Any point in non-pangaea maps?

[GrayingGamer]

In the relatively few games I have played, it seems like civs just don't handle any amount of water very well. Archipelago maps are pretty much a joke, and continent maps just feel like 'pangaea lite.' Pangaea seems like the only map that is remotely competitive, militarily, and even then you're still dealing with the sub-par overland AI.

Does anyone play non-pangaea maps and not feel like they're basically cheating?

 

[spfun]

yeah water maps are pretty bad. I've played about 5 in recent times & not once has the AI DoW on me. & in some of the water based maps the AI don't expand like they should, leaving half the map free until its to far through the game to matter.

 

[sebasm]

Pangaea seems like the only map that is remotely

Fractal, Great Plains and a bunch more are more than cool to play. Actually, I find Fractal the most interesting.

Just click on advanced options and check them out.

 

[Polycrates]

Continents is good because you never know if there's going to be a runaway AI on the other continent that's going to be very hard to deal with by the time you meet them. There's also a real reason to race for Astronomy, since acquiring more potential trading partners/city states can be a big benefit. And there's something cool about sending your caravel out into the great blue beyond (also the water graphics are snazzy). So it's really makes it a game of two halves - one of you against your continent-fellows and one of you against the world, which I think adds spice to it.
Sure the AI sucks at intercontinental invasion, but it's a lot harder for a player as well unless you've got a solid tech lead. Making a beachhead and defending/expanding it can be a big challenge and a lot of fun.

 

[The_Quasar]

I find fractal interesting, as you never know what there is... it might be a pangaea, or it could be almost anything else. I've never had an archipelago with fractal, but it has thrown up many challenging scenarios. Thing I like best is it's unpredictability, on a pangaea or continents you know roughly the size and locations, not so with fractal. My current one is interesting too, it threw me and 5 others on a continent, with most of the CS, two other civs had large islands to themselves, plus a CS or 2. Of course, the 2 island civs got way ahead... makes for a good challenge!

 

[DemonMaster]

I have just tested (or still is since the game is not finished) a Continent +. It through me a couple of continents with all the civs on, fairly evenly divided. Then a whole bunch of islands with most of the CS on. It was actually very hard not be able to have a couple of CS to interact with.
Regarding oversea campaigns I must say that in my game Spain (small only about 5-6 cities) and Denmark (also small) had a cool war in my waters (my?). I saw fleets passing by in both directions.
That war was won by ...

Spain.

Denmark must be embarrassed, loosing a naval & amphibious war.
I will probably not play this map for some time, not because it wasn't fun, but since variation is the key to a fun game (for me at least) and their are a lot of map scripts to test out. But when I'm not testing mapscripts I usually go with Fractal.

 

[Johan de Witt]

Oval!

Pangea with large bays and inland seas...

 

[He-Who-Hunts]

I generally play terra, not that I colonize the new world or anything I just play peaceful games and exploring the other continent gives me something to do during the mid game.

 

[danieladler]

I mostly play pangea because of the AI unability to wage war across water. But sometimes i play fractal if i want to aim for solely cultural or science victory. Love the bottle necks that often comes with fractal. Makes it great to build up nice defence lines with a small number of units in emperor and above difficulty. I would say 50/50 fractal and pangea. They are almost the only maps i ever play.

 

[ColinTH]

Ring games are quite good, all civs seperated by a 2 - 4 tile wide isthmus (your choice), you can choose the type of terrain eg mostly forrest, jungle etc. Each civ starts with a similar size land mass, if you want to go conquering, the hardest choice you have to make is clockwise or anticlockwise for your start.

 

[SammyKhalifa]

Frankly, to me it's the Pangaea that feels like cheating--especially if you're going for a domination victory. You also don't have to worry about getting Astronomy and the like as much.

 

[noncognosco]

Different maps are good because they force you to change the way you play. If you always use pangaea you will always play the same way with the same sequence of moves. It gets boring.

If anyone is looking for an interesting one, try playing the Amazon map. Consider selecting Aztecs as at least one AI, maybe several.

 

[illusiondrmr]

Well, i want to play earth oriented maps. So, i just prefer playing continents because it will generate something like earth. (America / Europe-Asia).

Also, if u play pangea u dont have to worry much about ur fleet. So, basically it takes out of the game the naval wars, which imo sux.

I find fractal interesting, as you never know what there is... it might be a pangaea, or it could be almost anything else. I've never had an archipelago with fractal, but it has thrown up many challenging scenarios. Thing I like best is it's unpredictability, on a pangaea or continents you know roughly the size and locations, not so with fractal. My current one is interesting too, it threw me and 5 others on a continent, with most of the CS, two other civs had large islands to themselves, plus a CS or 2. Of course, the 2 island civs got way ahead... makes for a good challenge!

Never tried fractal.. sounds very interesting. In fact, im starting a new game with this map type ;D

 

[bryanw1995]

Fractal is great, that and continents are my two favorites currently. 4 corners and pangea are the other 2 that I typically play. Archipelago is typically pretty boring, not much warfare and when there is it's too easy for the human to dominate. I've played a few times on small continents, that's very hit or miss but can be fun sometimes.

 

[Pazyryk]

If you find all the default maps bland (as I do) try PerfectWorld 3 or Tectonics. The land features are much more interesting, with real mountain ranges that matter and a good mix of large and small land masses. I play PerfectWorld 3 mostly, and I can say that about 50% of worlds place all or most civs on one connected landmass (sort of a Eurasia/Africa kind of thing). This allows for development of super-civs, which I like.

 

[starrywisdom]

Honestly the improvements to macro management of units in water areas(IE: all units can embark and cross ocean with specific tech) makes playing on water maps much...much...much...more enjoyable. Honestly, I didn't bother playing games with water in Civ4 due to the hassle of getting people across it.

 

[galahadba]

Well contients with at least a large map and epic speed for me is better and the only competitive way... on a panagea you can always use force to take an ai that is getting ahead of you in tech... if you have an ocean between you it is more dificult, first becouse you need an advanced tech (navigation), and by the time you get it normaly you alread have some AI with an entire continent of their on and with the bonus (on highter levels) they can compete with you in tech, culture and CS...

 

[dayfax]

I've been playing archipelago and small continent maps. I've found that AI has little interest in building or maintaining any kind of navy.

My last game every major civ and almost all citystates declared war on me. But they never showed up on my shores. No navies, no embarked units.

This is disappointing because I like to play as England, but the movement bonus and the Ship of Line are overkill. I end up ruling the seas by default, because nobody else cares.

 

[cccv]

Yes, because different people play differently?

Continent maps are perfect for me because I like doing some conquering and breaking some AIs, but I reach a point where I think "ok, I'm sick of sloshing through city after city, I just want to win peacefully now."

To this day I have never won a true domination victory (ie, one not accomplished with a dual Pangaea map). Not in V or IV, and I don't recall about II.

 

[WeneedmoreCivs]

In the relatively few games I have played, it seems like civs just don't handle any amount of water very well. Archipelago maps are pretty much a joke, and continent maps just feel like 'pangaea lite.' Pangaea seems like the only map that is remotely competitive, militarily, and even then you're still dealing with the sub-par overland AI.

Does anyone play non-pangaea maps and not feel like they're basically cheating?

I always play random map type and random map size, I rarely, if ever, play Pangaea maps.