The map is the playing field of the game. It's only required feature is to determine which communities are neighbors to each other.

The game was conceived using a hex grid for its map – where each hex represents a single community. Thus, each community would have exactly six neighbors. However, more complex maps in any configuration could be used.

Only one of the characteristics is defined by the map: Defense. Each sector has a defense value which helps protect it from invasion.

A variant rule would be to assign different Defense values for each entry point into the sector. (For a hex grid, this would usually mean six different values).