Favorite Map type?

[Nikis-Knight]

Youshotwhointhawhatnow?

There are? Why havnt I seen them. More importantly, why has someone from the development team or Drieche2 himself personally shown up at my house, which i have not provided the information for, and given them to me on a silver platter lined lemons and poppyseed muffins??!]
-Qes

Who showed up at your house?? And were the muffins good?

I remember playing Baldur's Gate II on an old PC of mine, a free one put together from a friend's spare parts, and it didn't really have the memory for it. Every few times I tried to save, I had to Alt-Tab and delete something else from the computer.

 

[QES]

@Nikis-Knight Oopsi, Corrected.
-Qes

 

[Sarisin]

I try all the maps, but have to admit I shy away from those with a lot of water preferring land battles. Also, I seem to keep going back to the Fantasy Realm map which is my favorite...especially with the Crazy setting for resources. Nothing like finding jungles on ice tiles and rice in a forest tile. I'm waiting to find fish in the desert one of these days...

 

[Kael]

I try all map types as well. I have always played with Aggresive AI set on. and recently (based on feedback here) I have been playing with tech trading disabled and I am really enjoying that change.

 

[XplorR]

i like dreiche2's flavour maps that put elves in forests and dwarves in hills, etc

generally i like pangaea because it allows more contact earlier... i would like the fantasy realm map better if i didnt get weird blacked out terrain at the map edges.

I've been using his modified Smart Maps with an added twist. I create several maps using the stand alone Atlas map generator. A few pangeas, some continental maps, and some Earthsea style maps. So when I run Smartmap I use these as templates. Tweaking the start up resources and stuff to suit my mood.
For me it's created some very enjoyable maps.

 

[sgrealis]

I try all the maps, but have to admit I shy away from those with a lot of water preferring land battles. Also, I seem to keep going back to the Fantasy Realm map which is my favorite...especially with the Crazy setting for resources. Nothing like finding jungles on ice tiles and rice in a forest tile. I'm waiting to find fish in the desert one of these days...

I tried the fantasy map and absolutely hated that. I don't understand how that is a "fantasy" map. Jungles on ice tiles next to desert tiles makes very little sense to my engineer brain. No matter what else I try, I end up back at fractal. Maybe I'll try the specialized FfH maps next...

 

[Sarisin]

I think you have to watch the Resource Setting. There are three:

Logical (this sounds like what you would like)
Irrational (some bizarre placement of resources/terrain)
Crazy (well, it is crazy).

Again, I suppose because this is a fantasy mod, one might expect to find corn growing on a mountain, or iron in a jungle.

 

[strategyonly]

I hate all that Smartmap junk and atlas generator stuff, all i ever play on, with any MOD is "MY" maps. See signature for the best ones, LOL

 

[Chandrasekhar]

I try all map types as well. I have always played with Aggresive AI set on. and recently (based on feedback here) I have been playing with tech trading disabled and I am really enjoying that change.

Aren't the AI bad enough already at getting techs? I suppose it hurts the human player a bit, too, but... well, I call myself a tech mercantilist for a reason. Of course, if I had my way, Aggressive AI and Raging Barbs would be the default settings...

 

[evanb]

Lately I've been playing fractal or pangaea on duel sized maps with 16-18 civs. Lots of fun!

 

[Sarisin]

I try all map types as well. I have always played with Aggresive AI set on. and recently (based on feedback here) I have been playing with tech trading disabled and I am really enjoying that change.

Yes, I'm using the aggressive AI selection too, but finding not many wars either with me or between other civs. In late-game I think the Defensive Pacts are the reason, but puzzled as to why there are not more in the early/mid-game.

Just curious, Kael, what difficulty setting do you generally play in your games?

 

[vorshlumpf]

The great thing about the fantasy map is that it is almost completely even. Everyone has the same crappy terrain around them. I also like the horizontal and vertical wrap-around (despite the trivial software bugs that arise from this). And, there is a lot of land to go around (very little water). Unfortunately, that means the Lanun is at a disadvantage - even if you select high sea level which I always did.

My favourite maps/settings:

Huge Size
Fantasy Realm with High Sea Level and Logical Resource Placement
or
Terra (huge-mungous!)
All other map settings are default/typical

18 civs
Aggressive AI
Raging Barbs (particularly nasty on a complete wrap-around, all-connected map like Fantasy Realm)
No Tech Trading (though I have the Tech Conquest and Tech Leak mods enabled)
City Flipping After Conquest (I have yet to see this actually happen)

- Niilo

 

[Sarisin]

You and I are on the same page when it comes to map selection.

The only thing is when I tried a huge map with 18 civs and raging barbs it wasn't so good. It seemed there was soon little room for the barbs to spawn. The ai really likes to expand quickly.

I generally play the huge map with only 9-10 civs and let the barbs have some wide open spaces to roam. Also, it is really hard keeping track of all those ai civs for a dope like me.

 

[vorshlumpf]

That's the great thing about "full" maps like Fantasy Realm and Highlands: the map is the same size as it would be for, say, continents, but there is significantly less water. I usually find that even with 18 civs on a Fantasy Realm map that barbs are around for quite some time.

- Niilo

 

[SchpailsMan]

Aren't the AI bad enough already at getting techs? I suppose it hurts the human player a bit, too, but... well, I call myself a tech mercantilist for a reason. Of course, if I had my way, Aggressive AI and Raging Barbs would be the default settings...

Tech trading is rather known in Civ4 to help human players more than AI players, because human players are usually much more efficient at taking advantage of them. For example, the AI doesn't aggressively try to trade the same tech to several other players to maximize its profit on it.

 

[Chandrasekhar]

I guess so. The thing is that when I play (unless I'm playing on one of the top difficulties), I always research much, much faster than the AI. So, when I trade techs of equal value with them, it's not really equal. I'm getting something that would take me two or three turns to get normally, while the AI is getting something that might take them eight or nine. So, I tend to hoard my techs and jump out into the lead. On higher difficulties, or if you don't have a very good infrastructure, I can see how disabled tech trading could hurt you, though.

 

[Grey Fox]

I usually play Standard or Small, Pangea map. On quick speed, anything bigger and slower takes too long for my liking, and I'm still learning, so I figure more games == faster learning.

I also prefer Raging Barbs, sometimes I pick Aggressive AI. But usually, the Good vs Evil thingie seem to take care of that, unless you get an all Evil or all Good civ setup.

I've tried Fractal on several occassions, but I dont like how it makes Continents sometimes, and sometimes not. And I dont like continents, atleast not yet, with the lacking naval aspect. So pangea it is.

And I think I usually play on Monarch or the one above it. Was a while since I started a game now.

 

[Unser Giftzwerg]

I've played most ofm y games of Fractal. It reliably generates maps that avoid the 'stranded civ syndrome'. And every map seems to have a twist. I've had inland sea (Medditerranian) type maps, 'centepede' continents, a Lanun game where my home continent of some 9-10 cities was connected to the main continent by two, 1-tile wide ithmuses, each guarded b one of my fortified cities. It's hard to beat reliability with decent variability. The one thing it does not do is generate many minor islands.

I've played a couple games now on Tectonics. I like it too so far, but don't have a lot of experience on it.

I've tried SmartMap, but every time I get a map that just looks ... wrong. And I don't want to know how many continents exist before I start the game. But if you randomize the number, you get those stranded-civ maps. So many parameters to set ... what combination creates maps I'd like I Do Not Know. Instead of spending hours experimenting, it's back to Fractal.

I generally don't like those maps like 'Lakes' that fills the whole map rectangle with land. OTOH the comments in this thread have me thinking I should try it because that would keep Barbarians active a lot longer. Thx for the idea, folks.

And yes, Drieche2's FfH tailored versions are

FWIW

 

[vorshlumpf]

I generally don't like those maps like 'Lakes' that fills the whole map rectangle with land. OTOH the comments in this thread have me thinking I should try it because that would keep Barbarians active a lot longer. Thx for the idea, folks.

In my experience, these maps do give you the roughest ride on the barbarian express. My current game on a Fantasy_Realm map (usual settings) has had about 5 of the 17 AI civs knocked out in the first 200 turns (marathon), including the civ that was at the top of my points list. Now they've decided to come after me - sweet!

- Niilo