Overview
Nile Shallows is a compact, aggressive map built on one continuous field of crossable shallow water. The bases, expansion sites, Gold, most later hunt, and far berries sit on raised grass patches scattered through that field. There is no deep-water layer and no fishing economy.
The abundance comes from food rather than safety. Five separate hunt layers can fill the map with cranes, gazelles, hippopotamuses, and aurochs, while long-term Gold and both expansion tiers begin beyond the bases. Crossable shallows keep those patches reachable, but they also leave few terrain walls against raids.
Scout the raised patches, not just the shoreline around your base. The next hunt, mine, settlement, or relic may be across open shallows, and controlling several small economic footholds matters more than holding one continuous landmass.
Shallows & Raised Land
The entire map begins as Nile shallow water. Each player then receives a raised 40-meter radius-equivalent home area. Smaller 17.5-meter radius-equivalent patches are built beneath accepted expansion settlements, later Gold, five hunt layers, and far berries, with four additional raised patches placed around the map.
| Raised layer | Normal 1v1 role | Successful-layout pattern |
|---|---|---|
| Player areas | Starting Town Centers and opening economy | 1 per player |
| Settlement patches | Backward and aggressive expansions | 2 per player |
| Gold patches | Close and outer large mines | 4–5 per player |
| Hunt and berry patches | Five hunt layers plus far berries | 6 per player |
| Additional patches | Unassigned raised ground | 4 map-wide |
These are not a fixed count of isolated islands. Raised areas can overlap, merge, or fail to fit, and the water between them is shallow rather than a deep barrier. The stable gameplay idea is a fragmented raised economy linked by open shallows, not an archipelago that requires transport ships.
Food
A successful normal Standard 1v1 layout contains 21,900–36,900 initial finite land food, with 28,875 expected. The total includes goats at their initial value and excludes the separate crocodile predator layer. There are no fish to add or double-count.
Opening food
| Package | Per player | Food on map |
|---|---|---|
| Starting hunt | 3–4 hippopotamuses | 3,000–4,000 |
| Starting berries | 4–6 bushes | 1,200–1,800 |
| Starting chickens | 4–6 | 800–1,200 |
| All goats | 8–9 total per player | 800–900 initial |
Sixteen to eighteen goats appear across the opening, a 50–70-meter close layer, and two outer groups per player from 70 meters onward. They hold 800–900 food initially or 4,800–5,400 when fully fattened.
Five later hunt layers
| Layer | Possible animals per player | Distance | Food on map |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close light hunt | 8–10 cranes or gazelles | 60–80 m | 2,000–4,000 · 2,925 expected |
| Close heavy hunt | 4–6 hippos or aurochs | 60–80 m | 4,000–6,000 · 5,000 expected |
| Outer light hunt | 8–10 gazelles or cranes | 80+ m | 2,000–4,000 · 2,925 expected |
| Outer heavy hunt | 4–6 hippos or aurochs | 80+ m | 4,000–6,000 · 5,000 expected |
| Outer mixed hunt | 8–10 cranes or 4–6 hippos | 80+ m | 2,000–6,000 · 3,625 expected |
Each layer makes its own 50/50 species choice, but both players receive the same species and count within that layer. Hunt groups stay 50 meters apart, outside tower vision and settlement space, and the outer three layers remain at least 80 meters from every start.
Berries and shallow-water predators
One far berry group per player adds seven to ten bushes at 70–100 meters, at least 70 meters from every start. Separately, eight crocodiles are placed in the shallows from 80 meters outward. Their 2,000 food is dangerous predator food, not ordinary hunt or fishing.
Wood
Nile Shallows can attempt forty-six 60–80-tile Nile-palm forest areas: three paired forests per player near the starts and twenty later forests on each player's side. Starting stragglers and twenty scattered palms add smaller sources.
Those counts describe opportunities, not a guaranteed wood stockpile. Forests must remain 20 meters apart, at least 4 meters from water, and outside Town Centers and farm-capable settlement space. On fragmented raised ground, accepted forest area and tree density can vary sharply.
Wood is a positioning problem despite the high area count: secure several compact palm patches and keep shallow-water approaches visible rather than relying on one large protected forest.
Gold Mines
A complete successful layout contains 54,000–66,000 Gold, with 60,000 expected. Two medium starting mines provide 6,000. Everything else comes from eight to ten large mines on raised patches beyond the home areas.
| Layer | Per player | Distance | Gold on map |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starting | 1 medium mine | Opening area | 6,000 |
| Close | 2 large mines | 50–70 m · 55+ m from every start | 24,000 |
| Outer | 2–3 large mines | 70+ m from every start | 24,000–36,000 |
Later mines remain 50 meters apart and avoid edges, 40-meter corner zones, tower vision, and settlement space. The first expansion layer can help cover close Gold, but the final 24,000–36,000 lies in the open outer patch network.
Settlements & Map Control
Nile Shallows attempts two symmetric expansion sites per player. The backward pair sits 60–80 meters from the starts; the aggressive pair sits 80–120 meters away. Accepted sites receive their own raised ground.
Both tiers avoid edges, tower vision, and 40-meter corner zones, and the outer pair also avoids King of the Hill. Their raised patches do not create permanent safety: crossable shallows connect the surrounding hunt, mines, and attack routes.
A settlement anchors one economic patch, not the whole map. Expansion timing is strongest when it also secures nearby outer hunt or Gold and watches the shallow approaches between patches.
Relics
Two relics are attempted per player, up to four. Every relic begins at least 80 meters from every start with no maximum distance, and relics remain 80 meters apart while avoiding edges, tower vision, and settlement space.
Relics are not tied to player land, a settlement patch, or a specific shoreline. Their relationship to the nearest expansion and Gold cluster changes with each seed, so outer shallow-water vision is as important as memorizing a direction.
Current stock nile_shallows.xs/xml and standardmaps.set establish the normal Standard-size 1v1 execution path. Thirty-seven object packages exist across all branches; thirty-five are created in this scope, one of those receives zero placements, and the large-map settlement and hunt packages do not execute. lib2/rm_core.xs is absent, so helper-owned starting bands, tower radius, pair spacing, retry budgets, and fallback behavior remain unnumbered. Counts describe intended successful layouts and can finish lower if locations or areas fail. The 21,900–36,900 food range uses canonical values, goats at initial food, excludes the separately reported 2,000 crocodile food, and contains no fish. The workbook's 254 × 254 dimensions, 35,250 and 30,400 Food, 140,407 Wood, and 54,000 and 66,000 Gold are stock Scenario Editor observations. The approved overhead is one example seed; alternate map and UI assets, including the separate River Nile map, contribute no behavior or distance claim.
- Official game stringQuoted game copy
- Game script inspectionPlacement rules and requested ranges
- Derived calculationTransparent calculations from sourced values
- Scenario Editor observationScenario Editor totals and layout
- Strategic analysisPlayer-facing interpretation