Variations gallery
The Variations button in the top bar opens a 3×3 grid of thumbnails so you can flip through nearby maps without disturbing your current one. It has two modes.
Two modes
Section titled “Two modes”- Seeds — same settings, nine fresh random seeds. Great for “what would this same look-and-feel be at a different terrain layout?”. Hit Shuffle for another nine.
- Vary a dimension — same seed, one setting swept from low to high across the nine tiles. Pick Water level, Mountains, Rivers, Terrain drama, and so on; the tile nearest your current value is marked current. Great for dialling in the amount of something.
How to use it
Section titled “How to use it”-
Dial the Foundry in to a look you’re happy with.
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Click Variations in the top bar and choose Seeds or Vary a dimension (and, in that mode, which setting to sweep).
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Wait a few seconds for the thumbnails to render — a dedicated worker makes them so they don’t block the main preview.
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Click any thumbnail. Seeds adopts that seed; Vary a dimension sets that value. The main preview rebuilds at full resolution.
Keep what you like, vary the rest
Section titled “Keep what you like, vary the rest”The Keep row at the top of the dialog is the same set of feature locks as the Build panel — lock Coast, Mountains, Rivers, and so on.
- In Vary a dimension mode, locks are honoured: because only the one setting moves, any feature you’ve kept that doesn’t depend on it stays identical across all nine tiles. Lock the coastline you love, then sweep Forests to find the right density without touching the shore. (A setting a lock depends on is greyed out in the sweep list — unlock it first to vary it.)
- In Seeds mode, new seeds reroll everything, so locks don’t apply there; adopting a seed clears them.
When to use it
Section titled “When to use it”- Right after applying a preset — see what the preset’s “vibe” feels like across a handful of layouts.
- When you’re close but want to try one more thing — the 9-up makes it fast to A/B without losing your current preview.
- Before committing — flip through a few alternatives to make sure you’ve picked the best layout for the campaign.
Related
Section titled “Related”- Seeds & history — the seed history strip remembers the last eight maps you’ve actually generated, not the unrendered variation thumbs.
- Presets — save the current settings so you can come back to them after exploring variations.