Dull Maps: What to do?

[mowenbrown]

So I have not play Civ sinse the first one, years ago. I got a new MacBook Pro and have had some long flights and dull hotel stays so I have picked it back up of late. One thing I notice is the completely predictable maps. Balanced seems to always give me one lage continent, and islands seem to yeild uniform and equidistant islands all in neat little rows and colums. Very predictable stuff.

Which maps yeild a more realistic looking planet, with a few civs on a few continents? I like having a mix of friends and foes that are both close and nearby, rather then a single land mass dead center on the map.

 

[hvevo]

Read this map script guide.

 

[Jorunkun]

Play fractal, or shuffle.

 

[Winston Hughes]

If fractal doesn't do the job, you could try out a custom map script:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/forumdisplay.php?f=182

SmartMap is a particularly cool one, although it will probably require a bit of experimentation to find settings that work for you:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=154989

 

[Thedrin]

Which maps yeild a more realistic looking planet, with a few civs on a few continents?

Of the user made map scripts, I've used SmartMap, Tectonics, and LandMasses quite a bit. All three produce varied map forms. I'm not the biggest fan of Tectonics but it has a lot of fans so you may like it. I've enjoyed SmartMap and LandMasses (though I'm biased on that one).

Which maps yeild a more realistic looking planet, with a few civs on a few continents?

I'd recommend downloading the BetterAI for the alternative civ placement code it uses. Without it I find civ placement to be very uneven and unfun.