What World Settings (rainfall, temperature, etc) do you find most challenging?

[Afterburner]

Speaking here just of the type of terrain generated, not the Pangea/Continent/Archipelago choices.

I'm currently playing on an Arid, Warm, 3 Billion Years map. Lots of desert, hills, and mountains. It has certainly made it challenging to place cities.

 

[EdwardTking]

I prefer Warm, Wet

 

[Tomoyo]

Arid, 3 Billion, Cold, is the easiest. The opposite is the funnest.

 

[Puppeteer]

I think random terrain is challenging because you have to figure it out as you go. Clumped mountains in 3 bln are certainly hard if you start close to them, but then again there's usually gems and/or gold in them.

 

[Chinghis]

Ditto here on the random terrain. I even do random landmasses sometimes.

Started a game last night, and hit the "Use previous map" (or whatever) button. But, instead of just using that map, I substituted 3 numbers in the middle for what was there. I have no idea what kind of world I'm on right now, except that I've only found one other civilization so far (about 1000 b.c.).

 

[Percy]

Arid, 3 Billion, Cold, is the easiest. The opposite is the funnest.

care to develop for a newbie please ? tis is interesting, i hardly have any idea about the consequences of such or such parameter, in "everyday" play.

 

[Tomoyo]

When I rig the map for a Sid attempt, I set it to Arid (No agricultural AIs, but I am, so I get the benefits of the deserts), 3 billion (good lands comes in clumps, restart until I start there), and cold for the same reason. The opposite is the funnest because it tends to be the more evenly matched for the opposite reasons.

 

[InFlux5]

So you are saying 3 billion and Cold both cause the terrain to come in larger "clumps"??

 

[Tomoyo]

3 billion makes the terrain come in "clumps, while cold will filter the good terrain towards the middle, so you don't have to worry about the AIs with tundra starts.

 

[DBear]

"Waterworld"

Warm, wet, 3 billion, 80% water, archipelago. Try that!

 

[Cuivienen]

Archipelago is the easiest landmass setting in 90% of all situations, with Pangaea (probably) being the hardest. It really depends on difficulty level, though; on Monarch and below, the extra room to expand on Pangaeas outweighs the AIs all having early contacts.

 

[Herrs]

I'm not a newbie, but a always play default when it comes to theese settings (not with the Pangea/Continent/Archipelago though). So can anyone clear out the consequenses with different settings?

 

[Tomoyo]

Age: 3 billion - Rocky, 5 Billion - Flatty
Temperature: Cool - More tundra, Warm - More Jungles and Deserts
Climate: Wet - More rivers and jungles, Dry - More deserts and plains

 

[MeteorPunch]

Warm - More Jungles and Deserts

I don't think that's correct. I think it just allows less tundra.

 

[Tomoyo]

I don't think that's correct. I think it just allows less tundra.

Well, with less Tundra, there will be more Jungles and Deserts, at least.

 

[Beorn-eL-Feared]

There is a set number of "wastelands" on the map, which are marsh, tundra, jungle and deserts. The number will not change, although their composition will change: more tundra on cold, more desert on arid, more marsh/jungle on wet.

You do get fruits, fishes and oasis on them sometimes, but other than that, and not considering the agr solution to deserts, they practically are wastelands until you have the spare to send a ton of workers to set the terrain for live beings to live there. So they are considered such by the game, and you can trust that a comp having the badluck of starting there will suck as if it were tundra.

 

[Slax]

Usually the "tougher" the terrain (desert, tundra, jungle), the harder it is for the AI, and the easier the game for a good player, since a player can plan better. Also, pangea is easier for the AI since it will allow faster tech trading for them, and it is easier to make war (no ocean transport of military). The most challenging for me - pangea, temperate, mid range age. But I don't like ocean either, so I play Continents.

 

[rysingsun]

on deity and sid i would say any pangea will be difficult since the ai quickly find each other and trade so much that the player can easily be left for long periods of time with no one to trade with. if the map is "huge" size and only 60 percent water it becomes easier again because after the ai expand so much their border cities reach full corruption. this gives the player an opportunity to catch up in a sense on productive empire size.

given all that i would say a small map with 80 percent water on sid level and the maximum number of ai's with no mods and all default victory conditions would probably be unbeatable. if anyone has won such a game i would love to hear it. my guess is it is the closest thing to impossible i can come up with.

 

[thetrooper]

I don't think that's correct. I think it just allows less tundra.

Well, with less Tundra, there will be more Jungles and Deserts, at least

Humidity: a dry planet means less forest/marsh/jungle.

Temperature: if warm more deserts/plains, if cool more tundra.

Age: a young planet will have more mountains/hills, an old planet have less hills/mountains.

 

[MeteorPunch]

Temperature: if warm more deserts/plains, if cool more tundra.

Where does that info come from? It seems to me on the map generator that the only thing temperature affects is amount of tundra. Deserts/plains/jungles/rivers are related to humidity.