Post a (tough) Deity map for me to play

[jatamixx]

Tempting to settle on the phants.

Hmm I am at turn 54 and I have no idea where to place city #2.

Too many great choices

 

[AcaMetis]

Hi all, I've got a map to share . Not sure if "tough" is a word it'll live up to compared to the stuff I've seen, but it should be a fun map to play. As for why it's worth playing...I'll just say that one particular individual will refer to this map as "the worst best start".

Spoiler :

Said individual is not the player. Gods alive is it not the player...

Anyway, the start:

Spoiler :

map/game settings:

Spoiler :

Playing as Genghis Khan of Mongolia. Pangaea, Standard size, Medium sealevel, Normal speed. Huts and Events turned off, everything else default, all victory conditions enabled. Save was made while running BUG+BULL, no other mods.

Oh, and Deity difficulty, obviously .

 

[sampsa]

Now we need to bait Lain into playing it somehow... After playing some 30 turns

Spoiler very mildly spoily :

seems like a fun map indeed, but it seems unlikely that the game will be hard.

 

[AcaMetis]

Agreed

Spoiler :

Sadly it's not that easy to roll maps that are both completely uncooked in any way and provide a good challenge for you crazy-good Deity players. But if it's a challenge you want, than by Cthulhu it's a challenge you'll hopefully, maybe, possibly potentially get!

I can make no promises, sadly .

Anyway, hopefully there's no objections to me posting another two maps. Yes, two. Thank you lengthy internet failure during which I rolled maps for hours .

So, the start for Frederick of Germany:

Spoiler :

Map details:

Spoiler :

Pangaea with a Tropical climate, everything else standard/default except No Huts, No Events.

And the start for Joao II of Portugal:

Spoiler :

Map details:

Spoiler :

Fractal, everything default except No Huts No Events

As for why they're worth playing, I believe both maps will show their fangs within like 10 turns or so.

 

[joebro]

Here's a naturally generated map where one of the AIs got an extremely nasty, effectively bugged starting position.
Someone else will have to swap positions and change difficulty correctly (was generated on Immortal) as I don't want to mess it up.

Fractal, NH/NE, the usual.

Spoiler The problem becomes apparent very quickly. here's a screenshot (could affect settling choice) :

 

[AcaMetis]

Spoiler :

Ouch. I don't suppose there's an AI right on the other side of that mountain to block off any potential settling?

On an unrelated (semi-related?) note, I'm still trying to roll the most evil map I'm willing to subject people to. But doing that without any cooking at all is...hard. So instead here's something I got in the meantime that isn't quite as evil. I...assume there's no objections ?

The start for Boudica of...Celtia? The Celts? Uh...Boudica of the only civilization she can be a leader of without Unrestricted Leaders :

Spoiler :

Map details:

Spoiler :

Fractal, Rocky Climate, NHNE. All else default.

The start for Isabella of Spain:

Spoiler :

Map details:

Spoiler :

Pangaea, NHNE, all else default.

The first map should show it's fangs within like five turns or so (beyond what's obvious from the starting screenshot). The second map is a toss-up between "wolf among sheep" and "paper tiger". It all depends on how things play out .

 

[Fippy]

Izzy start looks strong, with settling on stone and seafood even her starting techs are okay

 

[AcaMetis]

It'd be interesting to see how people play the Izzy map opening, especially in terms of tech path and what to build. An EXP leader with no worker techs to start with and a 3 capitol...that's got to be something that requires some thought.

Anyway, recall that most evil map I'd be willing to subject people to that I mentioned? I give up. I just cannot get a "good" enough map without doing at least some cooking. So my apologies for the flood of maps, but I'll just post what I think is the map that got the closest to what I wanted and call it good. It's still a doozy of course, but not the spawn of that I wanted it to be. Alas.

In any event, the start for Churchill of England:

Spoiler :

Map details:

Spoiler :

Fractal, Cold climate, NHNE, all else default

Isolated?

Spoiler :

You bet.

Why a halfway decent leader instead of the classic go-to known as Toku for all your evil map needs, you ask? Variety. Maybe a tiny bit of mercy ...but mostly variety.

As for why it's worth playing, definitely a map that'll show it's fangs within five turn.

 

[Fish Man]

Here's a pretty tough NC from a while back

Spoiler :

Start looks rich but the downside is dealing with 12 AIs on just a large continents map (including some pretty powerful ones), better expand quick.

How I did:

Spoiler :

Gave it a shot on deity. Only had room for 5 cities, but engineering -> cannon rushes fixed that. Turn 263 science victory.

 

[Fippy]

Boudi start from AcaMentis is crazy, totally recommended for Lain..!

 

[Lain]

Challenge accepted Boudica it is. Thanks @AcaMetis for all the map suggestions. Had a break recently, but ready to take some of them on now.

 

[AcaMetis]

You're welcome, and good luck with the Boudica map .

 

[unas876]

Boudi start from AcaMentis is crazy, totally recommended for Lain..!

I actually thought you were kidding based on the starting screenshot... 20 minutes into the game I totally changed my mind

This ones gonna be good

 

[Fish Man]

It'd be interesting to see how people play the Izzy map opening, especially in terms of tech path and what to build. An EXP leader with no worker techs to start with and a 3 capitol...that's got to be something that requires some thought.

Anyway, recall that most evil map I'd be willing to subject people to that I mentioned? I give up. I just cannot get a "good" enough map without doing at least some cooking. So my apologies for the flood of maps, but I'll just post what I think is the map that got the closest to what I wanted and call it good. It's still a doozy of course, but not the spawn of that I wanted it to be. Alas.

In any event, the start for Churchill of England:

Spoiler :

Map details:

Spoiler :

Fractal, Cold climate, NHNE, all else default

Isolated?

Spoiler :

You bet.

Why a halfway decent leader instead of the classic go-to known as Toku for all your evil map needs, you ask? Variety. Maybe a tiny bit of mercy ...but mostly variety.

As for why it's worth playing, definitely a map that'll show it's fangs within five turn.

I've played some hard maps before but this is just insanity. I might not speak for everyone but past a certain point this type of stuff isn't really fun anymore, when you know you're going to lose from t1 - like the Boudi AW map @Fippy posted a while back.

 

[AcaMetis]

I've played some hard maps before but this is just insanity. I might not speak for everyone but past a certain point this type of stuff isn't really fun anymore, when you know you're going to lose from t1 - like the Boudi AW map @Fippy posted a while back.

Personally I actually agree with that, but there are people who enjoy these kind of "how in Loki's name is it even possible to win this?" maps, and I've seen people win with worse starts, so...there it is .

All the same, if straight-up insanity isn't your game than the other maps I posted should (hopefully) provide a measure of challenge that isn't straight-up insanity. The Boudica map is, as stated, , but not the kind of insane that the Churchill map is.

 

[Fippy]

Church map is actually rather tame imo

Spoiler :

Some decisions like that marble city or Academy + even plains cottages in Cap i did for variety, might as well live out your builder soul on such maps ~~
I also want to look further west with Trireme + loaded galley when ready, for fun.
Oh and yup i ofc built GLH, perfect start for it.

 

[Fippy]

Getting this city feels like an achievement
So those barbs stole my Jumbos..

 

[Fippy]

Optics + Caras save, not sure when i will continue this one..have an AW game waiting oO

 

[Fish Man]

For the Boudi map: t57 ragequit

Everything was going fine until...

Spoiler :

What the hell, Tokugawa??? Of all the places you could choose to settle...smh..

 

[AcaMetis]

Congrats with the Boudica map, Lain . As for my thoughts,

Spoiler :

what I think happened with Julius and Alex is that they started plotting on each other, but because that put both in full unit spam mode neither could get enough of a military advantage to declare, so they just kept spamming more units trying to get more military. Not sure why Alex didn't declare at any point after Julius got DoWed by Gilgy and lost a bunch of units and two cities, though. Alternatively Julius was plotting on you, but Alex was plotting on Joao or Sury only to get stuck trying to figure out how to navigate around the Roman/Portuguese mountain border? Both had Astro for a while and Alex was clear military power leader for a while, so...not sure.

Incidentally, you were totally right with your theory about Boudica's UU/UB and the Rocky Climate. The map generator decided otherwise though, and I think it did for the better .

Also, here's another map that's just too not to post. The start for Charlemagne of the Holy Roman Empire:

Spoiler :

Map Details:

Spoiler :

Fractal, Temperate, NHNE, all else default.

Isolated?

Spoiler :

Nope .

Why it's worth playing? It's certainly a start, but it should be a good challenge of one's micro skills to get the most out of it. And to get the most of it in general .