When playing random maps I am always getting a feeling that availability and diversity of resources is odd. So I conducted a small investigation to figure this out (using SVN 5218).
I created a map with the following settings:
The number of players was left at default — 15; the difficulty setting for everybody — Noble.
I saved the resulting map as a WB save file. Using regenerate map function I created (9) more maps and saved them too. Then I counted the number of each resource on each map. Positive values mean that the number of resources is more than the number of players. Negative values mean that the number of resources is less than the number of players. As one can see there is regularity in the results. First, there is always an abundance of sea resources (especially fish). Second, some resources may never appear. Third, most of the resources are pretty scarce. Considering that with the revolutions component the number of civs can grow the situation becomes even worse.
Then I created a map with default settings:
I saved the resulting map as a WB save file. Then I returned to the main menu and repeated the procedure (9) more times. I got the same regularity. However the average and the total number of resources grew up.
Then I decided to change map’s size to Standard leaving default settings (they are the same for all map sizes). The number of civs here is 9. Absolute numbers differ but the same regularity persists. The average and the total number of resources was again lower. However there were no absent resources.
So I want to raise a question: how many resources should a map generator create depending on a number of players? What resources should be abundant and which ones may be scarce because there are ways to increase their number (mines, unique improvements, rich soils)?
I also attach raw data so anyone can double-check me.