MAP READING // 0 A.D.

DOCTRINE Three Laws of Map Reading READ FIRST

LAW 01 — Every map is a strategy. The terrain is telling you how to play if you can read it. Don't force one playstyle on every map.

LAW 02 — The minimap is your first scout. Read it for 10 seconds before sending a single unit.

LAW 03 — Maps are mostly mirrored. What you have near you, they have near them. Use this for prediction.

PRIMER The Minimap is Your First Scout COLOR CODES

0 A.D. color-codes resources on the minimap. You can see the resource layout of the entire map before moving a single unit. Take 10 seconds at game start to actually look.

FOOD

red dots — berries, animals, hunt

WOOD

green pockets — forest clusters

STONE

grey clumps — deposits

METAL

orange/brown — rarer, contested

WATER

blue — fishing, transport, barrier

MODEL The Three Rings YOUR MAP MENTAL MAP

// Inner Ring (within 20s walk)

Yours. Exploit fully. Berries, sheep, near forests, near stone. Your villagers gather here without escort.

// Middle Ring (20-40s walk)

Second CC territory. Contested with enemy. Most fights happen here. Drop your second CC at the resource cluster closest to a defensible position.

// Outer Ring (40s+ walk)

Far resources. Only viable late game or via aggressive expansion + forts. Expanding here without infrastructure = giving the enemy free kills.

Use this: draw the rings mentally at game start. It tells you where to expand and where the fights will happen.

RULE The Mirror Principle PREDICT WITHOUT SCOUTING

// The Insight

Most 0 A.D. maps are roughly symmetric. If you have a stone deposit 20 tiles north of your CC, the enemy almost certainly has one 20 tiles north of theirs.

// What it lets you predict

Where they'll expand — the same resource clusters you'd take
Where contested fights happen — between equivalent resource pockets
Where to scout first — mirror your own resource positions across the map
What civ-shape they're playing — same map, same options

Use it like this: "I have stone close, so they do too. Their second CC will go there. That's where I'll harass."

SHAPES Five Map Archetypes EACH ASKS A STRATEGY

Almost every map falls into one of these shapes. Each has a distinct "correct" approach.

OPEN

Flat, no chokes. Combined arms. Walling is useless. Cav harass + mobility wins.

CHOKE

Narrow passes. Walls + towers paradise. Turtle + raid wins.

ISLAND

Water between. Ships matter. Slow tempo, naval economy.

HIGHLAND

High ground in middle. Control the heights = win. Vertical positioning.

ASYMMETRIC

Mixed terrain. Scout MORE. Vision matters more than usual.

DRILL The 30-Second Survey DO BEFORE CLICKING

At game start, before clicking anything:

Time	What to look at
0-5s	Scan minimap for resource colors. Where's wood, stone, metal?
5-10s	Identify nearest food, wood, stone, metal within 20s walk.
10-15s	Look at terrain: hills, water, choke points. What archetype is this?
15-20s	Guess enemy position. Largest empty zone on minimap = probably them.
20-30s	Pick first 2 villager assignments + scout direction.

30 seconds sets up your whole game. Skip this and you spend the next 5 minutes catching up.

SIGNAL Resources → Strategy THE MAP WHISPERS

The TYPE of resources tells you what army to build. The map is whispering. Listen.

What the map has	What it's asking
Lots of trees, dense forests	Wood-rich → mass ranged armies cheaply
Open ground, few obstacles	Cav-friendly → mobile play, no point walling
Lots of stone deposits	Wall up, tower-heavy defense
Lots of metal	Push for champions / elephants late
Few resources overall	Small armies, tech rush, no waste
Hunt-rich (deer, boar)	Cav useful for hunt + harass
Water-heavy	Build a dock, get fishing boats

TERRAIN Natural Features as Weapons THE MAP IS BUILDING FOR YOU

Feature	Use it as
Hills / high ground	Outpost vision range +. Tower attack range +. Place defense here.
Cliffs	Impassable. Free walls. Build with cliff at your back, only wall the open side.
Forests	Slow movement, hide units. Ambush positions. Wood income.
Water	Fishing income, transport, natural barrier on that side.
Bridges / fords	Often the ONLY way across. Wall them — instant kill zone.
Narrow passes	Mountain or canyon gaps. The map's free choke point.

The map already built half your defense. Just complete it. Don't fight terrain — use it.

STATE Reading the Game State AHEAD / EQUAL / BEHIND

Beyond the map itself: where is the GAME? Check the score, population, military, and tech. Then make decisions based on which side of the ledger you're on.

// The four metrics that matter

Villager count — biggest leading indicator. +15 villagers = winning.
Military count + composition — are you behind in numbers OR in tech?
Phase progress — who's in Phase III first?
Map control — how many of your buildings are OUTSIDE your starting area?

// Decision matrix

+

AHEAD

Press the advantage. Push, raid, expand. Don't let them catch up. Tech up to widen the gap.

=

EQUAL

Look for openings. Scout aggressively. Find the unbalanced spot — their weak flank, their thin eco — and concentrate force.

−

BEHIND

Stall + scale. Wall up, tower up, sit. Don't engage. The clock is your ally — tech up and let their advantage erode.

// The honest check (every 90 seconds)

Am I ahead, equal, or behind on each metric?
Is my plan still the right plan, or do I need to switch?
What's the one thing I can do right now to widen / close the gap?

Don't play on autopilot. The right move at 8 minutes is wrong at 16 minutes. Re-read the state regularly.

ENDPLATE Map Reading Habits MEMORIZE

Minimap first. Read it before clicking anything.
30-second survey at game start. Don't skip.
The map mirrors. Predict the enemy's layout from your own.
Three rings. Inner = yours. Middle = contested. Outer = late-game.
Identify the archetype. Open / Choke / Island / Highland / Asymmetric.
Let resources dictate strategy. Don't force a plan onto the wrong map.
Use terrain as free defense. Cliffs, hills, water, forests, narrow passes.
Read the state every 90s. Ahead = press. Equal = open. Behind = stall.