Biomes

A biome is the type of world a match is played in. Dawn of Embers has five: Forest, Snowy Forest, Snowy Mountain, Desert and Ocean. All five are planned as launch maps, chosen from the Map type list in the lobby. This page also covers how maps are generated and the five map sizes.

The game is in development. Biomes are still being tuned, and the Ocean is not finished.

How maps are made

Maps are procedurally generated. A map is built from three things: its seed (a number), its biome and its size. The same three always build the same map, and in a multiplayer match every player's game builds the identical world from the one shared seed.

The biome changes the look of the world and how much of each resource it holds. It does not change the rules: the same buildings and units are used everywhere. On the snowy maps the buildings are the same buildings with snow on their roofs.

Every map has:

• a clearing for each player's start, with a band of starting resources nearby;
• in Skirmish, a herd of animals near each starting base;
• rivers, with fords where units can cross. Deep water cannot be walked through.

When a Pillar appears during a match, it only appears where every player can reach it.

The five biomes

Biome	Terrain	Resources	Notes
Forest	Rolling ground, rivers and fords	Balanced	The standard map, and the one the demo uses
Snowy Forest	The same as Forest	The same as Forest	The Forest in winter
Snowy Mountain	Flat-ish ground between large, impassable peaks	Fewer trees	Needs a Medium or larger map
Desert	Flat	Wood scarce; gold and stone plentiful	Wood comes mainly through trade
Ocean	Mostly water, with islands	On the islands	In development

Forest

The baseline map: rolling ground, woodland, rivers and fords, with a balanced spread of resources. Every other biome is described as a change from it. Forest is the only biome in the demo.

Snowy Forest

The Forest in winter. The map is generated exactly as a Forest map; only the look changes. Snow lies on the ground, on the trees and on the building roofs, and trodden ground reads as packed snow or slush. Fords stay visibly fordable.

Snowy Mountain

Most of the map is flat-ish, buildable ground, as on the Forest. Rising out of it are large mountain peaks surrounded by impassable ground. Units walk between the mountains, never over them, and nothing can be built on a peak. The peaks can create natural chokepoints.

The biome has fewer trees than the Forest, mostly pines, but still enough wood to support a normal economy. It shares its snow look with the Snowy Forest.

Snowy Mountain requires a Medium or larger map. The lobby refuses it on a smaller size, because on a small map the mountains would fill the map.

Desert

Flat, open ground of sand, dry rock and cracked earth, with palms, cactus and scrub. Wood is scarce: each start has trees close by, and there are few beyond them. Gold and stone are plentiful. The main way to get more wood is to buy it at the Trading Hub, so the Desert plays differently from the other biomes: wood is traded rather than gathered.

Ocean

In development.

The Ocean is designed as a map that is mostly water, with a few islands. Players start on an island and sail to the others to expand and build. Ships matter more here than anywhere else. The island layout is not finished in current development builds.

Fish

Fish shoals, a source of food for fishing ships, appear on the water of the Forest, Snowy Forest and Ocean maps. The Desert and the Snowy Mountain have none.

Map sizes

Maps come in five sizes, from X-Small (200 m across, up to 2 players) to X-Large (1,200 m, up to 8). Medium is the default and the only size in the demo. The full table, and how the lobby limits player counts, are on Maps and map sizes.

See also

• Maps and map sizes
• Game modes
• Resources
• Getting started
• Demo