Get out there to obtain an early advantage over your opponent. Relatively open map, great for 1v1 or 3v3.

Resource Summary: goats: 8 (4+2+2), boar: 2 (rhino), berries: 4, gold: standard (7+4+4), stone: 4+3, On each meadow (so 4x): 3 zebra per player, 1 elephant per 2 players, 1 croc (2 if 6+ players) Neutral Mines: gold: 3+3 per player, stone: 2+2 per player Relics: 4 for 1-5 players, 8 for 6-8 players Salmon and shore fish are plentiful

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AlgernonR

Nice looking map with several focus points. However the middle pond has way too many fish and is too small, so losing it will mean you cant get it back and it gives the player who gets it such a huge food boost. I think the map could have worked better without the fish there tbh, or maybe just shore fish so you could get extra use of your mills in the middle. Scout play seems like it would be very common.

HenkDeSuperNerd

minimap looks astounding. terrain blending and use of eyecandy make it earn a perfect score for visual appeal. The map itself is a classic middle-objective map. The advantage of controlling the middle is clear: abundance of hunt and fish. I do like that that objective will be improtant in early game. that porbably promotes agression. I also like that the central land is in a crater, which means that controlling the middle can be hard. Small problem I forsee is that due to the abundance of fish it can sometimes be very hard to find a spot to dock. This can lead to one player being unable to dock on their side of the pond, while the other player can squeeze a dock in. I like the idea of densifying the forests by filling in the gaps with additional acacia trees. I did notice that near some objects those acacia trees wont spawn. For example if a (player) gold pile spawns near a forest, the min_distance_group_placement from the gold will prevent any of those acacia trees spawning, not a big issue, but to make it more perfect you could replace the min_distance_group_placement of the gold/berries/stone with an actor area. There is another small isue which can prevent the player golds/stones from spawning. It took me a while to figure out, but the area that it can spawn on is too restrictive. the minimum_distance from goats and forests are only a small part of that issue. The main problem, is that the player golds/stones do not only have a minimum distance to the players, but this minimum distance is also calculated to other (neutral) lands. So the lands in the corners and the lands of the watering hole both restrict the area where the resources can spawn in. I'll send a a work-around once the judging is over. Other than that, very impressive map, well done!

Chrazini

Due to time constraints, I am not able to give a full explanation of my scores right now. Please contact @Chrazini#5687 on Discord if you wish to have detailed feedback on your submission.

Zetnus

-Good terrain blending and use of eye-candy without being excessive.
-Guaranteed starting woodlines are a welcome sight.
-The concept of a watering hole may not be original, but it is very well executed.
Code feedback:
-Typo (set_scale_by_map_size)

T-West

This map has a fairly “standard” balance and distribution of resources that should make it fun to play competitively. There is Food in the middle and Gold and Stone on the outside, with Wood spread regularly throughout the map. It will be interesting to see if players decide to fight over the fish in the pond or just ignore it in favor of controlling the land resources.
There is a nice use of scenery to make the outside area of the map seem intersting, and the abundance of animals provides a nice backdrop for the action in the middle of the map.
The map may not break new grounds in terms of being unique or original, but it’s a quality design and should definitely prove fun to play. It’s a very solid map. Stylistically it feels like a map that could have shipped with the original game, but with some additional care paid to the scenery and terrain generation to make it more visually appealing.

Fimmvörðuháls – 25.6 Points

by MingudaiLee (MangudaiBOT on aoezone)

The mountains that cover the right and left sides of the map make the space very limited, like in maps such as socotra and arena, and a thin layer of ice that surrounds the buildable ground prevents players from walling with ease. Players start with less gold and stone than usual, which is offset by the amount of resources in the middle of the map. Overall a very aggresive map with an emphasis in middle control.

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AlgernonR

The map looks good - but is not reflected well on the minimap. Maybe consider using a different terrain for the Mountains so that its clear what the playarea looks like also on the minimap - this affects casters/viewers more than the players but is still an issue that could easily be fixed on a map that has otherwise made efforts to look good. The originality is high and I like the ice strip to prevent walling. I feel like it might be a bit one-dimensional in actual play though.

HenkDeSuperNerd

excellent idea to put ice around the terrains, so the minimap shows the mountain area better. even better might be to put some dirt type so it shows as beige on the minimap (DIRT3 for example looks great, and you could even layer snow over it). I tested a few times and was able to reach the mangudai with siege onagers in roughly 1/20 generations, however I dont think this will be realistic in a real game and since its only a mangudai it isnt giving any significant advantage to capture this gaia unit. The terrain mixing and the eyecandy objects really add to the visual appeal of this map. The shape of the map is rather unique and I'm curious how this plays out: players will certainly have less expansion room and would easily track the enemy army, but the rush-distance is quite far, unlike other maps with small battlefield area like socotra.

Chrazini

Due to time constraints, I am not able to give a full explanation of my scores right now. Please contact @Chrazini#5687 on Discord if you wish to have detailed feedback on your submission.

Zetnus

-I like what you've done to make the mountains visually appealing, but perhaps a different base terrain under that area would heighten the distinction between playable and non-playable area on the minimap (so it doesn't just look like grass).
-Putting the boars at the back to prevent laming is a good decision.
Code Feedback:
-Use land_position, not base_position

T-West

This map is very beautiful, and the Mountains on the edges of the map serve the dual purpose of decreasing the playable area (think Socotra but in a line instead of a circle) and of looking awesome. The thin lines of trees running through the mountains are a nice touch. The ruins and rugs scattered throughout the map work nicely as well, particularly standing out near the Gold mines in the middle.
The map is structured as a “Gold Rush” type map, with the main Gold being in the middle for players to fight over.
Overall this is a very nicely designed map.

Orchards – 24.6 Points

by Gen_Rhys_Dallows

A peaceful countryside trail dotted by numerous abandoned fruit orchards. Though the fruit available from the orchards is plentiful, your starting berries and animal herds are randomized.

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AlgernonR

Map looks very nice and has a unique feel as well. I am questioning the amount of sheep/boar to begin with as well as the never ending supply of forage bushes, random resources is a bad idea generally - and franks should be a very common pick. The line of trees around the orchars look good and means players need to cut through, but once you have your food eco is very very safe which I think is a bit problematic.

HenkDeSuperNerd

For a competitive point of view, I dont think the randomness of food resources is good. Besides, it can lead to a small chance for a really unenjoyable start with no sheep and no berries. I think it would be good if players start with no berries at all, but atleast some sheep and hunt. (like 1 boar, 5 sheep, 2 deer) so they are motivated to chop through to the berries. Also that would balance civs a bit I think, as now civs with sheep or hunt bonus have little going for them, while franks with their forage bonus will have a great time on this map.

Chrazini

Due to time constraints, I am not able to give a full explanation of my scores right now. Please contact @Chrazini#5687 on Discord if you wish to have detailed feedback on your submission.

Zetnus

-A unique theme, which is clearly reflected in the map design.
-One idea to make it slightly less wallable could be to use rock terrain instead of roads for the paths.

T-West

The “Orchards” really do live up the name of the map, and they are beautifully constructed. The broken road terrain surrounding them is incredibly well-done.
An issue, though, is that it takes a good bit of chopping to get through the trees surrounding the berry bushes, and once you chop through, there is limited space to build a mill. I suggest experimenting with setups that have more “holes” in the woodlines and fewer berries: that would give enough room that players could better gather from the berries.
Otherwise the map seems fairly standard, and it would be fun to see some expert matches played on this beautiful map.

Al Kharid – 23.2 Points

by Tiekel

Slightly comparable to golden pit, but gold more spread out for more variation in map control. Scarce stone availability to make control with one or two castles or towers more difficult. A few extra herdables and two extra stones are found outside of the middle. Also just 4 small lakes with 2 marlin nice

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AlgernonR

I like the map a lot. Its fairly standard in practice but has a clean and simple map layout that creates focus points in both early and lategame. I like the resource distribution around the map. The strip of shallow terrain on the outside makes walling a bit harder and makes back woodlines able to be ranged by enemy units. I think its a very balanced mix.

HenkDeSuperNerd

very enjoyable map. very familiar feel. except that its only 1 lurable (elephant). fairly open and the middle is slightly more chaotic due to the presence of that lake: you can't just control the complete middle with one castle.

Chrazini

Due to time constraints, I am not able to give a full explanation of my scores right now. Please contact @Chrazini#5687 on Discord if you wish to have detailed feedback on your submission.

Zetnus

-Overall a solid layout capable of promoting different playstyles.
Code Feedback:
-Typos (Spacing, a random endif)

T-West

This map should play similarly to Cross, with Fish in ponds in the four corners, but without as much of an emphasis on the Fish as there is in Cross. The undockable Deep Water in the middle is an interesting feature, preventing a player from controlling the Golds there just by docking, and also providing a bit of separation between the Gold piles so a couple of Towers won’t be able to dominate all of them. The shallows near the middle of the map make it difficult to wall. Players have only 1 main group of Stone mines in their base, which might encourage players to trush and deny their opponents completely of their Stone.
It’s a bit random where players spawn. Sometimes a player gets easy access to one of the ponds, while the other is far away and needs to fight off a Bear when going to dock. Getting rid of the predators guarding the Ponds might be a good idea.
This should be a very competitive map, and the nice use of a variety of terrains should make it interesting to watch as well.

Rainfall Valley – 23.0 Points

by Paint

A open and aggressive map that heavily rewards map control, with additional gold piles to be found in the deserts usually at the edge of the map. In the centre is a small lake surrounded by most of the wood and stone, there is also some extra hunt to encourage expansion into the middle in early Castle Age. Every player starts with a house and 5 villagers in addition to the standard TC + Villagers to speed up the dark age by 2-3 minutes.

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AlgernonR

The map looks nice and works in regards to the layout and resource distribution around the map. I dont like the sped up start at all though - in my opinion its not good for competetive play and also affects the variety of possible strategies players can opt for.

HenkDeSuperNerd

I think this is a very original concept: to put the wood control as main priority. The map also looks visually appealing with mixed terrains and a clear minimap that shows clearly the main objective: the wood in the center. My only concerns is that the shape of the forested valley can be somewhat irregular which might favour one player a lot more. I like the bold move to speed up the dark age, but I think you should remove

Chrazini

Due to time constraints, I am not able to give a full explanation of my scores right now. Please contact @Chrazini#5687 on Discord if you wish to have detailed feedback on your submission.

Zetnus

-Good use of terrains and terrains and terrain blending.
-Varied layout that encourages scouting and play across the whole map.
-The large central forests can merge, so the map isn't always as open and aggressive as expected.
Code Feedback:
-Typos (a few errant closing brackets and teamp_min_distance_group_placement)
-Use ID 1301 for elephants in DE, so AIs can count them properly. Or just use DLC_ELEPHANT
-Consider re-ordering your script to reflect the order in which the sections are actually processed (ie. objects last).

T-West

This seems like a fairly standard “Arabia-like” map with some extra terrain and features to keep it interesting. I think it should be really fun to play competitively. The big question is about how valuable the fish in the middle are, and whether players go for Fire Galleys to fight over them or ignore them and play the map like a land map.
The map uses a good variety of scenery and terrain that follow a nice structure. There’s a “desert” region of player bases and hills surrounding an inner region of grass and a small pond. But while the overall theme of the map looks really nice, large parts of the map still feel empty. Some scenery, such as rocks or cacti, or small patches of trees or animals, could help to break up the monotony of the desert regions. And some straggler trees in the grassy region could be nice too. A few small tweaks here and there should take this from a good looking map to a great looking map.

Golden Shower – 23.0 Points

by Green Eggs

Golden Shower seeks to merge Goldrush-style maps with aggressive open maps like Prairie and Steppe. There is an abundance of gold, but it is scattered widely across the map. To win, map control is paramount.

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AlgernonR

Apart from the name, which isnt a very good one - the map looks good and plays well. Its fairly standard but the spread out gold means players cant sit back and defend their base but rather have to reach out for map control early on and keep doing so all through the game. I like that part. The 3 different terrain layouts are also a nice touch and all of them look nice.
Resources sometimes get trapped in the forests, so adding a forest_avoidance distance (or increasing it) would be good. But overall, a well made map.

HenkDeSuperNerd

ehh... that name is rather unfortunate. I think the title "meteor shower" or "stardust" or something like that would be a safer choice. I love the seasonal map varients. Each of those look really good. However, I think the mini map looks very messy, and it is hard to tell the locations of important resources from the minimap itslef, which hinders gameplay in my opinion. I think you can get similar appearance of the terrains but a more consistent minimap by using layering. for example on the autumn variation, the dirt3 patches create beige patches on the minimap which makes it look messy. by layering dirt3 over grass3, the minimap still shows the green of the grass, but the mixed grass+dirt combo looks very much like dirt3. That should make the minimap a lot better 'readable' (i'll send details on this after judging is over). Other than that I think the map has a lot of potential. Feels very open, but guaranteed woodlines in the back.

Chrazini

Due to time constraints, I am not able to give a full explanation of my scores right now. Please contact @Chrazini#5687 on Discord if you wish to have detailed feedback on your submission.

Zetnus

-The naming is unfortunate and should probably be changed.
-It is nice to see seasonal/biome variations.
-There isn't really a gold rush aspect to it, since gold is not concentrated in any one place.
Code Feedback:
-// is not a comment
-ai info only works in the player setup section.
-Typo (distance_to_other_terrain_types)

T-West

This map has lots of small Gold piles scattered throughout the map. It’s an interesting idea, and I’d like to see how it plays out competitively. I’m not sure if this makes map control more or less important than in a “standard” map. There’s so much gold that you can keep moving to other mines if you lose control of some parts of the map.
I’d advise being careful about using different starting resources for different “seasons”. There are big differences in civ strength if, say, Mongols get extra hunt Food from the Elephant and Rhino on some generations but not on others.
Note that only C-style /* … */ comments may be used in RMS files. The single-line double-slash style // comments are not ignored.

Flanders – 21.2 Points

by Fluppets

Medieval Flanders was a harsh yet rich land, the treacherous terrain itself is a worthy opponent. Close proximity to your enemy and difficulty walling should provide immediate action, but limited space and scarce resources will make it both difficult to boom, defend or spread out. The difficult terrain (marshes) makes it difficult to maneouver large armies or build defensive structures. Key areas need to be secured for resources (rich lands) or strategic positioning on elevation (barrows). Be wary of the wisps!

This is the second version of the same name and my actual submission.

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AlgernonR

The map has a nice visual appeal and a unique look. The lack of straggler trees and a starting stone are potential issues though, players also start quite close to one another - I think this could end in quite a few early ggs if your woodline is denied for example.

Also the starting sheep seem to be missing in quite a few generations, probably would need to make the 2 groups of 2 sheep generate with less constrictions. Another issue is that the corner lands with extra resources are unevenly filled with gold/stone so one player will have access to more resources than the other in the lategame. Overall a nice map concept though.

HenkDeSuperNerd

I dont like that it isnt really clear which areas are buildable and which ar not. this could be solved by having more contrast between the water/marsh, or by consistently making all terrains in the lower elevation unbuildable. Golds often spawn adjacent to another which makes it an easy target for a tower (people starting without stone but they could still buy stone for towers, and that can actually put a lot of pressure on the defender) Im also a bit worried about the lack of wood. Not only in early game, players will struggle to find wood, but also the map seems not to support enough wood for long games (1hour+). Still I like the concept and it would be interesting to see players adapt to this open and agressive map.

Chrazini

Due to time constraints, I am not able to give a full explanation of my scores right now. Please contact @Chrazini#5687 on Discord if you wish to have detailed feedback on your submission.

Zetnus

-Good use bogland terrain and the resulting appearance of the minimap.
-A lot of laming potential with players starting this close.
-Maybe include fewer wolves since players need to move out early.
-Maybe give the corners equal resources.
Code Feedback:
-You can remove the cliff generation section entirely, if you do not want cliffs.
-Using find_closest in that way results in resources appearing at 90° angles to each other.

T-West

The swamp terrain in this map is a really cool concept. But there’s a few problems with using the swampy terrain like this. First is that it’s really difficult to tell what’s buildable and what’s not. It get easier over time after becoming accustomed to it, but it can be distracting when used in such large quantities. Next is that the minimap looks like it’s filled with water, when really it’s all walkable. There are more problems with the graphics and game engine than with the map, but they still affect how playable the map is.
Overall, though, the swampy map is a great concept, and with some more iteration on the idea it can definitely make an awesome map. The dead trees and skeletons scattered throughout the swamp are a really nice touch, but large parts of the map still do feel a bit empty. Perhaps adding in a few small patches of dead trees, or increasing the density of the singleton dead trees, would be helpful here. I also really like the use of the Autumn Trees in the middle, they provide a great contrast with the swampy terrain and with the standard forests on the sides.
Be careful with the positioning of starting resources. When players are this close, it can be a big difference to have forward Sheep and Boar that can be lamed easily. Normally I would be concerned about aggressive trushing for players this close, but that likely won’t be an issue, at least not in the early game, due to all none of the players having Stone in their starting bases.

Apennine – 21.0 Points

by TheMadCADer

Two bodies of water occupy the sides of the map. A mountain is in the middle that can give a hill advantage but also make walling harder.

If playing a team game with team positions enabled, the colors must be 1,3,5,(7) vs 2,4,6,(8)

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AlgernonR

A working concept - however it isnt the most original. I do like the simplicity of it and it makes for smooth playing with the very regular woodlines and standard resource distribution. Overall good generations - minor issues could be that the player lands sometimes spawn close enough to the left/right edge of the map to split the two bodies of water. Also the 2 groups of 2 sheep feels a bit too far out sometimes - might be good to keep those closer to players. I also would have liked to see something to make the player lands less wallable. Maybe the rock terrain on the front elevation is enough to discourage walls and fc play, but I wouldnt have minded the beach area to be unwallable as well.

HenkDeSuperNerd

A lot of work went into the direct-placement of players. Taking it a small step further to add a SW-NE orientation of the peninsula would benefit gameplay (less predictable where enemy is) but ofcourse this orientation best represents central Italy.
very high variablity on starting resources and waalability: golds can be very exposed or super safe, woodlines can be very protective or very sparse. I think that is mainly because secondary gold can be 18-26 tiles, a HUGE variation, and then extra gold can be as close as 30 tiles, which can feel like a juicy 3th gold. Fish is a bit too abundant: if you manage to get away with a sneaky fish boom you basically win the game.

Chrazini

Due to time constraints, I am not able to give a full explanation of my scores right now. Please contact @Chrazini#5687 on Discord if you wish to have detailed feedback on your submission.

Zetnus

-Controlling the elevation is very important on this map, despite most of the resources being in the lowlands.
-This is a more interesting take on the Scandinavia layout.

T-West

This concept is an interesting idea for a map, sort of a mixture of Scandinavia and Kilimanjaro. The mountain in the middle of the map makes for a unique feature that helps the map stand out.
In terms of gameplay, there are two issues that stick out to me. First, it’s random as to whether player resources spawn at the back of their base or under the hill. These spawns could happen in all maps of course, but here the hill makes a forward spawn particularly troublesome, since the mountain provides such a strong attack advantage. A bit more consistency with the resource spawns could make the map more balanced competitively. Keeping the resources forward forces players to focus their aggression on the hill, while keeping them back allows for more spreading out to the other parts of the map.
Second, the distance between the player bases and the edge of the map is inconsistent. I even saw generations where the player base extended all the way to the edge of the map, cutting their back water in two. Sometimes players can also go for a “Dock Block”, using a Dock to form a wall from the edge of the shore to the edge of the map. This trick can keep fish safe if an opponent lands one side of the water, as the Dock (or multiple Docks) effective cuts the water in two. This could be an interesting mechanic, but it’s inconsistent as to whether it’s available for one player and not for the other.
The mountain itself with the rock terrain looks really nice. For some reason, the way that terrain is used here reminds me of Age of Mythology cliffs.
But aside from the mountain, the map looks a bit “empty”. I’d suggest adding some straggler trees or rocks throughout the mainland and mixing in some more water textures (add pockets of medium or deep water to the shallow water already at the sides of the map). That will make the map more interesting to look at.

Sinharaja – 19.4 Points

by RediRodion

Sinharaja represents wildness, gorgeousness, temptation and inertia of the truly indomitable Jungle. In human nature lies desire for conquering unconquerable. Countless civilizations have tried settling in the middle of this chaos. Those who were seduced by the Jungle inevitably got overwhelmed by it. In the middle of alien land can be found remains of ancient civilization such as monuments and mysterious artifacts. Running roads continuously being absorbed by the Jungle is not a rare view. Do not feel yourself rest here. Do not trust your surroundings. Do not confuse your senses. Because those who err never come back from Sinharaja.

Around the map players can find spread 3 relics. Additionally there are 2 relics in the middle next to the magnificent Stelae for tiny, small and medium sized map but 3 relics for other sizes. Resources spread across the map are standard as on Arabia, although there are additional fruit bushes.

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AlgernonR

I like this map a lot - but as far as I can see its not a new one.
The visual appeal of the map is very high, but it has quite a few chokepoints so walls and FC will be common. An open middle area like that would work better if it held some map control importance with extra resources or similar, as walls would then have a clear downside.

HenkDeSuperNerd

I have been impressed by this map before. It looks very good, and reminds me of the campaigns. Sadly, this map is not really new to me, and looks very much alike the previous version that was made for RMC. There are certainly some points that can be improved upon, such as avoiding forest-zones or cliffs, and blending some more terrains, still I like it a lot.

Chrazini

Due to time constraints, I am not able to give a full explanation of my scores right now. Please contact @Chrazini#5687 on Discord if you wish to have detailed feedback on your submission.

Zetnus

-First thing first. This map was already submitted for the original contest here two years ago. While it has been updated for DE, the map remains very similar to the original version. Furthermore, the Masters of RMS contest was specifically asking for "original" maps, which means new maps, not existing maps. I will still provide some feedback nevertheless.
-Visually the map has been upgraded by the new terrain masking options.
-An improvement would be to ensure equal resources on each side of the map for 1v1, with regards especially to the neutral gold and stone.

T-West

The focal point of this map is the beautifully used scenery in the center. The terrain-covered roads leading to it from the player bases are also a really nice touch. The Mangrove trees around the edges of the map are another interesting feature that help to add a bit of character to the map.
Gameplay-wise the map has a fairly standard distribution of resources, and I anticipate it playing closely to Arabia.
It looks really pretty, and it should be fun play.

6217 – 18.6 Points

by nhoobish

Work. The. Shaft.

On Tiny map size the battle arena is about 80x80 tiles instead of 120x120. Starting resource stockpiles modified. A straggler tree with 32k wood yield. A gold pile with almost no gold yield next to the TC. Boar food yield slightly increased. Sparse and wild stone/gold are with reduced yields (the player generated gold/stone is hidden among the piles with reduced yields most of the time).

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AlgernonR

Obviously highly unique but doesnt provide very interesting gameplay. A map of that size could absolutely work but would require redesign of the resource distribution and overall map layout. At the moment its very much a one trick pony and not suitable for competetive play.

HenkDeSuperNerd

description is a bit... unfortunate? Where to start with this map... different starting resources! pay attention. Boars and stragglers lameable - need good rules. I feel there are a lot of creative ideas with this map, but I think it is gonna be overwhelming to learn this map as almost everything is different: size of battlefield, availbalitiy of resources in end game, starting resources in bank, dark age build order, and fighting for buildable area

Chrazini

Due to time constraints, I am not able to give a full explanation of my scores right now. Please contact @Chrazini#5687 on Discord if you wish to have detailed feedback on your submission.

Zetnus

-An original idea to make a smaller map with the black terrain.
-A straggler tree with 32k wood should be made un-deleteable (second_object with a haystack works nicely, for example)
-The map revealers along the border area a nice touch.
-The single gold mines interfere with building space and the map would probably do fine without them, or with a much lower density.
-Additionally, clumps of unbuildable moorland terrain are severely messing with building sites, even when the gold has been mined.

T-West

This is a very unique take on the Socotra concept of making a smaller-than-normal map. The use of the Black terrain to mark the unplayable area is great, and it makes for an awesome addition to this map. For whatever reason, the Stone Heads work very well as a transition to the edge of the map as well.
It does feel a bit weird, though, to have the Mesoamerican Stone Heads, the South-east Asian Mangrove Shallows, and the normal Trees all used together. The map might work better if it had a solid focus around the Jungle theme (Mangrove Shallows could still be used there), rather than trying to blend all of these themes together.
The start is nonstandard, as players need to use Shore Fish instead of Sheep. It’s an interesting use of the Mangrove terrains to bring the Shore Fish directly to player TCs.
The next major feature is the scattering of Gold and Stone mines throughout the map. The Gold piles are reduced from 800 to 80 resources. This in itself might be confusing, but there are also a few standard 800 Gold mines mixed in at each player’s base. It would be great if there were a way to have different graphics for each of these Gold mines so players could tell them apart instead of clicking on them.
I definitely would be interested in seeing how this map plays out in competitive games. It’s very different and unique.

Sudan – 17.4 Points

by SilverBane`

The map features a start with 8 goats, berries, 1 elephant, 1 rhino, and 2 huntable patches (although of reduced size of 2 only after some feedback). Gold is average, stone is in good supply initially. The map is usually very open (although occasionally there will be an exception), with many hills, and an average amount of woodland. What makes it stand out is the starting outpost, which will give more LOS to players as they spawn somewhat closer than on Arabia (but not socotra levels). The map also features some ponds with fish, and 1 extra elephant for each player that is far away (45 tiles +), which prevents it from being lured in the early game (unless you are very lucky) but should help out with lone bases built later.

Cliffs also spawn on the map, but they are relatively small and should not conflict with combat or expansion much.

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AlgernonR

Nice visual appeal - and gameplay works very well. It feels and plays very similarly to Arabia though, I wish it had more of a unique aspect to it.

HenkDeSuperNerd

This map looks very similar to arabia. The shope and proximity of the ponds can be very variable: sometimes it can form a defensive barrier, sometimes it provides fish closeby one player (and the other misses out) so I think these random ponds do not contribute to the competitiveness of the map. The terrains look nice and I think resource distribution is fair (except for the shorefish then)

Chrazini

Due to time constraints, I am not able to give a full explanation of my scores right now. Please contact @Chrazini#5687 on Discord if you wish to have detailed feedback on your submission.

Zetnus

-Nice terrain mixing.
-Extreme hills often have players starting in depressions.
-Feels a bit too similar to some DE Arabia iterations.
Code Feedback:
-Semicolons are not comments.
-forest_zone is not an attribute.
- DIRT4 is not a pre-defined terrain.
-For tournament maps it is best to copy in any included code rather than having it included from the game files – otherwise your map may generate differently (or even break) on the next patch.

T-West

This is a fairly standard map that should play out similar to Arabia. It doesn’t stand out as being exceptionally “unique”, but it does look very pretty and should definitely be fun to play competitively. There’s a really nice variety of terrains that are used throughout the map, and it does provide a nice break from the standard environment of Arabia.
When adding ponds in player bases, it can be a bit luck-based on whether or not the ponds spawn near berry bushes. Not too important, but it’s something to keep in mind, and extra Shore Fish can provide quite an nice advantage.
Starting with an Outpost is an interesting idea, but what is reveals is somewhat random. Perhaps starting with 3-4 Outposts would provide a more consistent experience.

Close Quarters – 16.4 Points

by Azure_Sentry

A map with a Socotra-like small land area but providing additional options in resources, fish in particular being plentiful. Your woodline options are all Baobab trees, so walling will be difficult. Food might initially be plentiful, but you'll need to use any early advantages to secure control over vulnerable golds and stones.

N/A

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AlgernonR

Overall Im not a huge fan of maps where players start very closely together - it gets akward with space for buildings in general and farming eco in particular. This one seems like a fairly thought out variant with both water and land focus and with rhinos spawning close to TCs so instant laming shouldnt be a thing. I think this is the kind of map that can never really go late though and small early advantages will create snowball effects. Some small points of elevation on the middle clearing could be a good addition to create specific points of interest for map control and for unit micro.

HenkDeSuperNerd

I think this is a very unique idea, with the baobab forest around the island. It consistently gives passages to the dock - which initially was a concern when I looked at the minimap, however the path through the forest can sometimes be a bit more indirect than your opponent, which is slightly unfortunate for when you want to dock fast, but thats only a minor inconvinience I think. Land agression is certainly an option as the middle area is very open and players are very close together. I think this map can provide excellent competitve and very agressive games. I think you made the good choices of putting the boars close to players to prevent easy laming, since players are so close to another. The expansion room is a bit limiting and no extra golds/stones also makes it hard to have a lategame develop well on this map. However, I still think it will produce entertaining games.

Chrazini

Due to time constraints, I am not able to give a full explanation of my scores right now. Please contact @Chrazini#5687 on Discord if you wish to have detailed feedback on your submission.

Zetnus

-Good use of the baobab forest to provide trees, while at the same time providing access to the outside.
-The outside water could be improved with some terrain mixing.
-Perhaps consider adding some elevation.
Code Feedback:
-For tournament maps it is best to copy in any included code rather than having it included from the game files – otherwise your map may generate differently (or even break) on the next patch.

T-West

I like how the three “regions” of the map provide a different resource: Fish on the outside, Wood in the ring of trees, and Gold and Stone in the middle. This distribution provides an incentive for players to use all areas of the map.
Moving the starting resources closer to the TC is a nice touch to prevent laming on this smaller map.
The map does seem a bit “empty”, though, with a lack of variety in the terrains. I suggest adding some patches of medium and deep water to the outside to break up the monotony of the shallow water. Some more scenery objects in the ring of trees could be helpful as well. And a few more objects, be they animals, trees, or other scenery, in the middle of the map would help too. I think a few small tweaks and additions here and there have the potential to turn this into an awesome-looking map.

Harsh_County – 16.4 Points

by Lord_Patito

A desolated land, when resources are scarce and predator eats predator. You start with 4 goats, some ostriches arround your tc and an elephant. Woods are filled with lions that will provide some food to those brave enough to hunt them. In the middle, a you can find lots of gold, stone and outlaws, on a cracked and dry terrain.

Lions provide 250 food. There's not enough food to go to feudal age if you don't hunt lions. Plus, the woodlines are swarmed with them.

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(no image)

AlgernonR

I dont really like the spaced out woodlines filled with lions - sure it might be original, but I dont think it adds a positive aspect to gameplay. And I also dont really like the outlaws in the middle, they bug out quite a lot. I would also like to see more terrain mixing to beautify the map a bit.

HenkDeSuperNerd

Frustating to play, but probably rather enjoyable to watch. The idea is well excecuted and the areas are visual appealing. In my opinion cutting back slightly with the eye candy objects and adding some terrain masking can improve the looks a bit still. However I dont see this map being competitively favourable. The mechanic of luring lions to eat them can be abused to gather food fast, and civs like magyar (1shots predators) or goths (free loom) might have clear advantages. Also, the placement of lions can be inconsistent, as I had lions so close to the TC at start that I couldnt build my houses in a test game.

Chrazini

Due to time constraints, I am not able to give a full explanation of my scores right now. Please contact @Chrazini#5687 on Discord if you wish to have detailed feedback on your submission.

Zetnus

-The predators-with-food idea is unique, but doesn't work as well in practice as in theory, because your non-hunter villagers randomly become hunters after killing a predator. So you have builders and lumberjacks abandoning what they were doing and running back to the TC with food.
-Also having lions spawn so close that they rush you before you have even moved your villagers is not great.
-A bit more terrain mixing or variety could improve the appearance, or perhaps some elevation on the outside.
Code Feedback:
Typo (clumpling_factor)

T-West

This map has a fun use of Outlaws as “Gold Rush Wolves”. It could be fun to see “Wolf-Rushes” with the Archers. There’s also a great use of the Camels and units on pikes in the middle of the map, which works well with the cracked-dirt terrain. I further like that the cracked terrain in the middle makes controlling the mines more difficult, and also weakens any potential middle Towers. Food on Lions seems fitting for this map.
The map should play similar to Gold Rush, and I can definitely see it being interesting for competitive matches.

Fishbowl – 15.2 Points

by Rorrik

The players are squeezed close together on a small, fruitful island in the middle of unbuildable wastelands. The hills on the central land are gradual and low, but the players start in a low portion. The surrounding land is rolling hills where military can move freely and building is not possible.

3 relics spawn on the buildable middle land. 3-5 also spawn in the outer land.

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AlgernonR

Issues with the terrain generation, sometimes the map spawns the player bases on the outer ring which then is buildable. Otherwise its a unique concept - however for competetive play it adds a lot of randomness in regards to the resource placement.

HenkDeSuperNerd

i really dint think the outer regions will come into play much. ofcourse it does make walling more challenging, but as players start so close togther, i think all agression will be channeled through the center. The elevation aspect could be interesting and further more promotes agression (hill advantage for the besieger) Lack of extra golds/stones might mean the lategame can't develop very well on the map. STill i'd be interesting to see how this map is gonna be played competitvely

Chrazini

Due to time constraints, I am not able to give a full explanation of my scores right now. Please contact @Chrazini#5687 on Discord if you wish to have detailed feedback on your submission.

Zetnus

-I like the concept.
-Would benefit from some terrain mixing and blending (perhaps using terrain masking so that the outside remains unbuildable, and so object placement can still be directed).
Code Feedback:
-Make sure to include a space when you open and close comments.
-Typo (cumpling_factor)
-If you want a way to place objects on restricted terrain (and get your black variation working), try using second_object and a placeholder.

T-West

The concept of Socotra with an outside accessible to unit but not for building seems really interesting. But I think the map needs a few more iterations and tweaks before it’s really ready.
The core idea hinges upon this empty area on the outside of the map, but unlike Socotra this area is traverseable, and in particular visible, to players during the map. And that’s where the map feels weakest: there isn’t anything interesting on the outside to explore, other than a few hills and an occasional Relic. There are lots of objects you could consider adding here: mountains, rubble, destroyed gaia buildings, pockets of undockable deep water, cliffs, etc. This would help the outside area of the map more character.
The inner part of the map could also use a few different patches of terrain to help break up the monotony as well.
Having the desert and winter themes can be interesting, but it’s also a huge change from one season to another that runs the risk of being disorienting. My favorite of the themes for this map actually was the “normal” Grass theme.

Golden Cross V4 – 14.6 Points

by Caidos101

Players start with 3 small woodlines, the rest of the wood is in the centre of the map in large woodlines however they can still be navigated through by units. Large deposits of stone and gold can be found in each corner of the map, surrounded by a terrain that cant be walled on, making it harder to control these essential resource heavy areas. Food is standard and there are small hills throughout the map.

There are no special instructions on this map

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AlgernonR

The idea behind the map makes sense and has been seen before in different variants, the wood in the middle creates a clear point of focus for the map - yet I feel like the corners dont add too much since the wood control will be so central to the gameplay and you only need 1 corner in the early parts of the game anway - so losing middle control will always be the issue, not losing corners. The map also have some scripting issues which means there is quite a high likelyhood of bugged resources (both missing starting woodlines and golds/stones/herdables being trapped in woodlines). Another issue is the minimap which is very difficult to read. I would have liked to see some other terrain to be mixed with the dirt and desert terrains, if only to make the minimap easier on the eye.

HenkDeSuperNerd

I dont like that the 3 woodlines near the players dont show up on the minimap. I'd rather have the 'cross area' with the dirt terrain to just have some small forests scattered around, but the good wood to be in the middle (like on oasis), then you'd also need to use circle_placement to assure that players spawn equal distance away from the wood in the center. apart from that I think the gold/stone in the corners is a nice touch, altough it might only come into play very late into the game. Eventhough you lowered the amount of gold/stone per player I think it still is enough to not be forced to expand to the corners, so in my opion you can lower it slightly to 2x3 gold and 2x3 stone per player. Appart from those little tweaks I think this map would work very well as a competitive map, with clear objectives (wood control in center, and expansion to the corners for gold/stone control)

Chrazini

Due to time constraints, I am not able to give a full explanation of my scores right now. Please contact @Chrazini#5687 on Discord if you wish to have detailed feedback on your submission.

Zetnus

-Extremely aggressive map, with regards to wood.
-One player is often missing one of their woodlines, which is problematic, given the scarcity of wood overall.
-Also saw players miss one of their straggler trees on occasion.
-The desert would benefit from layered terrain mixing, or some eye-candy, just to make it more interesting to look at.
Code Feedback:
-Typos (land_perecent, set_scale_by_group, min_distance_group_placements set_scaling_map_size)
-Generating the starting woodlines as objects means that they can be lamed. It also means that they avoid previously placed objects, which explains why they are sometimes missing. Perhaps generate them before other objects. It is possible to achieve the same effect with terrain generation, using unique placeholders for each player land.
-You left a bunch of attributes sitting at the end of your script XD

T-West

The concept here is pretty neat: Wood in the middle with pockets of Gold and Stone in each of the corners. The Wood in the middle is large enough that it can’t be dominated by one player with only one or two Towers, but the strength of trushing still is something to be concerned about (as it is for all “low Wood” maps). Unlike the similar Atacama map, there is absolutely no Wood outside of the middle, forcing the conflict to take place there. Whoever controls that Wood should end up winning.
I noticed that player spawns can be a bit inconsistent: sometimes one player spawns in a corner near the extra resources while the other spawns close to the middle, even obstructing some of the land for the forest.
The outside of the map is rather empty: adding in some variety in the terrains used here and including some more rocks or animals as scenery objects would go a long way to making the map more interesting to look at. Adding a few clumps of stragglers trees might help ot make the map more competitively viable as well
There also seems to be an unfinished block of commands at the bottom of the script. If you’re not already, I’d recommend using VS-Code and some of the extensions for supporting RMS scripts. That can make these files significantly easier to edit.

Sunderbans – 14.4 Points

by lovemeheyhey

Sunderbans is the biggest mangrove forest in the Indian Subcontinent, with a history of sneak attacks, guerilla warfare and getting hunted by tigers, hence the map features all these elements in a complete form. All players have an opening at the back to make a dock to fish boom, while all the woodlines are at the borders open for all types of raids, hence water control gives you not only fish control, but control of the woodlines too. The center features a mangrove shallow which has both extra stone and gold for players to contest.

Woodlines are less wide, so every mangrove woodline is raidable by galleys(and sometimes, byzantine fire ships!), and the inside is also accesible by boats so you may need to wall those chokes!. All resources will spawn forward, giving all forms of an aggression an edge. Lands and middle can be protected by towers, researching heated shot can be of value. The more aggressive you play, the better!

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AlgernonR

Will be pure water in my opinion. And you will have absolutely zero chance at coming back onto water if you fall behind early on since you can only build so many docks, and in so many spots. The map also have issues with bugged generations which forces middle resources to not generate if they are too close to the player lands. I also would have liked to see some more terrain mixing as well as elevation on the land.

HenkDeSuperNerd

Fish is very abundant but a bit unfair with distribution: sometimes there are streches of sea that dont contain any fish, which is unfortunate when you dock there. I think its interesting that the only place to dock is in the middle - untill you have chopped through the mangrove forest in the back of your base. However, sometimes a player can be lucky to have a small spot where they can fit a dock in the back of their base. A workaround here is to fill the mangrove terrain with some additional straggler mangrove trees. I think it will be interesting to see how players are gonna pressure their opponent's lumberjacks from the water, and how they will fight for all those precious minerals in the center. I do fear that water control will be too dominant on the map though, which limits the options for land-agression a bit. Also, players can have an unfortunae position very close to the water, so their TC can actually be reached by galleys. I think it would be better to increase the base size of playerlands a bit, so the players are a bit safer from water agression. Also, since you designed the island-group to fit in a semi-circular shape, it can be that one player spawns very far out, which results in a weird square shape sticking out, that looks a bit strange. So maybe its better to stick to a circular shape, so players spawn at equal distance to the edge of their island. In the script I do see that there are conditionals for different mapstyles (tropical, alpine, etc) and you do use the frozen type, which as far as the code, actually only affects the straggler trees. I think you should remove these seasonal varietion conditionals from the mapscript, and just replace the snow pine trees with something like rainforest trees to really capitalize on the east indian theme.

Chrazini

Due to time constraints, I am not able to give a full explanation of my scores right now. Please contact @Chrazini#5687 on Discord if you wish to have detailed feedback on your submission.

Zetnus

-I like the way that you opened up the back areas.
-Having all the wood (and much of the gold) exposed to water means that the map easily snowballs in favor of the player who wins water control, with little option for comebacks, because that would require wood and gold.
-It seems like you have used the classic AoC fish. Modern competitive maps instead opt for very regular fish spacing by placing an excess and having the individual fish avoid all the others.
-It would probably make sense to place relics on a per-player basis to ensure each player gets the same number on their side.
Code Feedback:
-#define FROZEN_MAP is why are getting the snow pine trees, which look out-of-place. Just remove the references to any seasonal variants you are not using.
-Typos (number_of_tiles and SHORE_FISH in the connection section)

T-West

This map has two islands, connected by Mangrove Shallows with resources on them. Docks can be built either on these shallows or at the backs of player bases. The rest of player islands are filled with forests, limiting dock spots until the forests are chopped through.
It’s an interesting concept for a map, but I feel like it could use a bit more work to get it working properly. If the intention is to allow for landings, then it might be better to open up some more holes in the forests. A few opening here and there would make it difficult to wall off and allow for more sneaks. Right now the only place to land is directly under the opponent’s Town Center.
Additionally, watch control is paramount, as you control not just the fish and the other resources, but all of your opponent’s wood. If you manage to win water, then your opponent doesn’t have space to run around and re-dock.
What is interesting, though, is the choice about where to dock. If you dock at the front to control the resources, then your won’t have any fish in the shallows. Docking in the back means your ships have to travel further to secure the middle, but you’ll have safe fish and shouldn’t have to worry about losing control of your docks.
Next, the ring of Mangrove trees around each island looks awesome, but the rest of the map is rather monotonous. The outside water is mostly shallow water with a few pools of deeper water to break it up. There’s a lot of room here to use a more interesting blending of various water terrains. And the land is a solid grass terrain. Adding in a few sporadic hills, patches of other terrain, and straggler trees or other objects would be a big improvement.
The 5 snow trees near player Town Centers seem out of place. There certainly is room for combining the snows and Southeast Asian jungle terrains, but having these 5 trees being the only “snow-objects” on the map is a bit distracting.