Is there consensus on Deity settings? If not, opinions.

[theodcyning]

So, for context: I have only played Deity a handful of times. Mostly always on a duel or tiny map, and online speed to speed up the process. And I always play w/ barbs on. However, I get the feeling I would be laughed at trying to tell a veteran player that I play Deity on these settings. I would like to challenge myself, but I need some standards to aspire to. This obviously has a great deal of subjectivity to it, so even hearing the opinions of experienced players will help give me some kind of benchmark.

Mostly...
What maps are more typical for you Deity players? I imagine Pangaea and Continents will be the most common. Any opinions on using one over another? Obviously continents will separate civs, forcing you to cross seas, adding an extra challenge, and forcing you to utilize navies more, or forcing you to focus on alternative victories like science or culture. Whereas Pangaea might make some of that unnecessary and allowing a quicker victory, especially Domination Victory; so is that seen as cheap by some?

What speeds are you guys playing on? It seems like on most of the Let's Plays, standard is the traditional choice. Does anyone tend to play Quick, Online, Epic, or Marathon competitively? Online is neat because it is the typical multiplayer speed. Marathon just seems like something to do for fun.

What map sizes do you prefer? It seems like most of the Let's Plays tend to use standard Map size, which defaults to 8 players. Does anybody prefer anything different? Does anybody ever up the number of civs beyond the standard amount?

Is there anything else? Are there exploits which veteran players frown upon that would render a game unrespectable? I've heard of Carl Sagan exploits, but exactly HOW frowned upon is that? I know a lot of people like to play with barbs off, I believe in no such thing.

 

[Unconquered Sun]

The traditional consensus are the Standard Settings as envisioned by Firaxis.

 

[Pietato]

Well I play Huge Continents for fun. Makes Domination and Cultural victories harder, though. Your tourism does not start working against a civ until you have discovered them.

Carl Sagan was nerfed, so he is fine now.

 

[Mr. Shadows]

I usually play standard or large continents (8-10 Civs) although I sometimes change the map type. Pangaea is fun for fast Dom sweeps. Turning on Abundant Resources and Legendary Start on Deity makes it more likely that your neighbor will be able to over run you before you can defend yourself properly. That can be brutal.