Terra Maps... Extremely Strategic

[Metaliturtle]

Seriously, if you play this map you need to work your tail off getting a city on a coastline, and research beeline to Compass, (maybe divert long enough to grab a religion)

The second continent has a monopoly of important resources. (my game had all of the marble)

The sooner you get over there the better, if you play your cards right, the AI will trade for those resources big time, providing a good boost to you.

A good idea is to cultivate one of the stronger AIs as an ally and find a weaker one to slaughter. (in my game it was rome because all the iron happened to be on the other continent as well)

I really enjoy the colonization aspects this map leads to as well. The only thing is that you don't have to do the lone settlers vs. wilderness thing like real life because the Barbs set up a spectacular infrastructure for you to just come in and "inheret." So if you want, just make a knight and a crossbowman and put them ashore, once you've got a foothold you don't have to do much else.

[V3nom]

out of curiosty, how well does the AI handle this type of map? Do they realise that there is another continent and try and rush there right out of the gates as well or do they just act as they normally would and allow you to beeline through and grab it without much competition?

[Metaliturtle]

It seems like they inherently value the ship improvement techs, but I'm not sure if they already know there is a second continent, or if they are almost as blind as the human. I suppose a game on diety may explain all that.

[joncnunn]

Wow, that's unhistoric. The only civ series resource that I'm aware of the new world having and the old world not is Tobacco.

In fact, the new world didn't have horses.

[nbarclay]

Was rubber available anywhere in the old world without the plants it's made from having to be transplanted from the new?

[Metaliturtle]

I don't think rubber is in the game...

It seems that the new world has one or two resources that are unique and those resources vary by game.

[LzPrst]

resources that only existed in america prior to columbian discovery: corn, potatoes, sweet potatoes, peanuts, beans, tobacco.
the europeans brought with them, cattle, horses, wheat and sugar.

right there is one little thing that civ4 misses. the ability to transplant a resource to a given spot. for example, I have horses. I want to breed these horses. So I click on the Spread resources button and all the potential locations to raise horses pop up (regular plains/grasslands without horses) so I can build a horse ranch there that takes a while and voila. I'll have a second resource of horses. This should work on only certain resources, such as horses, wheat, cattle, corn, pigs, sheep, sugar, spices and other plants and tameable animals.

This was a major part of the exchange between america and europe. sugar came from europe but found better growing conditions in america. so the caribbean and south america became the greatest sugar exporters.
rubber had a similar development. dont remember how exactly but rubber was monopolized by one area (brazil i think) until an englishman stole seeds and planted them elsewhere to break the monopoly (south east asia I believe).

[duncstew]

New world also had chocolate...

[EvilDrummer]

Don't forget cocaine. With can be a touchy subject. Not because of the drug itself. But because it came from South America, but the drug was found in mummy's in Egypt. Wooooh figure that one out.

[Jaybe]

Wooooh figure that one out

They imported it from South America, you silly.
j/k

I don't know when it became popular to grown in Afghanistan.

[TOMBIAGIONI]

Barbarians

I agree, I was surprised when I first tried to setup colonies. I had sent a settler and weak unit. The city was wiped out. The barbarians as minor nations add an
a new angle to game play.

[lethe]

Originally posted by V3nom
out of curiosty, how well does the AI handle this type of map? Do they realise that there is another continent and try and rush there right out of the gates as well or do they just act as they normally would and allow you to beeline through and grab it without much competition?

They suck at it. It's still early and I might be missing things, but playing a Terra map feels like dropping a difficulty level or two compared to a Pangaea or Continent map.

At anything below Emperor you can probably fill the New World before anyone else has even noticed it's existence if you beeline for Optics then Astronomy. At Emperor the AI gets there pretty soon after me, but then the AI seems to have improved little or none at all since Civ I when it comes to the logistics of multi-continent warfare and colonization.

A monopoly of the New World pretty much guarantees a space race victory, and makes a diplomatic victory where you vote yourself World Leader without ever having fought an offensive war (except for the New World) quite possible.

In short, against the AI they are laughably simple. Against humans I think they will make for some of the absolutely best games, unless the game is usually over before the colonial era.

[DeepO]

Ah, but you're making an assumption here: You know you picked this specific map type, the AI didn't know it. So of course it doesn't change it's tactics, while you beeline for exactly that tech that you need.

Consider this: pick random maps, and compare the situation when you find out your playing a terra map. My guess is that there is a big chance you might arrive in the new world, finding it completely settled already

DeepO

[Yaga]

Originally posted by joncnunn
Wow, that's unhistoric. The only civ series resource that I'm aware of the new world having and the old world not is Tobacco.

The only plant common to the new world and the old at the time of discovery was the palm. Potatoes, Tomatoes, Maize (corn), tobacco, and a number of other now common plants were completely unknown in the old world. Other, animal life was similarly bifurcated, such as horses being nonexistent. (A number of claims have been made that one of the primary reasons American civilizations did not discover the wheel, or rather the axle, was due to neither north or south America having any beasts of burden beyond the llama.)

While many geologic features are common across continents, the new world too had an abundance of silver and gold, so much so that Spain's shipments back to Europe led to widespread inflation. Trade too in fish, timber, crops, certain spices, etc, greatly enriched both Spain and Portugal, helding to secure their financial hegemony over Europe through the 1700s.

So while I agree that it is unhistoric in particular distribution, it is a good feature, I believe, that the terra map has certain resources be exclusive on each continent, resulting in mid to late game trade monopolies for those who can settle the new world.

That said, I don't believe the AI handles the map well. I usually have two or three colonies set up on the newly discovered continents before any of the other AIs get their first established. Furthermore, I've yet to see an AI take any keen interest in such colonization. They may establish two or three cities, but none attempt, as Spain and Portugal did in the 15th and 16th centuries, to throughly establish a presence there. As I do, by my last hundred turns my old-world presence is secondary in all areas save established culture.

Should anyone be interested I can easily write a tutorial called "Terra Domination Victory in Twelve Easy Steps."

[Quillan]

I've played a lot of terra map games so far, and I've found it's much better to conquer the new world rather than to settle it. You guys are right, the AI doesn't handle it very well. Build galleys before you've developed Optics. Send out caravels with explorers once you can, and build troops for an invasion. As soon as you get Astronomy, upgrade the galleys to galleons, load them with the troops, and send them over. The explorers should have found the spots for you to hit. Land, take a city from the barbarians (preferably a coastal one so you've got a trade connection), refit, and proceed on. The city will spend several turns in resistance, but when that's over, you'll have a city that is much larger and more productive than one you'd build yourself. Plus, all the extra troops you send over on the invasion force will have a much easier time dealing with the incoming batch of barbarian troops than the escorts to a bunch of settlers.