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Polytopia Map Generation Reference (Cleaned)

This document is a cleaned, data-focused reference of Polytopia map generation behavior from the provided wiki text. All UI/navigation/media embeds were removed.

Parity Legend (Tribes Java Env)

  • FULL: Implemented and matched in current Tribes generation logic.
  • PARTIAL: Implemented in part, approximate, or missing map-type-specific details.
  • NOT IMPLEMENTED: Not yet implemented in Tribes generation logic.
  • SOURCE NOTE: Reference behavior/quirk from source text (not a direct implementation target).

Snapshot date: 2026-05-06

1) Core Model

Parity status: PARTIAL

  • Maps are square and randomly generated.
  • Terrain/resource distributions vary by tribe via modifiers.
  • Initial land is distributed roughly equally among tribes.
  • Generation order varies by map type, but generally follows:
    • capitals
    • villages
    • terrain
    • resources
    • ruins/starfish

2) Map Sizes

Parity status: PARTIAL

Size Tiles Dimensions
Tiny 121 11x11
Small 196 14x14
Normal 256 16x16
Large 324 18x18
Huge 400 20x20
Massive 900 30x30

3) Water Profiles (Map Types)

Parity status: PARTIAL

Map Type Wetness Effect
Drylands 0-10% Almost no water
Lakes 25-30% Inland lakes; edge land-bridge behavior
Continents 40-70% Larger ocean, shrinking continents as wetness rises
Pangea 40-60% Central landmass + surrounding ocean
Archipelago 60-80% More fragmented islands/coasts
Waterworld 90-100% Almost all water/ocean; land forced for city viability

Notes:

  • Drylands exception: Kickoo and Aquarion capitals include two water tiles with fish.
  • Lakes note from source: each player is guaranteed land connections to at least two villages.

4) Base Spawn Rates (Land Tiles)

Parity status: PARTIAL

Implemented in Tribes now:

  • Quota-normalized placement (exact-count allocation) per tribe and band, instead of purely per-tile random rolls.
  • Inner/outer band resource quotas for field/forest/mountain and fish/whales water quotas.

Remaining gap:

  • Exact global percentages and map-type-specific post-processing still need calibration against Polytopia outputs.

"Inner city" = adjacent to a city or village. "Outer city" = not adjacent to a city or village.

Category Inner City Outer City
Field (total) 48% 48%
Fruit 18% 6%
Crop 18% 6%
Empty field 12% 36%
Forest (total) 38% 38%
Animal 19% 6%
Empty forest 19% 32%
Mountain (total) 14% 14%
Metal 11% 3%
Empty mountain 3% 11%

Additional base rules:

  • Fish base spawn is 50% on shallow water tiles.
  • Fish can also spawn in some ocean tiles (including some outside borders reachable via border growth).
  • Starfish can spawn on any water tiles.
  • Resources spawn only within two tiles of cities/villages.

5) Tribe Spawn Modifiers

Parity status: PARTIAL

Implemented in Tribes now:

  • Tribe multipliers are applied during quota generation for terrain/resources.
  • Modifier application order for mountain/forest/field residual is implemented.

Remaining gap:

  • Some tribe-specific special cases (for example water replacement quirks and faction-specific exceptions) are not fully mirrored.

Modifiers are multiplicative on base rates.

Tribe Modifiers
Xin-xi 1.5x mountain, 1.5x metal
Imperius 0.5x animal, 2.0x fruit
Bardur 0.8x forest, 0x crop
Oumaji 0.2x forest, 0.2x animal, 0.5x mountain, 0.5x water (source note)
Kickoo 0.5x mountain, 1.5x fish, 2.0x water (source note)
Hoodrick 0.5x mountain, 1.5x forest
Luxidoor base rates
Vengir 2.0x metal, 0.1x animal, 0.1x fruit, 0.1x fish
Zebasi 0.5x mountain, 0.5x forest, 0.5x fruit
Ai-Mo 1.5x mountain, 0.1x crop
Quetzali 2.0x fruit, 0.1x crop
Yadakk 0.5x mountain, 0.5x forest, 1.5x fruit
Aquarion 0.5x forest, 1.5x water (source note)
Elyrion 0.5x mountain, 1.5x crop
Polaris same as non-Polaris opponents; else base
Cymanti 1.2x mountain, crop replaced by spore; cannot spawn crop

Modifier Application Order

Parity status: FULL

  1. Apply mountain modifier first (affects mountain directly; indirectly shifts forest/field share).
  2. Apply forest modifier second (affects forest directly; then field remainder).
  3. Field is residual:

Field% = 100% - Mountain% - Forest%

6) Known Water-Modifier Quirk (from source text)

Parity status: SOURCE NOTE

  • Water-reduction logic appears in source but is stated as not impacting actual world generation.
  • Stated bug: on Continents, Kickoo/Aquarion post-initial water replacement (40% / 30%) is not applied.

7) Capital Placement

Parity status: PARTIAL

For Drylands/Lakes/Archipelago/Waterworld:

  • Map is divided into domains ("quadrants") to separate starts.
  • Domain count by player count:
    • 1-4 players: 4 domains (FULL)
    • 5-9 players: 9 domains (FULL)
    • 10-16 players: 16 domains (FULL)
  • Capitals placed into unoccupied domains with weighted randomness.

For Continents/Pangea:

  • No quadrant system (different pipeline; see section 9).

8) Village Systems

Parity status: PARTIAL

Village categories:

  • Suburbs (Lakes/Archipelago only)
  • Pre-terrain villages (primary)
  • Post-terrain villages (secondary)

8.1 Feature Matrix by Map Type

Parity status: PARTIAL

Feature Drylands Archipelago Lakes Waterworld Continents/Pangea
Quadrants for capitals Yes Yes Yes Yes No
Suburbs No Yes Yes No No
Pre-terrain villages No Yes Yes Yes No
Post-terrain villages Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Tiny island villages No No No Yes Yes
Pre-terrain village coefficient None 0.3 0.3 0.1 None

8.2 Suburbs

Parity status: PARTIAL

  • Used only on Lakes and Archipelago.
  • Up to 2 villages associated with each capital after capital placement.
  • Can be 0/1/2; larger maps tend to produce 2 more often.
  • Placed before terrain; often near capital in practice.

8.3 Pre-Terrain Villages

Parity status: PARTIAL

Used on Archipelago, Lakes, Waterworld.

Formula:

PreTerrainVillages = ((floor(mapWidth / 3)^2) - (capitals + suburbs)) * densityCoefficient

Density coefficient:

  • Lakes: 0.3
  • Archipelago: 0.3
  • Waterworld: 0.1

Constraints:

  • At least two tiles from other villages.
  • At least one tile from map edge.

8.4 Post-Terrain Villages

Parity status: PARTIAL

After terrain generation, villages are added repeatedly until no valid tile remains.

Stated constraints from source text:

  • Not within two tiles of map edge.
  • Not within two tiles of other villages.
  • "Not be three tiles from the edge" (source wording preserved; ambiguous).

9) Continents and Pangea (Special Pipeline)

Parity status: PARTIAL

Implemented in Tribes now:

  • Dedicated land-generation branches for Continents and Pangea.
  • Village-first flow with later capital conversion for these map types.

Remaining gap:

  • Current implementation is an approximation, not exact Polytopia continent/noise behavior and placement constraints.

General:

  • No suburbs.
  • No pre-terrain villages.
  • Villages are added after land generation.
  • Capitals are converted from villages later.

9.1 Pangea

Parity status: PARTIAL

  • Land seeded from a central start point.
  • Land/water ratio determined by wetness (about half water typical per source).
  • Villages added one at a time on land until no valid placement remains (>=2 tile separation).
  • Some villages are then converted to capitals.
  • Capital conversion preferences:
    • maximize distance between capitals
    • prefer adjacency to water (coastal bias)
  • Tiny-island villages generated after mainland setup.

9.2 Continents

Parity status: PARTIAL

  • Landmasses generated by noise process.
  • Landmass count depends on players, wetness, map size.
  • Typical total water around half (source statement).
  • Reported continent sizes roughly 30-200 tiles; continents at least one tile apart.
  • Villages placed per continent with >=2 tile separation.
  • At least one village per continent.
  • Capitals then converted from villages, trying to separate capitals across landmasses if possible.

10) Tiny Island Villages

Parity status: PARTIAL

Implemented in Tribes now:

  • Tiny-island village spawning pass exists for Continents/Pangea.

Remaining gap:

  • Count/distribution constraints are approximated and still need strict parity calibration.

For Continents and Pangea, fixed count by map size:

Map Size Tiles Tiny Island Villages
Tiny 121 0
Small 196 1
Normal 256 2
Large 324 3
Huge 400 4
Massive 900 9

11) Ruins

Parity status: PARTIAL

  • Spawn after villages/resources/lighthouses (per source text ordering).
  • Can spawn on mountains, forests, fields, or deep ocean.
  • Cannot spawn adjacent to another ruin or a village.
  • Count scales with map size.
  • Lakes-specific cap: at most one third of ruins on water.
Map Size Tiles Ruins
Tiny 121 4
Small 196 5
Normal 256 7
Large 324 9
Huge 400 11
Massive 900 23

12) Starfish

Parity status: NOT IMPLEMENTED

  • Approximate rate: 1 starfish per 25 water tiles.
  • Can spawn in shallow or deep water.
  • Cannot be adjacent to another starfish, a lighthouse, or a city.

13) Special Exception Mentioned in Source

Parity status: NOT IMPLEMENTED

  • Aquarion: claiming a deep-water ruin can create a Lost City (level 3) and nearby water resources (fish/aquacrops).