Like Hera said in this video:
I totally agree with him.
One factor with gold rush-style maps is the size of the center golds. If it’s a larger area, then you can have a situation where both players have some of the center gold, and are busy fighting over the majority of it. There are also maps where there is a hill (or depression) in the center - sometimes in addition to gold/stone. Hills make the center even more important, while depressions create a bit of a comeback mechanic. And some maps have the gold along the sides of the map (like Shoals), which results in multiple spots to secure (and multiple to protect). El Dorado is a gold-rush style map where the center is always visible (which means opponents always know when you go for the center)
I’m a map maker myself, and one of the maps I’ve made (called Yukon Gold rush) has gold on shallows splitting teams. It’s a lot of area, so a single castle or two in the center can’t secure all of the gold. Ships would be more powerful, but the river is at a lower elevation (weakening ships and making stone fortifications stronger against ships).
I will note that having the gold on shallows/other unbuildable terrain does favor mule cart civs (which is not ideal). But if you have gold on shallows, you can use oysters instead (which allows fishing ships to collect gold as well as villagers).
Putting the gold off-center in a corner would fix many issues, if you want to exploit the gold you’d need the risk of splitting your defences between the gold and your town, while leaving the center as a highway to your opponent who then can attack both the gold and your town.
The same problem also exists in Kawans, in the version that is unfortunately in Ranked, and the developers have never fixed it.
The thing with Kawasan is that berries aren’t as significant strategically as gold is. You can delay the farm transition with berries, but unless you’re Frank/Portuguese (and maybe Mayans), you get a slower income from berries then you do from farms. But saving wood on farms is still valuable, so it can be worthwhile to place a TC or castle in the center. And Kawasan also has the ponds, which can be used to further delay the farm transition. But ultimately, if an opponent places a castle in the center, and you decide to let them have the center, you’re not on a timer due to limited food. Nor are you doomed if your first pushes on the center fail.
It’s also an extra incentive to hold the center so that you can strike everywhere
