Never mind.

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

Calm down, guys. I'm sure Stardock will add "I want to play on totally random and unbalanced map. And my mom is stupid and fat" option in no time. However, it would be perfect to get "Totally random games" (with only basic pattern so that players wouldn't start near each other and get fair amount of resurces nearby. Something like Heroes, Civilization, GalCiv), "Semi-random map" (generated from existing map with random resources - and MAYBE Stardock can add some minor randomness to terrain) and "Scenarios" were everything is fixed.

Let's wait!

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.

 

Fanboys... that's a recent development in the last few years of internet.

Random maps, however, are not. They've been along for a lot longer than you have, and nobody complained about them back then.

And what a very convenient time to forget the random map feature of the game this one is based on: Master of Magic.

you mean years... got plenty of free features as well as some new Elemental Games priced and called an Xpack since its going to be 64 bit elemental 2 might not come out until quantum computers.

Don't be upset if your definition of random and my definition don't match.  And error on your part doesn't mean I'm incorrect.

However, that is completely disappointing.  Too bad we didn't get the Sins of a Solar Empire team...now those people knew how to make some random maps!  Just wished stardock people talked, or at least shared consistancy in game development/approach on games with maps.  Especially with something so obvious a need and something that has been successfully implemented before.  Unless the new 'paradox' approach of promise + remove (aka Majest 2) is the new norm for bait and switch.  "Huge maps...."  Ooops, wait...

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

the seed maps are in the game directory under data\Maps.  The ones that say seed.  The others for the campaign and what not do not delete, it'll break things.

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

The Maps. 

Are.

Randomly

Generated.

'The land masses are taken from seed files.

We will add a lot more seeds in the coming weeks.

And if you really. Really. REALLY want fractically generated land masses, you can go into the maps directory and delete the seed files.  I don't recommend it though.

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.