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Alta Nova

Welcome to Alta Nova!

I would suggest reading this description before subscribing. All feedback is welcome although I may not respond to all comments. Also, if you like this map, if you can give us a thumbs up that would be much appreciated, cheers :-)

Firstly, as well as the required items listed on the right of this page, I would also strongly recommend a few other workshop items that will enhance your gameplay:

- Cleyra Map Theme by creativeDEX: This map was designed using this theme and is the easiest way to make sure the map appears as it does in the screenshots shown above. The oil texture in this theme has also been used as a stand in for mud and ash, which, if you were to use a theme with noticeably different textures, will not appear as intended.

- Cleyra Colour Correction by creativeDEX: This is a requirement of the Cleyra Map Theme and has been designed specifically for use with the theme used to design this map.

- 81 Tiles mod by BloodyPenguin: this will allow you to access and build upon the entire map including the southern coast of the main island and the surrounding islands in the region.

- Any Road Outside Connections by BloodyPenguin: Useful if you don't want to use 3-or-more lane highways to make outside connections. Ideal for rural and remote areas of your city.

- Unlimited Connections by BloodyPenguin: Allows you to build more than the standard maximum (2-in 2-out) number of outside connections.

(Huge thanks to these workshop gods for helping make this game even more awesome!)




This map is ideal for players who:
- Prefer building realistic looking cities with keen attention to detail.
- Like to keep cities to scale and preserve the natural landscape where possible.
- Don't just want to build one large urban area, but rather a collection of smaller settlements spread across the map.
- Want to build large and / or realistic looking nature reserves or coastal resorts.
- Enjoy constructing bridges, tunnels, harbours and waterfronts.
- Want to use ferries as a major mode of transport.
- Want to build a contemporary Caribbean themed city or a city set in the colonial era.
- Have a keen interest in building cities that are green, eco-friendly and conserve the surrounding environment.
- Are looking to play with natural disasters on a map that appears, geologically speaking, like it would be an area naturally prone to earthquakes and tsunamis.

This map might NOT be for you if:
- You want a large flat area to build a metropolis.
- You don't want to have to use the terraforming tools to give yourself a flat area to build on.
- You don't enjoy building bridges and tunnels or using ferries as a mode of transport.
- You don't want to have to use quays or build near coastal terrain.
- You prefer building large, traditional or historical looking cities.
- You have no interest in environmental issues (although you will like this map if you enjoy destroying and polluting the environment!)
- You don't have or want to use the 81 Tiles mod.


Important things to note:

- The starting tile (seen in the second image) features a medium capacity dumbell interchange with the main highway along with a few connecting roads to help you get started. A rail line also terminates in the starting tile along side a reasonably flat area for you to begin your city. The starting tile also features arable land and forested land for those keen on building an industrial area.

- As explained above, the oil natural resource has been used as a stand-in for a mud texture (using the Cleyra theme) along the banks of inland lakes and rivers as well as an ash / lava texture in the pyroclastic debris field seen to the north of the main island. Because of this, the placement of oil on the map isn't realistic, however you are welcome to edit this yourself if you need oil in more accessible places.

- There are around 230k trees placed on this map. If you want a 'lite' version of this map with much fewer trees then please ask and I'll see what I can do.

- For realism I have decided not to use water sources in the ocean to help drain polluted water away. If you want to discharge untreated sewerage into the environment, you'll have to figure out a way to mitigate the impact if you want to preserve the marine ecosystem. There are strong currents near the edge of the map and around some of the islands and peninsulas (of which there are many), and 'fresh' water is available from the inland lakes, so hopefully you will be able to come up with some creative, realistic, environmentally friendly solutions.

- Regarding the highway, many will wonder why I've used 2x2 lane highway instead of the standard 2x3 lane. This is just my personal preference as I believe the 2x2 lane option looks more realistic considering the terrain and plausible eventual population density of the map. If you do want to build a large or dense city, you may need to upgrade the number of lanes and expand the starting intersection, but that is a challenge for you to tackle. Also note, the outside connections use standard 2x3 lane highways as not everyone will have the Any Road Outside Connections mod. If you do have this mod you can fix this minor aesthetic issue yourself, or otherwise leave the connections as they are. I have tested the map and the transition between 3 to 2 lanes at the map edge doesn't appear to cause any traffic issues.

- In terms of detailing, the main focus was on terrain. When starting a new map I personally prefer a blank canvas, one without lots of props and assets that I neither need or want. I think It will be more interesting to see players detail their own cities in their own personal way rather than have to fit around or delete any of my work. This is why only two tree packs are required for this map.



Further Details

This map is based loosely on the island of St John of the British Virgin Islands. Multiple height maps were taken from Terrain Party and cut and blended together to create a composite height map that brought the real world islands closer together whilst keeping them to scale. After importing this into the Map Editor, the map was then terraformed by hand over the course of 18 months (over 100 hours of gameplay time) to create this semi-realistic landscape. Every single meter of shoreline was terraformed by hand, along with the mountains, ridges, plains and the ocean floor. There are a few elements I would like to have improved upon but this project needed to be finished and uploaded as it massively overran the time I expected it would take to complete. Once again, all feedback is welcome, if there is demand for a new map of a similar style in the future then please let me know. Thanks.