We had two map-pools in a row full land maps. It’s been two months without Nomad and Islands in the pool, not even in voting and devs not picking those.
Is there any issue or just don’t like it?
6 Likes
I don’t really like water maps. Water combat in this game is very stale and unfun in my opinion. It’s okay if you like them, but when the votes come up I always vote for land maps.
4 Likes
Generally agree with this, I’m of the view that until there is a Rome at War style rework for Water, and some balance changes for some of the most egregiously strong Water civs. That there just shouldn’t be any pure water maps in the Map Pool at all, at most just hybrids like Nomad and Four Lakes
3 Likes
Water maps are land maps with extra steps. %99 of the players get the feudal then go for landing. At that point investing into navy is totaly lost so playing water brings no meaning for players. If i play islands like arena or arabia etc then why i dont play arabia or arena instead ?
Water play need some new unique things force player to make navy and go for water.
Yes…….but also no……
Firstly there are fewer resources on water than land. No wood and no stone.
Secondly there are fewer water units than land units. Generally speaking there’s less complexity as to counter systems a unit compositions.
Thirdly, there’s no elevation. Fighting over hills for map control is a big deal.
the “extra steps” being water is true, but those extra steps are less engaging than the land.
It’s kinda like if you added extra steps to monopoly but that step was doing chores before you could roll the dice.
I think the devs don’t care. They exchanged water maps for MegaRandom in the map pools. MegaRandom is not the third standard map, along with Arabia and Arena, and they don’t even say a word about it. They also do not change the falws in the voting system. They maps they choose for the voting seem to be picked by a randomizer without brain.
They changed the size of water maps to one size bigger, but since then they were almost never in the pool to actually test the changes.
Generally agree with this, I’m of the view that until there is a Rome at War style rework for Water
There will be no “Rome at War style rework for Water”.
Landing only work in low elo games where people don’t scout and play whatever they want.
There is no chance to use 1 dock transporter to fight against 2 dock warships. The water player always build extra dock instead of military building.
When the land player got 5 military units to fill the transporter , the water guy might got 4 warships which are enough to control the water eco and block any transport.
If the land player transport villagers instead of military units, the water player can just villager fight or wall him off.
Naah, it works in all elos. Check the tournaments. Players send a villager before enemy mass warships and boom! Welcome to aquatic arena.
1 Like
I’m perfectly happy to never see a pure water map ever if that’s the case then
Agree, I love water maps and would love to have (Team) Islands or Migration in the map pool. But please revert the changes that those maps are all 3 player maps in 1v1s. Doesn’t make any sense plus you can’t raid woodlines from water and can’t prevent landings at all.
2 Likes
I also find the absence of Islands and Nomad from the map pool very disappointing. And having MegaRandom as a permanent map is frustrating as well, since many people have a very strong opinion on that one (positive or negative).
The current rotation is at least kind of acceptable since it offers Baltic and Four Lakes as water and hybrid maps, but before it was pretty much land-only for many weeks.
3 Likes
Agree, I love water maps and would love to have (Team) Islands or Migration in the map pool. But please revert the changes that those maps are all 3 player maps in 1v1s. Doesn’t make any sense plus you can’t raid woodlines from water and can’t prevent landings at all.
I think the size change needs more testing. I think I only played Pacific Islands 4 times in ranked since the size change, and for that map the bigger Size was good I think. But that map has 4 big Islands and not just 2. The form of the Islands looks better but my concern is also that landing is too easy. That you can’t range 90% of the Islands anymore is imo rather positive on the other hand.
Also sometimes on Islands the Island was so close to the map border that you could block the water with a dock. So I am not sure what the intended size for these maps really is. It needs testing.
I don’t see why we won’t see an overhaul, it isn’t like water maps are disliked in every RTS game, I have played some games where people exclusively favour water maps. I actully think that more people would play a water map if there was a map with outposts surrounding your island. I think what people don’t genrally like about water maps is that sneaking a base on an opponents island can often win a game.
I don’t see why we won’t see an overhaul, it isn’t like water maps are disliked in every RTS game
I think there are a bit too much units in the Rome at War mod as available units for every civ. But I think what they could do is make many regional unit out of these units and give them primarily to the weaker water civs. The Dromon already was introduced as such a regional unit. There could be other such regional units like scout ships, monk ships or sea tower construction ships. But don’t give them to the best water civs. The current play style should also have its place in the future. Just give the current “no water civs” an unique water playstyle too.
Well, it’s a matter of philosophy I guess. I find it acceptable that civs without any naval tradition whatsoever in the real world are also relatively weak on water in the game. Most of them (steppe and american civs) are already, for balance reasons, much better on water than they should be according to history.
I don’t care if island maps have only a handful of civs that are really good: since the map is played so rarely, you still end of with enough different matchups; it’s not just always a viking war as in the old days.
Once again, the discussion probably exists only due to the habit of a certain proportion of the playerbase to strongly advocate random civ, which then in turn of course requires that every civ is somewhat viable on any map.
There is nothing more boring in the game than water maps, and I have no problem if they continue staying out of the map pool.
Nothing gets me more excited than playing farming simulator tbh