Does anyone have any good maps for Indonesia to share?

[phryxolydian]

I just spent more than an hour rolling maps on Small Continents trying to get an interesting map for Gojah. I'll have to try Large Islands next but atm my head is spinning with Gojah's intro.

With or without map packs is fine. No mods, please. Immortal or Deity difficulty is preferred but I'll also take Emperor at this point. Cheers!

 

[Makenshi]

The BEST map to play Indonesia is Earth. Just reload until you spawn in southeast Asia, from there you can place your Spice Islands in the nearby island chain and Australia.

Still, I recommend at least 2 cities in the mainland, to shield you capital. Don't leave it exposed!

 

[phryxolydian]

I tried Large Islands and I think it was closer to what I had in mind. I still settled 2 more cities in my home island before NC and, while I was waiting for Philo, I built a quick settler on the cap just in time to start on the NC and sent him more or less blindly to where I thought Venice was in that game as there where probably good spots to settle. I also built yet another settler in my 2nd city while NC was being built in the cap and send him there as well. Ended up settling Mt. Kilimanjaro just a few tiles from Venice and bought a Salt and Silver on the spot, effectively interrupting his road to his puppet CS. So mean... But, I did get the "building cities too aggressively" modifier with practically everyone. Not sure Trad is the right approach as Indonesia, Liberty is probably slightly more effective.

 

[Makenshi]

Venice, huh? Might be a good idea to wait until he builds the Forbidden Palace (he loves it) and then conquer him.

About Tradition x Liberty: I almost always use both. If the game is unmodded, Tradition is usually better at first because monarchy, aqueducts, etc. But don't underestimate the early academy from liberty's finisher (if you choose a GS, that is; but who wouldn't?).

On a modded game it depends on what is in play: I for one use no-beelining, less penalties for expanding and something that only allows amphiteaters/aqueducts to appear after the respective tech is discovered. Thus, early liberty is better (since tradition's main stuff won't magically pop out of thin air).

 

[phryxolydian]

I looked for my save and I seem to have deleted it by accident. Oh well... Someday I'll try 'em again.

About the GS, I wouldn't always choose him. It varies from game to game. Sometimes it is much better to grab a GE and rush your NC in order to still get it before T90, which is much harder to get if you've been expanding aggressively. Read Acken's Wide Liberty guide for more on this.

I imagine your no bee-lining way of playing does allow you to get both full Trad and full Liberty but this is really not a good idea, imo. Unless you are Poland or something this means that getting through Rationalism and ideologies will require A LOT more culture than it normally does, effectively making every game much longer. Games take long enough as it is so, not for me.

 

[Makenshi]

I also modded culture:

Amphitheater: +2 [+4 with a great work, very rare]
Opera House: +4 [+6 with a great work, very rare]
Museum: +4 [+8 with two great works/artifacts, kinda rare but happens]
Broadcast Tower: +6 [+8 with a great work, never happened lol]

Also, when I get the Mosque-Cathedral [a modded wonder], all temples empire-wide yield +2 culture.

Add pagodas, mosques and/or monasteries from religion, I can get an extra from +2 to +6 per city [it is rare and requires some effort, to convert to foreign religion,get their religious building, than convert back to my own, multiples times per city, to do this particular trick].

Usually I can fill at least 4 policy trees, plus get a lv3 ideological tenet, before the game ends. I like to go Tradition + Liberty + Commerce + one of the victory related trees: Patronage [diplo], Aesthetics [culture], Rationalism [science] or Honor [domination].

PS: whatever the victory, I almost always make an effort/compromise in order to get at least 2 in Rationalism. Its just too good to pass.

PS: I tried a diplo game with Piety+Patronage openers once, thinking about going Commerce as 3rd, for massive CS bribes. Never again, I swear to God... being on the short of the science stick is horrible!

 

[beetle]

@OP, I want to wish you best of luck as I never was, much to my dismay, figure out good map setting for Indonesia. Small Islands actually worked best for me, but the AI fares poorly with watery maps, so that very much detracts from the appeal.

It is too bad really, since Indonesia seems like they should be excellent for going wide. Three more cities than normal, right? But you want your spice islands to be productive contributors on top of the lux, so you still have to be choosy. I actually ended up doing better with Tradition (and sticking with 5 or 6 cities) than I did with Liberty (at 6+ cities).

That was before I started playing with downloaded map scripts though, so there may be some out there that provide decent-enough islands without being too watery.

 

[phryxolydian]

Yeah, that's what I went for in that Large Islands game: 3 city NC using Trad and then quickly spammed the other 3 (had pre-built 1 before NC and built a 2nd one in another city). But, it does seem wrong... I wish Hellblazer had some scripts for Archipelago or something, since Acken and consentient suggested I've only been playing with these scripts and they are much, much better, indeed! My only problem with them is that you really have to scout every single corner to find CS!

I might try Small Islands, just hope they are too small!

 

[beetle]

I did not have luck with Archipelago. Indonesia needs the three spice islands to be disconnected from elsewhere, and archipelago tends to give strings/snakes.

 

[phryxolydian]

Ah, right. Well, anyway, this map types are so seldom played that I don't know if there are good modded scripts for Large/Small Islands? Some of the ones I rolled are just downright terrible.

 

[psparky]

You could try Planet Simulator:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/planet-simulator.526882/

It produces pangaea or continents maps with nice mountain ranges in particular but the reason I mention it, is that it offers some control over islands. Maybe a continents map with islands set to "Frequent and Varied" would be suitable. The "Arcs of Small Islands" setting may also be of interest.

 

[phryxolydian]

Thanks for the rec!

Btw, if I ever get a map I consider "good", I'll definitely post the save. It's amazing how hard it is to find one.

 

[Makenshi]

I still say Southeast Asia in the Earth map is the best possible colonizing area for Indonesia. I'll see if I can dig some old screens of a game I played this way.

EDIT - here they are:

Spoiler :

Looking back, I could have settled in much better spots of those islands, but I guess it worked out and serves to exemplify that this map is the way to go with Indonesia.

I went a little agressive on the city spam, but the fact is I won a science victory. Yes, took me 500+ turns [on Epic], but it was a damn good time. Too bad the AI doesn't like expanding, so much uncolonized land... but then again, at the time I played on Prince, so there is that. Also, poor Venice got land locked...

 

[phryxolydian]

Thanks, Makenshi! I appreciate your replies and feedback so please don't be offended when I say that that is not really what I'm looking for. The problem is that your empire is mainly in Asia... Tbh, It would make little difference if you wouldn't have settled Aussie lands (which you seem to have settled fairly late?). The island where Jayapura is settled is more like what I'm after (though I wouldn't have settled it there! ). Very thin islands like Fuji are OK in the long run but, because they're often lacking in production (few hills/sheep/horses), getting them to not lag behind is definitely something to keep in mind on higher levels. Just imagine if Vancouver and Surabaya where both in one island, that be the sweet spot.

Anyways, seems Large Islands just means the island where the player and the AIs spawn are big enough to fit 2-3 (maybe 4) cities and then the rest is just 1-4 tile islands spread around randomly, even with Low Seas. Tomorrow I shall try Small Islands, didn't have time to test today but, I think I might have more luck there.

 

[Makenshi]

None taken.

Keep us updated! I wanna see your empire when you find the map you're looking for!

 

[Asterix Rage]

You could try Planet Simulator:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/planet-simulator.526882/

It produces pangaea or continents maps with nice mountain ranges in particular but the reason I mention it, is that it offers some control over islands. Maybe a continents map with islands set to "Frequent and Varied" would be suitable. The "Arcs of Small Islands" setting may also be of interest.

Planet Simulator fill all your needs about map matter
Open the .lua with an editor and make the map you dreamt about