Best Game Speed for Huge Map?

[civhead4213]

So I was playing a huge map at Epic Game speed on Emperor difficulty. Things were great at the beginning. But by the time I hit the Medieval Era, I was getting so much research that I started to speed across eras really quickly, such that I didn't have a chance to finish a war before 2 eras sped past me.

Should I be playing at Marathon speed instead? But marathon speed is so slow at the beginning.

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

I play huge/marathon. I don't know if it's ideal, but I like it best.

 

[enKage]

marathon is something broken. When AI is low on units due to barbs (and they will be, as barbs spawn 1 unit per turn after discovering city), you can basically take half of the opponent before they will be able to build a single unit. And when they do, you only need to kill that single catapult / pike / whatever and take remaining half. By going AH -> archery and building / chop 3 slingers (and upgrade) and 5 warriors you usually are able to conquer a deity neighbours even as not experienced player. With fast early unit like Cree or boost to strenght like America even two. With Nubia / Sumeria / Aztecs / Macedon / Zulu it is an very easy mod, allowing to commpletetly destroy at least 3 civs. My last marathon game by byilding 3 okihtcitaws 3 slingers and 4 warriors I killed Zulus, Macedon and Brazil, occasionally building 1-2 more archers, then quit as it makes no sense at all.
That is why I avoid marathon even on huge maps.

Also note some mapscripts are large by default. For example standard lakes is not a standard map. You can add 3 civs and still have plenty of free space for every civ. In case of huge/large lakes I would consider marathon, as AI would somehow be protected early by distance between civs

 

[MisterBoomBoom]

Huge Epic is for me. The right amount of exploration time coupled with unit use without getting too tedious.

 

[McGreggD]

I go with standard speed and the mods x5 research and x5 civics. It slows the game down enough, allowing you to enjoy each era. The default research speed is way too fast. Epic and marathon slow the game down also but the downside is the increased production costs making everything take forever to build.

 

[AntSou]

Large/Epic or Standard is what I've been playing.

Marathon slows the game down too much imo. I find myself skipping too many turns once I get to the industrial age. You can easily waste an hour of nearly just hitting space bar and end turn while you wait for stuff to finish construction.

 

[EgonSpengler]

I also usually play Huge/Epic/Emperor, but I find a mod that readjusts the Era Speed to be invaluable. I used to use a mod that doubled or tripled the costs of Techs and Civics, but it stopped getting updated. It had a problem with the player getting Golden Ages every darned era, because it didn't adjust the scale of the Era Scores to match the elongated eras. There's a different mod I use now, which slows down the pace of the passing Eras. I can't remember what it's called atm, but I think it increases the amount of Era Points you need to achieve a Normal Age and a Golden Age, in addition to increasing the research costs.

 

[AsH2]

marathon is something broken. When AI is low on units due to barbs (and they will be, as barbs spawn 1 unit per turn after discovering city), you can basically take half of the opponent before they will be able to build a single unit. And when they do, you only need to kill that single catapult / pike / whatever and take remaining half. By going AH -> archery and building / chop 3 slingers (and upgrade) and 5 warriors you usually are able to conquer a deity neighbours even as not experienced player. With fast early unit like Cree or boost to strenght like America even two. With Nubia / Sumeria / Aztecs / Macedon / Zulu it is an very easy mod, allowing to commpletetly destroy at least 3 civs. My last marathon game by byilding 3 okihtcitaws 3 slingers and 4 warriors I killed Zulus, Macedon and Brazil, occasionally building 1-2 more archers, then quit as it makes no sense at all.
That is why I avoid marathon even on huge maps.

Also note some mapscripts are large by default. For example standard lakes is not a standard map. You can add 3 civs and still have plenty of free space for every civ. In case of huge/large lakes I would consider marathon, as AI would somehow be protected early by distance between civs

Would adding some CS counter that barb issue?

 

[enKage]

Would adding some CS counter that barb issue?

Yes it helps. but is still map dependent. Also it is double edge sword. More city states mean you can more easily accidentaly ally them, so fighting AI is even easier and city states protect also the player against barbs, so more units can be moved to the frontline. Moreover AI can declare on city state and never rebuild their units, no matter where AI loose their initial units, the problem is marathon AI is really bad in rebuilding them, as AI is more concerned on early wonders or sth equally stupid. Even if AI has units, joint war allows to easily eliminate them. Player can build lots of slingers and upgrade them, deity marathon AI doesnt know how to do it.

 

[Sostratus]

Would adding some CS counter that barb issue?

It’s not so much the combat strength, it’s the fact that costs are basically tripled for units but the barb spawn timer wasnt lengthened, so the barbarians are effectively 3x in number.
The AI is going to struggle with that (and the fact that larger maps means more early barbs!) unless you resort to CS boosts high enough that it trivializes the matter (like +12 or so.)

 

[AsH2]

It’s not so much the combat strength, it’s the fact that costs are basically tripled for units but the barb spawn timer wasnt lengthened, so the barbarians are effectively 3x in number.
The AI is going to struggle with that (and the fact that larger maps means more early barbs!) unless you resort to CS boosts high enough that it trivializes the matter (like +12 or so.)

ok
I was thinking "More CS = Less land for barb camps to spawn + More units to fight barbs"..