Been playing the Earth map today and it really is made very well. Very similar to what to expect from an Earth map so
to Rhye.
I have serious doubts however if this is a good MP map for a couple of reasons:
- Major one is the starting location really matters. Some civs have a lot of room to expand, some haven't. And altough CiV is less of a "get large" game compared to C3 imo a potential core of 6-8 cities in the mid game is some sort of requirement.
- Another one is the realistic resource distribution. Very good to get the real Earth feeling but imo gives to much local advantage.
- Then everybody knows the map beforehand and can check where resources are. Imo this takes away most if not all of Civ explore experience.
Sorry for the rant and I'd really like to see a game like this moving. As an alternative I'd like to suggest the Wheel map (played it SP couple of times) which can be generated through Custom Game from the menu. Each player gets a reasonable starting area and is connected over small junctions to two other civs and to a central icy but habital bar. Plus it is easy to select a starting era to speed up start of game. As every map it would need a check by someone but imo it is much easier to start a lasting game this way.
My 2 cents
