Game map¶

The game map is the “Map” tab in the “Map & charts” block on the game page. It shows the world from the attached save: terrain, rivers, borders and cities, turn by turn. Everyone who can see the game page can view the map. You can't change anything on it.

On this page: When the map opens, What the map shows, Turns and replay, Zoom and movement, City and tile, What can go wrong

When the map opens¶

The “Map & charts” block has two tabs: “Charts” and “Map”. When you open the game page, “Map” is selected. Switching tabs stops the replay, and the map view is kept between tabs.

The map opens when three conditions are met:

• the game is finished;
• a save is attached to the game;
• every player in the save is matched to a seat in the game.

A scrapped game doesn't wait for matching: its map opens as soon as a save is attached to the game.

Only the players of this game can attach a save, confirm the players and finish the game on the site. Everyone else sees the “The map is not available yet” card until they do. You attach the save and match the players in the save section of the game page. See Game saves on the site. The game page opens after you sign in with Discord. See Game page.

If the conditions aren't met, a “The map is not available yet” card appears instead of the map and gives the reason:

If there is no save at all, the tab shows “No save attached” and the text “Attach a save in the save section to explore this game’s map.” The “Go to attached save” button takes you to the save section.

What the map shows¶

The map is a world of hexagonal tiles. Terrain and rivers come from the state of the save on the turn it was saved. Territories, cities and borders come from the game's recorded history, so they change with the turn you select. Territories are colored with the game's player colors. It isn't a recording of the fighting.

Under the panel is an explanation:“Terrain & rivers stay at save turn 312. Exact city population appears only at that turn when validated; cities & borders follow the selected turn.”

The settings panel is above the map, and the turn controls are below it. The menu labeled “View · Territories” or “View · Terrain” has four groups:

Next to it is the “Legend” button. On the right are the “Zoom out”, “Overview”, “Zoom in”, “Expand” and “Full screen” buttons.

Turns and replay¶

The turn controls are below the map: the “Replay” button, the “Previous turn” and “Next turn” arrows, the turn slider and a caption like “Turn 120 of 312”. On the last turn the caption adds “End”. Turns run from 0 to the last turn of the save.

• Start. The map opens on turn 0, paused. If there is no turn history, it opens on the last turn.
• Replay. The “Replay” button steps through the turns automatically and becomes a “Pause” button. A step takes 0.7 s at 1× speed, 0.35 s at 2× and about 0.18 s at 4×. You can change the speed only in the “View” menu.
• End of the replay. The replay stops on the last turn. If you press “Replay” on the last turn, it starts again from turn 0.
• Manual choice. The slider and the arrows show any turn.

The replay also stops when you pick a turn by hand, click a tile, open the legend or pick a player in it, press “Expand” or “Full screen”, switch tabs, or hide the browser tab.

If the save has only the final map, the turn buttons and the slider are disabled, the map shows the last turn, and a message above it says: “This save provides a final map only. Earlier turns cannot be reconstructed.” When the history is incomplete, the message reads: “Some historical layers are missing. Unknown details remain unknown.”

Zoom and movement¶

You can zoom from the whole world up to six times closer.

When you can't see the whole world, a “Map overview” thumbnail appears: on the page it's under the map, and in the expanded view it's in a corner of the map. A click or a drag on it moves the view, and so do the arrow keys. Its caption reads “Explore the map”.

The map wraps around horizontally: a player whose lands lie across the edges is shown whole.

The keyboard works like this: the arrow keys pick a tile, Enter or Space opens its details, + and − change the zoom, Home shows the whole world, and Escape closes the city card.

Expand and full screen¶

• “Expand” opens the map in a window the size of the page, and the button becomes “Exit expanded view”. The selected turn and the position of the map are kept, the replay stops, and after you close the window the focus goes back to the button. The tile details are under the map.
• “Full screen” turns on the browser's full-screen mode and opens the same window. The button becomes “Exit full screen”. You can leave with this button or with the Escape key.

If the browser doesn't support full screen, pressing the button shows the message “Full screen is not available in this browser. Use Expand instead.” When entering or leaving full screen fails, the message reads: “Could not enter or exit full screen. Try again or use Expand.”

On a phone, the whole map fits by height. Swiping with one finger vertically scrolls the page, swiping horizontally moves the map, and two fingers zoom. In the expanded window, one finger moves the map in every direction.

City and tile¶

City names appear when the map is zoomed in, and the population number stands inside the city's tile if it fits. Cities without a number are marked with a neutral square. The city catalog has only English and Russian names, so a city is shown under its English name. A name the player typed themselves is shown as it is.

When you point at a city or tap it, a “City focus” card appears over the map. It shows:

• the city name;
• the owner: a player's name, “City-state: Milan”, “Vega (not in this game)”, “Outside the game”, “Unowned” or “Unknown”;
• a large population number with the captions “Population” and “Save turn 312”;
• “—” instead of the number and the caption “Unknown at turn 312” if the population is unknown.

The Escape key closes the card.

A click on a tile, or Enter on the selected tile, opens the “Selected tile” card with its terrain, feature, improvement and owner. The terrain is named in full, for example “Grassland · Hills · River”. A tile's feature and improvement always carry the “Unverified” mark. The feature also shows a type number, for example “Forest · Unverified · Type 5”. Under the “Population recorded” item there is a caution even when the value is “Unknown”. In the expanded and full-screen views, you close the card with the “Close” button, because Escape closes the window itself there.

Some labels may be incomplete. If the feature catalog isn't verified for the game's rules, a line says: “Some feature identities are unverified for this game’s rules.”

Legend¶

The “Legend” button opens a card that explains the symbols. The set of symbols depends on the map style.

In both styles, the legend adds a few more explanations:

• a “Natural wonders” row with pictures of the wonders;
• “Angular outlines show territory borders. Smooth blue lines show rivers.”;
• “Tan lines are roads; dashed means pillaged.”;
• “? marks terrain or a feature this save cannot name.”;
• “English name: no verified Ukrainian translation is available.”

You can pick a player in the legend: the map centers on their lands and zooms in at least twofold. If the player has no territory yet on the selected turn, the legend says “Vega has no recorded territory at turn 40.” and updates the turn number when you change it.

What can go wrong¶

• You see “The map is not available yet” instead of the map. The game isn't finished, or the save's players aren't confirmed. Finish the game and confirm the players, then press “Reload game”. Only the players of this game can do this. See Finishing a game on the site.
• You see “No save attached”. No save has been added to the game yet. Only the players of this game can attach one in the save section. See Game saves on the site.
• You see “The attached save changed”. After a new save is attached, press “Reload game” to see the current map.
• You see “Could not load this map”. This is a temporary loading failure. Press “Retry”. If the map is already shown and the update failed, the same message appears above it with a “Retry” link.
• You see “This save’s map cannot be read”. The explanation is: “The parser could not build a map from this save. Charts remain available.” There is no “Retry” button here. This game's charts are on the other tab.
• You see “Map unavailable”. The explanation: “The map in this save could not be read reliably. Charts remain available.”
• Some images didn't load. A message appears under the map: “Some map images could not load. Schematic symbols remain available.”
• The game page asks you to sign in. A guest sees neither the game nor the map, so sign in with Discord. If your session has expired, you're asked to sign in again.

Related¶

• Game page
• Game saves on the site
• Charts and player comparison
• Finishing a game on the site

This page was translated with AI and checked against the bot's terms.