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I really like the maps this generates. For me, plausibility is really important when creating any fictional map, because it's possible to create a map that looks beautiful but depicts a place that doesn't really make sense even with fantasy elements incorporated.

The color scheme of the political map is highly distinctive but feels cohesive. There's a decent phonetic/orthographic consistency in the naming within a state. The religions layer doesn't feel particularly integrated with the political one, for instance I found a theocracy without an organized religion.

The geography is also pretty good. Rivers are one of the telltale signs of poor fantasy map building, but this makes pretty believable rivers, though I did find a case of an inland sea draining into itself. It's good the mountains form ranges, but it would be interesting to have some more evidence of volcanism. I found one map with a huge area filled with mountains in an unrealistic way but I had a fun time imagining how it may have gotten that way in a fantasy world.

I really like that it has some climate generation and I'd love to see more, things like prevailing winds, winter/summer variation, and more of a Köppen climate classification[0] than the biomes currently listed, but I know this is a fantasy map generator and those require parameterizing more the nature of the planet being mapped.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Köppen_climate_classification



> an inland river draining into itself

Like this? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jordan_River


Can you explain further? I don’t see anything particular unusual about its flow from the Wikipedia article.


You've misquoted me. I was talking about a large body of water that had a river leaving it, looping around and draining back into it. That's a very peculiar behavior for a river.

The Jordan river flows through the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea before proceeding on south. Nothing strange there. The situation I'm talking about would be like if a river left the Dead Sea from the south, looped around and immediately flowed back into the Dead Sea from the north.


Thank you for the explanation, but I did not misquote you, I misunderstood you. I didn’t see the same random map you saw, so I asked a question and quoted you verbatim.


Didn’t mean for it to come off as hostile— I meant that your misunderstanding may have come from misreading what I had written, as I don’t think I wrote about an “inland river.” But even as I wrote it, it’s not particularity clear unless you are already familiar with that kind of map making mistake, so happy to explain. Either way, hope this clears up any confusion!


Do you have an opinion on the Dwarf Fortress world generator? If I am not mistaken it simulates some limited volcanic and geoogical activity.


Love it— the geological aspect of it is simulated beyond my armchair level of expertise, so I'm generally quite happy with the results.

The political side of the world is pretty well done with simulation in detail, but I'd love to see more nuanced politics, stuff like meaningful civil wars where factions split and inter-fight.

I would love to see more climate modeling in DF as well. Biomes are a great start for climate, but I would really like to see things like the amount of rainfall you get affecting what crops you can grow.




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