The map pool of RM 1vs1 is just 7 maps, with 4 bans. That gives a fairly less quantity. Adding more “elected maps” can be good, but more options can sometimes lead to more variance.
As of the permanent maps, Arabia and Arena are permanent on the map pool at present, but I would like to get some more.
Regicide Fortress: okay Regicide isn’t RM per say, but it is considered RM in tournaments. To be honest it is not about the king, it is about the starting villagers, starting resources (and previously a free Castle too). I consider it as a walled Arabia, and not Arena because of the open space and possibilities of holes in woodlines. I would love to see Fortress in the map pool, along with the game mode it is most popular with.
Empire Wars Arabia (or some other map like Atacama): Again Empire Wars ins’t RM, but can be seen as an aggressive addition to the permanent map pool. Not straightaway, maybe we should have an experiment done. The idea being having a variety of maps which favour action from the start itself to action in Imperial Age (Arena), all varieties being possible.
Nomad: This fulfills the criteria of both a hybrid map and a map with a nomadic start. Personally I am not a fan of Steppe being considered as a map of Nomadic start, simply because you have a scout cavalry, villagers close by, resources close to the starting location etc which dictates the starting position.
As for the Empire Wars map, I would also like to see some changes. Some bonus have been disabled by default on Empire Wars start for Balance purposes, like:
Lithuanian +150F: I would have it trimmed to +100F in Empire Wars.
Persians +50W +50F: Unlike Lithuanians, Persians have an economy bonus in Feudal Age, so it is fine if it is trimmed.
Aztecs +50G: This is a military bonus in regular games, because it helps with M@A upgrade or +2 militia. It is an economy bonus mostly in Arena, so I would like to see it back.
Mayan and Chinese extra villagers but less resources: Since we start with 28 villagers, an extra villager won’t be a huge deal, but again Mayans have a strong economy bonus. I would rather have Chinese start with +1 villager and -50F in Empire Wars.
Huns -100W: This is weird. Their bonus of not needing houses works as normal, but they do not start with -100W. Maybe because all of the civs start with houses. This is actually a huge bonus.
More fixed maps means less other options in the map pool. So there must be a really good reason to have a map as fixed. I dont think there are maps that have good arguments for being a fixed map.
Fortress has made it to the map pool in the past. It will start with more vills and a castle. The addition of a King isnt a big difference. In the past Fortress was always played as regicide, so it pretty much make sense to have Regicide Fortress in the map pool instead of the current Fortress. So i agree with that point to you.
But i dont see any good reason why it needs to become a fixed map. It is nowhere near as popular as for other fixed maps.
While i do understand your point, i would suggest a slightly other approach: Give EW it’s own ladders for 1v1 and TGs with its own map pool. Arabia will be a fixed map for this game mode, in my opinion.
The devs tries to push EW as game mode in quick play. EW was quite popular, untill people realized quick play sucks and completely died. If there is a EW ladder in ranked, i am pretty sure it will be popular.
There are already some big money tournaments with EW: The redbull tournaments. The hype about those tournaments shows there is a demand for this game mode as well. So this is a second reason to give it its own queue.
This idea might be a bit different then yours, but the end result is the same: You end up with Empire wars Arabia as fixed part of ranked.
Based on the play rate at Voobly in the past, you can make the argument to add Nomad as fixed map to the map pool. I would call Nomad as one of the big 4: Arabia, Arena, Nomad and Black Forest. These maps made up for about 95%+ of all games in the past. Based on that it is quite surprising it isnt a fixed map at this moment. On the other side: In the voting Nomad isnt a clear winner. In most votings it even fails to make it into the top 3. Maps like Four Lakes and HideOut do make it to the top 3 in most votings.
You have only 3 bans, see 7 maps, each player can ban up to 3 maps so the number 7 is the only map left alone in case they ban different maps(6), so one map has to be played, starting from that everything is just your opinion which seems to be lacking a lot about this game history, nomad is a terrible map since voobly, 70% arabia 25% arena the rest of the remaining players play maps like that, migra, etc, honestly there ain’t a single TOP nomad player, it has never existed it will never do, a lucky map based is not competitive, ranked is for that not to play slow starts.