| “ | A deep ocean inlet divides the map into two, with a single narrow pass. | ” |
| —Age of Empires IV description | ||
Boulder Bay is a hybrid random map in Age of Empires IV. It consists of an narrow body of water dividing two regions into a pass.
Features[]
The eponymous bay from which the map gets its name is a medium sized body of water that juts out from any one of the corners of the map, tapering sharply at the start and extending to approximately the center of the map. Teams will start on opposite sides of this bay (although it seems worryingly common for one team member in a 3 vs 3 to spawn on the wrong side, surrounded by enemies). Within the bay on the corner itself is always an island with one Sacred Site and one Coastal Trade Post, and across from the bay is a raised plateau with a Trade Post in the corner and additional resources. The land Trade Post allows for a long, but contestable trade route. A second Sacred Site will be positioned somewhere between the tip of the bay and the raised plateau, usually closer to the water. The 'choke point' designation of this map is somewhat outdated, as it comes from a previous version where the bay extended all the way to the plateau - nearly 3/4 of the map - making it much easier to block off the land area of the map with walls. The usual number of Relics spawn on this map, with it being possible for one to spawn on the island in the bay. The bay may also contain Stealth Kelp Forest.
Resources[]
Other than the standard copious amount of Deep Water and Shoreline Fish that come with a large body of water, this map features only 2 large Berry Bush patches per player, but makes up for it by spawning a larger than usual number of Boars. Deer spawns are standard. Players start out with either 1 or 2 large circular woodlines, and only small circular woodlines dot the rest of the map, along with patches of Stealth Forest. The map regularly spawns with 1 Large Stone Outcropping per player, and up to 5 small outcroppings per number of team members (starting from 5 in 1 vs 1 up to 20 in 4 vs 4). The Gold spawns per map size are quite irregular, with 4/10/9/12 Large Gold Mines and 5/10/20/19 Small Gold Mines per 1/2/3/4 player teams respectively. Any type of mine, as well as a Boar, may spawn on the island in the bay.
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