Mapping/Terrain Types

For random map generation, it is necessary to know the type of terrain, culture and population density the mission takes place. This place lists all different types that can occur.

The exact kind of terrain underlying a particular point on geoscape is determined via usage of a colormask. Each color value marks a particular type, listed below.

Terrain types

The mask for terrain types is defined in base/pics/geoscape/map_earth_terrain.png.

RGB	0,	0,	64	water	Crashed ufos will disappear
RGB	128,	255,	255	arctic	Rough ice-covered landscape; no vegetation; inhabitation impossible
RGB	255,	128,	0	desert	Rough sand regions; infrequent vegetation; inhabitation unlikely
RGB	255,	0,	0	mountain	Rough cliffy landscape; some vegetation; inhabitation unlikely
RGB	128,	128,	255	tropical	Warm, moistly woods, maybe rivers; lots of vegetation; inhabitation likely
RGB	128,	255,	0	grass	plane fields, some streets; good amount of vegetation; inhabitation likely
RGB	128,	0,	128	wasted	volcano, atomic test fields
RGB	0,	0,	255	cold	cold regions

Culture types

The mask for culture types is defined in base/pics/geoscape/map_earth_culture.png.

RGB	0,	0,	64	water
RGB	128,	255,	255	western
RGB	255,	128,	0	eastern
RGB	255,	0,	0	oriental	bazaar like
RGB	128,	128,	255	african

Population types

The mask for population types is defined in base/pics/geoscape/map_earth_population.png.

RGB	0,	0,	64	water
RGB	128,	255,	255	urban	sky scrapers, stadions, schools, massive buildings; inhabitation guaranteed
RGB	255,	128,	0	suburban	wide streets, private homes, churches; inhabitation guaranteed
RGB	255,	0,	0	village	small homes, narrow streets, old buildings; inhabitation guaranteed
RGB	128,	128,	255	rural	large farm houses, wide places, farms, inhabitation likely
RGB	128,	255,	0	nopopulation	no buildings, no inhabitation at all

Nations

The mask for nations is defined in base/pics/geoscape/map_earth_nations.png.

RGB	0,	255,	128	latin	The Revolutionary Countries
RGB	0,	128,	0	states	United America
RGB	0,	128,	255	europa	The Greater European Union
RGB	128,	128,	0	asia	The Asian Republic
RGB	255,	255,	0	middle	The Middle-Eastern Alliance
RGB	255,	128,	64	africa	New Africa
RGB	128,	0,	0	russia	Russia
RGB	128,	0,	128	oceania	The Commonwealth of Oceania

Code example

The following code snippet shows the usage of the function CP_GetRandomPosOnGeoscape. When preparing the linkedList_t for terrain types (as example), you can add a string "Any" to indicate that the terrain type does not matter and every terrain type is to be accepted as suitable.

/* initialization of terrain, culture, population types and nations */
linkedList_t* terrainTypes = NULL;
LIST_AddString(&terrainTypes,"cold");
LIST_AddString(&terrainTypes,"grass");

linkedList_t* cultureTypes = NULL;
LIST_AddString(&cultureTypes,"Any");

linkedList_t* populationTypes = NULL;
LIST_AddString(&populationTypes,"rural");
LIST_AddString(&populationTypes,"nopopulation");
LIST_AddString(&populationTypes,"village");

linkedList_t* nations = NULL;
LIST_AddString(&nations,"Any");

/* getting random point with given criteria */
vec2_t randPos;
if (CP_GetRandomPosOnGeoscape(randPos,terrainTypes, cultureTypes, populationTypes, nations)) {

	/* randPos has now a random value according to the given criteria */
	char* nationString = "none";
	if (MAP_GetNation(randPos))
		nationString = MAP_GetNation(randPos)->id;

	Com_Printf("Random position chosen is: x %.3f y %.3f (terrain: %s,
		culture: %s, population: %s, nation: %s) \n", randPos[0], randPos[1],
		MAP_GetTerrainTypeByPos(randPos), MAP_GetCultureTypeByPos(randPos),
		MAP_GetPopulationTypeByPos(randPos),nationString);
} else {
	Com_Printf("No point fulfilling the given criteria could be found!");
}