I guess a solution would be to add more prepared seeds then?

I am kind of surprised as well. While I can see how they want to have things balanced, they also claimed they wanted the game to be played for decades - if I get a handful of maps only (with random resources) it will get old fast.

The solution I hope will get implemented soon is that you can choose if you want:

• Balanced seeded maps
• Completely random (likely unbalanced) maps

The "long" solution would be a better procedurally generated map that attempts to balance things out.

Just going to add my voice to the disappointed chorus about this. Reasonably balanced randomized maps are something other games have been able to manage and I would expect Stardock to be able to achieve it as well; failing that, a very large number of prebuilt map seeds - i.e., enough that I will never notice repetition - is needed for all map sizes.

This is a medium-to-long-term dealbreaker for me. As is, I will probably get several weeks of enjoyment out of the campaign and playing sandbox games with the existing map types. After that, if the game can't provide an experience that feels fresh every time, I will set the game aside and play something else. Probably Civ 5.

Of the concerns that I've noticed or read about over the last few hours, for me, at least, this ranks a very clear #2 behind the crash bugs as an issue that needs to be addressed to keep me playing the game.

- Ash

This is really bad. Jesus, games from the 80's manage friggin random map generation...

This is what I wrote on another forum and I'm sorry to say that I'm entirely serious:

This is the most crushing disappointment to me. The lack of random maps is a huge letdown. Brad's reply in that thread doesn't really address whether or not he's going to "fix" this in an update, or if this is just the way Stardock is going to leave it since it was designed that way.

I have to honestly say that my recommendation to others will really hinge on this feature. If we don't get random maps, or at least a lot more seeds added to the mix, then I'll be hard-pressed to tell anyone to buy Elemental without a huge caveat.