Shall there be a earth map with historic start locations?

[Lockesdonkey]

I'll try it...one of my best-ever games was on an Earth map (Ottomans in South America).

A Planet map, or better yet, an SMAC mod/scenario would be sweet, in spite of the relative lack of a second leaderhead (unless you want to use the Voki/Sarita/I-can't-remember-the-interludes-from-when-I-played-as-anyone-else).

 

[doronron]

Back when the old Greek Civilization site was independant, there used be be a series of earth-like maps made by this one guy for Civ 2. The continents and oceans were vastly different, but he had the ocean -> land and the terrain type (ie. forest) -> terrain type (ie. desert) ratios matching that of earth. The composition of the map also made sense -- no super mountain ranges that covered half the continent, or deserts right next to tundra. The maps felt right, as the Earth maps do for Civ3.

So the game played incredibly well, and there were no worries over the start positions since it wasn't actually earth. It got to the point where those were the only Civ 2 maps I played, even forgoing the custom Earth maps.

I hope that Civ IV's random map generator takes some basic geography into account and ensures the worlds it builds are even marginally possible. Some kind of ratio vs. longitude-latitude system would be nice. That way no matter what style of game we play, the map will still feel right.

 

[Slax]

I always play random maps.

 

[Grand Cadfael]

If they make Europe less croweded, sure I'll play an Earth map.

Any one can do that

 

[Xen]

There would be no one in Australia. But if the map is larger, I'd really like it.

thier was no one of consequence in australia in real life; harsh to say, but true; thas why the Brithish colonized it so remarkably easilly

 

[KrikkitTwo]

They should have a Earth Map with Historical placement of civs and resources, with the option of randomizing the placement of civs and/or resources.

 

[Steve2000]

I always play random maps.

Agreed. Part of the fun of recreating history is the concept that as you spread out your civilization you don't know where things are. If you know there is going to be a river in a certain place, or the ocean is x number of tiles wide at this location, then it is certainly quite an exploit for the human player.

 

[Francophile]

In my opinion, a Europe map with real-life starting locations would be much more realistic and fun. Same with East Asia and the Middle East.

 

[Grohan]

When I was new to Civ3 I remember playing Earth map what shipped with Civ3. It was bad compared to fanmade maps what are avaible here nowadays, but by then I had lots of fun with it. There were both standard and huge versions of it. Scenario description says that it was created in September 2001 and Civ3 was released in October so there is no way it would be a fanmade map.

 

[warpstorm]

Scenario description says that it was created in September 2001 and Civ3 was released in October so there is no way it would be a fanmade map.

It wasn't, but the date is not an indication. My terrain mod was included with PTW (and C3C pre-orders) before I released to the web. Firaxis has a past history of allowing some modders early access to their titles.

 

[CurtSibling]

I would love to see a giant world map, with Europe able to support a stack of cities.

With unlimited cities, this should be possible...

 

[The Caltrop]

Just make historical placement optional for the world map!

 

[GoodGame]

absolutely!

 

[Urederra]

Playing historical maps is a bit or cheating. You already know the map. It spoils the fun you can have with the exploration units. That's why I prefer random maps, although maybe one of these days I'll try to play a huge earth map but without fixed historical placements. It could be fun to give it a try.

 

[Bluemofia]

Playing historical maps is a bit or cheating. You already now the map.

So does the AI.

 

[North King]

Playing historical maps is a bit or cheating. You already know the map.

Not with some of the terrible earth maps that ship. Seriously, I started on an Earth map one time, and looked at my starting location several turns of exploration in, thinking "Where the heck am I?"

 

[SuperBeaverInc.]

Not with some of the terrible earth maps that ship. Seriously, I started on an Earth map one time, and looked at my starting location several turns of exploration in, thinking "Where the heck am I?"

Same thing happened to me. I am great with geography, but even I couldn't tell where I was. Long story short...India

 

[Lord Parkin]

IIRC, civ4 maps will be smaller than civ3 maps though, and due to the 3D nature of the game, making custom massive-colossal maps will REALLY handicap the game speed. So unfortunately it looks like no workable "real-world-start-locations" for civ4.

But, the least they could do is to actually provide a DECENT world map or two with civ4... unlike those that came with civ3!!! Personally I usually play random maps myself, but there's some fun in playing on earth every now and then (though I only played on the pre-made ones for civ3 ONCE, after that I only played on actual ACCURATE ones that I made or were made by other modders ).