Freeciv map generator issues

[Jacew]

This is something that has bugged me with Freeciv for a long time, but thought only now to ask, as I recently got active again to play the game.

Don't you think maps created by generator are, well, bad in gameplay perspective?

I've tried multiple ways to make it create decent game maps, but it never makes enough oceans and continent's are way too small.

It's just bizarre you can usually explore the whole planet with a trireme, eg without going to deep ocean. And the amount of deep ocean is general is minuscule, you end up on next island or continent within coupple of turns.

Realistic maps, with 3-12 continents, buch of random Islands and large oceans seem impossible to create with it? Best approximations would be to give each nation own island (which is bad) or put everyone on same continent (which is also not good).

[Molo_Parko]

Tergen is a stand-alone map generator for Freeciv > viewtopic.php?t=94539

I think the real measure of a map's worthiness is the word find score. Sometimes I get the feeling that some of these other scenario authors aren't even trying!

Code: Select all

$ ./FreeCiv_Map_WordFind.sh British\ Isles\ 85x80\ v2.80.sav 
 
MAP FILE: British Isles 85x80 v2.80.sav
sh	
1 words found!


$ ./FreeCiv_Map_WordFind.sh Hillzapoppin\ 81x81\=7k\,\ 99\%\ land\,\ Classic\,\ Flat\,\ v1.sav 

MAP FILE: Hillzapoppin 81x81=7k, 99% land, Classic, Flat, v1.sav
aa	aam	ad	adat	add	aft	am	ama	amma	amt	at	da	dam	dap
fa	fad	fam	ga gam	ma	maammad	madam	mamma	map	mat	ta	taa	tam	tat	
30 words found!

^ Speaks for itself!

[Jacew]

Yea. I read about it from your thred earlier. Looks interesting. I'll give it a try, once I got my current game finished.

What does the "word find score" mean there? I have never actually played scenarios in Freeciv. It's open random game I really just like in Civ.

[Molo_Parko]

^ It's how many words ( as defined in /usr/share/dict/words ) can be found in the arrangement of the terrain map tile letters in a given scenario or saved game .sav file. It's a joke / a gag. The tile letters which represent terrain types are for example, a for arctic/glacier, d for desert, f for forest, and so on. So encountering the sequence "fad" in Freeciv terrain maps represents forest, arctic, and desert tiles, and the three letter sequence happens to be a valid word -- thus "Word Find" within Freeciv scenario/saved game maps is possible. So I wrote a script to search for words in scenario maps and discovered that my scenarios routinely have the most valid words.

The below is a valid Freeciv terrain layer map, such as would be found in any Freeciv scenario or saved-game .sav file. It's also the smallest size allowed at 16x16 tiles.

Code: Select all

t0000="                "
t0001="                "
t0002="   jhggggjghj   "
t0003="  ggfpgpgggpgj  "
t0004="  gffhh+jhp+pg  "
t0005="  jhhh+hmhjfpj  "
t0006="  gppjmttjjhgg  "
t0007="  fpphmammmjpf  "
t0008="  +pj+taamhhpg  "
t0009="  ggjfjatfjfpj  "
t0010="  gphhm+hfhfgg  "
t0011="  gjpp+hfhhpjg  "
t0012="  +ggjgjjpppgg  "
t0013="   ggggggfjhj   "
t0014="                "
t0015="                "

In the game, each letter determines the terrain type displayed on the map.

[Jacew]

Huh?

Freeciv maps are actually that simple? Just array of letters representing each tile?

If it's that simple I might actually make my own generator to get the exact type of maps I want.

[Elefant]

https://forum.freeciv.org/f/viewtopic.php?t=94543

[Molo_Parko]

Freeciv maps are actually that simple? Just array of letters representing each tile?

Yes. There are several layers though, the first is the terrain types. Then there are separate layers for tile extras, roads, rail, river, irrigation, bases and so on. Each layer is the same type of text grid, with the same dimensions, and using various characters to represent additional features of each tile. The only complication is when numeric values are used for road and river the values differ when more than one of the features is on the tile. For example, road is 1, river is 2, and road with river together are 3. That's as complicated as it gets.

[cazfi]

For example, road is 1, river is 2, and road with river together are 3.

Exact values depend on the ruleset (and its version), but the savegame itself does list the "order" (i.e. which bit represent which extra) of extras used when it was saved.