Description of the Diamond template:

Starting zones contain: [0-3000]*12 + [3000-6000]*6 + [6000-8999]*3

Computer zones: [0-3000]*12 + [3000-6000]*6 + [10000-15000]*1

Intermediate zones: [0-3000]*9 + [9000-20000]*9 + [20000-30000]*3
This is an unconventional layout; it includes both unguarded minor resources and relics.
Also, there are 2 villages in each of the intermediate zones.

Guards: 3000 originating from the player respawn points and 6000 for all others.

The computer respawn points have gold mines.

Recommended rule adjustments:
1) Assign different races to all computers, distinct from the player races. The order doesn't matter; any race can be adjacent to any other.
2) When playing on TE/WT, disable the script for one-way teleporters, so they remain one-way.

The Diamond template is, in a sense, an ideological opposite to Mini-Nostalgia – it has the same size and number of computers, but while Mini has a strict structure with a map divided in half, Diamond is the opposite – the entire map is a battlefield, all computers are generally accessible, and only the nearest villages can be considered "yours," and even that's not always the case.

The template is quite rich, both due to the readily available resources and the large number of villages, which can increase income to 7-9 thousand per day by the end of the first week. For this reason, it makes sense to build several castles, not just the starting one.

In other words, this template implies a game with close contact with computers and the opponent; there are many roads in all directions, and a lot of teleporters and lifts.

The relatively easy guards and small size of the template imply a greater risk of restarting due to an early encounter than on other templates. This should be taken into account when scouting during the first week – it only makes sense to explore everything if the situation is bad and you need to either find loot or an encounter. If the situation is good, on the contrary, you should camp and hope that you won't be found.

I remind you that restarting due to an encounter is not just bad luck, but a mistake by the player who had the better starting position. This template illustrates this point in full. Therefore, if you have encountered the opponent for N generations in a row, this is a reason to think about the quality of your game. However, the guards of valuable objects in the intermediate zones can isolate players from each other for a while, which should also be taken into account.

For the same reason (the risk of restarting due to an encounter), it is recommended to play with classic one-way teleporters – they make scouting more difficult, but specifically on this template, they do not lead to "dead-end" situations with only one road leading out of the one-way teleporter. Because there are usually many roads, and the size of the zones is usually small, finding an entrance is not difficult.

(c) Article by Wicc on HP