Determining the best scale for a new map

curbry

Good morning! After seeing this software online, and considering it for some time, I ran across the fellows at GenCon2019. They took some time to help me navigate the site, and talk to me about my concerns of this being over my head. They made it look very simple- now that I am playing with it on my own, I fear the feeling of being overwhelmed is returning. I am determined to press on, however! My first question is how to determine the best scale for my map. I know 800x1000 is the default- but if I wanted a continent the size of Europe, what would I use? Is there a guideline? The best thing/trick I think I've found is to use a scale bar in another map to model what I'm looking for. The scale I'm hoping to recreate eventually is 250 miles on a scale bar. Is there a way, using that, to determine what my map scale should be?

Thanks! I'm working my way through the tutorial videos, and scouring the PDF, and learning as I go- but I haven't found anything yet on this.

Loopysue

Welcome curbry

First things first...

Don't worry about feeling slightly overwhelmed. We have ALL been there when we started out. The best outcomes are usually achieved by taking things one step at a time. My personal advice to all newcomers is to sit down with a cup of coffee and leisurely read the basic CC3 User Manual. It's not very long, but it contains the basic instructions that will stay with you and become the foundation for all your further adventures in mapping with CC3. In particular I strongly recommend working through the example map with the User Manual to reinforce that basic learning.

Onto scale, then...

Scale always used to worry me to start with because everything is in 'map units' within CC3, but you only have to remember a couple of things and everything becomes a lot clearer.

1 map unit in an overland map = 1 mile
1 map unit in a city or dungeon map = 1 foot

Don't worry if you want to create a map that is the correct size to cover Europe, just do it. When you create it and the New Map Wizard opens up, chose "Overland" from the list of available options, and check the "Decide Settings myself" box. Use the Mike Schley template. It's the same one as used in the User Manual example. The options that follow your choice of map style will allow you to enter the height and width you want in map units.

In case you are wondering about this, the size of the map won't affect the amount of memory required because CC3 records the size as a set of four coordinates, and not in millions of pixels. This isn't like a bitmap editor where an image big enough to map Europe in detail would register tens of MB in size. A CC3 map is rarely much over 1MB because of the way the app works.

Please! If you have any other concerns at all, no matter how silly they might seem, just ask. All of us here have been through exactly the same thing. No one is going to think you are daft!

curbry

Thank you very much- I am working through the user manual, youtube videos and tinkering in the program as I go. I will make sure to come back with other questions- but thank you for the warm welcome and the solid advice. I'm very excited about the possibilities- so trying to work through the trepidation so I can get what I hoped for with the purchase.

Loopysue

You're welcome

Looking forward to seeing some of your work.

JimP

Don't let the learning curve bother you. Not including the Fractal Terrains 3 maps I made for my Traveller site, I have made over five thousand maps with this software. Not all at once though.

The tutorials are your friend. And so is the Tome.

mike robel

FWIW, I decide how big I want my map to be in inches and what I want the ground scale to be in hexes (e.g. 1 Hex = 1 KM = .692 inches). My maps are all multiples of 11 x 17 inch sheets. Since all l my maps are based on actual topographic maps that I either find digitized or scan in, I manipulate the size of the image (sometimes stitching several maps together) until it is the size I want, then import it. The current map I am working on is 51 inches wide and 55 inches tall, so that is what I put into my map size when creating a new map. To check, I create the hex grid, and compare it to the map scale. Many of the maps have grid squares on them (e.g. 1 km) and I check the hex size against the scale. Many of my hexes are .692 inches because that comfortably holds a 1/2 inch counter.

This may be sort of backwards, but it works for me.