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Middle Earth True Start Location

Middle Earth True Start Location features two maps that aim to provide the best True Start Location experience possible for the civilizations from my main mod Middle Earth Civilizations.

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This mod would not be possible without Gedemon and FramedArchitecture giving me permission to use elements of their mods Yet (not) another Earth Maps Pack and Accurate Maps.

This mod combines the features of Yet (not) another Earth Maps Pack and Accurate Maps to provide non-scenario maps with True Start Locations for both Middle Earth Civilizations & Middle Earth City States, semi-random resource placement, and cities that are named by location rather than city list order.

Gods and Kings
Brave New World

Middle Earth Civilizations or Lord of the Rings Civ 5
Middle Earth City States
Middle Earth Only
Middle Earth Soundtrack
Please see the collection above for links to these mods

Middle Earth Barbarians (Note MEB is incompatible with LotRC)
Middle Earth Wonders, a collection of mods made by regalmanemperor
Please see the collection above for links to these mods

This mod natively supports Hotseat Multiplayer.
Please let me know if any other multiplayer method works. If the multiplayer method you are interested in trying doesn't work with both Ynaemp and Accurate maps then it will not work with this mod.

You can choose between the two different maps:
Third Age-Huge-RR-WW: 100 x 80 Middle Earth during the Third Age with Random Resources and World Wrap (inc Rhun)
Third Age- Large – RR -NWW: 60 x 64 Middle Earth during the Third Age with Random Resources without World Wrap (no Rhun)

You may choose to alter the amount of resources on the map: Poor – 25% Sparse – 50% Standard – 100% Abundant 200% Riche 400%

You may choose to have renamed natural wonders spawn (recommend that you find another mod that balances the natural wonders if you use this)

Dynamic City Naming is a feature that If applicable a city will be named by its location rather than Civilization/City Order. City names may also change upon being conquered. (IE Anyone can found the city of Mount Doom if the city is next to Mount Doom [and the city of Mount Doom does not already exist]) Not all locations will have DCNs.

You may restrict DCN to their specific civilizations. (IE Only Mordor can found the city of Mount Doom.)

You may exclude the Dwarves and Goblins from the DCN feature because their cities are so spread out and they have a difficult time utilizing this feature anyhow.

Canonical Geographic Resource Placement: Force resources to be placed in the correct geographic region. This is helpful for roleplaying.

Add Specific Resources at Starting Positions The mod will force some resources to be placed near each civilization to help with their individual needs. This is helpful for game balance and roleplaying.

I cannot support the use of other mods that add additional Civilizations.

First off, I consider these maps to be highly accurate based upon the book “The Atlas of Middle Earth” by Karen Wynn Fonstad. I have made the following deviations for better gameplay.

1. Mordor is represented by Grassland and Plains just like the majority of the rest of Middle Earth for game balance. Mordor appears as a black land in game, but this is just a visual effect. Special thanks to Loderun and Khose Galkin.
2. The distance between the Lonely Mountain and the Long Lake has been exaggerated to accommodate the Dwarves and the adjacent city states. It wasn’t feasible to make them all fit given the 4 tile separation between cities.
3. Rhun, on maps featuring World Wrap, is significantly smaller than it should be if I were to maintain it’s scale. This is intended to prevent the eastern civs from focusing on the unused areas to the east, and to encourage interaction between the civs.
4. On the Large and any future Standard maps the Silvan Capital has been moved towards the center of Northern Mirkwood rather than the East to give greater separation between the Dwarves and the Silvan Elves.
5. Generally speaking Grasslands and plains are not placed according to any map.

Replace effects and yields of natural wonders
Balance Mod. (It would be nice, but its a lot of work and I’m not sure if it’s even possible)
Add more maps (The map part is not that difficult, but adding DCN and specific resources is super boring)
Map Labels

Please note that this mod is a work in progress and there may be some issues while using it.
Don’t use the restart game button on Turn 0
Crashes To Desktop when trying to go back to the main menu or Quit the game. (Sorry I wish I knew what causes this)
Conflicts with Ynaemp by Gedemon
Conflicts with Middle Earth Maps Pack by Welcome to the Rice Fields