Favorite maps to play on

[Dragonxander PR]

I'd like to know what maps do the civvers of these forums prefer to play, as well as their preferred settings & reasons to use them. With this message, I include a multichoice poll with 25 options, mostly map scripts. After I post the poll, I'll be participating on the discussion.

 

[Jarlaxe Baenre]

Pangea: If I'm going for an early conquest. Low-High (not med) seas, rocky or cold.
Fractal: I love the unpredictability, but I have found a better way of doing that, as I will explain.
Planet Generator: I don't play it as much anymore... I will explain.
Perfectworld: I play on a modified version of Perfectworld2 where mountains and hills are more common, more mountains can be in your BFC, there are a few more plates, and it's colder.
Global Highlands: If I don't want to wait for perfectworld2 to finish loading.
Earth Maps: Enlarged Europe ONLY. I just love the map, and no mapscripts produce anything like what we have on Earth in terms of tactics/general geographic things such as the Middle East (pretty much connects three continents), and other things.

 

[Ataxerxes]

I like Great Plains. Although this isn't the full experience (navies don't count) it gets to be a massive free-for-all.

 

[G-Max]

I play exclusively on pre-made Earth maps, though I'm not surprised that Fractal is so popular; it's a cool map type.

 

[Clam Spammer]

Pangaea. You have every and resource on the same continent, which means big cities. Plus there's the possibility of early conquest/domination if things go your way.

 

[PPQ_Purple]

Custom Continents, with 1 continent per 2 players.
By the middle ages the number of players is cut by 50%.

All in all, you get your early game action, your mid game action, your naval action, your late game action and your overall action.

 

[Junuxx]

I selected 5; Continents, Pangaea, Fractal, Big & Small and Hemispheres.

I'm curious whether there's a strong divide between premade and random map players.

 

[revengeofmakno]

I've never tired of the earth maps. The mods keep enhancing it so I seldom find a reason to try the others. I also like history and like seeing how Civilization can play with it.

 

[Lithuanian!]

I don't like jungles.

 

[Iranon]

I like not knowing what to expect; usually a modified and more random Shuffle; Fractal or Tectonics with random settings will do in a pinch.
Sometimes I also play around with PerfectWorld. Trying PlanetGenerator, I liked the variety of options but not the actual maps.

 

[Dragonxander PR]

As for my map preferences, this is how it goes:

Archipelago: low sea level with snaky continents--it provides better continents than the "Continents" script. To balance the potential lack of production, I use rocky climate.

Fractal: medium sealevel with rocky climate--overall works better than the default continents.

Global Highlands: it provides better continents & topography than the regular continents map.

Earth maps: I particularly prefer the maps of regions of Earth, and only the bigger Earth maps (the smallest I play would be those by Rhye, but with major modifications)

Fictional maps: I like to create these, as it allows me to do maps that are different from Earth AND at the same time can be played in really interesting ways. Also, it allows me to make them more realistic (actual climate, tectonics & elevation, instead of the patchwork of everything the regular map scripts place).

 

[starmanbeta]

I usually play Terra, Earth2, or Perfect World. I like scripts with a new world in them. It makes ocean exploration more exciting, and gives explorers a reason to exist.

I also like Earth maps.

 

[danjuno]

Archipelago, Fractal, Pangaea, Continents, and Earth Pre-Made. Especially the last one.

 

[HorribleHarald]

Usually Big & Small, Hemispheres and Terra. Rarely others.

 

[plasmacannon]

Terra, Other: Donut, Fractal, Pangea, Continents, Big & Small, in that order.

I tried Inland Sea, but, I really prefer to have an outer Ocean as well.
Donut is the only standard map I found to accomplish this. I would prefer a more natural shape to it though.
It would be interesting to see, say, 2 Large continents, each with a large inner body of water, where navies could be used.

I tried Perfect World, but, didn't like the resourse distribution.
It seemed to be lacking certain resourses everytime I regenerated the map.
Where is the Silver? Where is the Crab? Insence? fur?
On very few occasions I would see a good diversity of resourses.
It could have been the settings I used, but, then, those shouldn't eliminate virtually all occurances of several resourses, otherwise, what is the point of chosing those settings?

I tried Planet Generator. Maps are very Large, even on the small settings and have with alot of trees.
I choose small maps for shorter games, and this didn't fit my style.

I am liking Terra the most lately. This way, I know there is a New World out there. The question is, will I get it, or an AI?

 

[babar]

I play on fractal these days for the unpredictability, and also because they seem to be the standard. But I don't like that they can be too easy/too hard. You get fractal maps where you settle an entire continent intended for 2-3 civs, either by easy blocking or a fortuitous mountain, and likewise you can get gypped in the same way. And by the same token it seems a more likely map script to generate a runaway AI. Also, fractal doesn't have enough rivers!
Big and small (with an extra AI or two thrown in because otherwise there is too much land, and with island regions mixed in to avoid a weak archipelago civ) is also good. Pangaea is perhaps the most solid, but too predictable, and loses too much maritime action (both weaknesses could be remedied by better landmass shapes).

 

[Wrath_Zt]

Where is the "I just like voting in polls" option?

Anyway: Fractal/Tectonics. Big 'n Small for MP, sometimes.

 

[Deepsix]

Where is the "I just like voting in polls" option?

I like playing Continents on huge maps - modern warfare with large navies.

I've tried Fractal but always seem to end up boxed in on a very small peninsula.

 

[Giant Wolfman]

I like playing Continents on huge maps - modern warfare with large navies.

Love attacking another continent with destroyers, carriers, marines, etc.

Also a fan of tectonics maps because of the mountain ranges which can really alter the game, though the tectonics script generates poor maps a little more often than I'd like.

 

[Gwynnja]

Don't end sentences with a preposition. Where is shuffle?