Larger Map Sizes Please

[dumassjoe]

* Sorry if this has already be stated in the forum *

Civ 4 needs bigger maps.
In Civ 3 the largest size is 362 x 362, which is explored too quickly.
If you have the memory, you can run larger maps.

I'd like to see map sizes go up to at least 600 x 600, if not 1000 x 1000.

But I don't think that'll happen.

[Trajan13]

Well than this is going to ruin your day.

cIV will have smaller map sizes than Civ III.

Now, that's not a good thing from my perspective, but hey, I think we might be able to mod it to generate larger maps should we so desire.

[dumassjoe]

yeah, I guess you can mod almost anything in civ 4, so it could probably be done.

As it is now, the largest map size in the game (huge) is only like 160 x 160, so in civ 3 you have to use the editor to make larger map sizes.

But that's limited to 362 x 362

Hopefully the civ 4 editor will let you have larger maps.

[Sirian]

180x180 is nigh unplayable in the late game, on my system. I can't imagine 360x360. But 1000? Civ3 ends after 540 turns. If you send out a warrior on turn 10, he'd get halfway around the world by the time the game is over.

The AI is not designed to handle maps that large, either. It's got certain built-in assumptions.


I can understand wanting bigger maps. I like large maps myself. I also like to play the game, though, and past a certain size you more or less need a Cray. This is not due to memory, but to the pathfinding calculations. Civ3 has true pathfinding, and that is a blunt force operation. Take out the pathfinding, though, and AI performance drops in to the tank. I'd rather have smaller maps that play well than enormous ones where the AI sends its army in the wrong direction because it can't trace a path correctly.


I, too, hope that Civ4 does not neglect large maps. As a fan of large and huge maps in Civ3, I can say that I hope they have people in there who care about larger maps. (I'm sure they do!)


- Sirian

[brinko]

no kidding, 40 hours, and 2 ghz is enough