Have they changed 'Continents' map ?

[gingerbill]

Maybe its just extreme bad luck but every time I play continent its 4-5 smaller than usual continents , before BNW almost every game was 2-3 large continents. I'm not liking it. It makes my games against the AI easier than they would be as they all stuck on islands with 3-4 cities.

Just seems like it must have been changed. Continents is my favourite map type before but I just cant get a decent map going now , I'd be annoyed to have to abandon playing continents as it just cripples the AI this way.

I liked the challenge before of the AI having a large continent with a crazy amount of cities , now they seem stuck on 3-5 for ages as they have no expansion room , before they would have 20-40 cities dominating a large continent.

 

[Mrdarklight]

This reminds me, a couple of games back, on Continents, I ended up all alone on a big continent as Poland. I seriously could have settled 12+ cities on it without crowding. But I hate being on a island on continents maps.

But it seems like the AI stalls out at about 3 cities no matter whether he has room to grow or not. I assume its an early game issue with money.

 

[RealHuhn]

I noticed this as well. Sea level seems to be higher than usual with a lot less land available for settling.

Maybe it's placebo though.

 

[Jerman]

Well maps are random...

 

[PreLynMax]

I used to like Continents, but after G&K, they winded up being small, snaky landmasses, and started to look for scripts that have larger landmasses.

 

[Theruss]

I too noticed the change in the map script. I think perhaps it was made more friendly for the various naval focused Civs? I notice while the landmasses are indeed smaller and somewhat snaky, there seems to be more islands and more land to settle, away from your own continent.

If the script keeps up this pattern, at least Indonesia will be happy.

 

[Jaybe]

Consider that civs are (with BNW) going to have fewer cities, therefore there is no need for the larger continents we are used to.

Try a larger map size (I use Large maps).

 

[gingerbill]

I always play large maps , I find huge a bit too big . It's making the game too easy and not as much fun with silly little continents. Shame as continents always been my favourite, why change it is what I don't get. Was plenty of ocean on continents before , no need for crappy little islands with thin bits of land.

I'd pick the option 'small continents' if I wanted 5-6 small thin continents .

 

[pilot00]

But it seems like the AI stalls out at about 3 cities no matter whether he has room to grow or not. I assume its an early game issue with money.

Well, my path Hiawatha would like to send you a missive that he disagrees with you. And my other new friend (we introduced today) Pacatelo too, will send you another.

They delay a bit due to some happiness issues, but they delay they don't stop entirely. My friend Adolphus (yeah we are a big company here) was building settlers a few secs ago, even as I was marching on Stockholm.

 

[Falconiano]

A civ's expansionism depends on the civ.
Some will still go runaway with 20+ cities (Caesar, Alex, Monty, Askia, Shaka), others will play tall.

 

[Securion]

Set Sea Level to Low. Fixes the problem.

 

[SirPainsalot]

Does anyone else miss the Tectonics map from Civ 4? I sure do.
Those mountain ranges... It'd be perfect for Civ 5, because of choke points in mountains. I miss the time when civilizations could be isolated only by mountains, especially for multiplayer. Proper adjustable sea level was great too.
With Continents at 3 Million Years, it's not the same at all, they really need to bring it back in a patch.
I honestly can't find anymore good map types except Continents or the occasional Archipelago game.

 

[gingerbill]

Set Sea Level to Low. Fixes the problem.

I tried that , its a bit better but still nothing like it was , still multiple snaky landmasses whenever I try continents . I want my 2-3 large landmasses back .

A civ's expansionism depends on the civ.
Some will still go runaway with 20+ cities (Caesar, Alex, Monty, Askia, Shaka), others will play tall.

true , they want to run away and will if there's land there but they cant when there only room for 4-5 cities on the little continent they all stuck on.

 

[Optional]

I miss the time when civilizations could be isolated only by mountains, especially for multiplayer. Proper adjustable sea level was great too.
With Continents at 3 Million Years, it's not the same at all, they really need to bring it back in a patch.

You could consider a small edit of the map script. The continents map script makes indeed very flat terrain.

function ContinentsFractalWorld:GeneratePlotTypes(args)
	if(args == nil) then args = {}; end
	
	local sea_level_low = 67;
	local sea_level_normal = 72;
	local sea_level_high = 76;
	local world_age_old = 2;
	local world_age_normal = 3;
	local world_age_new = 5;
	--
	[COLOR="Purple"][b]local extra_mountains = 0;[/b][/COLOR]
	local grain_amount = 3;

You'll find this not far form the top of the map script (C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Sid Meier's Civilization V\Assets\Maps). It's that zero for extra mountains that makes the maps flat. Make it into a 5 or so and you'll already see a change. The Small Continents map script has a 10 in that same place, but it disallows mountains on the coast. Probably the idea was to avoid civs getting stuck behind mountain ranges.