Mapfinder settings?

[Moonsinger]

Originally posted by nihil8r
how hard is it to click "new game" and see if there is a river on your start position, and if there isn't, make a new game?

Exactly! It isn't hard at all - just like adding 1+2+3 and any of us could easily do it without using any external utility or calculator. However, if have to do 1+2+3 a thousand times, would you just sit there and do it 1000 times or would you ask the computer to loop through it 1000 times for you?

When you click "new game", how many time you have to say "New Game" before you encounter a map with two cows and a luxury by the river at the starting point? You are extremly lucky and get it during your first try (Just like a some people who won the lottery jackpot on their first try). With MapFinder, everyone have an equal chance of finding good map without defending too much on the luck factor; therefore, it's in fact lower the luck factor during map hunting.

 

[nihil8r]

for some reason the manual vs automatic car transmission debate is coming to mind, with the purists saying you aren't really driving if you don't do it yourself and the realists asking, who has time to shift?

maybe my bad experiences in my life just cause me to want to do everything by hand, so it's more fun when i get a map with 5 cows and a river (superslug might remember that map). my computer is pretty fast, and i listen to music and such while i play so if it takes 5 minutes to get a map with a cow and a river and 2 huts, well, who cares. that's what the music is for.

i would be too embarassed to have something make my maps for me . . . but if you think you need it so you can drive your car better . . . i guess that's what you need as your handicap. my car is an automatic and i know for a fact that i'd wreck if it were manual.

 

[superslug]

Originally posted by nihil8r
(superslug might remember that map)

Oh yeah, I do...

 

[fret]

Originally posted by nihil8r
for some reason the manual vs automatic car transmission debate is coming to mind, with the purists saying you aren't really driving if you don't do it yourself and the realists asking, who has time to shift?

maybe my bad experiences in my life just cause me to want to do everything by hand, so it's more fun when i get a map with 5 cows and a river (superslug might remember that map). my computer is pretty fast, and i listen to music and such while i play so if it takes 5 minutes to get a map with a cow and a river and 2 huts, well, who cares. that's what the music is for.

i would be too embarassed to have something make my maps for me . . . but if you think you need it so you can drive your car better . . . i guess that's what you need as your handicap. my car is an automatic and i know for a fact that i'd wreck if it were manual.

The thing is though nihil8r, When playing non-HOF games I imagine that everyone is just the same as you. If I want to play a non HOF game then I'll approach it with the same attitude as yourself, I'll take what I'm given map wise, unless i'm in the mddle of the Himalya's or something. I these circumstances then starting with a new map a couple of times isnt a problem.

The HOF is differant though, when appraching a HOF game the player wants to give themselves the best start possible, everything is based upon getting a fantastic start in order to challenge the highest scores, and thats what the HOF is all about, getting the highest score.

I'm not sure if your aware but finding a map by spending 5 minutes clicking restart doesnt often hapen, before Mapfinder people wold sped weeks, even months tring to find a suitable map.

You come up with some analagy's to back your argument so heres one for the Milkers side of the argument -

If you were an Olympic Athlete going to compete at the Olympics you would spend years in preperation for the single race, you would do everything possible to prepare for the 1 moment when you will give it your best shot to get the best time possible. All Mapfinder is doing is allowing us to cram more 'preperation' into a shorter period of time.

If the same Olypmic athlete was going for a jog in the park on a Sunday morning for his enjoyment, he would just get out of his house and go for a run without any preperation at all.

So there you have the answer - the HOFers are the Olympic Athletes of the Civ 3 world

 

[nihil8r]

olympics you say, hmm. well as it does have such overwhelming support, i could try it some time. it would be hypocritical for me to say how i'm so cool because i do it the old-fashioned way while refusing to try the generator at least once.

 

[nihil8r]

well i ran it last night with a setting of 3 river, 4 grass and 2 cows. it found probably 15 maps, and of those maps probably 5 were "superb" and 7 would need the capital moved 1 square. but it's not like i was making 8 cow 10 wheat utopias.

so i guess i will have to retract, and say this is okay for everyone to use. i'll still enjoy making my own maps but i am sure that i will augment my generations with maps from the mapfinder as well.

 

[superslug]

Originally posted by nihil8r
so i guess i will have to retract, and say this is okay for everyone to use. i'll still enjoy making my own maps but i am sure that i will augment my generations with maps from the mapfinder as well.

I'm glad you like Mapfinder. I salute you for trying it.

 

[Doc Holliday]

Hey Moonsinger excellant program!!

Here are my settings:

Domination limit: 4300

Terrain: 6 grassland

Resource: 1 cattle

I have yet to find a map . I know the program works cause I tested it before I started. Anyone else having these problems?

 

[superslug]

@Doc Holliday: Are these settings for a huge map? Are you running pangaea, continents or archipelago? If you're going for a pangaea, it could take a very long time, if it happens at all. You'll have better chances with continents or archipelago and even then it'll take time...

 

[fret]

Generally...

Huge Panagea will net you 3500-3700. 3800-3900 is not so common, 4000+ rare, 4200 probably impossible.

Dont know much about continents, never play 'em.

Huge Archipelago will normally net you 4200ish, 4350+ is good, 4500+ is excellent, 4700+ probably impossible.

 

[Doc Holliday]

Thanks for the replies.

I was running a Pangea Huge setting so that explains it. I'll change to archipelago and hope I net better results.

 

[superslug]

I'll change to archipelago and hope I net better results.

No need to hope, you will net better results.

 

[blindside]

i used to play the "counterstrike" game competitively. like three, four years ago. cheating was and i suppose still is rampant in that game because the coding was based off of quake 1 which was released in 1996. players would use cheats which enabled them to play with see-through walls, auto-aiming and targeting, anything they wanted . . . while they were playing in these super competitions to allegedly see how skilled they were.

how hard is it to click "new game" and see if there is a river on your start position, and if there isn't, make a new game? if i can generate 4 and 5 cow start positions and then lose those games, maybe some of you people can do the same and actually win those.

obviously we have different goals. you want to play and win. i just want to play.

I used and still sometimes play counterstrike. I played it competitively but never got around to winning much money. Cheating was a problem but not as rampant as people thought. The bigger problem was people going around accusing other people of cheating simply because they were better or had set up their computer to get maximum fps or better connections online, similar to mapfinder.

You do make legitimate points about playing the game vs. trying to win but you don't realize, the whole purpose of the HoF is to win and win big. And plenty of people enjoy winning big. I think its rare for people who are playing a HoF game to actually worry about losing it. They just worry about not maximizing their score. Some people enjoy picking random maps with 16 other civs on hard levels and just working away at the game and perhaps sneak away with a spaceship victory at the end when the world is in shambles. Others set out with the goal of beating down the AI and milking the game for every point possible.

And yes, you do have different goals. The goal in the HoF is to score high. Perhaps you shouldn't play on the competitive level if it isn't for you. (This isn't meant to be offensive so don't take it that way).

 

[superslug]

Perhaps you shouldn't play on the competitive level if it isn't for you. (This isn't meant to be offensive so don't take it that way).

Despite his initial position on Mapfinder, nihil8r is now a user of the program. I personally would like to see what seems to be a dead debate left just that...dead.