DevLeaks

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As announced in the first DevLeak, today I would like to say a few words about the game world of Aconita and give you a first idea of the nature of the world map and its elements.
Aconita takes place in a randomly generated, fictitious world, the extent of which expands dynamically with the number of players and the increasing duration of the game. In fact, a new landmass is generated for each new player entering the game world and added to the world map at a suitable location, so that new players do not directly encounter older players. This ensures a relatively fair start to the game for all players. However, this expansion does not actually last forever, but comes to an end at a certain point when the game world is 'finalised' and no more new players can start in the world.

Aconita is a complex strategy simulation of reality, so you can expect many geographical elements and very basic aspects, as you know them from the real world, in the world of Aconita as well. A finalised world, for example, is perceived as a sphere, just like in reality. So if you were to set off on a journey in a ship from one point in the world and sail continuously eastwards, you would eventually reach your starting point again, coming from the west.

Another essential part of the world of Aconita are the different climate zones, just as you know them from Earth. In Aconita, the different climate zones range from the icy snow deserts at the poles in the north and south to the temperate and moderate zones and the equatorial region with its dense rainforest. The prevailing landscape type is also the determining factor for the basic characteristics of a region.

Here is a quick overview of the different region types that exist in Aconita:

Climate	Temperature	Vegetation
Ice	cold	none
Tundra	cool	low
Coniferous Forest	cool	medium
Swampland	cool/moderate	high
Grassland	moderate	medium
Forest	moderate	high
Steppe	moderate/warm	low
Savannah	warm	medium
Jungle	warm	high
Desert	hot	none

Regions are the smallest elements that make up the world map in Aconita and they always represent exactly one of the landscape types mentioned above.
Each region has a name (which can be set or changed by the owner of the region), a predominant climate, a specific terrain and a level of vegetation. Each region is displayed together with the others in a grid of hexagons on the main map, with each region having a unique representation of its climate and terrain. There may also be a river in each region, the course of which is also shown on the main map.

The different landscape types of a region naturally also have a direct effect on its characteristics in the game. You can imagine that ice and desert regions, for example, have the most extreme climate and are the most uncomfortable for both people and vegetation. Other regions are certainly more favourable for establishing a new settlement. The different types of region also have a considerable influence on the resources available in a region, for example on what types of plants grow and whether and to what extent agriculture is possible.

The vegetation of a region is a constant value that summarises the basic living conditions for humans, animals and plants. A low value describes extreme temperatures, bad weather or impassable, rough terrain, while a high value stands for fundamentally good conditions. This value is important for the amount and density of forest fields, the natural growth rate of trees and the amount of wildlife in the region. It also has a significant influence on the size of the human population at the start of the game.

Another important attribute of a region is its average altitude. There are plains, hills, mountains and glaciers. You will never see dense vegetation in the mountains or moderate vegetation in glacier regions. The altitude of a region determines the homogeneity or heterogeneity of the terrain and thus also implies the accessibility of a region (among other aspects).

Rivers generally flow downhill from their source inland to their mouth in a coastal region. On the way, they can merge with other rivers and thus swell into a larger river. Each river begins at its source with a size of 1 and with each inflow the resulting river grows by exactly the size of the inflow. So if two streams of size 1 join together, this creates a new stream of size 2, whereas if a river of size 4 flows together with another river of size 7, this creates a stream of size 11. The size or strength of a river determines how difficult it is to cross a river, for example for a military unit with heavy equipment.
Rivers are also indispensable as a source of fresh water for cities and for irrigating fields. In addition, river transport can be used to move considerable quantities of goods between regions.

Regions are the containers for almost all elements in the game, such as player units, buildings and resources (I'll talk about this in upcoming DevLeaks). And they are the basic building blocks from which islands are made, the next largest structures in the world. Islands have a dominant climate that corresponds to their latitude in the world and are usually home to several dozen players.
The next largest structures are continents, which are ultimately just larger islands, but in contrast can extend across several climate zones and be home to several hundred players.

Islands and continents are separated by water fields (yes, really), but these are accessible from early times, given sufficient seafaring skills. They are thus connected to each other within the largest structures in the world, the so-called hemispheres. Hemispheres always have a northern and a southern part and are lined up in a kind of strip on the world map, separated by ocean fields that are not accessible in the early epochs. In terms of the real world, you can imagine that North and South America belong to one strip and Eurasia, Africa and Australia to a second (wider) strip, while both strips are separated by large oceans that prevent early civilisations from reaching the other side.

There are three different water regions, namely coastal, maritime and oceanic regions. Coasts are basically the borders of islands and continents (who would have thought it?). Coastal waters can be navigated with simple, wooden fishing boats. Sea regions are those that have no neighbouring land regions and already require improved seafaring and shipbuilding skills to navigate. All islands and continents are separated by some sea regions. Ocean regions separate the hemispheres (as described above) and cannot be crossed without advanced navigation skills, which cannot be gained in early eras.

Screenshot of the main map showing part of a continent in a warm, tropical environment: