Testing idea - Discover areas of civilization in FT3

Hi all,
I was experimenting with FT3 a couple of days ago, and I tried to find a way to discover where ancient high civilizations might have appeared in my fantasy world.
I come up with this very rough idea that I now will share with you all for feedback. Perhaps someone might write a script for this :)
I have tried to write it as an instruction, but I apologize for my English.

Where the High civilizations may have emerged:
1) Select > Climate range: Savannah; Temperate Forest; Temperate Grassland; Tropical Shrublands; Shallow oceans
2) Deselect> > Rectangular selection tool: Deselect latitude range from each pole to the 40 deg latitude.
3) Deselect> Rectangular selection tool: Deselect latitude range between 20 and -20 on each side of the equator. Use LCtrl.
These latest two steps are based on the assumption that high level civilizations neither prefer climates near the equator nor to near the poles.
4) Select> Modify>Contract: 2
5) (Optional: Select> Feather: 1)
6) Select> Modify>Contract: 2
7) (Optional: Select> Feather: 1)
8) Image overlays> Show overlay window> Add> Name”Civilizations”; Show only if above water (land); Opacity 60%
9) Image overlays> Fill selection with drawing color; This makes you see possible areas for civilizations.

10) Image overlays> Overlay paint color tool; large pixel brush; paint different areas of the globe with different colors. Areas of early civilization appear. If you have taken the optional steps above - the longer you paint the area the more established the culture becomes, and the more it spreads. Cultures near water and rivers may be better developed than inland cultures far from water.
It is advisable to save this as a selection before deselecting. Later on, when you have exported your map to CC3 you will be able to import the selection as a png into your CC3 drawing.

I have also tried similar approaches for discovering were tribal societies might have developed, were wine-grapes might be cultivated, and areas for possible mine-craft, areas hospitable for horses, camels and elephants.

Best regards/
C.

Comments

  • Can you post an image with the results?

    Mateus
  • Sweetness...automatic Civ generation - an "accidental" new feature?...Oh well - that's how most stuff gets discovered.
  • Hi again!

    I have tried to test my "Civ. generator" on FT3 Real World map and on a random fictional world. I have colored the different areas with different colors and labeled them. The text labels are done in PS everything else in FT3.
    Based on distances between Civ. centers it is possible to speculate on trading, cultural influences (langues, art, religion etc) and so on.
    I think it generates quite interesting results. The same goes for the formulas for discovering tribal societies, natural resources and animal life (mentioned in my first post above).
    Best regards/
    C.
  • ... and here comes my Fantasy World with cultures...

    Best regards/
    C.
  • Hi again ;)

    This is how I generate possible locations for tribes:

    Humans may develop tribal societies in many climates but in order to form large tribal communities I have decided to the following limitations.
    1) Select > Climate range: all except ice, ocean and oceantrenches (including shallow ocean)
    2) Select> Altitude range: Below 2000m; subtract from selection.
    3) Select> Temperature range: Between -10-25 C; subtract from selection.
    4) Select> Modify>Contract 2; repeat until you have areas where tribal societies might have developed.
    5) Image overlays> Show overlay window> Add> Name”Tribes”; Show only if above water (land); Opacity 60%
    6) Image overlays> Fill selection with drawing color; This makes you see possible areas for large tribal societies.
    Note that early communities of hunter and gathers may overlap with areas with a High civilization. Decide if you interpret this as the forefathers of the high culture, or if this actually means two different cultures at the same place.

    Best regards
    C.
  • To be more specific regarding (1) above:
    - Select climate-range: All (including shallow oceans) except ice, ocean, oceanic trench

    That all for now. What do you think, does this work on your maps as well?

    Best regards
    Cernunnos
  • edited April 2012
    You work on creating a way to logically generate geopolitical divisions based upon reliable operational variables, I'll work on ways to ever improve enhancing FT3's climatology and asthetics, and together Cernunnos...WE SHALL CONQUER THE WOOORRRLLLLDDDD...MWA HA HAAAA HAAAAAA HAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRGA, lol :)
  • Hi Cernunnos,

    I find your algorithm and results most interesting! Good job!
  • CernunnosCernunnos Traveler
    edited April 2012
    Hi again,

    Thank you for your kind words.

    Terraformer_Author mentioned “conquer the world”, which gave me an idea for simulating cultural expansion in FT3. Based on the guidelines above one might track cultural diffusion by expanding the selections by 15 and then substract from selection lands below 2000 and temperatures between -10 and -25 C.
    Expanding territories
    • Select> Modify>Expand: 15 (for cultural diffusion during approx. 500 y)
    • Select> Altitude range: Below 2000m; subtract from selection.
    • Select> Temperature range: Between -10-25 C; subtract from selection.
    • Image overlays> Fill selection with drawing color
    When selections from different cultures meet there may develop interesting multicultural areas.

    Expand 15 is based on old (and probably not so accurate) theories about the spread of farming across Europe during early to mid-Holocene. Each cycle of expansion (by 15) and deselection corresponds approx. to 500year of cultural history. The number 15 also assume that your fantasy-world is the same size as Earth. Cultural diffusion should of course go faster along rivers, across plains and water. But since I don’t know how to do this automatically with the functions available in FT3 this is my suggestion for now.

    With this method "pockets" of civilizations may develop across mountains, and on other side of large bodies of water and become isolated for quite some time.

    Best regards
    Cernunnos
  • Hi again,

    Everyone know that winemaking is an essential part of culture ;)

    This formula may let you discover where the wine-grapes may be cultivated:
    First set global rainfall to 100cm/yr and 100cm/yr as random, this makes the climate on your world more diverse. Wine grapes appear preferably around rivers and large bodies of water; therefore, before you start this procedure, let’s find the rivers on your map. Then continue to find out where the wine grapes grow.
    • Select > Rectangular selection tool: Select latitude range between 50 and 27 on each side of the equator (use SHIFT to make more than one selection).
    • Select> Temperature range: Between 5-25 C; subtract from selection.
    • Select> Rainfall range: Between 63,5-76,2cm/yr; subtract from selection.
    • Select> Altitude range: Between 1-3000m; subtract from selection.
    • Optional: Select> Modify>Expand: 1
    • Optional: Select> Feather: 1
    • Image overlays> Show overlay window> Add> Name”Wine”; Show only if above water (land); Opacity 60%
    • Image overlays> Fill selection with drawing color (preferably color 203)

    Good luck with finding your wine-making fantasy cultures!

    Best regards
    Cernunnos
  • 7 months later
  • I'm saving this discussion as a bookmark in my Firefox browser. Even if you don't add more, these tips on procedural world-building in FT3 are great. However, I am curious to see the steps laid out for your other approaches... " areas for possible mine-craft, areas hospitable for horses, camels and elephants."

    The more of this, the better. Thanks so much for what you've already contributed!
  • This is fantastic. Actually, simply calling it "fantastic" isn't doing this justice.
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