Hi Mentos. Thank you very much for your review. It means a lot to me that people find enjoyment in my work. You hit on the main points I was trying to achieve with Rhineland, so this comes as confirmation that I accomplished what I set out to do.
One point I would like to refute, though, is that the climate mechanics are actually fairly sophisticated. More so than any of the vanilla map scripts. If you look closely, you'll see that mountains tend to divide wet from dry areas. There aren't any random factors involved in generating the terrain, it is derived from the placement of ocean and mountain tiles. I added just a bit of fractal blending (randomness) for cosmetic effect, to prevent noticeable horizontal lines, and this can be disabled from the advanced menu. I did use the Firaxis default river and forest placement.
To be honest, Civ5 doesn't interest me the same way Civ4 did, so I don't play it often and can't call myself an experienced player. Consequently, I've neglected to continue updating this script. I would be interested in hearing any suggestions you or other players, more veteran than I, have for balance or tweaking.
For example, you mention that sometimes you wish water passages were longer. Do you think this adds to the strategic value of the map, making it more interesting, or is it just a frustration? Have you tried adjusting the sea level setting on the advanced menu to see if that makes a difference?
Also, if you haven't already, you might be interested in looking at the Civ Density option, which is the real determination of map size relative to player count. "Map Size", i.e. Tiny, Small, etc, has been disabled in this script, which is why you may see disparities in map dimensions between this and other scripts.
Thank you again for your interest and the time you've taken to write feedback. It is appreciated!