Define crazy
Re: barbarians, there are no barbarians wandering about which would not normally appear in the first 50 turns of the game that may access the player. You will not see any preplaced angels or demons or even barbarians axes or chariots (which occur naturally but not early on), but only the sort that would be present naturally in the first 50 turns will have any effect during this period. There will be no barbarians that will enter your borders preplaced. I reserve the right to include significant quest-esque barbarians in the same way that Acheron appears, but they should not effect the game. You will only receive those starting units and techs that you would normally receive. The settler will not have the starting settler promotion, but you will receive visibility on any place you would be able to see after your initial moves.
There is a significant amount of water present, enough so that I feel the Lanun should be banned, but I believe that OO can survive unbanned or altered (although I will confer with lurkers about this before sending a save).
The map is a 4-way (almost) mirrored map. For practical purposes, all starts should be equal in everything except neighbors, but is set up so you should be able to relate to and have an affect on anyone on the map, whether or not they directly neighbor you. The immediate starting area has been set up to encourage diverse strategies, but is suitably lush that the start will be at a reasonable speed for multiplayer (for which you can thank Bobchillingworth's prodding
). The distance to opponents is neither ridiculously close or far, and there will be avenues for peaceful expansion available for most, if not all, of an average game. The map is, overall, rather lush, but not ridiculously so. I believe that no economic or diplomatic or technology strategy is particularly hampered by this setup and that all options are viable. You may disagree
The map currently contains (guarded) lairs, which I think will have minimal interference on the game, and I recommend them being allowed. However, they can be removed if players so desire. There are huts present, but they are guarded and would require considerable investment to acquire. This map has been playtested, and nothing noteworthy or peculiar appeared.
On a unrelated note, if anyone is interested in map- or scenario-making then they can contact Bobchillingworth or I. We are currently discussing a future adventure that would require several others helping out, but promises to be quite interesting
(I will be sending pms to those that I think might be interested in the next few days, but I will probably miss someone in the process).
