Themed maps

[Leif_-]

I dug out an old utility I made for Domininons 2 that creates themed, randomized versions of .map files and verified that it still works with Dominions 3.

The utility is a small Perl program that basically reads a .map file and a file with the description of the theme and generates a new .map file with a themed versions.

Now, the theme descriptions (.ran files) are perhaps a little convoluted to write (I don't know if anyone but me ever wrote one for Dominions 2), but they are extremely flexible and you can do a lot with them, and these themes are a very good way (perhaps even the best, save for hand-writing .map files) to "meet exotic, interesting people ... and kill them."

You can population types either completely at random or depending on terrain, assign various numbers and kinds of commanders to provinces depending on terrain and population type, assign magic items to commanders, assign troops and bodyguards to commanders and pre-create labs, temples, forts and magic sites in provinces.

The example themes included with the program does things such as adding a dragon commander with magic items to each province, the type of dragon depending on the terrain and the choice of items depending on the type of dragon; create a huborg realm where 80% of the provinces on land are huborg, and sets up "little people" commanders and troops; one that fills the map with cavalry troops; one that sets up vampire hunters in the land provinces and vampire and undead in the sea provinces; one that fills the map with troll and vettir -- all suitably equipped, of course.

Useage and description of how to write theme files are explained in the readme.txt file.

If anyone decides to play around with this, I'd be interested to hear your experiences, and I'd also be interest in any theme files you create.