[NO PLAYERS] Lurking and Mapmaking PB55

[Charriu]

Better turn those coast tiles in the bigger ocean on the map wrap into ocean tiles.

[GeneralKilCavalry]

Fixed those ocean tiles, and added a few more forests around the map, some areas were sparse.

[scooter]

I like the shape and island mix a lot. I don't have strong feelings about the starts other than they seem fine. If nobody else has strong feelings about those, starting screenshots can probably go out pretty soon.


As for the larger map, my first thought is the orange civ is the most cramped. If purple and brown both settle towards them, their game is in a really tough spot. I wonder if their blob needs to be a touch bigger? Contrast it to the two western civs who look to me like they can fit more cities in peacefully. Maybe my eyes are deceiving me, but that's how it appears anyway. Brown looks squeezed, but I think their better-than-average island access mostly makes up for it.


Broadly, I don't always love when borders narrow down to chokes at "natural" borders because it reduces options between players. I notice that along the outside, a lot of the land blobs narrow down to 2-3 tile chokes right around the natural dividing line between players. It just makes it a little easy for one player to plop down a 1-city front and defend their whole land with minimal investment, and it makes it too hard for players to aggressively try to claim more than their fair share. Maybe some could get widened if others agree? This may just be a personal preference of mine.

[Charriu]

As for the larger map, my first thought is the orange civ is the most cramped. If purple and brown both settle towards them, their game is in a really tough spot. I wonder if their blob needs to be a touch bigger? Contrast it to the two western civs who look to me like they can fit more cities in peacefully. Maybe my eyes are deceiving me, but that's how it appears anyway. Brown looks squeezed, but I think their better-than-average island access mostly makes up for it.

Maybe swap browns (#3) copper and iron. That way brown is incentivized to move west first.

[GeneralKilCavalry]

I like the shape and island mix a lot. I don't have strong feelings about the starts other than they seem fine. If nobody else has strong feelings about those, starting screenshots can probably go out pretty soon.


As for the larger map, my first thought is the orange civ is the most cramped. If purple and brown both settle towards them, their game is in a really tough spot. I wonder if their blob needs to be a touch bigger? Contrast it to the two western civs who look to me like they can fit more cities in peacefully. Maybe my eyes are deceiving me, but that's how it appears anyway. Brown looks squeezed, but I think their better-than-average island access mostly makes up for it.


Broadly, I don't always love when borders narrow down to chokes at "natural" borders because it reduces options between players. I notice that along the outside, a lot of the land blobs narrow down to 2-3 tile chokes right around the natural dividing line between players. It just makes it a little easy for one player to plop down a 1-city front and defend their whole land with minimal investment, and it makes it too hard for players to aggressively try to claim more than their fair share. Maybe some could get widened if others agree? This may just be a personal preference of mine.

So the player in the top left has some narrow 4 tile chokepoints with both neighbors. I think all other players have either an extensive border with another player, or multiple chokepoints they'd have to defend. I can give the orange player a bit more backline - that's what I did for grey with that island, but I can connect Orange's island as a peninsula to their own land, which will mean they don't have to invest that early galley.

So two major changes:

Expand orange a tiny bit to give direct access to islands (make them into peninsula)

Creatively eliminate the narrow chokepoint in the top left between light brown and grey. The solution is to connect that tiny island to the mainland.

Another problem I have is light green having a lot of land, but much of it is subpar - lots of plains, few forests, few grassland tiles.

And I'll do that, Charriu.

[GeneralKilCavalry]

If someone rolls a random list, I'll send out starts.

[Old Harry]

Scooter's right that orange is a bit cramped and a bit more land between green and brown would be good. Otherwise it looks great to me.

I wonder if we'll be able to quantify how fast the landlocked civs develop Vs the coastal civs to get some evidence about work boat starts...

[GeneralKilCavalry]

Scooter's right that orange is a bit cramped and a bit more land between green and brown would be good. Otherwise it looks great to me.

I wonder if we'll be able to quantify how fast the landlocked civs develop Vs the coastal civs to get some evidence about work boat starts...

I gave orange about 12-15 extra tiles, and expanded the bridge between green/brown. With 3 sea starts and 5 landlocked ones, that's not a big sample size, but it will be interesting.

The skill gap in this pitboss will be interesting to see...

[Charriu]

Scooter's right that orange is a bit cramped and a bit more land between green and brown would be good. Otherwise it looks great to me.

I wonder if we'll be able to quantify how fast the landlocked civs develop Vs the coastal civs to get some evidence about work boat starts...

My tracking tool tracks some values. I will present the first insights for PB54 on turn 50 there. Of course that same tracking tool will work here too.

[GeneralKilCavalry]