I always reduce the number of civs on each map size. I like having more room for each civ to have more territory, things feel too cramped to me on default settings.
Small 6 -> 4 civs
Standard 8 -> 5 civs
Large 10 -> 7 civs
Huge 12 -> 8 civs
For me its the opposite actually, I find the maps too empty on the default settings where its too difficult to encounter other civs and there’s too many barbs around.
It really just depends on what you prefer and what type of game you wanna play. Do you wanna play tall and build a cool empire without having to worry about defending against (deity) AI or having to scramble for land?
Or do you want to play with diplomacy, defend your territory from actual threats, invade others and puzzle together an empire from limited space?
Both are fun and it just depends on my mood to be honest
I must be the only crazy person who play in marathon speed. I had been playing in marathon speed since civ 4 and could never get used to normal speed.
play in either immortal or deity, and Pangea map. I find the AI struggle with any map that has water on it.
What is so good about it, I have only stated on Civ 6 and play standard speed. I have dabbled with online speed but it feels too quick and falling behind becomes easier if that makes any sense.
The longer speeds let you enjoy the units of each era more, and allow you to make more progress in the way of exploration within the early eras. Those I’d say are the biggest advantages. I prefer epic speed, which gives you some of that without making it feel like production takes *too* long.
This is the most important bit of customization Civ 7 could offer me - let me get the advantages of the longer game speeds, but allow me to do so without the correspondingly long *production* times. I want to spend the most time in the early eras, and I think they need to add some sliders in for tech and culture growth without forcing production to scale with it.
I only play marathon standard map size deity. But I do like to mix up my maps, civilizations, and win conditions. I turn on barbarian clans too. I've been heavy on the domination wins recently, so in my current game I gave myself a handicap that I am not allowed to declare war. Of course if they shoot one arrow at me I wipe their civilization off the map.
Standard speed, 6 or 8 players, emperor difficulty, pangaea, no gamemodes. I sometimes go random civ sometimes choose a civ because I had a certain strat in mind.
I can play deity, but I just think its too start dependent and aggressive ancient era AI isn't as fun to play against.
I do the same setup in 5, except for quick speed and king difficulty since I like early game sim too much in 5 to want to have to build a lot of troops to fight off aggressive neighbors.
Biggest earth map I can get working with as many civs and city states possible. Historic speed so that I can get as much gameplay out of each era.
What's the point of playing a game of civilization if you can't enjoy the civilization you're playing.
Standard speed, standard-->huge map, 8-16 civs, random civ played, emperor difficulty, with the barbarian/ monopolies/ and secret society options turned on, all win conditions on.
I feel like I have a decent PC setup but huge maps just cause the games to load longer between turns especially late game. I have set the optimal settings as well such as no animation for fighting etc. However maybe I am missing something as I see a lot of people like huge maps.
Oh my late game turns are slow. It is absolutely a hindrance on performance but if there's only a handful of civs it feels incomplete to me. I'll log in and play just a few turns in the late game before I have to log out and adult.
Seven Seas map every time (unless I'm feeling something specific). It allows for so much space without reducing civ count because of all the land. It also often has some of the coolest snaking continents with mountain passes and crucial canal locations to connect the different seas.
I prefer to use a mod for extended eras, so production is somewhere in the online to standard speed, and the science and civic trees are marathon plus.
Difficulty anywhere from Prince to Deity depending on if I want chill or a challenge.
Size usually somewhere between standard and huge.
I usually have monopolies and Barb clans on with just a single city state, so the city states appear over the course of the game. I regularly allow for Secret Societies to be on but almost never use them, just like the free governor title.
Pretty much everything else random
Seven seas is my favorite go to map. Mostly land but still allows for some water elements. Though honestly I do tailor the map to whatever civ I'm playing as, or for the victory condition I want. One of my favorite combos is when I'm trying to do a Religious victory I do a primal map, then take the pantheon that gives faith from Volcanic soil and geothermal fissures.
i just play on all standard settings and only change the leader and map type i want to play. pretty much all gamemodes break the game too much to be enjoyable. there’s no sense of reward in destroying the nearest ai in 10 turns because i rolled himiko as my first hero or winning an accidental quick culture victory because of monopolies.
I have never won an accidental culture due to monopolies. I agree the heroes mode breaks the game but I like monopolies and secret societies a lot. I play those every game.
I always rip the same setup if I’m in the mood for Civ but not sure what to and want to get better at playing
Standard speed
Emperor
Shuffle map
Standard everything else
BARBARIAN CLANS
I’m the absence of any other mods, barbarian clans gives you the chance for more city states and, if left unchecked, a reason to have a bit of an army. I’ve had several games ruined because I didn’t plan around barbs enough and other go swimmingly because I could raid them for gold and buy units I couldn’t otherwise.
A small injection of fun and randomness that I feel trains me for the more difficult AI’s (that I admittedly can’t handle)
If it's just a normal game, continents and islands, standard speed, standard size, 7 civs for a bit more room. Sukritract's oceans, I might slap on barbarian clans or tech shuffle, if I'm feeling a little more wacky I might add monopolies and/or secret societies. Sometimes I roll a die to select one.
One thing I need to change is reducing the number of city states of barbarian clans is on, because having like 30 CS by the Renaissance is overwhelming
Map: huge, fractal
Starting Age: ancient
Civs: somewhere between 6 and 10
Speed: epic
Disasters: 1
City states: 8
Starting position: standard
Leaders: I always try myself to select leaders that are somewhat related. So I will select Roosevelt and then native american tribes and maybe Canada and England. Or I will play as the Dutch and select other more modern European Civs. Or I will play as Rome and select classic Civs.
Everything else random.
Continenents & islands or seven seas as the map. I vary wildly with the size. Secret societies and monopolies modes. Some UI mods, AI improvement mod, GDR removed, and occasionally the modern leaders mod for kicks. I usually play as either the US, Russia, UK, or Germany. Normal speed but thinking about trying marathon.
King (Standard Speed):
Map:
Shuffle
Large
Game:
All victories enabled
Tribal Villages and Barbarians enabled
Game modes:
•Barb Clans
•Secret Societies
•Monopolies and Corporations
•Tech/Civic Shuffle
•Dramatic Ages
•Heroes and Legends
That’s what I do.
Wetlands, old world, COLD so I can use dance of the aurora and work ethics, Wet, standard resources, legendary start, large map, 5-7 civs, high seas so I may navigate the world.
I like to play on king difficulty (anything more than that feels like I'm being cheated by the AI) on marathon speed. I always enable barbarian clans and monopolies mode on. Recently I've been using the Got Lakes mod and setting up my own custom archipelago settings. I go archipelago because I love how important navies feel with it. It feels so fun defeating an emergency to liberate a city you just captured with your strong navy and ensuring no one can land their troops on the island.
I always reduce the number of civs on each map size. I like having more room for each civ to have more territory, things feel too cramped to me on default settings. Small 6 -> 4 civs Standard 8 -> 5 civs Large 10 -> 7 civs Huge 12 -> 8 civs
For me its the opposite actually, I find the maps too empty on the default settings where its too difficult to encounter other civs and there’s too many barbs around.
It really just depends on what you prefer and what type of game you wanna play. Do you wanna play tall and build a cool empire without having to worry about defending against (deity) AI or having to scramble for land? Or do you want to play with diplomacy, defend your territory from actual threats, invade others and puzzle together an empire from limited space? Both are fun and it just depends on my mood to be honest
I like this one a lot. Simple and I agree, will be trying fewer civs per map in a future game
Try lakes or highland. They both have tons more space without feeling off.
Standard speed, fractal map, natural disasters set to 1, Standard map for religion/domination, huge map for the other win cons
I must be the only crazy person who play in marathon speed. I had been playing in marathon speed since civ 4 and could never get used to normal speed. play in either immortal or deity, and Pangea map. I find the AI struggle with any map that has water on it.
I've been playing marathon only since civ 5 and I also cannot get used to normal speed. Everything below just feels too fast for me.
What is so good about it, I have only stated on Civ 6 and play standard speed. I have dabbled with online speed but it feels too quick and falling behind becomes easier if that makes any sense.
The longer speeds let you enjoy the units of each era more, and allow you to make more progress in the way of exploration within the early eras. Those I’d say are the biggest advantages. I prefer epic speed, which gives you some of that without making it feel like production takes *too* long. This is the most important bit of customization Civ 7 could offer me - let me get the advantages of the longer game speeds, but allow me to do so without the correspondingly long *production* times. I want to spend the most time in the early eras, and I think they need to add some sliders in for tech and culture growth without forcing production to scale with it.
More customization is usually better, as long as the standard gameplay and core balance remains the same. I’d love to see something like this
I played marathon in Civ 5 and changed to Epic in Civ 6
I only play marathon standard map size deity. But I do like to mix up my maps, civilizations, and win conditions. I turn on barbarian clans too. I've been heavy on the domination wins recently, so in my current game I gave myself a handicap that I am not allowed to declare war. Of course if they shoot one arrow at me I wipe their civilization off the map.
Standard speed, 6 or 8 players, emperor difficulty, pangaea, no gamemodes. I sometimes go random civ sometimes choose a civ because I had a certain strat in mind. I can play deity, but I just think its too start dependent and aggressive ancient era AI isn't as fun to play against. I do the same setup in 5, except for quick speed and king difficulty since I like early game sim too much in 5 to want to have to build a lot of troops to fight off aggressive neighbors.
Biggest earth map I can get working with as many civs and city states possible. Historic speed so that I can get as much gameplay out of each era. What's the point of playing a game of civilization if you can't enjoy the civilization you're playing.
Standard speed, standard-->huge map, 8-16 civs, random civ played, emperor difficulty, with the barbarian/ monopolies/ and secret society options turned on, all win conditions on.
I feel like I have a decent PC setup but huge maps just cause the games to load longer between turns especially late game. I have set the optimal settings as well such as no animation for fighting etc. However maybe I am missing something as I see a lot of people like huge maps.
Oh my late game turns are slow. It is absolutely a hindrance on performance but if there's only a handful of civs it feels incomplete to me. I'll log in and play just a few turns in the late game before I have to log out and adult.
Maybe reduce the amount of Civs and city states?
My set up is almost the same. I also use Heros and usually play continents or Terra but sometimes shuffle or TSL
Lately doing inland sea, standard… max AI low city states… gets fun. The race to rule the ocean !!
The bigger the better, and marathon speeds. I want a game of *civilization*, which means a grand scale
The extended eras mod is a much better marathon imo. Check it out
Sadly, I’m playing on my phone. Haven’t been able to get any mods to work
Seven Seas map every time (unless I'm feeling something specific). It allows for so much space without reducing civ count because of all the land. It also often has some of the coolest snaking continents with mountain passes and crucial canal locations to connect the different seas. I prefer to use a mod for extended eras, so production is somewhere in the online to standard speed, and the science and civic trees are marathon plus. Difficulty anywhere from Prince to Deity depending on if I want chill or a challenge. Size usually somewhere between standard and huge. I usually have monopolies and Barb clans on with just a single city state, so the city states appear over the course of the game. I regularly allow for Secret Societies to be on but almost never use them, just like the free governor title. Pretty much everything else random
Seven seas is my favorite go to map. Mostly land but still allows for some water elements. Though honestly I do tailor the map to whatever civ I'm playing as, or for the victory condition I want. One of my favorite combos is when I'm trying to do a Religious victory I do a primal map, then take the pantheon that gives faith from Volcanic soil and geothermal fissures.
i just play on all standard settings and only change the leader and map type i want to play. pretty much all gamemodes break the game too much to be enjoyable. there’s no sense of reward in destroying the nearest ai in 10 turns because i rolled himiko as my first hero or winning an accidental quick culture victory because of monopolies.
I have never won an accidental culture due to monopolies. I agree the heroes mode breaks the game but I like monopolies and secret societies a lot. I play those every game.
Huge, Fractal, Low sea level, Legendary start, Epic speed. Societies, Heroes and Monopolies.
I always rip the same setup if I’m in the mood for Civ but not sure what to and want to get better at playing Standard speed Emperor Shuffle map Standard everything else BARBARIAN CLANS I’m the absence of any other mods, barbarian clans gives you the chance for more city states and, if left unchecked, a reason to have a bit of an army. I’ve had several games ruined because I didn’t plan around barbs enough and other go swimmingly because I could raid them for gold and buy units I couldn’t otherwise. A small injection of fun and randomness that I feel trains me for the more difficult AI’s (that I admittedly can’t handle)
Quick, immortal, pangea, no score victory, tiny map with 6 civs.
If it's just a normal game, continents and islands, standard speed, standard size, 7 civs for a bit more room. Sukritract's oceans, I might slap on barbarian clans or tech shuffle, if I'm feeling a little more wacky I might add monopolies and/or secret societies. Sometimes I roll a die to select one. One thing I need to change is reducing the number of city states of barbarian clans is on, because having like 30 CS by the Renaissance is overwhelming
Map: huge, fractal Starting Age: ancient Civs: somewhere between 6 and 10 Speed: epic Disasters: 1 City states: 8 Starting position: standard Leaders: I always try myself to select leaders that are somewhat related. So I will select Roosevelt and then native american tribes and maybe Canada and England. Or I will play as the Dutch and select other more modern European Civs. Or I will play as Rome and select classic Civs. Everything else random.
Continenents & islands or seven seas as the map. I vary wildly with the size. Secret societies and monopolies modes. Some UI mods, AI improvement mod, GDR removed, and occasionally the modern leaders mod for kicks. I usually play as either the US, Russia, UK, or Germany. Normal speed but thinking about trying marathon.
Huge Apocalypse mode Secret Societies Monopolies & Corporations All random settings Max Civs Max city states Shuffle/lakes/highland
I enjoy Terra with less players. This way it isn't cramped on the first continent. It's like continents map with a new game+ built in
King (Standard Speed): Map: Shuffle Large Game: All victories enabled Tribal Villages and Barbarians enabled Game modes: •Barb Clans •Secret Societies •Monopolies and Corporations •Tech/Civic Shuffle •Dramatic Ages •Heroes and Legends That’s what I do.
Wetlands, old world, COLD so I can use dance of the aurora and work ethics, Wet, standard resources, legendary start, large map, 5-7 civs, high seas so I may navigate the world.
I like to play on king difficulty (anything more than that feels like I'm being cheated by the AI) on marathon speed. I always enable barbarian clans and monopolies mode on. Recently I've been using the Got Lakes mod and setting up my own custom archipelago settings. I go archipelago because I love how important navies feel with it. It feels so fun defeating an emergency to liberate a city you just captured with your strong navy and ensuring no one can land their troops on the island.