| “ | A wide canal stretches from base to base through a fertile land, carving a path for both resources and aggression. | ” |
| —In-game description | ||
Canal is a random map in Age of Empires IV: The Sultans Ascend.[note 1] Teams start in opposite corners while a canal bisects the map
Features[]
This map features teams starting in opposite east/west corners with their bases surrounded by shallow water that can be traversed by land units and ships, and only a few resources nearby. The bases are connected by a canal that bisects the map and is mostly deep water, navigable only by ships, allowing warships to directly strike the opposing team's base and establish map control. There is only a single crossing in the middle connecting the upper and lower halves of the map. The North and South corners each contain elevated plateaus with a Sacred Site in the very corner, and a Trade Post protected from the center by an L-shaped cliff (although for some reason, the map does not have the 'Elevation' tag). There are two other Sacred Sites, for a total of 4, located closer to the canal and offset such that each one is closer to one team. In rare cases, one of these Sacred Sites may not spawn. The Relics on this map almost always spawn in the center area of the map in the standard number.
Resources[]
Players and teams will have to quickly leave their corner of the map to contest the resources on the map if they don't want to run out. The Shore Fish in the canal provide an important source of food, since this map features only half the usual number of Deer packs, and it is common for there to only be one medium Berry Bush patch per player (the starting patch) instead of the usual two, although these will most likely be within the starting area. Boar spawns are standard, and along with always be in the center of the map, along with most or all of the Deer. Gathering enough wood to maintain a fishing fleet and navy to defend it can be difficult, since the map spawns with only one large woodline behind the player in 1 vs 1, while the rest of the wood must be gathered from the 4 large circular woodlines in the center of the map, or other small woodlines or Stealth Forest patches scattered there. The scarcity is even more evident in team games, where 2 players in 3 vs 3 or 4 vs 4 may have to share the back woodline, and the other players get a smaller one to start. Gold is limited in the starting area in 1 vs 1, with 1 or 2 small Gold Mines per player spawning there, but less so in team games, with usually 1 Large Gold Mine in 2 vs 2 and 3 vs 3, and 2 large mines in 4 vs 4 spawning in addition. In total there are 2/4/4/6 large and around 8/12/18/22 small mines on the map for 1/2/3/4 player team sizes respectively. The map has an average amount of Stone, with all of the large Outcroppings (2/4/5/6 per team size) closer to the center, and usually only 1 or 2 small outcroppings per player in the starting area (with a total of around 8/11/19/22 per team size).
Gallery[]
Notes[]
- ↑ Though the ownership of the expansion is not required to play this map
