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Capricious is a custom map in Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings.
Description[]
Capricious has the appearance of a green, lush land, with big open areas like an Arabia map, but chock full of resources like a Highland or other similar map. There are small lakes that dot the outskirts of the map in which there is plenty of fish.
The odd feature of this map is the distribution of resources, particularly in the overabundance of one kind of resource and the scarcity of others. Based on the map seed, a certain resource becomes doubled in abundance, while the others are halved in abundance. Ergo, in one map there are massive deposits of gold but very little stone, and in another map there is a glut of Berry Bushes about, but the amount of gold present is dry.
Viable tactics[]
Given how this map features an overabundance of a random resource at the cost of being dry of other resources, it's not easy to predict how one's strategy turns out, but in all things there is always a decent amount of every resource. It's just that most of the fighting will be done over control of territories with the few and precious of the rare resources peppered throughout the map. There's no predicting what will be the rare commodity until the map is explored. Given how a certain resource will change in rarity from one game to another, the way a player's play style will change as a result is remarkable. Also, trading goods around at the Market will become more commonplace based on a player's needs and the availability of a certain raw material on the map.
The strengths and weaknesses of civilizations will change based on the kind of resource distribution that turns out on Capricious. If a map happens to be abundant in stone for instance, civilizations such as the Franks and Incas will have a ball of a time to get all the stone they could ever want to build their fortresses with. If gold is low on a certain other map, fights over the gold will become all the more fierce, especially for the desperation of gold-hungry civilizations like the Teutons or Turks. But in general, the civilizations with the most stable economies will win -- the Saracens have the best deals in buying/selling resources at the Market, while the Spanish have excellent Trade Carts to roll in profit enough to get what they need.
Trivia[]
- "Capricious" is an adjective word meaning fickle, erratic, or inconsistent--given to sudden or unaccountable changes in mood or behavior.
