Map questions

[vonbach]

Heres a question. Does anyone know how to set starting locations on a map?

[Vidsek]

  The way I do it (only works for a scenario) is to go through each faction and place their starting units.  But sometimes they will send the colony pod(s) wandering off, so you then have to set the first base for each faction.

  I have no clue if there is a way to mark the map so the AI will choose a specific location.  Might be something for a future mod...dunno.

[Mart]

What you could do also, is to test a given map, if locations, that you think of, are chosen on that map by the game, when it generates a random game.
Usually rainy tiles with some nutrient bonus in vicinity, maybe a river would be enough. The drawback is that if you have more good locations, AI may attempt to travel even for many turns there.
And putting a jungle connected by land can often have that effect.

[vonbach]

I'll try that and see what happens. Maybe a nutrient bonus or a forest tile and see if it works.

[vonbach]

I tried it and it didn't set the starting locations on the resource itself. But seemed to like planting nearby.
It spaced out better this time but sometimes it does this naturally.

[Mart]

I have never tried that, but I was thinking about engineering a map to the point, when only 7 locations would be good enough for the game to pick them up.
Some time ago, I could achieve this for several locations, but not all 7.

The game like never (?) puts a colony pod on a resource. If you think about it. Establishing a base on a nutrient is a waste of a tile. The best benefit is when you build a condenser on it. While a base is there, you cannot do it. Even a forest is better.
Base tile, since it always has 2-1-1, is best on a barren tile, so the benefit is the largest.

[vonbach]

Theres one map i found that works pretty well it was essentially a whole bunch of island continents
with a little bit of ocean between them. So you end up (usually) with one per island.
I think I got the map to work by adding some nutrient resources. It likes to drop factions
nearby (about 6 hexes) but I cant be sure.