Using the Map Editor

The EFS Map Editor comes with some instructions in MAPEDIT.TXT. Here are a few additional things I've discovered.

1. There are two problems with Create Random (Planet):
   (a) The program always starts with the same random number seed, so you tend to get the same sequence of pseudo-random planets each time. However, it is possible to make the program use a new random number seed. One way to do this is to create a new planet. When you start up the Map Editor, just left-click one or more times on the empty star map, before loading a galaxy.
   (b) There's a bug which makes the program crash quite often while generating random maps. So be sure to save your galaxy frequently.
   Fortunately, these problems seem to apply only to the Map Editor, and not to the Random Map option in the game.
2. Because of the bug mentioned above, it's difficult to get Create Random (Galaxy) to work. There's about a 50% chance that the program will crash while creating one of the planets in the galaxy. With the usual random number seed, you get one pseudo-random galaxy (always the same one), but the program crashes if you try for a second one. By using the above method to get a new random number seed, you may be able to get a longer sequence of pseudo-random galaxies. For example, if you create one new planet before selecting Create Random (Galaxy), you can get a sequence of 4 galaxies.
3. As stated in mapedit.txt, New (Planet) doesn't really create a new planet. It just changes the planet type, eg jungle to frozen, but keeping everything else the same. You can convert a planet to megacity. Or vice versa. (Fancy a jungle Byzantium?) Incidentally, the manual is lying when it says you can't build cities on a megacity planet. The rule is simply that you can't build cities on Byzantium. You can build cities on Leagueheim, and on any other megacity planet you create.
4. Change Planet just changes the planet icon (which has no effect on the game).
5. Save and Save As (Planet) save the planet's map in file .ter, and its units and cities in file .sen. You can then reload the planet's map into the same or another planet, using Open World. Open Scenario should reload the unit and city info, but this option doesn't work.
6. With "Delete On" in the planet map, when you click on a hex you delete the city in that hex, if there is one. Otherwise you delete the topmost layer of terrain (road/resources, river/hill/mountain, trees, basic terrain, in that order). If you delete everything, you end up with ocean, which is the default terrain.
7. To delete units, you right click on the stack, click on the units you don't want to delete, and then click on the Delete button. The remaining units will be deleted. Alternatively, click on the Sentry button, click on the units you do want to delete, and then click on the Delete button.
8. To delete a planet (and all the jump routes connected to it), select "Delete On" in the galaxy map, and then click on the planet.
9. To move a planet, right-click on the planet and then edit the co-ordinates. However, this tends to mess up the jump routes.
10. When selecting a unit from one of the menus, the units are grouped by icon. So Infantry, Fanatics, Heavy Infantry (and Guards in Nova) are all selected by selecting Infantry Lgn from the Land menu. Some of the unit names in the menus are wrong. For example, Hover Anti Air is listed as SP Anti Air.
11. You can only create aircraft in cities (reasonably enough). You can only create naval units next to cities. You can create spaceships in any land hex. You can't create any units in hexes where the topmost terrain layer is river.
12. If you want a road and a resource symbol in the same hex, you have to create the road first.
13. You can create cargo pods in space, and load them onto transports. (You can even leave them floating in space: they can then land on their own, but they take damage if they don't land in a city!) The only other units which can be placed on board transports in space are space fighters and torpedo bombers.
14. If you want to place units on board a naval transport, you have to be sneaky, because the editor will only let you put naval transports in ocean hexes and ground units in land hexes. So follow this sequence: place the naval transport in an ocean hex, convert the hex to a land hex, place the ground units in the hex, load them onto the transport, convert the hex back to ocean.
15. Unfortunately, there's no way to cut and paste a stack. You have to delete the old stack and create a new one from scratch.
16. You can easily change the ownership of a whole stack of units: right-click on the stack (which brings up the stack screen), then right-click on any one of the units, and then select one of the Ownership boxes. If there's a city in the same hex, you will then need to change the ownership of that too: select Delete On, left-click on the hex (this deletes the city without affecting the units, though the units may disappear temporarily), select Delete Off, select the city type from a menu, and left-click on the hex again.
17. You can convert an existing city to a different type, without changing anything else in the hex. Just select the city type you want from a menu, and then left-click on the existing city. (This may not always work. If it fails, then delete the old city and create a new one, as described above.)
18. You can change the sect of a Church in the map editor, but it doesn't have any effect. Although the new sect will show up in the game, the planet will produce Orthodox units regardless of the sect, until the sect is changed within the game.

Limitations on Custom Galaxies

1. Special planets.
   (a) You must have a planet named Byzantium II.
   (b) If the League has any Bulk Haulers or Freighters, you must have a planet named Leagueheim.
   (c) If you want players to be able to create random maps, you must have planets named Byzantium II, Leagueheim, Holy Terra, Stigmata, Kish, Aragon, Severus, Delphi and Istakhr, plus at least 4 other planets (3 for the Symbiots and one for the Vau).
   (d) If you don't have a planet named Vau and the player selects the Random Map option, then a planet will be chosen at random to be the Vau home world.
   (e) It doesn't matter whether these planet names use upper or lower case characters.
2. Number of planets. Providing you meet the above requirements, you can have any number of planets up to 40. Deleting planets affects Random as well as Historical Maps.
3. Random Map. If the player chooses the Random Map option, then all planets except Byzantium II, Leagueheim, Holy Terra, Stigmata, Kish, Aragon, Severus, Delphi and Istakhr will be randomized, and so will be unaffected by anything you do to them with the Map Editor, except deleting them or changing their names.
4. Except as mentioned below, there are no limits on the number, type and location of units and cities that you give to each House, or other Power. You can even give them none at all.
5. House forces. Each House must be given at least one Noble or Blademaster, unless you want it to be eliminated from the game immediately.
6. Labs. If you don't give a player a Lab, he won't be able to use any Ancient Documentarium traits (because he won't be able to pay the research point maintenance cost of the technologies on the first turn).
7. Scepters. Scepters controlled by the Rebels, Vau, Symbiots and Imperial Guard will not be used to vote. Scepters controlled by a Ministry give votes to the House which controls that Ministry. Bear in mind that, to win an election, a House only needs to receive more votes than any other House, not an overall majority.
8. Stigmata Garrison. There is no special association between the planet Stigmata and the Stigmata Garrison. You can put the Stigmata Garrison's forces anywhere you like.
9. Church. If you want the Inquisition to operate, you must give the Church some Inquisitors and space transports (not necessarily ATLs). These don't have to start on Holy Terra, but it might be a good idea. If you give the Church larger transports than ATLs, they can attack with 4 Inquisitors at a time instead of 2. You should place the Inquisitors in stacks of 2 or 4 (or multiples of those) if you want them to attack in these numbers, otherwise you may find 1 Inquisitor attacking on his own.
10. League.
    (a) If you want the League's Agoras to be replenished, you must give the League some Bulk Haulers. The more you give them, the more often the Agoras will be replenished. Freighters will also replenish Agoras, but they don't work correctly; they can replenish an Agora repeatedly, without returning to Leagueheim. So don't give the League any Freighters, unless this is what you want. Other types of space transport never replenish Agoras.
    (b) If there's more than one Agora on a planet, then only the one furthest to the northwest will be replenished.
    (c) You don't need Agoras (or anything else) on Leagueheim. Agoras on Leagueheim are never replenished.
    (d) You can put as many resources in an Agora as you like.
    (e) Don't put more than 7 units other than cargo pods in an Agora, or there won't be enough space for all 13 types of resource, and that can cause problems.
    (f) Agoras cannot trade if under the control of anyone other than the League.
11. Symbiots. I don't think the Symbiots ever build new spaceships, so you'll probably want to give them some at the start of the game, especially transports. You also need to give the Symbiots some Hives, or some Nesters, which can build new Hives. You can put Symbiots anywhere you like. With a random map, there will automatically be 3 Symbiot worlds, with Hives, units and spaceships. These planets will be in a cluster near Stigmata.
12. Vau. The Vau never build new cities. The only function of Vau Workers is to give players an incentive to attack the Vau, because (in Nova) captured Workers can be converted into Engineers. You can put the Vau anywhere you like. With a random map, there will automatically be 2 Vau worlds, with cities, units and spaceships.

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