Coward with new map types...

[unhealthyman]

I'm addicted to pangaea at the moment, I literally have never played most of the map types just because I don't know what to expect/how to adapt my tactics. Can anyone give me some advice on how the different maps affect play style?

I've always disliked boats ever since early civ games. Making a fleet of transporters to very slowly move all your units across water seriously does my head in, but I feel that by always playing pangaea I'm missing out...

 

[Pantastic]

A Terra map is a Pangaea map with an additional continent chock full of barbarians, you don't have to mess with the new world to win but getting astronomy and heading over is certainly an option. Since the barbs have a whole continent with cities, you have to send a real invasion force, don't just send a settler and a couple of garrison units. This is probably your best 'stepping stone' map since it will play a lot like what you're used to.

An archipelego map is a boat crazy map, I like one from time to time but mostly I get annoyed with boats like you do. More than half the time you'll start on a land mass big enough for a few cities so you don't have to rush for sailing as your very first tech. When you send galleys to explore, pay attention to the coasts and go for open borders ASAP; on most of these that I've played I've been able to get the circumnavigation bonus way before caravels.

A lakes map is the opposite, there's no oceans whatsoever. These are good for expansion, but since there's no coastlines you don't really have a rear side to your empire so have to watch for attacks from anywhere. Barbarians are just plain crazy on this map; there's so much area for them to spawn and you'll have to decide between crappy units to push back fog in the ice areas or a strong border guard. (Not much of a decision unless you hate military, free XP).

A continents usually means that you have contact with a few civs but not all, and that zipping to learn caravels can provide a big tech boost by contacting the other set. These are an interesting change from the 'know everyone in BC' maps, and you're not as navy dependant as on archipelago.

Inland sea is basically a lakes map with a big ocean popped in the middle. There's not much use for a navy, the main thing the sea means is that you only border 2, maybe 3 AI civs at a time normally.

The above maps have normal resources, the other ones have unusual resources, they're for a fairly specific kind of game. Great plains is mostly land with a big river system running through it, some resources (especially fish) are rare or missing, and they're very geographically limited. Ice age is a relatively normal map with a bunch of ice and tundra added, and fewer resources than normal. Highlands has lots of mountains and hills, IIRC has a lot fewer food resources. Balanced gives everyone some of the early resources and removes others, it's designed to give a fairly even start for MP.

 

[Mewtarthio]

Inland sea is basically a lakes map with a big ocean popped in the middle. There's not much use for a navy, the main thing the sea means is that you only border 2, maybe 3 AI civs at a time normally.

Well, you can move across the inland sea with a navy a lot faster than you can walk around it. Plus an amphibious invasion force can sometimes catch someone off-guard.

 

[Solo4114]

When they say "Terra" is like Earth, it really is. You typically have one especially large continent to the east (where most if not all Civs spawn), and a totally empty "new world" continent. The eastern continent is basically Eurasia + Africa. The "new world" is basically the Americas. There's some islands here and there, but mostly it's these two large land masses, which often have a fairly clear north/south dividing line due to a few narrow land formations that act as choke points.

Climate and terrain will depend on your game settings, but basically expect an earth-like distribution. Some of it won't always make sense, though, since you can have a northern edge of your continent which has deserts instead of tundra or snow. Weird, but just how the map generator works sometimes.

One thing that's a huge pain in the ass about these maps is that resources are sometimes spread poorly. IE: you can end up in a game where the entire eastern landmass has ONE marble resource, and possibly no stone resources. Other stuff can be scarce as well. Again, just how the map generator works, and you can always "fix" this using the world builder (which I've been known to do, although I'm usually pretty generous in how I "fix" maps re: resources).

I personally prefer games with abundant resources which lead to tech/production races rather than scarce resources which lead to monopolization and one civ cornering the market on, for example, swordsmen.

 

[Pantastic]

Well, you can move across the inland sea with a navy a lot faster than you can walk around it. Plus an amphibious invasion force can sometimes catch someone off-guard.

Well, after you get astronomy you can, before it you have to run your galleys along the coast, and there's not much reason to rush to astronomy on this map. You don't need a navy the way you do on a continents, terra, or especially archipelago map. I don't think it would really be worthwhile to build a real invasion-sized navy on this map against the AI, but I'm like the OP in that I prefer to avoid naval war when possible.

Since the inland sea map is supposed to represent something like the Mediterranian, I think it would make more sense if you could sail galleys across it and would make the map a bit more unique.

 

[chipix]

i believe one of the powers of the game (in order to become addicted) is the different map types. I have played:
1. archipelago = perfect for peace-loving periods
2. continents = when bored by diplomacy
3. pangaea = war is my name
4. terra (playing now)
5. inland sea = perfect for bordering fast

Every time everything except for the map type and the era (always Ancient) is random.

Thus, my advice is: see all the maps and if u do not like to lose, lower the difficulty setting.

 

[morchuflex]

I personnally love playing on large archipelago with high sea level. Exploration and sailing are essential, and you probably won't meet everyone too early either. Great for builders and those guys (like me) who don't want the techs to flow too quickly (one of my biggest complaints about Civ IV).

 

[Solo4114]

I don't mind the speed at which techs come, but I tend to play Epic games exclusively, so it takes a little longer.

 

[ChicagoCubs]

Try the Terra Map as other have stated. It will give you the Pangaea feel, but with the need of Astronomy to get to the new world. The thing I like most about it is if you have a not-so-great starting position, this can be remedied with resources in the new world.

My advice in the new world is to send at least two galleons (depending on level) over to the new world with one settle and five defensive troops. Even better with a great artist to push out the cultural boundries.

 

[Agarwaen]

Terra = Earth in portuguese
I wonder why they named it like this.. .

I like to change the map style every game, just to have to deal with new situations and adapt

 

[BothofUs]

Thing I don't like about Terra Maps is that the new world isn't that significant in the game by the time you can access it. Basically, the new world is a way for the top two civs or so to exploit it for themselves while for everyone else it's just a hassle. It in no way drastically changes the landscape of the game, which is a shame, IMO.

 

[Solo4114]

Wouldn't that depend on how the game has gone? I mean, conceivably, if the "top two" civs are neck and neck, then domination of the new world would be pretty critical. Plus, there's a wealth of resources to be utilized and, because the barbarians have actually developed cities at this point, there's plenty of places to establish a base of operations.

I mean, if you're so far ahead in tech that you don't really NEED the new world and you're going for space victory, no big deal. If you're going for cultural and you're clearly winning that too, it's not as big a deal either. But if you're going for domination or diplomatic win, the new world can be pretty crucial.

Right now, on the Terra map I'm playing, I've got a tech lead and just circumnavigated the globe two turns ago. I've got galleons and will soon have Redcoats to begin capturing and/or establishing cities in the new world. My existing cities are well developed enough by now that I can focus more on specialization through building wealth, research, and/or culture, while other cities will purely crank out units for my expansion. I've even got a forbidden palace waiting to be built on the new continent.

The other civs have caravels and are exploring right now, but I intend to be invading ASAP. It's currently about 1570 or so in an Epic game, too, so there's still PLENTY of time left to play. Plus, Musa Mansa has been a thorn in my side as far as tech racing is concerned, so establishing colonies overseas will definitely help me. He's currently about 100-ish points behind me, but that can be made up relatively quickly if I'm not careful.

So, yeah, you can ignore it sometimes, but if it's a relatively close game, it can help to take advantage of it.

 

[cabert]

My experience, from different maps:

- pangea, you know well, won't go further
- inland sea/ great plains/... don't focus on naval. A nice change, but it's overall the same game. Don't need to build the greatlighthouse, though.
- Archipelago : now, that's a challenge! My only time victory, on noble! Had a hard time to even get contact with the rest of the world. I built my only ironclad in this game, and it did a good job against galleys/galleons/frigates.
- terra : not sure, you'll notice any difference from Pangea. I never played with the new world, and still i won!
- Continents : my favourite. Every game is different. Sometimes you're alone, sometimes it's really crowded. Sometimes you can find a way to others continents with galleys, sometimes you'll need astronomy just to make contact. Very much fun, so much surprise there... just a hint : if you're on a continent with just one or two other civs, don't kill them too early. You'll get bored before astronomy

 

[Conquestador]

I play with many kind of map and i find every one can be played with a different game style and be fun.
I just want to add two words about great plains map.
There are very different kind of terrain put in some belts ... one ice/tundra, one hills/mountain with forest and one plain/grassland.
So if you restart the map until you are in the plain/grassland part usually is a very good start for a cottage spam game.
Also there are few or no water resource so the size of the cities is somewhat limited by health but if you go for a fast domination or diplo win this is'nt very important.

 

[BothofUs]

Solo, you're basically agreeing with me. In your situation, the lower civs have no chance to battle with the big boys in the new world. In my opinion, if you're leading the game when the new world is discovered, it's just another task you need to accomplish if you want to keep your lead. I don't really like taking on this task without merchantilism.

 

[The Tyrant]

Sirian's Civilization IV Map Scripts Guide is a good reference when considering different map types. As for modifying strategies when playing different map types, there are a ton of articles to sift through (just search on the word "maps" in thread titles).

 

[unhealthyman]

Heh, continents is fun really. It's very different from playing pangaea... and makes a space victory far more tempting, but it allows a different early game to be played out. Personally, I found it quite fun, though it was also a bit random.

 

[Monado]

I enjoy playing all of the map types, but I don't like (or haven't learn to appreciate yet) the maps that do not scroll horizontally. For example, Great Plains seems like a cool map to play, but I won't bother because the sides of the world do not connect they just simply end.

 

[The Tyrant]

I also prefer wrap-around maps, but the non-wrap maps can be quite fun, too. It might seem a bit artificial being prohibited from moving past the border, but those maps are supposed to represent only a small area of a world. We can't move N-S to the poles in regular games, and that is just as artificial. If you've not played a Great Plains map, I highly recommend it for a change of pace. It will challenge you to do more with less.

 

[cabert]

I enjoy playing all of the map types, but I don't like (or haven't learn to appreciate yet) the maps that do not scroll horizontally. For example, Great Plains seems like a cool map to play, but I won't bother because the sides of the world do not connect they just simply end.

same for me, i enjoy the diversity of games you get through various map types, but had troubles with the non-wrapping.
In fact, i once send my settler to the east, settled, to discover i could use only half (well, a bit more) the tiles of the fat cross