…which is to say, I don't have to make every crag in my virtual mountains.

I've been working on some random map generation scripts using the Perlin noise algorithm (known for generating realistic terrains). It makes nice terrains - but they are built on a larger scale than what I need. In common language, this means that they represent too large areas of terrain, with multiple mountains and seas built into a single map - and generally quite rough. It's difficult to describe exactly what was wrong with it - suffice it to say that there weren't enough flat, level areas to build cities on. So I messed with the algorithm a bit, making it square-based more than linear (which in common terms means mountains rise up more steeply than valleys); made low terrain generally flat; and am currently messing with terrain detail level and smoothing.

Visuals:

Other elements of progress in DoC include modifications to the minimap (it now shows resource locations and better-colored terrain) and further messing with the build guidance system.