Pot Luck map selection?

[markleslie]

I'm in two divisions of the current TDC (Middle Ages and Ancients), I've just set up half a dozen custom battles for each and on each occassion the "Pot Luck" terrain selected was the home terrain of the opponent.

I've always assumed (maybe a bit suspiciously) that Pot Luck meant a random selection from the home terrain of both sides, but in practise I find the terrain that keeps coming up is that of the opponent.

How does the game select which pot luck map is selected?

Something I probably should've asked a couple of years ago, but here we are, imperfect people in an imperfect world.

[Karvon]

Potluck is not totally random, as you have discovered. There is a descending priority based on the home terrains of the two armies involved. Thus, a Roman vs Greek will never face each other in the desert.

Where the armies have different home map sets, the game will use the highest priority map set in the following list (highest to lowest): Tropical, Northern Europe, Mediterranean, Middle East, Steppe, Desert.

The "Pot Luck" element determines whether the terrain is Agricultural, Hilly, Wooded or Mountainous, with the following probabilities:

60% chance Agricultural
20% chance Hilly
10% chance Woodland
10% chance Mountains

Note: plains have been added to the game and I'm not certain if they are included in this now or not.

Thus, games with Indians will always be in tropical.

Karvon

[markleslie]

So, not "Pot Luck".

I suspected it was stilted in some way but not that the selection of biome had a predetermined order. Forwarned is forarmed I suppose and may save me from some pointless re-rolling in the future.

A useful bit of knowledge, thanks.

[markleslie]

Well that's not right.

In Medieval:
Northern European army vs Middle East army, three tries three Middle East maps.
Middle East army vs Northern European army, three tries three Middle East maps.

This does not seem to gel with your priority list.

[Karvon]

As a cavalry lover, I've gone to selecting cavalry armies in NE or Med. home terrain to avoid the potentially awful ME with its host of enclosures.

Karvon

[Karvon]

Well that's not right.

In Medieval:
Northern European army vs Middle East army, three tries three Middle East maps.
Middle East army vs Northern European army, three tries three Middle East maps.

This does not seem to gel with your priority list.

Clearly that is a different code from Ancient then.

Karvon

[Karvon]

After a little bit of testing, it seems the priority order has been changed in Medieval.

Tropical, Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, Northern European...

Karvon

[Karvon]

Richard kindly clarified the current potluck range includes plains.

It is now:

50% chance Agricultural
10% chance Plain
20% chance Hilly
10% chance Woodland
10% chance Mountains