I'm up to turn 838/9900 (snail) on Gigantic C2C_Terra at Monarch level. No CTDs yet, and time between turns is about 15 seconds. Normal number of starting AI Civs, with Barbarian Civs spawning some new ones. The only thing I changed was to reduce the barbarian spawn rate to 33% about 400 turns in, since the map was filling with overly romantic neanderthals. I have read that a more elegant fix has been placed in the SVN. I do have an uber-computer playing at 1920 x 1080 with max graphic settings.
If you haven't started v18 yet, DO IT! The additional of National and Military Heroes to the cultural buildings gives another World rare event to race for. I didn't like the cultural buildings when they were first introduced, since it nerfed my fav starting strategy of Babylonian Bowmen. But now, with the unique buildings, units, wonder speed-ups, and heroes based on the resources around your cities, it all comes together. I now adjust my early conquests to pick up other base cultures ("I have African culture, so I'll grab a Dutch city to gain European culture.")
I rolled a pretty lucky map and was able to place my third city to gain Zulu culture (I started as Egypt). I did a religious rush with Great Prophets and built the Kong Miao and Odin's Sanctuary in the city building Impis. So I've got an army of killer units with 3 MPs, no terrain costs, and about 10 XPs. That's good news for me, but bad news for my neighbours and neanderthals looking for love in all the wrong places. I think this force will keep me secure into the Medieval age, and I have harassed and pillaged my immediate neighbours to keep them weak.
I've been playing C2C since maybe v6, and I still have my 5.25" floppies and manual from Civ 1. For my tastes as a builder who loves all the little details ("A shoe cobbler, +1 coin!") C2C is simply the best. You modders are legends to me, but my spouse, family, friends, and employer all hate you. Just ignore them, I do!
Please keep up the excellent work on this mod!
Warm regards
- WtW