Hi Johnn,

Wow, you pop up everywhere, eh?

My advice is to use the Tome with CC2 for awhile. Climb the software's learning curve and get used to the interface. If you like the results, upgrade to CC3. If not, you've saved the expense and have cash for another cartography package.

The Tome is excellent, but not 100% applicable to CC3. That said, CC3 improves on several CC2 functions. What I read most from new users is that the interface is difficult and that they have a hard time producing quality maps quickly. CCx takes time and practice to learn, so be prepared to expend some effort.

CC3 is easier to use than CC2, but but not as valuable without the annuals. There are a number of user-created tutorials, a lot of CCx support on the web, and the quick-start PDFs are more than enough to give you confidence to experiment.

Fractal Terrains is good, but not fully integrated with CC3. I also find its climate model lacking, and there's no plate tectonics (if you're into that kind of detail). On the plus side, it offer the best selection of map projections, excellent export functions (particularly to CC2), and the ability to customise many parms.

City Designer and Fantasy Symbol set aren't essential for what you're doing, but they'll give you faster and easier options. As others suggested, I'd recommend Dungeon Designer. One thing that CCx doesn't do well "out of the box" (and doesn't cover in the add-ons) is a good local map tool (smaller than sub-continent, larger than city). Maybe that's an upcoming annual...

I've used CCx since the DOS days. While it's never disappointed, it's not the first tool I reach for when I need a map in less than 3 hours. If you're looking for a worthy competitor, I could suggest nbos' Fractal Mapper (www.nbos.com). It doesn't have CCx's level of precision, but offers an easier interface, is highly customisable, and integrates with the Inspiration Pad random generator. There's also a tie-in script with the Random City Generator software, so you can create random settlements of any size in record time.

Let us know what you end up with. Cheers,