Gigantea — A Colossal Map for 24 Starts
Welcome to Gigantea, the largest world yet discovered. Wild and untamed things grow bolder in the outer rim, howling at the impenetrable curtain of stone that defends the inner kingdoms of Men. Those kingdoms, once ruled from the arid central region by a powerful emperor, now are riven into 16 warring factions. Yet rumors exist that a new emperor rises to begin his reconquista. Other and far more sinister rumors whisper that a dark and unholy power gathers in a remote and guarded valley.
Meanwhile few remember the ancient curse put on the most prosperous region of the realm when the First Emperor betrayed his allies in the first Great War. Let us hope that is only an old maid’s tale to frighten naughty children.
Enjoy your sojourn in Gigantea!
The basic idea behind Gigantea was to get a huge and gleefully imbalanced free-for-all started, with lots of chokepoints and opportunities for strategy in holding back an opponent that got a better starting position, and to hopefully pit several imbalanced factions against each other till there’s a rough kind of semi-balance when they all smash together.
So here is a 99×99 map with two handcrafted planes, for 24 factions. It even has a bit of lore and perhaps a few surprises coded into it.
In 2025, some more interest has been added to the map. The Bakemono are safer these days, the Monkeys and the Guildmaster have potential starts specifically for them, a bit of access to magic was added to the outer rim. Certain areas change if a faction is starting there: for example, the Druid Vale is jungle if a monkey starts there. The Vale of Death just has gems if a Necromancer isn’t there. Finally, work was done to improve turn times.
This map has 24 fixed starts. Some will put you outside the rim, in the wild lands. Many will put you in the melee of civilized lands. There’s a hidden Druid vale. The central, but optional, feature is the two final factions intended to be overpowered.
The option of playing anything in any slot has been preserved, but suggested factions are the following:
Slots 1-4: (Barbarian, Druid, Troll, Dryad, Kobold and Witch or Maharaja especially at 2)
Slots 5-21: (Baron, Senator, Hoburg, Voice of El, Demonologist, Guildmaster especially at 14)
Slot 22: (Druid or Troll King or Maharaja)
Slot 23: Senator
Slot 24: Necromancer
This will give you the set-up that I play myself. But many other combinations are possible. See the picture of the map for the numbered start positions. Then when setting up the map and the players inside the game, just assign a faction to the slot number listed at the location on the map where you wish to place that faction. You can also choose not to play with the last few slots, which are the most imbalanced.
Everyone gets two citadels. A suicide prevention mod shouldn’t be needed. An external ant-neutralizing mod shouldn’t be necessary, nor anything preventing mad cultists. Introduced instead are mildly cataclysmic events.
Revisions:
Old revisions of this mod are available below. Click the link to download.
