A 4-player Marsh match note the asymmetrical ponds and creeks.
Marsh is an offense-oriented random map in Age of Mythology. It represents both a swampland and a peat bog.
There are many potential locations for this map, but the native trees are native to Mesoamerica and North America, making it very hard to pinpoint the exact location.
Overview
| “ | A dangerous swamp surrounded by grassy hills. The center is full of huntable animals and relics. | ” |
| —Map description | ||
As a map, the Marsh is fairly open, having lower-than-average trees and almost no elevation, but also plentiful wildlife. It is an excellent map for offensive major gods, thanks to these open spaces. Rushing is highly recommended on this map, but still, turtling can be practiced on some parts of the map, thanks to the water ponds and small creeks that appear around the map. These technically replace hills for this map, as a more navigable obstacle, especially as they lack fish.
The wetlands of the map are rich in huntables and Gold Mines, and also feature a great deal of Settlements.
Environment
The outskirts of this map feature mixed oak and pine forests, with some Deer and stray Pigs. As the player approaches the wetlands, especially towards the center, the map features swamp cypresses (known in-game as Marsh Trees) and occasionally, fog rising through the ground.
While humid and rich in life, there are not many trees, compared to other lush maps, such as Alfheim.
Most of the ground is muddy and wet, and many European animals live to these lands, including Aurochs, Boars, and Pigs. Also, a great deal of African fauna wander around, including Water Buffaloes, Crowned Cranes, and Crocodiles.
There is also a very rare chance for Hippopotami to appear on this map, found either in duos or alone.
Similar Maps
Marsh is highly similar to other open maps, such as Arabia , but the closest map possible is the Cenotes, from Age of Empires II HD: The Forgotten. Both represent open, wetland maps, feature small bodies of water and are excellent for rushers. Of course, they have certain differences, such as wildlife, with the Cenotes having Shore Fish and Central American fauna, whereas Marsh lacks Fish, and features Eurasian and African fauna.
Location
Trees
The environment of this map is one of a kind, and combines highly unusual fauna and flora.
- While it is claimed that the Marsh trees are cypresses, in reality they resemble willows. An example of cypresses are found as a decor in the Greek Military Academy and the Archery Range.
- The trees' species is indeed a type of cypress, whose genus is known as Taxodium. What is interesting to note is that they are not native to Europe anymore, but to North America.
- Probably, the trees could also represent the Chinese swamp cypresses, known as glyptostrobus pensilis.
Animals
- The combination of animals native to the Marsh is extremely unusual, as Aurochs didn't live in Africa, while Crowned Cranes live exclusively to Africa.
- It should be noted however, that the Crowned Crane is most likely used to represent the common crane in order to avoid creating a new set of assets, rather using the Crowned Crane as a stand in (taking into consideration of it being a stand in for the common crane would suggest that Marsh is set in northeastern Europe or Scandinavia).
- Crowned Cranes and Aurochs also appear in various Atlantean campaign maps, this would also mean that Marsh is possible set in either Old or New Atlantis.
- Another possible location is somewhere in subtropical China, with Water Buffalos representing Asian species, whereas Crowned Cranes might represent red-crowned cranes (who are native to much of East Asia), whereas Crocodiles may represent chinese alligators. Interestingly, Aurochs were native to China, as are Boars and Pigs.
- Also, there is a rare chance for Hippoptami to appear, which further complicates this.
Most likely Locations
- North America
- Central America
- Old or New Atlantis
- South China (a subtropical swamp)
Trivia
- According to the original version1.0 Marsh.xs file, Marsh was intended to have swarms of bugs (represented via the Pestilence SFX object), and hostile Carnivora appear near Relics.
- Carnivora were most likely cut due to how Age of Mythology's Random Maps handle object spawning.
Gallery
