what map do you suggest for 31 civs?

[charlesolmsted]

I always play on a custom map with all 31 civs. My map size is 240x240. I go with 60% ocean with archipelago land form - but add more land as needed. This can make for some very interesting games. It takes my very nice fast computer about an hour to load up this map the first time, but after that it runs beautifully.

I am currently playing a version where nearly all of the cities have been preplaced. I have various productive little islands for the civs to colonize later on - but I make it so that settlers are not available until very late in the game (I think they are available with navigation). If you do not do this, the AI tends to fill in all the gaps with useless cities and you reach the city cap very quickly.

On a map this size, it is essential to increase the range of all air and sea units. I have also tweaked many of the bonuses to make them more useful on a map this size (+1 ship movement is not really much of a bonus when all modern ships have range 11, so I found ways to increase this bonus substantially).

Of course, once you have spent hours making the map (and this has been an ongoing project off and on for at least a year), exploring it is really not a surprise. And it would be too easy for me to simply rush out and colonize all the "sweet spots." So, I restrain myself in my gameplay and have basically set it up so that I spend as much time watching the AI interact as possible. It is very fun for me to play this way, but I am not sure very many others would like it.

 

[Lord Parkin]

On a map this size, it is essential to increase the range of all air and sea units. I have also tweaked many of the bonuses to make them more useful on a map this size (+1 ship movement is not really much of a bonus when all modern ships have range 11, so I found ways to increase this bonus substantially).

How did you manage that? I thought in the civ3 editor there was just a flag for +1 sea movement and nothing else?

 

[charlesolmsted]

I did that by giving the +1 or +2 attribute to multiple wonders and small wonders. Thus, I added a naval academy, which gives +2 ship movement. I did some other stuff as well. If you want more details, let me know

 

[Lord Parkin]

But I know for a fact that those multiple bonuses cancel out... for instance, when I have both The Great Lighthouse and Magellan's Voyage (BEFORE Magnetism), I still only get the +1 move bonus.

 

[charlesolmsted]

Hmmm. Perhaps I need to do more testing. I'm afraid I have not been that scientific. I was not aware that those bonuses canceled each other out. It is possible that the bulk of my increased range comes from increasing the base statistics for each unit. I also increased the range of naval units for some civs by giving them unique ships with increased range. Thus, the Vikings have longer range sea and ocean capable longships in place of galleys. The Vikings, Dutch and Portugal all have longer range sea and ocean capable Carracks instead of Caravels.