Welcome to Picture Perfect, a column examining noteworthy pictures in army history. This edition will discuss how the server map changed over time.
Designed by Sweater
First Server Map – 2015 Club Penguin Army Central
Announcement of Map
Firstly, the Rebel Penguin Federation announced the first server map in July 2015 after several years of wars without a clear victor. Commando717, RPF Creator and Army Legend, created the map with Omega39 for a better system for armies to use. At the same time, Club Penguin Army Central formally introduced the new addition for more feedback from the community. The creation of a map limited territorial disputes and eliminated unclear outcomes of wars. The new map honored army history such as World War III when Club Penguin had several pages of American servers. Accordingly, each continent on the new map represented a page of these servers.
Following the war, Nachos, the Army of Club Penguin, and RPF unofficially owned servers on each page. Additionally, the map also reflected changes made over time to the game. It divided newer game servers among the existing territories based on their location on the server list. Next, the map had a color code for each army. These armies included RPF (Dark Gray), ACP, Nachos, Ice Warriors, Dark Warriors, Snow Ninjas, Pretzels, and Nachos SS. Finally, map updates came out weekly according to invasions mentioned on the Top Ten. While the map helped armies, it did not last in the long term.
2015-2016 Map
Problems with Map
By 2016, the map experienced a lack of updates and quickly became inaccurate. Moreover, the map’s contributors did not get enough feedback as needed to ensure the map worked. Many community members felt it was unnecessary as every army now owned servers on the map. Simultaneously, many armies claimed the same servers which created additional problems. With these problems, the map fell into disrepair over the next several months. Despite these issues, the first map established the foundations for later iterations. However, Club Penguin’s shutdown prevented any attempts to address the troubles with the first map.
Second and THIRD Server MapS – Cub Penguin Army Syndicate
Creation of a Second Server Map
As armies returned to Club Penguin Private Servers, Earthing and Twitchy543 created the second-ever server map for the Club Penguin Army Syndicate in 2018. The map exhibited similar qualities to the first one and experienced frequent activity. Unlike the first map, the servers represented those of multiple private servers such as Club Penguin Rewritten, SuperCPPS, and Vintage Penguin. Each continent consisted of servers on a specific CPPS as bigger continents had more territories. The most active armies included Elite Guardians of Club Penguin, Romans, Underground Mafias Army, Super Strikers, and Wild Ninjas. The map fell out of use after the shutdown of CPAS but was replaced by another similar map.
Comparatively, Flen created the third map with the help of SavageCobra. The new map did not have significant differences from the first one. While the maps had some differences, all were based on the first CPAC map made by Commando. After CPAS shut down, no map existed until Club Penguin Armies opened in 2019.
February 2018 Server Map
February 2019 Server Map
FOURTH SERVER MAP – Club Penguin Armies (2019)
Like the CPAS map, the CPA edition had armies spread out across multiple private servers. The league announced the new map in June 2019 months after CPAS officially shut down for the second time. Soon after, a server draft determined which armies got which servers. After two months of activity, the league’s administration added several more servers for armies to invade. Many armies accumulated territory on the new map such as EGCP, Lime Green Army, Recon Federation of Club Penguin, Winged Hussars, Cosmic Army, Pizza Federation, Mopia, and Green Street Gang. Later additions to the map consisted of RPF, Help Force, Templars of Club Penguin, and ACP. While the map experienced much activity, the league disintegrated by January 2020 as many armies left. Finally, the organization officially shut down a month later as the community returned to a mapless state.
July 2019 Server Map
FIFTH SERVER MAP – CLUB PENGUIN ARMY HUB
Opening of Map & Closure of Club Penguin Army Hub
While Club Penguin Army Media acted primarily as a news organization, the approval of a new map came not long before a merger of CPAM and CPOAL. Two months later, a map officially opened on Club Penguin Army Hub as multiple invasions took place. Like the other maps, there were several continents of territories that armies could invade. Furthermore, the map listed how many servers each army owned and included important information regarding possible wars in the community. Moreover, recent news also made an appearance on the sidebar. The most successful armies were RPF, IW, and DW as they dominated the map for an extended period. Finally, the map came to an end with CPAH’s closure in January 2021. Ultimately, the CPAH era saw maps become more advanced as they included more information.
CPAH Server Map
SIXTH AND SEVENTH Server MAPS – pROJECT CONQUEST & CLUB PENGUIN ARMY HEADQUARTERS
For many months, the community had no map despite the creation of Club Penguin Army Headquarters. Furthermore, disagreements over the league’s decisions caused the departure of RPF, IW, and HF. Additionally, two separate leagues in the form of CPAHQ and Club Penguin Army Network divided the community once again. Both organizations released maps at different times during the year. For instance, CPAHQ ran the Project Conquest tournament as a testing ground for new map ideas. The tournament used a hexagon-style map where the army with the most servers won after multiple weeks of battles. In the end, ACP came out on top after the tournament experienced much controversy.
The lessons learned from the tournament contributed to the final product of the new server map released later that year. The new map consisted of 100 servers and allowed armies to rename servers that they conquered from another army. For some time, Water Vikings dominated the map due to their victory over the Templars. Later on, Templars took over by the end of CPAHQ as the number one army in the community in 2022.
Project Conquest Map
CPAHQ Map
Final CPAHQ Map
EIGHTH AND NINTH MAPS – CLUB PENGUIN ARMY NETWORK & CLUB PENGUIN ARMIES 2.0
Club Penguin Army Network Map
Next, Club Penguin Army Network also had a map for months up until the merger of CPAN and CPAHQ in 2022. The map contained essential information about the contents of the map with a news feed and a link to the discord. Moreover, there were over 180 servers spread across multiple continents. Throughout its duration, several armies had land on the map such as RPF, IW, Fire Warriors, Special Weapons and Tactics, HF, and Golden Troops. Lastly, the map’s run ended after CPAN’s merger into CPAHQ.
CPAN Map
Club Penguin Armies’ First Map
After the establishment of Club Penguin Armies, the community reunited under one league after a year of division. Following the reunification, the league released a new map In July 2022 that consisted of 150 servers. Each army received 5 pieces of land during the server draft besides ACP, WV, and LGA. All three armies had their reasons for not participating. Regardless, the map quickly became active with the war between TCP and RPF. Despite a size disadvantage, RPF won the first major army war on the map. Even with their victory, TCP dominated the map in the first several months of the map’s existence. After a year of activity, TCP, ACP, and HF held the most land. Finally, the map experienced a reset in 2023 to limit the risk of stagnation. All in all, there were no significant changes between these two maps.
CPA Map
CPA Map as of October 2023
TENTH MAP – CLUB PENGUIN ARMIES’ 2ND Server MAP
Opening of Club Penguin Armies’ 2nd Server Map
From October 2023 to May 2024, the community had no map during which several off-map wars took place. However, CPA launched a new map where freeland invasions quickly took place. The new map continued the trend of large server maps although a server cap was instituted to limit the potential for monopolies. Additionally, not all servers became available as soon as the map came out. Moving on, the map contained legacy servers from Club Penguin and past private servers. However, a grace period also began to make freeland invasions easier. As armies established themselves on the map, many wars occurred between armies such as the ACP/WV war which was one of the first wars on the new map. By the end of the year, RPF had the most land on the map with ACP as a close second.
In January 2025, CPA added new elements to the map such as territory tiers and wilderness zones. The former required a minimum size to acquire a server while the latter mandated no allies present on those specific servers. With these new updates, armies unlocked a new continent and had more challenges in acquiring land. As of February 2025, the map is still open as ACP holds the most land with the last update on February 20. Overall, the map kept old elements of past maps with the adoption of new ones as well.
CPA’s 2nd Map
CPA Map in February 2025
Conclusion
With so many iterations of the map, most did not have significant differences from one another. At first, server maps existed as relatively small entities and grew into larger projects. Additionally, maps became more advanced with the addition of sidebars with essential information. Over the years, armies fell in and out of dominance of the map with the usual rollercoaster of the community. In short, the creation of the server map allowed for clearer war victors and had a significant impact on the community. What do YOU think of the server map? What could be changed about the map to make it better?
Aurora
Senior Reporter