Castaway - The Lonely Ocean Locked Alien Bio Dome Map

King Phaedron

Warlord
Joined
Oct 9, 2017
Messages
179
Civilizations: 15
City States: 24
Wonders: 13

Castaway is a balanced map where 15 Civilizations are Ocean Locked in maticulously designed tight regions where excellent district adjacency and strong resources are the norm. The Regions tend to have access to 1 or 2 city states across 1 ocean tile which may be met with a galley or embarked builder. 4 of the Regions have a city state directly in their land. 9 of the regions have a wonder. All regions have 5 trade luxuries and an additional 8 common ones (which are the ones that raise science, culture, or faith.)

There is room for 7 cities spaced 4 or 5 tiles apart. While it forces you into a tight AI settling pattern, the area is strong and your districts are the most important thing. The fact your inner cities won't grow to be massive 30 population Megalopolis with 100 production is a good thing, and encourages expansion. The outer world has a few unique resources, and 3 or 4 copies of every trade luxury, plus lots of strategics. Everyone starts with horses and iron, some also have Niter, desert areas will have oil.

Also included is Islander, a version of Castaway with one ocean tile removed so that early game interaction is possible, but still requires embarking and crossing through city state territory, either as their Suzerain or by going to war with them. If a CIV cannot traverse oceans, and you Suzerain their city state, they BECOME ocean locked.

This map uses Random Players, and Random City States, advanced starts. (for more details there is a txt file)
(However this may need to be corrected. MAORI should not be allowed in this map) Change Advanced Starts to suit your game.

castaway1.jpg


You may want to start in a later era, as the early game is going to be quite boring, and I'm not sure if AI will even have the sense to beeline Cartography. You may also want to play on normal speed. The outer regions may appear to be undeveloped, I assure you this is not the case. Everything is there, it just looks that way. This map is kind of like if an alien mothership captured every civilization and put them in a bio dome. It turns vast oceans into tiny area. It forces you to make harbors, but the Navy is useless. The outer world is extremely symmetrical. It looks artificial, but still has all kinds of resources for normal cities.

PROS:
---------
Immortal and Deity bonus settlers less useful due to capped expansion
Player Cannot easily expand to outpace AI Science and Culture bonuses.
Strong Inner Cities

CONS:
---------
Religion and Warmongering delayed
Lack of Trade and Interaction
Cultural Victory hindered
Wasted AI Golden Ages, like early Exodus of Evangelists
potential for AI to greatly delay getting Cartography
Navy is mostly defensive, and can't go anywhere.

EXPLOITS
---------------
Build a City on a tile near where the ocean is weak, and then buy out the coast tile behind the ocean. Build a harbor there. Then build ships and conquer the nearby city state. This exploit is possible for 8 starting areas. The city location will be bad, and the harbor will be total garbage, but if you're desperate to get into the outer world this exploit is possible. Keep in mind that the outer world has less resources and a more randomized setup. You are better off creating 7 cities in your region before considering to do this. Inner regions often have spots for Campus next to 2 reefs so that they get strong Science adjacency. Aside from meeting city states, and hunting down tribal villages, there isn't much to do in the outer world. Without traversing oceans, you still can't meet other civilizations.

castaway2.jpg


The Islander version shows RED starting Civ Locations, and PURPLE City State Locations. Also included: all my other Civ Maps to date.
 

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Civilizations: 15
City States: 24
Wonders: 13

Castaway is a balanced map where 15 Civilizations are Ocean Locked in maticulously designed tight regions where excellent district adjacency and strong resources are the norm. The Regions tend to have access to 1 or 2 city states across 1 ocean tile which may be met with a galley or embarked builder. 4 of the Regions have a city state directly in their land. 9 of the regions have a wonder. All regions have 5 trade luxuries and an additional 8 common ones (which are the ones that raise science, culture, or faith.)

There is room for 7 cities spaced 4 or 5 tiles apart. While it forces you into a tight AI settling pattern, the area is strong and your districts are the most important thing. The fact your inner cities won't grow to be massive 30 population Megalopolis with 100 production is a good thing, and encourages expansion. The outer world has a few unique resources, and 3 or 4 copies of every trade luxury, plus lots of strategics. Everyone starts with horses and iron, some also have Niter, desert areas will have oil.

Also included is Islander, a version of Castaway with one ocean tile removed so that early game interaction is possible, but still requires embarking and crossing through city state territory, either as their Suzerain or by going to war with them. If a CIV cannot traverse oceans, and you Suzerain their city state, they BECOME ocean locked.

This map uses Random Players, and Random City States, advanced starts. (for more details there is a txt file)
(However this may need to be corrected. MAORI should not be allowed in this map) Change Advanced Starts to suit your game.

View attachment 714275

You may want to start in a later era, as the early game is going to be quite boring, and I'm not sure if AI will even have the sense to beeline Cartography. You may also want to play on normal speed. The outer regions may appear to be undeveloped, I assure you this is not the case. Everything is there, it just looks that way. This map is kind of like if an alien mothership captured every civilization and put them in a bio dome. It turns vast oceans into tiny area. It forces you to make harbors, but the Navy is useless. The outer world is extremely symmetrical. It looks artificial, but still has all kinds of resources for normal cities.

PROS:
---------
Immortal and Deity bonus settlers less useful due to capped expansion
Player Cannot easily expand to outpace AI Science and Culture bonuses.
Strong Inner Cities

CONS:
---------
Religion and Warmongering delayed
Lack of Trade and Interaction
Cultural Victory hindered
Wasted AI Golden Ages, like early Exodus of Evangelists
potential for AI to greatly delay getting Cartography
Navy is mostly defensive, and can't go anywhere.

EXPLOITS
---------------
Build a City on a tile near where the ocean is weak, and then buy out the coast tile behind the ocean. Build a harbor there. Then build ships and conquer the nearby city state. This exploit is possible for 8 starting areas. The city location will be bad, and the harbor will be total garbage, but if you're desperate to get into the outer world this exploit is possible. Keep in mind that the outer world has less resources and a more randomized setup. You are better off creating 7 cities in your region before considering to do this. Inner regions often have spots for Campus next to 2 reefs so that they get strong Science adjacency. Aside from meeting city states, and hunting down tribal villages, there isn't much to do in the outer world. Without traversing oceans, you still can't meet other civilizations.

View attachment 714276

The Islander version shows RED starting Civ Locations, and PURPLE City State Locations. Also included: all my other Civ Maps to date.
 
Made advanced starts version and minor corrections. (I don't often play with Korea, I forgot they need HILLS to make a Science District. Many starting areas are a tiny bit more friendly now for Korea. Also added one more coast space on the Islander version. I don't how know I missed it, but forget the pearls and amber in Norways region, added 2 forests. And added some resources near Eyjaf mountain. Sorry about that. Both the attachment above and this one were updated.)

Full ocean and this version with tiny coastal exits (all regions with a wonder have to pass through 2 city states. All other regions 1, except regions that start with a city state) I'm playing a game on it now (1/8/25) and my advice to you is: Prioritize heros. AI grabs them quickly in this map for some reason.

castaway3.jpg


City States in BOTH files

Faith: Armagh, Kandy, Yerevan, Nazca, Chinguetti,
Cultr: Nan, Authaya, Kumasi, Mohenjo
Trade: Venice, Mogadishu, Hunza, Samarkand
Miltr: Valetta, Lahore, Nazargamu,
Indus: Auckland, Brussels, Buenos
Scnce: Geneva, Bologna, Mitla, Nalanda, Taruga

Outer Desert: Geneva, Nazca, Samarkand, Kandy, Authaya, Nalanda, Valetta, Chinguetti
North Snow: Auckland, Nan-Madool, Bologna, Lahore, Armagh, Taruga
South SNow: Mohenjo, Mitla, Yerevan, Buenos, Mogadishu, Hunza
Inner Zones: Venice, Kumasi, Nazagamu, Brussels

Civilizations in Advanced Starts game:

England
France
Georgia
Vietnam
Korea

Sumeria
Hungary
Khmer
Australia
Japan
Arabia
Gaul
Aztec (Guaranteed +9 combat strength when they developed their entire region. Challenging to dominate)
Rome
Norway

DOMINATION - Norway: You can beat the Oceans early on. Then you just need to make a city on the outer coast of a CIV you want to conquer. The Lack of Communication between Civs will likely work in your favor to maintain some friends while do Warmongering. Make NEW Ships in this city to take their capital, or take a city and get your land units to their inner capital. While it is annoying to make new ships for every CIV you plan to conquer, with a strong economy a lot of cities, It'll get easy soon enough.

DOMINATION - Hungary: Get Himiko, Owls of Minerva, and launch an ongoing agenda to get every city state under your banner. Use them and your other troops to win. You can do the exploit to beat the oceans, and you can do it in reverse to capture another civilization if you are crafty, but most domination will have to wait till you can cross Oceans.

SCIENCE - Arabia, Korea, Australia, and Sumeria are excellent choices for pursing a Science victory on this map.

RELIGION - Vietnam has a phenomenal start in a large path of forest near Devils Tower and will likely be the first player to build a holy site. Georgia has a 7 city setup where each one has one or two mountains with 2 forests. The 12 Deer Apostles, one of them is a Dyes. Norway and Hungary also have regions with excellent setups for Holy Sites, while France and Khmer are still decent.

CULTURE - France has one thing going in it's favor: Ikkil, use it to build wonders and districts. Gear up for a late game victory. I suggest engaging in wars to pillage and hinder Science minded CIVS.

Consider replacing non key players: England, Vietnam, Rome, Gaul, Japan. The other CIVs are well suited for this map.
 

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