Adventure Fifteen - The French Riviera - Info Thread

[Sirian]

This thread is for questions or participation posts for Adventure Fifteen. (I'll be watching the reports -- and questions -- on this one closely, to see where the Gentle Adventures should be going next!)


- Sirian

[Benno]

RB23 SG was victorious today, my first Emporer win, so I'm ineligible (timing is everything)! Might play a shadow on this one anyway, sounds like a good challenge.

[T-hawk]

Here's a Link to Adventure 15 for the lazy.

Also a Link to Adventure 14 for those who didn't see that one, as there's no info thread just yet.

[kryszcztov]

I'm very far from not being elligible. This sounds like a very nice scenario to try, and a not-so-hard game for me, so I will play this game this month. Seas, lakes and rivers, me likey. I hope there is much arable land around those rivers, and not for the AIs. Saint-Tropez, Cannes, Nice, here I come.

[Harleqin]

I'm very far from not being elligible. This sounds like a very nice scenario to try, and a not-so-hard game for me, so I will play this game this month. Seas, lakes and rivers, me likey. I hope there is much arable land around those rivers, and not for the AIs. Saint-Tropez, Cannes, Nice, here I come.

I agree. If I can find the time I'll definately be playing this. Can't have anyone stealing our French wine... ehm... water

[Veovim]

I'm definitely going to try to play this. It looks like a nice scenario, so I hope my attempt doesn't suffer the same fate as my epic 8 (getting nowhere due to lack of time).

[sooooo]

Also, though the map size is Large, this being a Lakes map will mean it will have about the same load on computers as a standard-sized Pangaea or Archipelago map

So is lakes a smaller than normal map? I always assumed it was bigger than normal, like highlands is. Interesting.

[Dantski]

Hmm... being one of those people with an older computer, I'm interested in what sort of settings demand more off my computer than others. I always knew Terra maps to be a bit more of a strain, but don't know that much regarding others.

[Sirian]

So is lakes a smaller than normal map? I always assumed it was bigger than normal, like highlands is. Interesting.

Check the map guide for complete info.


Some summary info:

Standard Archipelago/Continents/Fractal/Islands are "normal" sized maps, with lots of ocean. (78% is default!)
Let's call that Size 10.

Large Archipelago would be Size 11, with Huge being Size 12.
Small Archipelago would be Size 9, Tiny 8, Duel 7.

"Land Heavy" maps are typically two sizes smaller, by default.
Thus Standard-sized Lakes, Inland Sea, Fantasy Realm, Maze, Mirror, Oasis, etc, are Size 8.
This works out (roughly) to having a similar amount of land to work as a Size 10 oceanic map.

Now check that out carefully. A Standard Lakes map is the same dimension as a TINY Archipelago map!
Lakes has standard climate effects, so approximately 30% of the map is Ice. (Not Tundra. ICE!) That makes it "play smaller" than Fantasy Realm, Inland Sea or Oasis, which have no all-ice areas going to waste. Thus Lakes is almost like being another size smaller. Let's say it's at least half a size smaller than other map types of its dimension.

This game is a Large Lakes, which is equivalent of a Size 9 map. It's all land, but a third of the land is really poor. Even if the AI founds junk cities deep in the ice, they won't get a lot of roads and improvements to clutter up pathfinding and graphics (the two main hogs).

I can't promise players won't have trouble. Civ4 is just plain a hog in the late game when most of the plots have been improved, lots of units are on the map, and every possible path exists. But if you're good on a Standard Archipelago map through the late game, you should be OK on this Large Lakes. It's about the same load or maybe a wee bit more for Lakes.


Pangaea maps are actually a size smaller than standard oceanic maps. (What use bogging down players with more ocean? We decided to take out some of the water and shrink the map dimensions. Less realistic but more playable for borderline computers) Ring/Hub/Wheel maps are also a size smaller. So for these four map types, Standard would be Size 9. Yet with less water on these maps than on Archipelago or Fractal, this still works out to about the same amount of land available.


Great Plains maps have all good tiles, so I made them Size 7 1/2 at Standard. Two and a half sizes smaller than a Standard Archipelago.

Team Battleground maps are THREE sizes smaller. Yes, a Standard TBG map is the same dimension as a DUEL-sized Archipelago! Size 7.


Terra, Highlands, and Custom Continents maps are the three land hogs.

Terra is simply bigger. The main continent on Standard Terra is the same dimension as a Standard Pangaea. PLUS there is all that ocean out there, some islands, and the New World continents. Standard Terra is Size 11, with Huge being Size 13, extra jumbo.

Highlands is the same dimension as Pangaea/Ring/Hub/Wheel, but with no water. (The peaks make for a lot of dead tiles, so the average city quality is much lower, but the number of cities that can go on the map is higher for Highlands than any other map type in the game!) Standard Highlands is Size 9, which is a whole size bigger than Lakes and with the bad tiles spread all over, rather than clustered at the poles. It plays bigger than I expected, but that is OK.

Custom Continents is a standard (Size 10) oceanic map, but with less water than any of the other oceanics. Thus it plays "a size larger" than its contemporaries.


Fractal, Team Battleground and Lakes are the three "lightweights", which will tend to play cramped vs all other map types on the same settings. Archipelago and Fractal are the same dimensions, but in Archi the islands are spread all over, making for a larger ratio of usable water tiles, thus more total tiles in play. Fractal has lots of dead ocean, so plays smaller.

TBG is just plain smaller-sized, while Lakes has the huge areas of dead ice.


- Sirian

[Eastshire]

Very interesting. I will find time to play.