Best method to generate interesting and non-predictable maps for use in a PBEM game?

[mighty_jid]

Hi All,

I'd be very interested if people could advise me about the best way of generating interesting maps for use within Civ4 BTS.

I am soon going to be creating a PBEM game for some friends. We will be playing a vanilla Civ4 BTS game. I've got to be able to trust the map to be "fit for purpose" because a) I'm playing in the PBEM game so don't want any advantages and would like to be surprised, and b) PBEM games takes so long to play that if it turns out the map was rubbish, my friends and I will have wasted a fair bit of time.

My previous experience is that I find that most of the maps generated by Civ4 tend to be far too predictable. By this I mean, Civ4 tends to distribute the continents evenly across the map based on the number of players, continents all appear to be roughly the same size and archipelagos are either non-existent or incredibly small.

The most interesting and varied maps I've found so far tend to be the Archipelago maps generated by Civ4 where the islands are snaky continents or similar. This gives interesting land mass distribution with some decent sized islands but it means that maritime Civs such as the Dutch as favoured and there is little opportunity for large-scale, land-based conflict.

Has anyone got any ideas? All assistance gratefully received!

Thanks in advance,

Jid

 

[HiroHito]

fractal maps ?

 

[Stormumriken]

We have recently started a four person, four AI BTS e-mail game with the Big and Small map generator.

In our game there is a big continent, where three persons and three AIs live and a nice archipelago where the two others dwell. Quite good, except that the civs in the archipelogo started on comparatively barren land. On the other hand there are lots of islands for them to move to while the continental civs are still partitioning the continent between them. This was a standard size map.

I have heard that also others like the Big and Small map generator.

For our earlier Warlords game, we used a fractal map. Huge map, nine people, nine AIs. Fractal can be very different, but this time it made two continents with no (or very few and very small) islands. It was OK, but we would have preferred to have archipelagos or at least some island added. (It is a Pitboss game, seen in Civstats as Rasbora.)

If you want, I can generate some maps for your game and send you the one that I like the most. If you do not get mad at me for any problems still remaining.

Good luck!

 

[mighty_jid]

Thanks for the responses. Much appreciated.

I'll check out the fractal generators esp the Big and Small one.

Thanks,

Jid

 

[Mortac]

Might be of some help: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=246788