Generated Maps:Global Distributions

Q&A with Relic on Global Distributions
Question & Answers with Relic developers on the prioritization on how the global distribution system works.

I've noticed instances with some global distributions where the balance of trees is heavier on one side of the map, and it looks as though the side with the least amount of trees is because of the stealth forest (from the global distribution) taking it's place.

"With global distributions, it isn't using any sort of player balancing, so it doesn't really have any concept of 'side of the map', it just will spawn things anywhere the score map says is available up to the spawn amount. If the stealth forest entry is above it in the list, the stealth woods will spawn first and take up the space, but they aren't ever trying to spawn on a certain side of the map."

Do global distributions take into account existing hand-placed resources?

"Yes, they do, as every resource respects a single global occupation map that tells the resource placement system whether a given cell has an object occupying that space already. It's always just a matter of order of operations to determine what will get placed in a given spot first, with local resources (Lua terrain type resources) -> balanced resources -> global distributions being the spawn order"