I've been getting very aggravated at Civ III vanilla recently because of the sort of maps I like. Being an islomaniac, I enjoy start locations very small islands, the sorts of places where it's practically impossible to expand until Map Making. One of my favorite maps is a world map that has start spots in both Great Britain (about eight tiles and separated from Europe by a one-tile English Channel) and Japan (smaller and further away from the mainland). Unfortunately, I have no way to make maps of my own and the randomizer sucks at maps with start spots for people with my fetish. Aside from my cherished world map, I've found very little that's interesting.
What do I do?
Full Version: Civ III Maps
Ask these fanatics. They should know what you want. I've got an account over there under the user name of Cabay Jet. (Don't ask...) But if I could help you out I'd do it here.
That's a cool site, JacaByte; thanks for sharing. I got Civ III a year or two ago, when somebody on my floor was throwing away his old games. Reading the articles inspired me to pull out the CD for another run, and it's definitely improved my game.
This time around I went with the map generator's medium-sized 'continents' setting. It was just right: I was paired with one other civilization on the continent. By securing a 1-square land bridge, I expanded through the best land, and secured most of the resources. Centuries later, after I'd just created my own navy, a couple of other civilizations found my continent, but all that was left to build cities on was desert. Soon I conquered my neighbor, and the other cities ceded to me peacefully vis a vis my culture, giving me control of every square from sea to shining sea, which is just how I like it
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So continents seems to suit my style of play well. I fully appreciate an island-hopping strategy, where you try to get ships sooner than anyone else in order to dominate a great number of islands. I used that a lot in Civ I. However, I think there's a clear downside in that to do anything but acquire territory, you need to build a zillion harbors. That can take 80 turns when you don't have many land squares to work, and corruption is rampant because your cities are so far from your capital. In the mean time, your citizens are unhappy, and can't build good units, due to inaccess to resources.
This time around I went with the map generator's medium-sized 'continents' setting. It was just right: I was paired with one other civilization on the continent. By securing a 1-square land bridge, I expanded through the best land, and secured most of the resources. Centuries later, after I'd just created my own navy, a couple of other civilizations found my continent, but all that was left to build cities on was desert. Soon I conquered my neighbor, and the other cities ceded to me peacefully vis a vis my culture, giving me control of every square from sea to shining sea, which is just how I like it
.So continents seems to suit my style of play well. I fully appreciate an island-hopping strategy, where you try to get ships sooner than anyone else in order to dominate a great number of islands. I used that a lot in Civ I. However, I think there's a clear downside in that to do anything but acquire territory, you need to build a zillion harbors. That can take 80 turns when you don't have many land squares to work, and corruption is rampant because your cities are so far from your capital. In the mean time, your citizens are unhappy, and can't build good units, due to inaccess to resources.
I found a pretty cool map of Oceania. The Java start spot allows me plenty of resources as well as a lot of small islands and no neighbors closer than Borneo. I'm primitive, but at least my people are happy and live a long time. The only problem's that the map is so huge (256x256) that the lag is unbearable by the early-mid middle ages.
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