a question about large/giga maps

[Albert B]

I have always played on normal sized worlds. With all the talk here about using the giga maps and such I figured that playing a large world must be better/more fun. However, after starting several different games and playing as far as the early ad's in several, I kept finding myself getting bored. I was starting random worlds and at first thought it was just boring because I was playing on a heavily jungled world in one and a plains filled world in another both of which resulted in massive work to try to develop my civ. Then I built a custom world which was better for building but the extreme lack of contact with other civs (in each case, I only found 1 civ before 1 ad and my explorers were out casing the map nonstop) left me feeling bored and I kept abandoning the games.

My question is this... does the end game get better, am I just unlucky to be so isolated everytime, or what makes everyone like the giga maps/large worlds so much?

[Scouse Gits]

An essential wonder on large/giga maps is Marco Polo's Embassy. Give a few techs away to the AI so you can exchange maps. Once you have the geography you can direct your caravans/troops to their targets.

Giga Worlds are challenging when it comes to logistics. (Megellan is also a serious consideration) Plenty of railroads are required to ferry units to remote destinations. I usually have around 80/100 engineers at work towards the end of a giga game!

Your research goals are aimed at building efficient units:

Seafaring for Explorers
Navigation for Caravels (Megellan)
Magnetism for Galleons
Railroad for movement of land units (Darwin)
Explosives for Engineers to build the railways
Industrialisation for Transports to shuttle between "Channel Ports"
The Corporation for Freights ...and if you reach this far ... Espionage for Spies.

Leo's upgrades help!

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SG(2)

[Albert B]

I wanted to bump this up and rephrase the question a little in hopes of better response... so here goes...

What makes you prefer to play large/giga maps over small/normal ones?

It appears from reading other posts that quite a few people do prefer larger worlds. I want to know if it is my natural resistance to change that is keeping me from enjoying larger maps or if I am just missing some key aspect of what larger maps offer to increase the enjoyment of the game. Thanks in advance for the help/information.

Albert B

[Bereta_Eder]

I started playing in large maps and I find it more fun than normal size worlds because: being an incorrigible perfectionist I only occupy a modest amount of the world. In normal maps I had (most of the times) about the same territory the AI civs had.

In large worlds I have a noticably smaller percentage of the world in comparison to the other civs who expand to take over the excees teritorry.
That creates a little bit more challenges because the AI is kust a little more powerful. More challenges more fun

[Barington]

I only play bloodlust on a large map. I just enjoy the logistic problems; setting up long distance trade routes; equiping expeditions to capture distant wonders. Just finding the damm AI can be interesting. Waiting to see how correct your assumptions about the world are when those pictures come down from space. Sad but all true.

[Julius Brenzaida]

I love gigamaps, because of the challenge.
Sometimes, especially while playing perfectionnist you can have a real tough time beating the AI for all the travelling and scouting problems already explained.
And on the other hand, you sometimes are all alone in an "hemisphere" and you've got to revise your strategy as trade becomes less useful.
But it is a matter of taste ...
And what's cool too, is that you can make more realistic maps of the world.

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Oh Man, when will you understand that your greatness lies in your failure - Goethe