Ghost Lake

Ghost Lake is a slightly below-average snowy land map arranged around a broad frozen center. Players start opposite one another on a circle, while the lake occupies roughly 17.5% of the map area and stays clear of the opening player cores.

The ice can be crossed but cannot be built upon. It creates direct attack and reinforcement routes without allowing walls, production, or other structures to secure the middle. Most mines, hunt, forests, settlements, and cliffs avoid the lake center, so long-term resources collect around its rim and outer land.

Food and gold both vary substantially between seeds, but both players receive the same package rolls. Close and far hunt, bonus gold, settlements, and starting forests also use symmetric paired locations; starting gold and other later resources keep equal counts without identical positions. A low roll changes how soon both players must contest the lake edge and outer approaches.

Standard layout · Standard 1v1 Click to enlarge

Stock Ghost Lake combines a dependable protected opening with increasingly exposed hunt and a large, variable livestock population. Across the whole standard 1v1 map, initial finite food ranges from 12,400 to 22,500, with a weighted expectation of about 16,812. That opening total includes berries, chickens, goats at their starting value, and predator food; fully fattened goats can provide substantially more later.

Starting and close food

Each player receives the same shared 50% starting-hunt roll: either 4 boars or 3–4 aurochs inside tower vision. That hunt, the 4–6 opening berry bushes, and the 4–6 chickens per player all stay at least 8 meters outside the central lake area. Each player also owns 2–5 starting goats.

The next hunt is outside tower and settlement safety, 60–80 meters from each start, at least 8 meters outside the lake area, and 50 meters from the paired opposing group. Two-thirds of seeds give each player 1 boar with 1–2 aurochs; the remaining third gives 2–3 deer with 1–2 aurochs. Those alternatives contain similar low-end food, but the deer branch has the wider upper range.

Far hunt and berries

Far caribou are also mirrored at 70–100 meters from each start, outside tower and settlement safety and at least 8 meters outside the lake area. Sixty percent of seeds request one group of 7–11 per player; otherwise each player receives two groups of 5–6, with requested groups kept 50 meters apart. The second branch spreads more groups through the outer resource ring and raises the minimum total.

A further 5–9 berry bushes per player begin at least 60 meters from the associated start with no maximum distance. These berries remain outside tower and settlement ranges, at least 12 meters outside the lake area, and 50 meters from the opposing player's additional berry group.

The opening is dependable; the amount and shape of food beyond it are not. Scout the shared rolls before deciding how long a safe economy can last.

Goats and predators

Ghost Lake requests 10–18 goats per player: 2–5 at the start, two close groups of 2, one or two bonus groups of 2–3, and a final group of 2–3 on the central ice. Across both players that is 20–36 goats. They begin at 50 food each but can reach 300 when fully fattened. At full fattening, the 20–36 goats hold 6,000–10,800 total food, compared with 1,000–1,800 when generated.

The two close goat groups sit 50–70 meters from each start outside tower vision. Bonus goat groups begin at 70 meters with no maximum distance, while the central group is forced inside the lake area and at least 16 meters in from its edge. Within each package, requested group locations are kept 50 meters apart.

One to two predator groups per player use either arctic wolves or polar bears, with a shared 50% species roll. They begin at least 80 meters from every player start, outside tower and settlement safety, with requested groups 50 meters apart. Their placement has no lake exclusion, so their food is an opportunistic supplement rather than dependable land-based hunt.

Standard 1v1 requests three starting forest areas per player and five additional forest areas in each one-player team area: 16 forest-area requests in total. Each area uses an 80–100-tile size range, while starting stragglers and ten random trees add local wood outside those forests.

Every forest stays at least 12 meters outside the lake area, avoids town centers and farm-capable settlement space, and keeps 25 meters from other forests. The three starting forests per player are placed as symmetric 1v1 pairs around the openings. Five additional forests are then built inside each one-player team area and also avoid owner paths, spreading later timber across each player's side of the exposed land around the ice.

Starting stragglers add local trees without a separate Ghost Lake distance rule. Ten random trees are scattered more broadly while avoiding farm-capable settlement space and remaining at least 12 meters outside the lake area. The central lake itself contains no wood.

Gold is the map’s strongest numerical swing. A single 1–2 roll gives each player the same number of medium starting mines within the standard bounded opening radius. Those mines are forced near the tower arrangement without being guaranteed inside tower vision, avoid the towers themselves, and stay at least 8 meters outside the central lake area.

A further shared roll places 2–4 large mines per player as symmetric 1v1 pairs. They are at least 70 meters from every player start, have no maximum player distance, sit outside tower vision and settlement ranges, and remain at least 8 meters outside the lake area. Their requested locations stay 50 meters apart, avoid the map edge and its 40-meter corner zones, and are not confined to either player's team area. The extra gold therefore occupies exposed surrounding land rather than the central ice or protected openings.

Medium mines hold 3,000 gold and large mines 6,000. Across both players, the mine rolls yield a 30,000 minimum, 45,000 expected value, and 60,000 maximum. Starting mines provide the safer share; the large additional reserves demand expansion or control of the land around the lake.

The low roll carries half the gold of the high roll, so a rich seed can support much longer expansion play while a lean seed forces earlier contests over exposed reserves.

Each player receives two expansion settlements. The first is placed about 60–80 meters from the start with a backward bias on the opposite side; the second sits about 80–120 meters away with an aggressive bias. Both are paired symmetrically in 1v1, stay outside tower vision, avoid the map edge and 40-meter corner zones, and remain at least 16 meters outside the lake area.

Because neither settlement can occupy the ice, expansion control forms a ring around the centre. The aggressive site reaches farther into that ring, where mines, far hunt, forests, and traffic across the lake become easier to contest.

Standard 1v1 requests two relics per player, four total. Each is placed at least 80 meters from every player start, with no maximum distance, outside tower vision and settlement ranges, and with 80 meters of separation from other relics. Relics have no lake exclusion or team-area restriction, so their exposed locations can use outer land or the central ice rather than the protected opening.

The frozen lake is movement terrain, not a fishing economy. The script creates no fish or water resource, and the official description makes the construction limit explicit. Units can cut across the middle, but economic and military buildings must remain on surrounding land.

A deliberate goat group appears deep on the ice: it is forced inside the lake area, at least 16 meters from the area's edge and at least 60 meters from every player start. Those livestock reward early central scouting. Relics and predators have no lake exclusion, while mines, hunt, berries, forests, and settlements use exact 8-, 12-, or 16-meter lake clearances. The pictured layout is illustrative, and exact positions vary between generations.