Map types
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Basic Use Of Tool
Selecting a Map Type will determine which types of birds are shown flying overhead, and which environmental soundtrack loads with the scenario. The type of sounds and birds flying overhead are matched to a particular region or climate. For instance, selecting Saguenay will load a soundfile containing forest bird songs from North America, and formations of Canada geese or solitary eagles will fly overhead in your game. Using a generic map type, e.g. "Tropical" or "Desert" will load a variety of habitat-appropriate birds and a random habitat-appropriate soundtrack.
Using the "Default" setting will not load any bird animations or environmental sounds.
Selecting more than one Map Type will broaden the possible random options for your map, but only one environmental soundtrack may be loaded at a time.
AITransportRequired, AITransportUseful, and AIFishingUseful provide in-scenario cues to the computer AI players to build fishing boats and transport ships. These are most useful in maps where players start out with bases on separate islands. They tell the computer AI that they must or may build ships to attack the opponent and to gather from fish or whales. They are necessary, but not sufficient, to enable the computer AI to migrate his base from one island to another; additional triggers are needed for this special case.
Map type also determines the "flavor" or type of Treasures and guardians you will see on your map. Many Treasures come in two or more different forms, each tailored to a particular terrain type or map type. For instance, a 300 coin Pirate treasure comes in a New World form (guarded by Pirates) or Asian form (guarded by Smugglers or Dacoits). When you generate a random map of a certain type, setting your maptype will determine which of these 300 Coin treasures appears. Some treasures are entirely maptype-specific, for instance certain native warriors, and regional specialties such as Maple Syrup or Fragrant Jasmine or RescueTiger, naturally appear only on a small range of map types. (You may place any Minor Native or Treasure Type on any maptype in the Editor on your own.)
Lastly, different Map Types have different settings for wind speed and direction. Flags and banners on buildings and props will fly in the downwind direction. So if you set Great Plains as your map type, your flags and banners will flutter towards ENE (east northeast). The direction of wind is not necessarily related to the prevailing wind directions in the actual geographic area - it is meant to be at right angles to the lighting direction, so that your flags unfurl with full illumination on them.
Some winds are brisker, and some are slacker. For a brisk wind setting, try Patagonia or Rockies maps. For a slacker wind setting, try Bayou. Default has a moderate setting.
Advanced Use Of Tool
With the release of Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties, map types have two additional functions.
Selecting any of the Asian Dynasties-specific map types will change the appearance of the Trade Route and its trading sockets and posts. It will also change the visual effect of upgrading the Trade Route in Colonial Age. This change requires a separate set of Triggers particular to the Asian map types. In ordinary Supremacy games, the appropriate upgrades are automatically enabled for all players. However, if you create a Scenario based on an Asian map type, you may need to manually enable the two Asian trade route upgrades "ypTradeRouteUpgrade1" and "ypTradeRouteUpgrade2" for all players.
Some Asian map types have Water Treasures. These are maptype-specific to the maptypes Honshu, Indochina, Borneo, and Ceylon. If you are making a scenario based on another maptype and attempt to place Sea Treasures, they will not appear, or they will appear as assorted land treasures under the water and cannot be collected.
Go to the mapwork page to find out more advanced ways of using this tool.
