Shattered Seas

[WillK96]

I've played 4 games on the new shattered seas map since the update. I am a HUGE fan, and I think it really brings the Civ VII experience closer to being a "normal" civ experience. Yes, there's still civ switching, etc..., but the more natural map discovery progression and the reduced emphasis on racing to settle usually low value islands or tiny slivers of an already occupied continent make the game feel more "natural" and less "railroady." I'm excited to see if this can be refined and expounded upon in additional forthcoming map types.

Curious if anyone else had a similar experience!

 

[CivKirk64]

I've only played the one game so far, still in the middle of it. I was playing as Tonga, so I figured it would be great, I can explore the whole globe fairly easily. One thing that bugged me was I figured that at least a 3rd of the landmass would be ocean separated (even tiny ocean) but it happened to only generate a few random isolated islands as "Distant Lands"

Any civ that relies on distant land bonuses if horribly nerfed, there just isn't enough landmass to take advantage.

 

[WillK96]

I've only played the one game so far, still in the middle of it. I was playing as Tonga, so I figured it would be great, I can explore the whole globe fairly easily. One thing that bugged me was I figured that at least a 3rd of the landmass would be ocean separated (even tiny ocean) but it happened to only generate a few random isolated islands as "Distant Lands"

Any civ that relies on distant land bonuses if horribly nerfed, there just isn't enough landmass to take advantage.

Agreed - it certainly nerfs Tonga. The general flow of the game felt more like Civ V or VI to me though, at least from Antiquity to Exploration.

Another few things I liked: (1) Multiple landmasses instead of just 2 large continents with some islands (whether they be separated by a vertical or horizontal ocean) and (2) distant lands spawning near the center of the map, to make Exploration discovery more varied. These are two things I think the devs could lean into in developing future maps that maybe don't nerf DL focused civs as badly as shattered seas, but still provide interesting and unique gameplay.

 

[moondog385]

I’ve always liked the many separate landmass maps. Economic victory in Exploration seems virtually impossible on this kind of map though.

 

[WillK96]

I’ve always liked the many separate landmass maps. Economic victory in Exploration seems virtually impossible on this kind of map though.

I found it more difficult than usual, but obtained it in 2/4 playthroughs (With Abbasids and Spain). Here's to hoping they materially revamp the legacy paths in the coming months.

 

[Boris Gudenuf]

I’ve always liked the many separate landmass maps. Economic victory in Exploration seems virtually impossible on this kind of map though.

Economic Victory in Exploration has always been utterly dependent on the 'luck of the map' no matter what map you played on. I played on everything from Archipelago to Continents with or without islands to Pangaea with Only Islands in DL, and on every map type ran into problems with either no available decent settlement sites or no available Treasure Resources or Treasure Resources so scattered it required a new settlement for each resource.
And in other games - again regardless of map-type - the first three land masses I discovered had a half-dozen/dozen Treasure Resources on them and the entire Economic path was completed before the Age was half over.
Shattered Seas might be a little worse than some other maps, but there is no consistency that I have found in completing the Economic path by map type - what you get is as completely random as anything in the game.

 

[moondog385]

I found it more difficult than usual, but obtained it in 2/4 playthroughs (With Abbasids and Spain). Here's to hoping they materially revamp the legacy paths in the coming months.

I think the islands just need to be bigger. I was only able to found one distant lands settlement in my first game on the map and a good 50% of them didn’t even have DL resources. Future games could be better though. I clearly play much slower than others here — I’ve only completed one game since the last update lol.

 

[Albertan Civfanatic]

It's a great map.

 

[CivKirk64]

Aside from how bad as it is for the Distant Land balance, it is an amazing map type. I just love the snaking seas, the junctures it creates. The only thing that would make it better would be to reintroduce canals so you could play with trade routes/strategic loopholes.
The landmasses are big enough for you and all you'll need each age, or you can straddle a couple islands.
It really feels cool, I just wish it would differentiate a big chunk as distant lands.

 

[MrRadar]

I'm still in my first game on that kind of map, but I've already had a though that it was ideal for sim-citying, maintaining the peace and building your trade empire. Nobody bothers me, and I'm also not bothering anybody too much. A little bit of piracy from Teach does not count now, does it? But still, up to mid Explo and zero formal wars for me.

 

[MutilationWave]

I think the islands just need to be bigger. I was only able to found one distant lands settlement in my first game on the map and a good 50% of them didn’t even have DL resources. Future games could be better though. I clearly play much slower than others here — I’ve only completed one game since the last update lol.

Hope you find more time to play. I'm in the same boat - not only do I play slowly, I just haven't had any time to play period. I have completed one Antiquity age since the latest patch, and I love the game!

Looks like I'll have some time to play over Christmas, things could change though.

 

[uppi]

One fun aspect of this map type is that distant lands can appear in the middle of the map, as long as it is surrounded by deep sea tiles. For example, in the image below, Barcelona is on a Distant Lands island while all the surrounding islands are Homelands. It does not have treasure resources in this case, but it counts towards the military legacy paths.

Spoiler :

Also, with Tides of Power, you have the Havanna Harbor which provides you with treasure convoys even without any treasure resources. If you build it early in a good spot, it can get you halfway there. In the above game, there were only 6 treasure convoy resources on the map. But combined with Havanna Harbor, this was enough to get 40/30 points. Also, this was on of the very few times, I have seen the AI complete the Treasure Fleet legacy paths. Apparently, Friedrich knows how to play Inca.

 

[MutilationWave]

@uppi
You have the greatest treasure of all, love camels!

 

[Barbarian King]

It's a fun change of pace from the other maps. Although from reading the other comments in this thread it seems that I've gotten lucky, as both times I've played this map I got sizeable distant lands islands with sufficient treasure resources to create colonies that generated enough treasure fleets to finish the economic legacy path.

 

[Lonecat Nekophrodite]

Economic Victory in Exploration has always been utterly dependent on the 'luck of the map' no matter what map you played on. I played on everything from Archipelago to Continents with or without islands to Pangaea with Only Islands in DL, and on every map type ran into problems with either no available decent settlement sites or no available Treasure Resources or Treasure Resources so scattered it required a new settlement for each resource.
And in other games - again regardless of map-type - the first three land masses I discovered had a half-dozen/dozen Treasure Resources on them and the entire Economic path was completed before the Age was half over.
Shattered Seas might be a little worse than some other maps, but there is no consistency that I have found in completing the Economic path by map type - what you get is as completely random as anything in the game.

And again, some Playable Character has quests that requires claiming rare resources in distant lands. Hatshepsut has an exloration quest to calim four luxuries; Coco, Sugar, Tea and Spice. All has to be claimed after the quest starts (anything worked before is not counted), though home continent claims is also counted against.)

Bad luck means quest failure. and that's less about abilities or willingness to fight wars against anyone.

 

[marius_kaparius]

I really enjoy it. The new maps really make the original maps stick out - I'd quietly have them be multiplayer only if I were Firaxis.

 

[Leucarum]

It has the same issues as Pangaea. It is a fun map, but if you want any distant lands gameplay it's not the one for you.

 

[WillK96]

One fun aspect of this map type is that distant lands can appear in the middle of the map, as long as it is surrounded by deep sea tiles. For example, in the image below, Barcelona is on a Distant Lands island while all the surrounding islands are Homelands. It does not have treasure resources in this case, but it counts towards the military legacy paths.

Spoiler :

View attachment 751586

Also, with Tides of Power, you have the Havanna Harbor which provides you with treasure convoys even without any treasure resources. If you build it early in a good spot, it can get you halfway there. In the above game, there were only 6 treasure convoy resources on the map. But combined with Havanna Harbor, this was enough to get 40/30 points. Also, this was on of the very few times, I have seen the AI complete the Treasure Fleet legacy paths. Apparently, Friedrich knows how to play Inca.

I had the same thought - I saw a post on these forums back in March or April about the different ways distant lands could spawn, including the homelands being a donut shape around an interior distant lands. This map makes that happen and it makes me more optimistic that other interesting distant lands concepts are coming.

I also noticed that, in all of my playthroughs since the update, at least 1 AI civ has been competitive in the Treasure Fleet legacy path. Hopefully this improvement continues.

 

[Lazy sweeper]

It has the same issues as Pangaea. It is a fun map, but if you want any distant lands gameplay it's not the one for you.

I only played Pangea in previous titles, because I like big empires, and conquer every other Nation asap.
Having a distant island with one nation on it was annoying because I needed Caravels first before being able to conquer them.
If there is a problem in Pangea map it probably should be solved first instead of getting around it with new maps.

 

[MrRadar]

Well, my first game on the Shattered Seas type of map delivered me a map with just a few treasure resources. And although I found 4 lost and unescorted settlers at sea, originally belonging to other civs, that I've rescued, I haven't seen a single treasure convoy that I could've helped to reach a safe harbour. Very underwhelming. Out of despair Teach had to build temples and build schools and universities. I wonder, what subjects are read in the classrooms of the Pirate Republic? At least I named our religion 'Merry Life', so there was some consolation.

Spoiler :

And AI, despite each having their own landmass, did just terrible (that's state of affairs after Explo):

Spoiler :

There were couple of wars or so, but no one was conquered or crippled. Are shallow water barriers and relatively limited settling space such big obstacles for the AI?