Opinions on best map customization and what are erosive forces?

[sendos]

I need to know what erosive forces are. I tried all categories.

For my map customization I go huge planet, mainly 30-50% sea or 50-70% sea, rare fungus and a mixture of strong, average or weak erosive forces for each of my games. I would to hear other opinions about that. Tell all.

 

[M_J_M]

In the game, erosive forces have the effect that the weaker the forces are, the higher are the continents. High continents have two main effects: The first effect is that on higher squares you can get more solar energy. The second effect is that the western sides of the continents get more water, while the eastern sides are usually completely dry (with the exception of rivers).

Huge Planet means that the factions get more time to grow before they effectively engage in conflict, and in general the interesting parts happen in the later game.

Sea coverage is something of personal taste i think, as both land and sea have pro and contra.

I wouldn't use strong fungus growth because this way u can lose other factions due to native life. But i don't use rare fungus because my favourite strategy is to build the manifold harmony and get +3 planet so in the late game my bases are completely plantet with fungus which then give 3 food 4 minerals 5 energy in the very late game, so i use average fungus growth so my formers don't have to plant that much fungus.

 

[sendos]

ok. So if I chose strong erosive forces the continents will be low elevation?

I'm not interested in manifold harmonics so I choose rare fungus. It's really annoying, unless you get xenopathy dome, where they act as roads. Besides, fungus has mainly contra than pro: I get raided by mind worms a lot by them travelling along the fungus and attacking without suffering haste. So any fungus next to my base is eliminated and any near my farms and forests are eliminated due to annoying spore launchers firing their gooey acid all over my terraforming (they look immobile, too). Any fungal towers will have to be eliminated at young spawn before it's too late.

 

[NwabudikeMorgan]

I usually play 30-50% water cuz i'm sick of yang spamming water bases.
I put on average native life because -25% to the AC score is harsh if you go rare.
Strong erosive forces (less deserty areas)
Dense cloud cover (more rainfall)
usually standard size map, because I HATE having to manage 1000 bases late game.

 

[M_J_M]

The effect of fungus depends on how you take it. If you use the fungus right you can get some pretty good advantages. I usually have some units (especially unity rovers) going on native lifeform hunting because every time the lifeforms get defeatet they give you some energy, depending on the growth status of them. You can also use them to train your regular military units without having to go to war. Last but not least with at planet +1 or better you can catch some lifeforms and expand your army without using minerals of your bases to build them.

 

[NwabudikeMorgan]

true, and also if you stick around long enough to get the Centauri techs you can have fungus producing a lot of nutrient/mineral/energy every turn.

 

[sendos]

nah, I like forests + tree farm + hybrid forest. 3 Nutrients, 2 minerals and energy each forest square.

 

[NwabudikeMorgan]

I thought It was 3/2/3 for hybrid.