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Is this going to be a water-heavy map? Land-only? What do you want the players to be doing most of the time? Defending? Scouting? Naval combat? Deciding on the theme of the map that you want to create helps a lot in defining its terrain and the placement of players and ore. Always go into a map with an idea in mind, otherwise your map will lose focus, and you won’t get what you intended… although sometimes that can be the best thing to happen to your map! Many cool maps have arisen from trying something unusual that you didn’t intend in the first place.
Bottlenecks are fine, but try and keep your narrowest areas at least 4 or 5 cells wide. Otherwise, large amounts of units won’t be able to get through certain locations, causing them to try and find another way to the target, which usually takes them somewhere you don’t want them to go. Use the Passable/Blocked tab to see where you’ve got bottlenecks and make sure they’re wide enough to accommodate the forces that will be moving through them.
Start the player with a small patch of ore near them, then make them put their ore trucks at risk by moving larger ore patches further and further from their bases. Remember, one goal is to force the players into conflict over money, and if all the nearby ore is in one place, you can be sure there will be a fight for control of it.
Since any bridge can be destroyed, when designing the map make sure that you consider all bridges to be destroyed and thus unusable the minute that the game begins. This way, you won’t rely on them for access to other islands or areas of the map. Be sure there’s always another way to get around, unless the theme of the map intentionally calls for blocked off areas.
The coolest maps are those that are balanced, but not symmetrical. The more natural and different each part of the terrain is, the more interesting the map is to play on. Also, consider the placement of the players when making the map. If the player has multiple ways into their base and not a lot of natural defense, give them a bit more money to get started with. If the player is in a position that is easily defensible, make them go farther (thus putting themselves more at risk) for ore and gems.
Unless you’re purposely trying to make a map that’s just all ore, don’t overdo the placement and amount of ore. Remember, you want the game to eventually end! When the money runs out, the only thing left to do is fight with whatever you’ve got left. Limiting money is a good way to bring a game to closure. Use gems to your advantage too. Since they’re worth twice as much, but don’t grow or spread, you can make little treasure areas for players to fight over. Usually, a player will take the risk to go after gems as opposed to ore, simply because they want more money faster.
Trees can add a lot of character to a map, but don’t clump too many of them together or you could see a performance hit when playing the game. Instead, use cliffs, rocks, and other tiles that block the cell. A basic rule to follow is that if you notice the editor slowing down when you scroll over a densely forested section of the map, you’re going to see the game suffer the same way.
Since you know where the players are going to start, you can get a good idea how each side will use the space you provide them to build on. Try to provide multiple strategies for a certain location that the player can use to defend and attack with. For example, even a small water area by a starting location can provide enough room to allow the Allies to build cruisers to use for defense of their base. Even if they’re land- locked, this allows players more opportunities for strategy.
Although it’s tactically ideal to have a location with only one way in or out, design flaws into the terrain that allows players multiple ways into each other’s bases. This makes everyone spread their defenses around their weak points, thus allowing more room for sneak attacks and assaults. It also adds a bit more uncertainty to where to place defenses and critical structures – the enemy could attack from any number of directions!
On water-heavy maps, use shore pieces to your advantage – they are the only places that transports can be loaded and unloaded at. Keep this in mind when you’re making a map that is primarily islands – players will have to land in certain areas, thus you can design the terrain and place players accordingly.
If you’re making a map of just islands, then you don’t need to worry about this, but if the map is primarily land-based, be sure you leave areas for units to get around natural hazards. Never seal a player into an area that forces them to use one certain tactic to get out of what they’re now trapped in.
Although this is more for cosmetic sake, make your cliff lines, shore lines, and rivers actually match up. Pay attention to the shadow lines on the ridge pieces and don’t use a piece that isn’t intended to be used there. When using shore pieces, sometimes switching to cliff line and back again can solve spacing problems that may arise from starting a shoreline from two different ends at the same time. The amount of time you spend making the map look as cool as it plays does come across to other players. It shows an understanding and dedication to making the map as cool as you possibly could.
Chances are, the first time you’re done with a map, it won’t be perfect. Play with elements of it (ore placement, cliff lines, starting points, etc.) until you get something that will work better. The more time you spend with a map, the more ways for improvement you’ll see for it.