Originally posted by GilJaysmith:
Programmer
This is where the eight circles are located... their positions are calculated as percentages of the map size:
Position 50%, 25%, radius 35% (bottom middle)
Position 50%, 75%, radius 25% (top middle)
Position 25%, 75%, radius 15% (top left)
Position 75%, 75%, radius 15% (top right)
Position 19%, 50%, radius 15% (left middle)
Position 81%, 50%, radius 15% (right middle)
Position 18%, 18%, radius 15% (bottom left)
Position 82%, 18%, radius 15% (bottom right)
Generally the attackers beam up in the north and the defenders in the south, although obviously if you fight 7v1 then the defender will get bottom-middle and the attackers everywhere else.
On non-river stratmap games the positions are rotated for variety, so you might find yourself attacking from the southwest rather than the north. This doesn't happen in MP games.
On coastal maps these positions are all shoved over to the left slightly. (We still only support eastern coasts.)
On river maps the positions are shifted up or down to ensure that attackers always deploy to the north and defenders to the south of the river. This is why playing MP on Bannockburn is risky because the river is far to the south and there might be nowhere for the defenders to deploy. This falls under the old "some maps may be unsuitable for multiplayer" disclaimer.
On castle maps the attackers have slightly smaller home circles slightly further away from the castle, but any of them can deploy pretty much anywhere they want; the circles are just for the initial troop beam-in.
Gil ~ CA
