Settings
The word Settings refers to specific game-type settings for Random map games. For multiplayer, there are several standard community settings that are widely used.
Contents
List of random map settings
- Map size
- Map type
- Resources
- Game unit limit
- Difficulty level
- Starting epoch
- Ending epoch
- Game variant
- Number of wonders
- Game speed
- Reveal map
- Use Custom Civs
- Lock Teams
- Lock Speed
- Starting citizens
Common multiplayer settings
Map size
In normal multiplayer games, map size increases with the number of players, and may also be bigger for islands games.
Typical sizes for land-map games.
- 2 players - tiny, small, sometimes medium
- 3-4 players - small, medium
- 5-6 players - medium
- 7-8 players - medium or large
The actual size used for those numbers of players may depend on the setting, rules, and/or the game itself (EE or AoC).
On AoC, some players may prefer to use medium for 1v1 or 2v2 games, while on EE small is the standard. Medium is a fairly unanimous standard for 3v3 games. On AoC, 4v4 games almost exclusively use large, whereas on EE, medium is most commonly used while some settings traditionally use large.
Single age
SH, TL, and DM refer to the resource setting as Standard - High, Tournament - Low, and Deathmatch respectively. Referring to such a settings talks almost exclusively about games on the Plains map type. When players talk about islands games, they specify it. For example, "Mod DM" is Plains, and "Mod DM Islands" is played mostly on Tournament Islands, but sometimes on Large Islands or Small Islands and players are given 20 starting citizens.
On Plains, all players get 20 starting citizens in SH, while TL and DM remain at the default 5 starting citizens.
- Map Type: Plains
- Game Unit Limit: 1200
- Difficulty: Easy (or Medium if the host likes animals with more HP)
- Starting Epoch = Ending Epoch
- Game Variant: Tourament
- Number of Wonders: Off
- Game Speed: Very Fast
- Reveal Map: On
- Use Custom Civs: On
- Lock Teams: On (Off for "Diplomacy" games)
- Lock Speed: On
- For more information on Deathmatch games, see: Settings#Deathmatch
Ligasettings
Ligasettings ("league" settings) is a standard setting that was used in official Empire Earth tournaments. It uses a Random starting epoch and extends to Nano, but also allows for quicker games.
- For more information on the exact settings and the strategy, see the main article: Ligasettings
Prehistoric to Nano/Space
Pre 2, often called P2N, P2S, p2..., is a very traditional category of settings that covers SH and TL on both land and island maps. There is also some slight variation between EE and AoC.
- For more information on land-map games, see the main article: Pre 2
- For more information on islands games, see the main article: Pre 2 Islands
Deathmatch
Deathmatch (DM) is a more traditional category of games that began on EE after the act of rushing in DM games became popular. DM as a whole can be played on any age, but it is only played on a single age per game. Some ages are more common than others, but an experienced DM player knows the strategies of each age. Plains DM games are always played with 5 starting citizens and no rules are attached.
When rushing on DM became popular, players scrambled to find the best 2 or 3 unit combination in each age that also allowed them to efficiently spend all of their resources. For example, using a unit that costs food/iron and a unit that costs wood/gold will allow you to make the most units because you don't have a single resource as a choke point. Such a concept really only holds true to earlier epochs. In Atomic Ages and higher, the greater selection of units and the introduction of aircraft makes it hard to limit yourself to only 2 or 3 units and still be effective.
Although rushing has taken great precedence, booming still also plays a role in DM. If players are not of equivalent skill, the better player will most likely win the game before he starts to run low on starting resources. Otherwise, when games become extended, it is necessary to make an economy in order to keep up army production. This may win the game for you if your opponent decides not to build an economy and flat-out runs out of resources. You might also end up in your typical late-game scenario, when both sides will have strong economies, and your overall skill will have to win the game for you.
On AoC, DM never gained the popularity it did on EE due to abuse of the special powers. Mid DM (No Siege, No Religion), however, did gain a substantial amount of players.
