I haven't really shown much of the finished map, so here's a more in-depth look:
Close-up of an inner sea; I like the layout of islands and coastal resources.
Front, lusher, end of a player area:
Back, thinner end of a player area:
The hub; the area I'm not too happy about. I still think it looks artificial, but I was going for something like a vulcanic caldera.
Astronomy island:
I agree that the plains are pretty boring, and might turn some of the coastal ones into deserts. Scouting is going to be key, but it looks they'll play without barbs who eat scouts.
Thanks for the kind words, I've tried giving them reasonable options while avoiding obvious best choices. I think I'll do the following small tweaks:
Move the frontend riverside wheat to the coast, making room for..
Adding a sheep or pig on the grasshill between the marble and iron
Adding a few hills to the backend
Adding one minor food to the backend, probably sheep or plains-cow.
I see that the oils are missing on the screenshot, but there is a land-oil for everyone in the backend, and a lake-side oil at the capital.
Edit: I was nice and converted the forest between the horse and the lake into a grass cow, which should help establish 2-3 cities on that side. I think I'm done tweaking now.
