So, I don't know how many people here have played Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri (and if you haven't, then WHAT THE **** IS WRONG WITH YOU?!), but one thing I liked about the game was the possibility to choose to play on a fixed *"Map of Planet", which was 1) awesome, because it allowed to the game to reflect what the story team imagined the place to look like, and 2) allowed you to have a map where all the players could be aware of where everything was, making it less a question of futily searching for the right resource, and more about figuring out where those dastardly Spartans and Believers were hiding so you could wipe them out with Mindworms.



Anyway, I'd like for there to be an option to play on a standardized map of Auriga, so that I can have a chance to play a game where it becomes more of a race to reach the Resources you want, rather than the scavenger hunt it currently is.



Sorry if this seems incoherent, I'm doped up on painkillers. Footsurgery.



*http://img41.imageshack.us/img41/6617/chirondrafthuge.jpg

I like this idea quite a bit. I'm a fan of the randomized sandbox style currently in the game, but it would be nice change of pace to see a map of what the planet actually looks like according to the lore. I imagine the races would all start in favorable areas for them with Dust Lords in the deserts/plains, Wild Walkers in a heavily forested region, Vaulters in the tundras/mountains, etc.



Taking this idea one step further, will there be custom scenarios available in the game? I would like to see special maps with fixed starting positions for the races featuring set quests/objectives etc. Want to relive the first encounter between the Vaulters and the Wild Walkers when the Vaulters first emerged from the mountains? Play X map. Want to see the former empire of the Broken Lords come under attack from Necrophages? Play Y map.



It would also be nice if some custom scenarios were asymmetric in nature. So, for example, a well established Broken Lords empire is already on the map and you as a small group of Necrophages must built a Hive in secrecy and grow it until you can stand up to the Broken Lords, possibly by feeding on small bands of Vaulter explorers or Wild Walkers settled on the outskirts of the Broken Lords territory. Other 4x games offer such custom scenarios to increase difficulty and expand on the lore of the game so I hope we can see a similar offering in EL.

I like both Ideas. An Standard Map like AlphaCentauri had (btw.: that game is just awesome ) and the ideas of Special Scenarios which explains the Story (a bit like battlescenarios in HoI).



Or, at least, fixed start positions, I don't like it when I Play with the vaulters and start in a flat jungle area at the sea... That's terrible for the atmosphere/Imagination...

2 great ideas!



I'd certainly enjoy to play "standard" maps, and the scenarios mentioned would also please me. I believe those are features that, besides being simple to add, would complement the game in a way that would make it more interesting and diverse. After all, one could be burned out by always playing randomized maps.

I too like the ideas.

I would be fun to play on a scenario map or the "lore"-map.

In that vein, it'd be nice to be able to save maps and restart on ones you like. Or even create your own maps or map generation scripts. I'll admit I know very little about modding, but that sounds like a mod I would expect if it doesn't make it to the game.

Oh gosh, custom maps would be the bee's knees. I hope that's possible either on full release or soon after thanks to the modding community.



As for the original topic, I would hope that's an option (A fixed Auriga). I'm also hoping for a more island-style map thanks to the new ship models.

I support both scenario maps and ability to create custom maps!



Something similar to Civ 5 World Builder would be amazing:

http://media.pcgamer.com/files/2010/10/Civ-V-making-maps-create-terrain.jpg

Me too, almost all my 200+ hours of Civ5 were spent playing scenarios.

I can see really unbelievably good scenarios being made with EL. (and if it happens I might even try myself)

I'm fairly sure I had heard some devs mention scenarios before. They would certainly be very welcome, especially if they can create custom objectives. Though in that case, I'd hope there will also be a proper scenario editor, instead of having to fumble with xmls or anything.



And I dearly hope we will get a standard map of Auriga.

Seems like every game of this ilk has Scenario Builders (Age of Wonders III, Fallen Enchantress, etc). One would hope Endless Legend does too, as they have a rather passionate community who could help add content.



What surprises me is that they haven't put the modkit out yet. Why have them do EVERYTHING when they could let the community do much of it, then they could simply tweak it as needed.