Best Civs to make a Huge TSL Earth Map realistic? (2024)

So I love playing TSL maps and trying to make them realistic as possible and I was recently thinking about since we are limited in the civs we could put on a map ( I believe it is 20 max for a huge map) that would make it the best playable experience.

Main factors I would consider are: geography, cultural significance, and lastly probably gameplay.

So most important to me is rounding out the continents. I will be doing this from my head so please feel free to correct me or add your opinions. I am not a history/geo expert nor an expert at the game, but here are my first thoughts.

North America:
America
Canada
Aztecs
Mayans
Cree

South America:
Brazil
Inca
Mapuche

Australia/Oceania:
Australia / Maori (not sure which but probably can't handle both)

Africa:
Nubia
Kongo
Mali

Middle East/India:
Arabia
India

Asia:
China
Russia
Indonesia
Mongolia

Europe:
I already only have 2 choices left so this gets super hard and Europe is tight. Likely have to eliminate some from others ( North America?)

Thoughts to improve? I am not even considering CS, but those could be important since I believe we can pick those out as well.

No offense meant, but the title is a bit misleading. I thought it was Civs that are best to play on a TSL Huge Earth Map.

Perhaps change it to "Best Civs to make a Huge TSL Earth Map realistic," or something like that to avoid further confusion.

Duke William of Normandy said:

No offense meant, but the title is a bit misleading. I thought it was Civs that are best to play on a TSL Huge Earth Map.

Perhaps change it to "Best Civs to make a Huge TSL Earth Map realistic," or something like that to avoid further confusion.

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I changed it to your suggestion, sorry for confusion. You are more than welcome to discuss what you talked about as well, that would still be an interesting discussion.

Duke William of Normandy said:

I think you can throw either Canada or the Cree, either one doesn't matter, meaning you can put Germany, England, and Rome, IMO. Also, Maori over Australia.

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Yeah I was thinking Canada would get the boot. Cree at least represents Native Americans, whereas Canadians don't really represent much different than America.

On the rare occasion I play TSL, I throw in every Balkan, Central/Eastern European, and Anatolian civ in the game just because I think it's hilarious.

Yzman said:

Middle East/India:
Arabia
India

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Arabia starts in Egypt and India starts in, well, India, which means you have the Middle East entirely empty.

Zaarin said:

On the rare occasion I play TSL, I throw in every Balkan, Central/Eastern European, and Anatolian civ in the game just because I think it's hilarious.

Arabia starts in Egypt and India starts in, well, India, which means you have the Middle East entirely empty.

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Empty, but I am not sure who better to be in that area and also Arabia will naturally settle to that area. But I see what you are saying...maybe Persia as well? Just seems like Arabia is an important one for the region.

AnonymousSpeed said:

Nubia starts close to Egypt, right? So scrap either them or Arabia and get Persia instead.

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Good idea.

Get rid of Nubia, keep Arabia and add Persia. Now that region is better filled.

OK this is updated list I have

North America:
1. America
2. Aztecs
3. Maya
4. Cree

South America:
5. Brazil
6.Inca
7.Mapuche

Australia/Oceania:
8. Maori (Do they have a fixed starting location? I worry they will start near Europe or something and crowd it)

Africa:
9. Arabia
10. Kongo
11. Mali

Middle East/India:
12. Persia
13. India

Asia:
14. China
15. Indonesia
16. Russia
17. Mongolia

Europe:
18. England
19. Germany
20. Rome

Definitely think its close...I am still a little unsure on Europe and Oceania but other ones seem fairly solid.

AnonymousSpeed said:

I'm a little unsure on England the Maori. I'm concerned England will just end up stuck on their island, though I understand they are very important. Meanwhile, the Maori have the opposite problem- I'm not sure if they'll spread too far and too quickly. The only major landmass which no civ has access to is Australia, so it might not be that busted, but I thought it was worth mentioning.

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That is my concern with Maori too. I am unsure where they will settle...so they may make the map lopsided and leave that whole area of the world uninhabited. That is why I originally went Australia even though I find Maori a better choice for gameplay and cultural balance. Still unsure.

As for England, I am still unsure about Europe in general. I feel like Germany and Rome may be too close to each other and England may get crowded onto their island like you say. Its a tough call geographically, but I do like the 3 civ choices as they represent pretty important areas I feel.

Yzman said:

As for England, I am still unsure about Europe in general. I feel like Germany and Rome may be too close to each other and England may get crowded onto their island like you say.

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In my experience, if both Germany and Rome are in a TSL game, Rome never expands beyond the Italian Peninsula. You might be better off with, say, France or Poland, which won't block Rome. Also I've never seen England expand beyond Great Britain in a TSL game, even if France is empty.

Zaarin said:

In my experience, if both Germany and Rome are in a TSL game, Rome never expands beyond the Italian Peninsula. You might be better off with, say, France or Poland, which won't block Rome. Also I've never seen England expand beyond Great Britain in a TSL game, even if France is empty.

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What about Spain or Portugal representing Iberian area? Think they would work with some other civs?

Even if Russia's territory is mostly in Asia, the starting Russian settler starts in St. Petersburg, which is in Europe. From there, even if Russia is supposed to not be afraid to settle in the tundra, the AI will not really see that way. In my games, Russia seems to really like to settle South to the caucasus, and West to Europe instead of North-East in the wooded tundra.

Due to starting on a small island, I am not sure England can really manage to shine on the TSL map (and Victoria is quite annoying if you do not start on the same continent, but Eleanor can be "fun" if she manage the loyalty from Great Works). I believe a mainland one is a better pick. Eleanor's France could be a better replacement if you count her as "half english-half french" leader.

Yzman said:

What about Spain or Portugal representing Iberian area? Think they would work with some other civs?

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Yes, that works well actually because even if France is occupied Spain can very successfully colonize North Africa. I haven't played with Portugal, but I'm sure they would do the same.

Yzman said:

Australia/Oceania:
8. Maori (Do they have a fixed starting location? I worry they will start near Europe or something and crowd it)

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Maori will spawn in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. It's a possibility that they might go to Australia especially if South America ends up being crowded with the Mapuche and Inca. Or they just find Antarctica.
Australia at least has a fixed location. It's up to you.

Zaarin said:

Yes, that works well actually because even if France is occupied Spain can very successfully colonize North Africa. I haven't played with Portugal, but I'm sure they would do the same.

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So can Phoenicia.

Alexander's Hetaroi said:

So can Phoenicia.

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While I get the reference, in practice Phoenicia seems to prefer to expand into Anatolia.

Equilin said:

I just get a bigger map to keep every single civ. There will be just enough space for them to settle their capital. No guarantee about loyalty problems in Europe.

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I don't think even the largest map can hold over 50 civs, there is a hard cap to the amount of players in a game period, I can't remember what it is. Something like 30.

But if you just meant more than the 20, yes that is possible. Adding another 5 or so would probably get it to where I want it ideally.