Maps getting smaller?

Perhaps they prepare the maps for naval stuff being introduced, increasing the sealevel. Just wishfull thinking I guess, doesent seem like we will see that before in an expansion pack....

I actually like the boundary that water and cliffs gives in this game, my issues currently is other places

Sincerely
~ Kongdej

Having the water is nice, but haven't you noticed that the maps now, have a lot more water and a lot less land to build on?

Yes they seem smaller have always had trouble with opponent starting right next to me it seems even worse now. Just tried a large map with just 1 AI CIV and as soon as I sent out a scout there it was right next to my start location.

I wouldn't say "a lot more" or a "a lot less", but coasts seem a little bit more fragmented, and mountains often block the landscape and passages are narrower

I play on large maps, dense monsters and fewer AI, the proportion between land/water/mountains seems quite right to me

In fairness SD have pretty much come out and said that this partly down to memory limitations. Removing a quarter of the map available to the player it reduces memory constraints.

To be honest I am currently tired of the expansion race with the AI, the AI expands so quickly all over the map leaving me nowhere to expand and I cannot come up with a tactic to avoid it, since I cant get sight of the land quickly enough, so I barely play since I am not too happy playing this game as a 1 city challenge all the time.

Last couple of games I played though, there was plenty of land, most of it was just with rubbish soil, guess I should play on the fertile setting instead of balanced, since I always end up in the middle of a desert and a swamp.

I even tried setting the AI down to Challenging from Hard, but still not enough time , and when it comes to combat they are rubbish...

Sincerely
~ Kongdej

@Kongdej. I play medium maps, and I normally put down 2-3 cities quite fast. After that its often a while of building and levelling armies before the first war (in which I take 1-2 cities). I see some outpost spamming, but not enough to make me a sad puppy

I'd like it if there were an option for the AI to not so aggressively expand.  Maybe an option "Expansionists" or "More Balanced Expansion" or something like that.  Isolationists might be another word, but that also implies they don't want to be diplomatic with other nations.

I don't have trouble building pioneers, its  the locating of places to actually put cities that halters...!

Sincerely
~ Kongdej

I have progressed to EASY difficulty, and I really don't know how the AI can do what it does without cheating.

I go as fast as I can but when I meet the AI he has 10 times what I have of the map, plus his army's are enormous.  I barely have enough time and resources to build one or two units, were the AI has a endless stream of them, that he throws at you without let-up.