Design Tips Index Scenario League Apolyton Civ2

Introduction: Historical Maps
	If you are designing a Civ2 scenario, you'll want to have historical maps on hand to aid  in picking the civilizations, setting up borders and especially laying out where cities are.  But, where do you go to get these maps? Here, I suggest several sources, ranging  from the obvious to the not-so-obvious. The final section includes suggestions for  finding historical maps and information on the web, including some really good sites to  visit.
Historical Maps at the Bookstore
	Your favorite bookstore is unlikely to have extremely accurate historical maps, but  there are other resources there that may help. Many bookstores are very nice about  letting you paw through their collections, particularly larger ones like Barnes and  Nobles'. Take advantage of this: Buy yourself a cup of coffee and enjoy it while you  read. I tend to start at the bookstore because they make better coffee than I do, and  have more comfortable chairs than the university. A promising first source for picking interesting time periods is often a Historical Atlas,  such as The Times Historical Atlas (published by The Times of London, the famous  newspaper). What do you get for your $95? A very good overview of interesting  expansions including colorful maps of national borders, including approximate "spheres  of influence" for early powers that were not states per se and, for very old maps,  cultural clusters. Encyclopedias are quite similar in terms of their coverage. While such  sources are excellent for selecting a time period to work with, and are good for naming  civilizations, they are less good for the kind of detail-oriented map making required by  scenario designers. The World Atlas is also a good starting point for maps, historical  information, and so on. As a second pass, one might try to find books on the specific time period of interest. If y ou visit your local bookstore, try the history and military history sections first. You may  be surprised to find useful information in other areas too, however, in particular the  World Travel section. Most guidebooks, especially those published by European  companies, include short histories of the country in question. They also often contain  information about monuments and cities that can help with placement of towns and  with selecting Wonders of the World. When designing my Toussaint L'Overture scenario, about Haiti at the end of the 18th  century, the Travel section was less than helpful (you can't really go to Haiti anymore,  at least from the USA). However, the African American Interest section turned up  some good books on black history in North America that had relevant sections. With all of these sources, unless you're building maps of quite current times, detailed  maps are often absent. Jan Rogozinski's book "A Brief History of the Caribbean" was  incredibly useful, but the maps tended to be outline maps that showed little in the way  of geography or city placement.
Using Your Local Library
	Libraries often contain academic books with less circulation than those sold at major  bookstores. Academic books, including theses and dissertations, are your best bet for  detailed historical maps. They also may include other bonus data such as information  about individuals who may enrich your scenario, populations, and cultural data. If you live in a large metropolitan area, try the main branch of your public library.  They'll usually let you check things out for free and may have comfy chairs and  photocopiers. The best source, though, is university and college libraries. Most college libraries will  allow you to walk in and look for books, even if they are not going to let you check  them out. If you live in the USA, you almost certainly have a community college nearby even if  you don't have a university or college library. Community colleges are often surprisingly  good about helping you find what you're looking for, and may even have good  collections. You can also often order books you're looking for through Inter-Library  Loan. This is usually a FREE service and is well worth it. If the library has a  computerized index you may be able to use it to find books that are at other libraries  through "gateways". Ask the reference staff for help, in any case -- that's what  they're there for.
Web Sources for Historical Maps
	OK, you've been waiting for this part, haven't you? How can you get good historical  maps without getting up from the computer? For recent history, a good start is to go to  your favorite search engine and look for sites specifically dedicated to the region or  time period in question. There are many such sites available, a few with moderately  good maps. This usually will net you a lot of interesting historical information, including  some books to look for at the library. But what if this still doesn't get you a good map? Surprisingly, there are a number of good web sites that are dedicated to housing  historical maps of all sorts. Here are some of my favorites: Raremaps.com: Although this company is really here to sell old maps  (which may be fun if you're a collector), they have digitized many of their maps! The  content changes frequently and they have a large collection of hard-to-find maps.  Clicking on the thumbnail often brings up a detailed JPEG image that you can then save  and use with your favorite paint program. Many of the maps show great detail  including individual cities. They are organized by region and by date, and are the actual  original maps as drawn by people at that time. The Perry-Casteñada Library Map Collection: The University of Texas maintains a list of  other sites that have old maps. It's a good list. They also have some of their own available for viewing. Seibold's Maps Project: Jim Seibold has compiled an impressive collection of historical  maps. Many of the older maps are currently being hosted by a generous donor, but the  maps from 1500-1800 (over 500!) are NOT available! Be generous and host these  maps, as they would be a great service to the civ2 community. Plus, it's a worthy  project for other reasons. Westland's Historical Map Collection: A Dutch site with many historical maps available  for viewing. The U.S. Library of Congress Historical Map Collection: Several good historical maps of  the USA, including maps showing battles.