The lower 48, from the Pacific to the Atlantic. In team games the West faces the East across the Great Plains and the Mississippi. In a free-for-all, three, four or five powers start around the rim and fight over the middle of the country.
At a glance#
- 79 provinces: 53 plains, 9 forest, 12 mountain and 5 urban.
- 20 cities, 5 of them capitals: Los Angeles, Denver, Dallas, Chicago and New York.
- Modes: 1v1, 2v2, 3v3, Free-for-all (3), Free-for-all (4) and Free-for-all (5). This is the map with the most ways to play.
- Rivers: the Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Columbia and Colorado run along 25 province borders.
Team games: West against East#
In every team game, the West holds the Pacific, the Rockies and western Texas, and the East holds the Great Lakes, the East Coast and the Deep South. Between them, Dallas, Houston, the Plains, Missouri and the Ohio and Tennessee valleys start neutral.
3v3
| Side | Home cities (capitals in bold) | Starting units |
|---|---|---|
| West: the Pacific coast | San Francisco | 4 infantry, 1 armor |
| West: the Mountain West | Denver, Salt Lake City | 7 infantry, 2 armor, 1 artillery, 1 plane |
| West: the Southwest | San Antonio, Los Angeles, Phoenix | 11 infantry, 3 armor, 1 artillery, 1 plane |
| East: the Great Lakes | Chicago, Detroit, Minneapolis | 13 infantry, 4 armor, 1 artillery, 1 plane |
| East: the East Coast | Washington, New York | 7 infantry, 2 armor, 1 artillery, 1 plane |
| East: the Southeast | Atlanta | 6 infantry, 2 armor |
The 3v3 seats aren't equal inside a team. The Pacific coast and the Southeast each start with one city and no capital, while the Great Lakes and the Southwest start rich. The small seats are best used to guard a flank and feed their partners.
2v2
| Side | Home cities (capitals in bold) | Starting units |
|---|---|---|
| West: the Mountain West | Denver, Salt Lake City | 9 infantry, 3 armor, 1 artillery, 1 plane |
| West: the Pacific and the Southwest | San Francisco, San Antonio, Los Angeles, Phoenix | 13 infantry, 3 armor, 1 artillery, 1 plane |
| East: the Great Lakes | Chicago, Detroit, Minneapolis | 13 infantry, 4 armor, 1 artillery, 1 plane |
| East: the East Coast and the South | Washington, New York, Atlanta | 11 infantry, 3 armor, 1 artillery, 1 plane |
1v1
| Side | Home cities (capitals in bold) | Starting units |
|---|---|---|
| West | San Francisco, San Antonio, Denver, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Salt Lake City | 20 infantry, 5 armor, 2 artillery, 2 planes |
| East | Washington, Chicago, Detroit, Minneapolis, New York, Atlanta | 20 infantry, 5 armor, 2 artillery, 2 planes |
The neutral middle
In team games, eight cities start neutral. In a 3v3 they are: Dallas (5 infantry), Houston (5 infantry), Omaha (7 infantry), Kansas City (5 infantry), St. Louis (5 infantry), Louisville (5 infantry), Memphis (5 infantry), Nashville (5 infantry).
- Texas and Omaha usually go West: Dallas and Houston border the West's Texas provinces, and Omaha borders Denver's Front Range.
- Louisville, Nashville and Memphis are the East's, along the Ohio and Tennessee valleys.
- Kansas City and St. Louis are the real fight, at either end of Missouri. In our bot test games, St. Louis leans East and Kansas City leans West, and neither is safe.
Free-for-all#
In a free-for-all every player is on their own, with team chat off. A many-sided battle and a knocked-out player work as explained in Free-for-all.
Five players
| Side | Home cities (capitals in bold) | Starting units |
|---|---|---|
| The Pacific | San Francisco, Los Angeles | 6 infantry, 1 armor, 1 artillery, 1 plane |
| The Mountain West | Denver, Phoenix, Salt Lake City | 13 infantry, 4 armor, 1 artillery, 1 plane |
| Texas | San Antonio, Dallas, Houston | 11 infantry, 3 armor, 1 artillery, 1 plane |
| The Great Lakes | Chicago, Detroit, Minneapolis | 13 infantry, 4 armor, 1 artillery, 1 plane |
| The East Coast | Washington, New York | 5 infantry, 1 armor, 1 artillery, 1 plane |
Neutral cities: Omaha (5 infantry), Kansas City (5 infantry), St. Louis (5 infantry), Memphis (5 infantry), Nashville (5 infantry), Atlanta (5 infantry), Louisville (5 infantry).
At the start, three pairs of powers share a border: the Pacific and the Mountain West, the Mountain West and Texas, and the Great Lakes and the East Coast. Everything else is neutral ground. The Great Lakes sits closest to the neutral cities and usually takes the most of them. In our bot test games, though, it's also the power most often knocked out first: its capital is a short march from the East Coast. The corners, the Pacific and the East Coast, are the safest places to build.
Four players
| Side | Home cities (capitals in bold) | Starting units |
|---|---|---|
| The North-West | San Francisco, Salt Lake City | 10 infantry, 3 armor |
| The South-West | Denver, Los Angeles, Phoenix | 14 infantry, 5 armor, 2 artillery, 2 planes |
| The South | San Antonio, Dallas, Houston, Atlanta | 19 infantry, 6 armor, 1 artillery, 1 plane |
| The North-East | Chicago, Detroit, New York | 12 infantry, 4 armor, 2 artillery, 2 planes |
Neutral cities: Minneapolis (5 infantry), Washington (5 infantry), Omaha (5 infantry), Kansas City (5 infantry), St. Louis (5 infantry), Louisville (5 infantry), Memphis (5 infantry), Nashville (5 infantry).
Four powers start round the rim with nobody in the middle. The two western powers meet on turn one and tend to wear each other down, while the South and the North-East grow.
Three players
| Side | Home cities (capitals in bold) | Starting units |
|---|---|---|
| The West | San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Salt Lake City | 13 infantry, 3 armor, 1 artillery, 1 plane |
| The South | San Antonio, Dallas, Houston, Atlanta | 19 infantry, 6 armor, 1 artillery, 1 plane |
| The North-East | Washington, Chicago, Detroit, Minneapolis, New York | 18 infantry, 5 armor, 2 artillery, 2 planes |
Neutral cities: Denver (5 infantry), Omaha (5 infantry), Kansas City (5 infantry), St. Louis (5 infantry), Louisville (5 infantry), Memphis (5 infantry), Nashville (5 infantry).
Terrain and rivers#
- The Rockies and the Sierra Nevada wall off the West. Utah, the Western Slope, Wyoming, western Montana, North Idaho, the Sierra Nevada and the Great Basin are mountain. A stack that enters one stops for the turn, and armor attacks into them at ×0.5.
- The Mississippi splits the middle. It runs along the borders from Minnesota down to Louisiana. The Missouri joins it past Kansas City, and the Ohio runs along Kentucky's northern border.
- The Appalachians shield the East Coast. West Virginia, East Tennessee, the Blue Ridge and Western Pennsylvania are mountain.
- The Great Plains are wide open. Kansas, Nebraska, the Dakotas and Oklahoma are plains, where armor moves fast.
- The five capitals are urban, and defend at +50%.
Tips#
- Take your side of the middle quickly. The cities near you fall in a few turns. Then put everything into Kansas City and St. Louis.
- Come at the middle from the open side. Kansas City is behind the Missouri from Kansas and Nebraska, but open from Iowa and the Ozarks. St. Louis is behind the Mississippi from Illinois, but open from Iowa. Iowa is the key to both.
- In a free-for-all, don't empty your home. Neighbours raid empty cities. Keep a garrison in your capital, even when your armies are far away.
- Two at war help the third. In a free-for-all, a long fight with one neighbour hands the game to someone else.
About the map#
Provinces merge counties into regions sized for play, so they don't follow state lines exactly. To keep the sides even, some big cities aren't cities in the game: Seattle, Boston, Miami and New Orleans are countryside. The Cascades are played as forest, and the desert as plains. Alaska, Hawaii and the territories aren't on the map. County data is from Natural Earth (public domain).