Huge Starmaps

[dwtrott]

I have really enjoyed the game so far and look for to the additions like spying and additional diplomacy options. One thing that I do believe is needed is the option for a larger map than "large". Currently even on the large maps, I encounter a few alien civilizations by the 2nd or 3rd turn. A large star map for when 5 or more alien civilizations are being played is needed. So, please think about adding a "Huge" or "Gigantic" star map.

[Astasia]

Huge is coming, but it's only about 100 stars and will allow you to play against all the civs. I figure the current large maps are between 60-80 stars, so it's not going to be a big increase and things are going to be just as much if not more cramped.

[NetPCDoc]

Yep, it is a bit of a trade off.

On the Large Spiral galaxies, in single player mode, that I like to play:

• you can have 2 AI's and yourself in three (hopefully different) quadrants, with a bit of time to yourself.
• up to a total of 6 (including you) paired off in three quadrants, until someone researches the tech to cross the unstable warp lines.

[dwtrott]

That is a bit disappointing. I know that Stellaris will have 1000 stars and many planets around each star system.

[Tzyder]

With the release of new and custom races they really need to increase the size of the playable maps.

[Murphy7]

+1 for much bigger star maps

[Prof. von Calamity]

Back at the beginning of 2016, I was optimistically hoping that this game would ship to the customer with map options that, among lesser choices, also included 500-star and 1000-star gameplay maps. I own a beast of a PC hardware setup; I can handle it. Bigger maps = better experience for me. A mere 100 stars in a "galaxy" is simply weaksauce. MoO developers, please reconsider the current map size limits!

[Captain_Brian]

Ugh, I'm more annoyed that there's a limit on how many races can be on each size map. Let me play on a small map with 8 players like in the original games!

Also, for me small is still too big. I'd want them to add a tiny map.

One of the big problems with all the map sizes is the fact that ships stop at each system regardless of their drive capabilities. It makes even a small map take 50+ turns to traverse even with the best drive tech. In the originals you'd be down to a 2 turn travel time to reach the end of the galaxy.

[Prof. von Calamity]

Captain_Brian,

I hadn't known there's a hard limit of how many empires per size of map. That's really lame -- I hope it's made into an optional toggle.

Even though I prefer enormous maps with a thousand or more systems, a tiny map would also be intriguing. Which brings me to --

As for ships being forced to stop at each & every star system along the way to their chosen destinations......pure fail. I'm sure that somebody, somewhere absolutely loves that, but for the rest of us who are still acquainted with what "fun" is, this is something else that needs to be changed. Big time. It is simply not fun at all, ever.

[msbirdsell]

Yes, I want Huge maps which are at least twice the size of large. Maybe even larger. I hate running into company so early.

[NetPCDoc]

Originally posted by msbirdsell:

Yes, I want Huge maps which are at least twice the size of large. Maybe even larger. I hate running into company so early.

Or at least a way for a player to get out, without letting an AI in? across an unstable warp line?

Maybe a Military Outpost, with enough firepower to survive AI attacks in early (to mid) game phases.

[dwtrott]

I enjoy the production quality of this game but the more I hear about Stellaris, the more I think that probably is the space game I will be spending most of my time with.

[Shmily_Dana]

For any size map, the players need to be distributed better. Pre EA2, all the races were in one side of the galaxy. Played today and found another homeword 2 jumps from my homeworld.

[Swift]

This is my main problem with the game. Tiny map even on huge (compared to Stellaris) and I don't like my maps small.

[Spud Dastardly]

I really don't understand the appeal of having larger than a huge galaxy. On huge galaxies, managing 20+ colonies becomes tedious, turns take a while to process, and travel takes forever. Why would you want it bigger?

[merccobb]

Originally posted by Spud Dastardly:

I really don't understand the appeal of having larger than a huge galaxy. On huge galaxies, managing 20+ colonies becomes tedious, turns take a while to process, and travel takes forever. Why would you want it bigger?

I'm with you on that, but I don't see how the option of having it would hurt. Some people like vast empty maps and managing a hundred colonies, others like small crowded maps where finding and holding 2-3 great systems is the key to winning. The point is, the option should be there! I really want to be able to play with all races on a small map, those were some of my favorite games I had in MoO2.

Map customization is probably the thing I find lacking the most so far in this release version. Along with more size and AI number variability, I would like options for turning unstable warp lanes on/off, wormholes on/off, and options for how many "nodes" are created when unstable warp lanes are on and how many AI will be located in each node. These should all be independent of Circular, Spiral, Cluster options, which provide a general shape and distribution for the galaxy.