Inland sea map

[Sisiutil]

I don't see a lot of discussion about this map type. Are many people playing it? I tried a game with it on the weekend, as Rome at Epic speed, because I was attracted to how it would emulate the environment of the Roman Empire.

But I got very frustrated with it because of the barbarians. I did NOT have raging barbs on, but it felt that way. The lack of ocean and civs along the map's edge just seemed to give rise to way too many barbs. It was hard to get a stack of Praetorians going on a conquest when they're busy thumping barb Axemen and protecting resource tiles.

I really don't like turning barbs off, nor going into Worldbuilder to delete them. Both feel like cheating to me. But I'd like to play on this map. Any ideas from the inland sea veterans? Failing that, is there a mod around that gives you more control over the barbarian activity level?

 

[MookieNJ]

In multiplayer we play on Inland Sea all the time.

If you are being bothered by too many barbarians, build a few warriors or archers and stick them on hills (or even better, forest hills) that are just outside your border. By having these advanced scouts, you are clearing out some of the land that barbarians can spawn in, and at the same time the AI is so dumb that they'll usually attack an archer on a forest hill even with terrible odds ... you'll get some nice experience and a lot of barbarians will die before they can even enter your land.

 

[Colossian]

Inland_sea isnt a good map. But, its better than others. Because there are only 2 directions against the rivals. west and east or north and south. For instance, Pangaea, all of the directions are opened. Its not easy to defense. In fact, I dont think I like this map. Mirror is the best, except a lack of the resourse.

Mirror(with reflection) :
Same resourses
Same starting location
Rivers and lakes
No ocean

 

[Naismith]

I like inland sea, especially when I'm trying out new tactics or going up a level. Since only two Civ's will border you by land, you're in a pretty controlled situation in that regard. My experience has been that barbarians are much easier to deal with on inland sea than they are on panagea. I don't play islands at all, and rarely play continents, so I'm not so sure about how barbarians compare on those maps.

 

[Red Door]

Has anyone noticed that a lot of Inland Sea maps are the exact same map?