A confession…

[Taefin]

I wonder if a 7 player game (1 fewer on DL) using the large map size (enabled by map mod) would enable more access to treasure resources without requiring war.

I find that DL is often proportionally smaller than HL, possibly to avoid there being a bunch of empty space there, which seems like the map team undid the intention of the team who intended there to be more expansion options into DL.

For me to play exploration, I need to be trailing at least one AI, and I need have something about an exploration civ that I am excited by and feels like it will help me catch that AI. However, currently with AI posing no victory risk in modern, this undermines the excitement overall.

 

[Boris Gudenuf]

I wonder if a 7 player game (1 fewer on DL) using the large map size (enabled by map mod) would enable more access to treasure resources without requiring war.

I find that DL is often proportionally smaller than HL, possibly to avoid there being a bunch of empty space there, which seems like the map team undid the intention of the team who intended there to be more expansion options into DL.

For me to play exploration, I need to be trailing at least one AI, and I need have something about an exploration civ that I am excited by and feels like it will help me catch that AI. However, currently with AI posing no victory risk in modern, this undermines the excitement overall.

I've been playing with 1 less AI in Distant Lands since just before the patch.

Everything is still very map dependent. As I posted earlier, finding Treasure Fleet resources since the patch is still a major pain, and without one Civ grabbing settlement sites it frequently just means I miss getting all 30 Treasure Fleet points by a smaller margin than otherwise, but I still miss.

On the other hand, in 1 game I reached a virtually empty quarter of the Distant Lands continent and placed a nice block of settlements that eventually (in Modern Age) was 2 Cities and 2 Towns - but only had 2 Treasure Fleet resources. They proved very useful in reaching for Artifacts in Modern Age, though, as they straddled two 'continents' not available in Homeland so I was able to research and identify Artifacts in all four continents immediately. This was a case when ignoring the Treasure Fleets turned out to be the way to go: I was better prepared for Modern Age as a result, and in the end got a World's Fair Victory easily with, for once, not having to fight a major World War in Modern Age.

 

[MutilationWave]

For me to play exploration, I need to be trailing at least one AI

Are you kidding? On deity the only AI I won't be trailing at the start of exploration is one totally devastated by war. Teach me your ways. Or not, I like challenge and there isn't enough of it as you said.