Hello guys and girls,



What this forum seems to be missing is a collection of very nice map settings, at best grouped together to a minimum information. I have played a lot with the amoebia to see what the generator puts out and using this entry here in the wiki:

http://endlessspace.wikia.com/wiki/Galaxy_settings i think some settings work better than others. Of course there will be different tastes but still i think a map should be at least somehow fair. I think the map generation works better the more stars it has to place.



There are much more settings than what i have tested so feel free to add your favorites.



Constellation - One

This is a very important setting because what it does is somehow unique. With this setting there will be no wormholes, which makes it much more easy to reach planets earlier. Very aggressive players will have it easier but also as long as there are at least some minimum amount of stars/player to be placed it makes the maps somehow more fair. I personally do not play with this setting because i love the wormholes and what they add to the game, still it is important to know that this feature is there.



Shape - Spiral

Players are placed in individual arms as long as there are enough stars to provide separate arms. After there is a player in every arm players are placed inside arms with other players.



Density - Average

I suggest to try the settings with the average setting. If you like the setting on average you still can de/increase the amount of stars per constellation with increasing or decreasing this setting.



Number of constellations: Many

If you use many constellations i advice you too increase the density



Number of wormholes: Many

I do not recommend this setting for galaxy settings below Large but i recommend it for large and huge because with the increased number of stars this evens out the mobility a lot, especially when you use the "few constellations" setting because this means there wont be that many wormholes.



Map size: Tiny

I do never recommend tiny because with that little stars nearly all settings seem to easily fail for a lot of player numbers and it is easy to understand because the difference is the factor of 2. Tiny has 16 stars and Small has 32. 16 stars are difficult to distribute.



Shape: Twin Elliptical

I never recommend this shape because even for pretty large galaxy the outcome can be very unfair for 1 player. I got results with 2-3 stars for a player to discover before he has to research the wormhole drive and others with 8+ stars. This is simply not going to work for many games. If really no other setting there provides a nice galaxy for you really play a lot with the setting of just the Twin elliptical to find a good galaxy before playing it.



Density: High

I personally have the feeling with more stars the maps just get better and more interesting, but also the game usually takes longer.



2 Player

Very Good

For 2 player nearly every shape with every number of galaxies work, even tiny with a low density which means there will be only about 10-11 stars.



3 Player

Very good

Everything but Spiral/Twin Elliptical in Small or greater.



Not recommended

2/4/8 Spiral and Disc4



4 Player

Very Good

Nearly all settings produce very awsome maps for 4 players.



5 Player

At least size medium is recommended



Not recommended

2/4/8 Spiral and Disc-4



6 Player

Very good

At least size large is recommended and many wormholes.



Not recommended

2/4/8 Spiral and Disc-4



7 Player

Very good

Everything but Spiral/Twin Elliptical in Small or greater and the "not recommend below".



Not recommended

2/4/8 Spiral and Disc-4



8 Player

Huge is recommended.

Resources: Low

As the description says: "monopolies will be dependant on conquest and diplomacy." This will make certain system have more strategic importance and force the player to re-evaluate their priorities. I find that, when this is set on medium or high, it is far too easy to get monopolies which also diminishes the unique features of every race, since the bonuses from monopolies can be rather powerful.



Planets per system: Many (4 to 6)

Especially, on the harder difficulties, the AI is going to colonize every system available and, when you're going to start invading their systems, you're going to have to get all of them (eventually) no matter how bad they are. By having more planets per system, this will decrease the likelihood of a system to be really, really bad. Also, on a personal note, I simply like being able to build as many improvements per system as I can instead of thinking "oh, my population isn't high enough to make that improvement worth it here."



Star connectivity: Low

This allows for more choke points and decreases the likelihood of having battles in random locations.



Planet size:

Factions with the trait "Crowded Planets" will benefit from a small planet size. Therefore, this setting may be used to shift the balance of power, even if only slightly, to however you desire.

Nox - please explain your reasoning for 2-8 player galaxy recommendations.



Thanks.

Nasarog what do you mean? The listings of the exact settings for 2-8? I just chose the the amoebia and created a lot of galaxies and for some setups the galaxy generation is more likely to fail. If you need the wormhole tech to simply explore a third system while all others have 8 systems it is simply unfair. This is No fault of the generator but simply trying to place 8 players on tiny with a lot of wormholes and a little DENSITY does Not work. This does not mean the not recommended Settings will always fail but they are just much more likely to create unfair maps sometimes just for One player sometimes Gör multiple.

Nasarog wrote:
Nox - please explain your reasoning for 2-8 player galaxy recommendations.



Thanks.

Seems to me his recommendations are based on balanced factions in given galaxies.