| “ | Players can either start on a defensive hill or in a resource-abundant valley. | ” |
| —Age of Empires IV description | ||
Hill and Dale is a relatively closed random map in Age of Empires IV featuring each team spawning on elevated plateaus and separated by a valley.
Features[]
While Dry Arabia may be considered the standard or default open map in Age of Empires IV, Hill and Dale is a worthy contender for the standard closed map. Somewhat similar to the Acropolis maps from previous games, players start out on elevated plateaus across from each other, blocked off from the center of the map by cliffs with only a small number of easily wallable entrances. Sometimes these can even be partially blocked off by forest, making walling even easier. In team games, players will all spawn on the same plateau. There will typically be one entrance on each side of the plateau and one facing the center for each player. The starting plateaus are relatively empty except for the starting resources, and the central valley contains all of the map's three Sacred Sites, two Trade Posts, Relics, and remaining resources. The two Trade Posts will usually spawn as close to the corners of the map as possible while still remaining inside the valley, but can also be offset. The map has the standard number of Relics, but rarely some may fail to spawn in large team games due to the size of the plateaus, which block Relic spawns. Plateaus can be arranged along the edges or straddling two corners of the map, and when on the corners, they quite often have a 'mini-valley' in the back blocked off from the rest of the map. These mini-valleys have the same spawn rules as the central valley, meaning if teams are lucky they can find safe resources or Relics.
Resources[]
Although the plateaus provide relatively safe starting resources, which include one large Deer pack along with the standard medium Berry Bush patch, Small Gold Mine, Small Stone Outcropping, and woodlines (usually one large and two small), they will have to venture out into the valley for the rest of the resources (except for a second medium berry patch which can also spawn sometimes on the plateau). The valley is especially rich in gold, with all of the mines being large mines, and has extra large Berry Bush patches compared to most other maps. Additional large and small woodlines, Stealth Forest and Stone Outcroppings are found evenly distributed throughout, as well as the Boars and rest of the Deer.
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