Mountain Pass

for AOE3, so here is a map that plays like that old standard. Of course walls will not last as long in this game with the various siege options available. This is a map only for 2 team play - FFA play will possibly give you a really screwed up start. Note: I recently released another map, Barrier Ridge, which plays similarly but has a different appearing barrier. Mountain Pass is quite similar except for the appearance of the barrier or mountain range, with slight additions in trade route variation, native placement, and the size and shape are altered slightly. The map is rectangular, with players starting along the more distant ends of the longer dimension, which is 1.8x the shorter dimension (and size varies, like the standard ES maps, by player number). This map is only slightly larger than the standard ES maps, and smaller than the ES \'large\' series. There is a central mountain range which is broken only by a single pass, the only way to gain access to the enemy on the opposite side. The script includes a variety of randomly chosen terrain patterns possible (10 patterns total), each with fauna, treasures, and decorations to fit the theme. The Native Americans also roughly fit the terrain patterns as well, with some \'artistic license\' to give more options for NA combinations. There can be one or two types of natives per map, in varying number and location. There are always at least 2 NA villages, but there can be as many as 6 on a 2-player map or 12 on an 8 player map, partly depending on player number and partly on the pattern randomly selected. The NA villages can be placed one or two per player or at certain places along a map axis or per side of the map. This gives a great variety in possible map play and strategies. The native villages are placed roughly symmetrically for the purpose of fairness in gameplay. There is always one Trade Route on each side of the ridge. Trade Routes randomly vary between a few different layouts of routes, each with a few possible patterns of Trade Post placement. The food resources on each map can vary slightly. There are always a few \'herds\' of some type per player - the numbers vary randomly but herds are placed at the same number per player, and types will vary per map theme. Most of the maps have sheep, cows or llamas (but not in the arctic or jungle). Most of the maps patterns have some berries at the start area (and extra on the tropical map). All maps have 2 silver mines per player near the start area (though the second is just out of the starting screen), with an additional few per player further off. Occasionally some of the distant mines will be gold mines rather than silver mines, which provide much more coin. Forests are placed fairly and all players have a few small clumps of trees near the start area to be sure initial wood access is equal. Treasues or nuggets are placed in increased numbers and are keyed to the map type or pattern - a total of 6 per player per map - 2 of the easy ones nearby, and 4 of increased difficulty further off. This map produces extremely fair, balanced maps for 2 team play. Effective play involves scouting the various resources, Native types, Trade Routes, map terrain, and of course, the enemy. On maps with increased numbers of NA villages, the opportunity to use larger numbers of native warriors is a lot of fun. The pass through the mountain range allows for the possibility of a defensive stance, walling off the choke point for at least a little while. Note that while walling is an effective way to block the pass, it looks a little funny as the units cannot walk over the adjacent \'glacier\' terrain used to make the impassible barrier
Mountain Pass A random map script for AOE3 by RF_Gandalf Mountain Pass is a new random map for Single-player or Multiplayer use. Several people had asked me to re-create the AOM map Jotunheim