Uninteresting landmasses?

[salty mud]

I'd like to know which map types generate the best landmasses. Some of my most memorable games have been on the Earth map because of the interesting shapes, peninsulas and islands that appear on Earth. I find that CiV maps are mainly too blobby and don't generate good features like Earth. I mainly play Fractal and Terra. Can people recommend good alternatives?

Regards

 

[Lennier]

I play hemispheres a lot.

 

[georgjorge]

I like the Tectonics map (see http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=149278) a lot. It creates mostly Pangea maps it seems, but with interesting landscapes - big deserts, whole ranges of hills etc.

 

[Imperator Knoedel]

I really like Hemispheres, it's somewhere between Continents and Archipelago.

 

[Drakarska]

Big and small, with islands mixed in has always been a personal favorite. Every once in awhile when I have the 3 oldest boys over for a game, Perfect World 3 has been a huge success for our family Civ throwdown ( of course, it may be because of moms cookies, but that's another topic ).

 

[Timoteo]

I'd like to know which map types generate the best landmasses. Some of my most memorable games have been on the Earth map because of the interesting shapes, peninsulas and islands that appear on Earth. I find that CiV maps are mainly too blobby and don't generate good features like Earth. I mainly play Fractal and Terra. Can people recommend good alternatives?

Regards

I found that Archipelago maps using the "snaky continents" parameter make maps that don't have that blobby effect. They are also pretty random like fractal. Sometimes a Pangaea type continent with some smaller islands and sometimes several smaller continents.

Checkout the really useful map script reference tread if you already haven't:

http://www.civfanatics.com/civ4/reference/map_scripts_guide.php

Hope that helps.

Timoteo

 

[SnipedSoul]

Hemispheres is my favorite script.

 

[Rusten]

Hemispheres is my go-to. It can be set up many ways and is usually fairly balanced.

Tectonics balance can be silly at times, but I do play and enjoy it every now and then as it creates really unique situations. It's very good in that regard. Most definitely has interesting landmasses. IIRC the "no ice" setting removes most of the truly abysmal starts.

 

[Snydly]

After years of playing Pangaea ... I am really enjoying Hemispheres right now. Makes working on shipping more relevant.

 

[Windsor]

Are you guys using a specific number of hemispheres or random?

Also, don't you find that the placement of the continents to be extremely predictable?

 

[Lennier]

I use two children continents. In my current game, the eastern "continent" got generated as two separate land masses (with a rather large, sailable island). So not always that predictable.

 

[Colon]

Continents And Islands: https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/map-script-continents-and-islands.239203/ (though I did revert the tundra and ice latitudes changes because I'm fond of frozen wastelands)

Next to that, PerfectMongoose: https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/perfectmongoose-pw3-civ4-port.402816/
It's ideal if you want the feel and the realism of the earth-map. And it often creates some seriously pretty maps. I think it's the best of the plate tectonics-type scripts.

I don't play any of the base game scripts anymore, because they create maps that are either too predictable, have ugly continents, have terrain that's too scattered etc.

 

[6K Man]

On a related note, do any of these scripts work on nonstandard (i.e. overlarge) map sizes?

The only ones I know that work that work on oversized maps without any modification are Smart Map and Planet Generator 0.68. I'd love to try others.