Resource heatmaps release confounds users; Shane clarifies

Earth 2 has released the heatmaps for Oil and Gold on its website. The heatmaps correspond to confirmed resource (Oil/ Gold) presence on existing player owned plots on the map.

According to Earth 2, Oil and Gold are rare but important resources for its EcoSim. However, some of the locations of these resources according to the heatmap has surprised Earth 2 users. For instance, certain cities like Tokyo, Nairobi and others show a high concentration of either Oil or Gold, on the other hand some known large mines do not show up in the current heatmap.

Nevertheless, the original announcement and subsequent clarifications given by Shane (Founder CEO, Earth 2) may offer some hints. Here are the take-aways:-

What do the current heatmaps show?

The current heatmap represents just the binary data, i.e. whether the said resource exists at a given plot or not. It does not yet display the frequency or amount of that resource in that location. However, if a property is shown in the current heatmap it represents one of the highest group of resource concentration / density for Gold or Oil. Earth 2 says it has refrained from releasing areas that still have Gold / Oil but in lower frequency as Players would not yet have any way of distinguishing between the various densities. For the currently released heatmaps, Earth 2 will monitor results over 2 weeks, checking it live on the production server, monitor feedback etc.

New Purchases: Should I buy close to the properties showing up on the resource heatmaps?

Players should be careful when purchasing adjacent properties to the ones showing on the heat-map, because it does not mean adjacent tiles will return the same result after purchase. Although Earth 2 has said that they are working with 'proximity radius datasets'. Even then, the new property could take 24 hours or longer to show up on the resources heatmap and if it has that particular resource.

What do I do if I think my property has Oil/ Gold but it is not showing up on the heatmap?

Earth 2 says that may not necessarily be a bad thing. Below are some key points to keep in mind

• The resource presence can be challenged via the Resource validation system coming up in the next 5-6 weeks

• Players who believe they have a confirmed resource have the opportunity to collaborate with other players to validate the resource presence, using the resource validation system, and earn a nice bonus (likely to be Essence)

• Earth 2 suggests to begin collecting evidence such as official URLs, PDFs, papers, images and other material you may have to support your claim

• The current heatmaps are only the first version and certainly not exhaustive; more locations for Oil and Gold will be added over the next few days/ weeks

• In the end, all properties will have some kind of resources and not necessarily Oil or Gold. Each resource will have a purpose within the EcoSim and thus the current heatmaps are just a start.
  

Shane says - "I knew that irrelevant of what we released, some would be upset, which is understandable, so we planned for this. You need to remember, the EcoSim is a game, there will be ways to strategize but there will also be times some Players get lucky in different ways. In this case, some Players got lucky having their resource validated early and not needing to submit a validation request, yet they lose a chance to collaborate with other players and receive bonuses in doing so later."