Choosing a Size
Map size is set on the New Game screen and cannot be changed once the game starts. Three sizes are available, each measured in grid cells.
| Size | Dimensions | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Small | 128 × 128 cells | Default. All systems are identical — you simply have less room to expand. Good for learning the game or running a focused, compact settlement. |
| Medium | 256 × 256 cells | Four times the area of Small. Plenty of room to separate industrial, residential, and farming districts without things feeling cramped. |
| Large | 512 × 512 cells | Sixteen times the area of Small. Sprawling terrain with proportionally more of everything — forests, rivers, stone deposits, iron veins, and space for wildlife to range well away from your settlement. |
What Changes with Size
Map size scales more than just the playable area. The terrain generator uses the same algorithms at every size, so a larger map produces proportionally more of everything.
Resources
More stone deposits and iron ore veins are distributed across the map. On a Small map with many mines running, you can genuinely exhaust local deposits within a few decades. On Large, this is much harder to do.
Forest and foraging
More forest cells mean more berries, herbs, and mushrooms, more habitat for wildlife, and more timber for the long term. Reforestation zones have more unoccupied land to work with.
Water features
Rivers and lakes scale with the map, giving fishing huts multiple waterways to work from and more shoreline variety.
Wildlife range
Wild animals (deer, boar, rabbits) have more territory. On a Small map, a bustling settlement can push wildlife toward the edges and make hunting less reliable. On Large, animals have room to roam far from your noise and activity, and populations recover more readily.
Logistics
Citizens have to walk further to everything. Roads matter more on Medium and Large — a settlement without a road network on a Large map will feel noticeably sluggish compared to the same settlement on Small. Budget time and stone for road-building before you expand.
Starting Area
Regardless of map size, the game finds a flat, clear area near the centre of the map for your starting position. The search radius used to find that spot scales with map size, so on a Large map the algorithm has more room to find a good central plateau. On Highlands maps this area is smaller by nature of the terrain; on Valley maps it's wider.
The starting area has no trees, stones, or obstacles within a short radius of your founding position — enough room to place your first buildings without immediately needing to clear land.