I’ve been designing scenarios for myself for some time now. I just want to hear your opinion on whether I’m on the right track, or how my drafts/designs are perceived. So, here are a few screenshots of a map I created for the Italians (Genoese). The enemy in this case is Hungarians/Slavs, and the trading post is Georgian.
Historical accuracy/realism isn’t really a priority right now, but it could also be part of your answers. As I said, I’d just like a neutral opinion on how you feel about this map’s design.
I’m looking forward to your reactions. Thanks.
I added a small village. The area in the middle of the map has also undergone a few adjustments (caves, waterfalls, etc.)
If you notice any mistakes, please let me know here.
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And now there is also a small Portuguese trading port
Here are some new pictures of another scenario/map I designed for the Bohemians…
A few changes/adjustments to the map. The Lithuanian enemy base has been reworked. The “own” Hussite settlement has also received a few minor optimizations.
…and finally a map filler in the middle for the eye.
Map design can’t be “wrong”, it all depend on what you have in mind, it’s the gameplay part that can turn “wrong” as in balance mistakes.
Overall, you’ve made good spacing, it’s important to have space. Lots of details, you’ve done a good job there.
Keep on it, it’s looking great.
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By “error,” I primarily meant possible logical errors within the map. That is, individual areas or certain elements don’t make sense in the overall context.
But otherwise, I agree with you: imagination can never produce a real error in terms of design.
Thank you for your feedback. I’m glad some people like what I do.
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Here are a few pictures of my latest project. A Viking map. I designed the basic outlines a long time ago, and now it’s being revised.
The first impressions are finished.
First, the center of the settlement around the castle and the monument. Furthermore, the small fishing port and the main harbor
The entrance to the fjord and the surroundings with which I tried to depict this fjord.
Finally, the small settlement outside the fjord.
In this context, I think the Slavic Feudal Age Architecture Set best fits my idea of representation. The Krepost, while not perfect, is the closest to my idea of a Viking bastion of anything available. That’s why I used it.
By the way, if anyone is interested in one of my maps because they might be able to use it in a campaign or whatever, that wouldn’t be a problem. If they explain to me how to make it available, I would do that.
Your wodden bridges can be polished, the junction between the bridges angles can have 0 gap if you use the correct wodden part, but if it’s intended, then keep it.
Also one other thing about wodden bridges, there is two types of sections, the “ground linking” and the “water section”. The part that is meant to link the water part to the ground will never affect terrain under it, while the “water sections” will change the terrain type on which they are to a special “land” type water uncrossable by ships but walkable by ground units. This can sometime be tricky because it will modify the water color, especially if you’re using them next to hill slope, that will “paint” the slope with deep blue water making very strange result.
So if you have troubles with the bridges changing the terrain under them, just rely on the “ground linking” sections that will never modify terrain under it while still beeing walkable by ground units and not crossable by ships.
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Thank you for the tip. It will definitely be part of the final fine-tuning.
I’ve actually often wondered why this was happening. I often ended up simply building over the gaps.
So, it’s good to know. Thanks.
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You’re welcome.
And you can also stack wooden bridges ontop of each other, if you enable “illegal placement”, with ctrl+g. This can help even more to fill gaps.
I’ve expanded the Viking map to epic and have now finished a rough draft.
I’ve taken the tip about the wooden bridges and tried to adapt them accordingly.
I think the new Viking castle harmonizes perfectly with the Hun castle. I’ve also adjusted the small secondary settlement.
In the center of the map there is a Byzantine settlement
And a small Celtic
In the left corner a Rus settlement has been built with a port, village and castle
And last but not least in the right corner a British settlement with castle, harbor and village etc.
As I said, it’s still a pretty rough draft. There’s still a lot of detail work to be done, especially since there’s still tons of space on the map for further ideas.
And I’d be grateful for your ideas as well. I never would have imagined how much effort epic would take compared to massive. You could really go on about it for epic lengths until a map is truly finished. I, for one, still have plenty of work ahead of me 
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One feature I think you’d really benefit from playing around with is the “Terrain Layering” tickbox, which is on the “Terrains” tab. It allows you to blend terrains together to create much more interesting and natural looking environments than is otherwise possible.
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I agree with what Conqueror said about the terrain layering.
Also, very nice usage of the new bridges parts.
Try using the height tool to give some houses different rendering, you can make pretty cool variations
First of all, thank you both. I’ll try out your tips soon.
In the meantime, I’ve changed the yellow player to “Lithuanians” and given them a second (“main”) settlement.
As you can see on the minimap (orange player), another settlement/city is currently being built. This one will be Teutonic. More on that later, as the layout is just finished.
By the way, for “epic” maps, they really should increase the maximum number of players from eight to twelve, maybe even sixteen. Maybe even introduce “gaia2” as well.
With only eight players, it’s really difficult to even fill the map and at the same time create a varied design. At least partially. Especially since they’ve now introduced the unique castle sets, and you can often mix castles from different civilizations, for example.
That might not be a problem for “normal” players, but if you’re designing your own maps, you can definitely have a few more players on larger maps.
