Ecofarm
Deity
MP games generally last 1-3 hours. Blazing timer is lame. I dont mind playing on medium timer and find games end at 1-3 hours regardless of timer speed.
I rarely see knights, and then I think only on medieval starts. Alot of people play island games, so the need for galleons might send final wars into the medieval era.
My current favorite map for teams is tiny inland sea, 3v3. This is because there are only 2 avenues of attack, and 1 of the civs on each side is back in the corner (not on the frontline). This 'backman' civ is probably the most important to the win, but the frontline civs are generally more fun to play (at least for a warmonger). Average time to finish game on this setting is .5 - 2 hours. Generally, in your team's 3 civs, you want 3 different ancient UU, choose from: Mansa, Cyrus, Shaka, Augustus, Hat, Ram, Alex. Some people are such god builders, that they can play non-ancient UU and still pull more than their fair weight (most wonders work for everyone on the team, rapid expanders can donate/bring alot of troops in mid-game). Things get really exciting when your builder is a frontline, and both UU civs need to get troops to him ASAP, while still setting out LPOP (listening/observation posts) ahead of the other front line. If you are aware of when and where they build wonders, and have decent notice of an invading force, you can probably focus military assets at the builder civ and attack unexpectedly.
As a general policy, as soon as someone hooks up their UU, they send the 1st 1-2 built to the other front, and vice versa. You kind of need to establish which front you will launch your attack from and concentrate assets to one front. If the enemy does not recognize this and fortifiy with full_team assets, or launch a commando force at the other front, you stand a good chance of flat running them over.
I rarely see knights, and then I think only on medieval starts. Alot of people play island games, so the need for galleons might send final wars into the medieval era.
My current favorite map for teams is tiny inland sea, 3v3. This is because there are only 2 avenues of attack, and 1 of the civs on each side is back in the corner (not on the frontline). This 'backman' civ is probably the most important to the win, but the frontline civs are generally more fun to play (at least for a warmonger). Average time to finish game on this setting is .5 - 2 hours. Generally, in your team's 3 civs, you want 3 different ancient UU, choose from: Mansa, Cyrus, Shaka, Augustus, Hat, Ram, Alex. Some people are such god builders, that they can play non-ancient UU and still pull more than their fair weight (most wonders work for everyone on the team, rapid expanders can donate/bring alot of troops in mid-game). Things get really exciting when your builder is a frontline, and both UU civs need to get troops to him ASAP, while still setting out LPOP (listening/observation posts) ahead of the other front line. If you are aware of when and where they build wonders, and have decent notice of an invading force, you can probably focus military assets at the builder civ and attack unexpectedly.
As a general policy, as soon as someone hooks up their UU, they send the 1st 1-2 built to the other front, and vice versa. You kind of need to establish which front you will launch your attack from and concentrate assets to one front. If the enemy does not recognize this and fortifiy with full_team assets, or launch a commando force at the other front, you stand a good chance of flat running them over.