Grassland and Plains are also mixed at times. Its just not all that common. (Add to that not all valleys have really sealed passages and interesting mixed spots are sometimes available. If seldom.)
Also creation.py/erebus mapscript is better the larger a map you play from normal upwards most maps are more or less decent. If you go below that oddities are more likely to occur (like the grassland-jungle start might start to appear which is highly unusual. Under normal circumstances both factions of the elves should start in heavily forested valleys.).
The smaller you get the worse it gets.
Duel-size maps downright break rather often and should not be used with this mapscript at all.
Tiny are a real stretch.
Small mapsize works out well sometimes / oddities do occur at times but can make the game fun / more varied as well (whouldn't reccomend to overcroud a small map though unlike larger ones.).
Jungle valleys should never be favored starting points for any civs as far as i know (might be for embers which would fit their background, but i don't think so.) and should be considered a bad draw. Some Civs do favor more or less unforested plains / flatlands a bit according to their background. One could argue that those civs are strong though (Hippus are a prime example for this.).
And remember: A bad starting draw is possible on most mapscripts not just on erebus. So don't damn the mapscript for it. Curse your luck instead.
Nearly playing creation / erebus exclusively because i like it very much. (But it does drag the game into length. So if you like fast games pangea or highlands might be better for you and your playstyle)
I play large size most of the time (were it works out beautifully, larger maps slow down to much for me) with the odd normal size game for a faster play in between (were sometimes odd things occur but it overall works more or less fine.)
Also important to note: Cephalo will likely improve erebus further in the near future (by more options like settable sea-level for example and more polish if needed ect.) so you can't really compare it fairly with a fully fleshed out mapscript (like custom_continents).
Doesn't mean its not allready roughly polished or in any way unplayable though.
So you whould really help the scripter / team by not tearing it apart here after testing it once / just a few times but instead testing it and reporting wishes / shortcomings of that mapscript (i also have found a few things which are in the latest versions of creation.py which don't seem to have been carried over to erebus.py / main FFH2. Like lots of scrubs in the desert-valleys which makes them much more usable and the likes. As well as a strage bug? submerging a few of the passages in the first few turns.
Try downloading the last version of creation.py and using it instead with 0.33 if polish is really important to you. I don't know for sure if it works with 0.33 but it should as far as i think.)
The AI can't handle it all that well at as it is sadly (unless you drastically reduce the sea level which helps it a bit) but unlike most other mapscripts you can play with many more civs than usual (although this is again only recommendable if you play on normal mapsize or larger. And if the map is really overcrouded the starting picks will get worse / more down to luck) and Wildlands + Barbworld really work well + you got wild unsettled areas to explore later.
Also you can very much expect that the AI will learn how to handle maps like Erebus soon now that it has been incorporated into the main game and the time for AI-improvements has come.
Always remember: FFH2 is still a work in progress. So is erebus.py.
The Dwarves get that bit of a food-penalty because they start in their favorite Terrain and Food-improvements are readily available (flatlands are much more abundant on larger maps again. Especially near the valleys rivers. So only 3 Flatland tiles in a whole fair-sized valley should clearly not! be the rule.).
Players can work around that usually just that the AI can't handle it all that well with those civs. (But again: do expect that to change soon.)
The same is true to a lesser degree with the hippus and doviello / illians at times.
If its not to your liking thats understandable (rushers and players who like fast games will likely not find much good from it.) but if you like the overall feel even though you have problems with the implementation / shortcomings please don't throw it. Help make it better!
Also as someone has allready stated here its rather easy to customize (Works by opening the file with notepad or simmilar software.) if you dislike some of the specifics and have some experience with the script already.
If you find some really good / interesting settings feel free to share them (in the creation.py thread in the modmods and scenarios Subforums linked somewere above might be the best place to do so) it might make it into a dropdown for the erebus script if its really decent for many testers.
Just remember: lowering sea-level will drastically increase the already huge land-portions so do scale up the number of civs if you significantly lower it. Otherwise it will feel very empty. Oh and don't lower the sea-level to nil. That will break the script. An Ocean is required for it to work. Even if its just a rather small puddle in the center of the map.
