Maps & Game Modes, Explained

Two or more large landmasses separated by ocean — the default, balanced choice for a game that mixes early isolation with mid-game naval contact.

One single connected landmass. Early contact with every civilization, more direct land warfare, and less naval strategy relevant to victory.

Like Continents, but with a scattering of smaller islands between the main landmasses — rewards a civilization with strong naval exploration.

Irregular, unpredictable landmass shapes — no two games look alike, with a mix of chokepoints and open areas generated somewhat randomly.

Many small to medium islands rather than large continents — heavily favors naval-focused civilizations and early Harbor investment.

Civilizations start around a central body of water, guaranteeing early naval contact between everyone at the table.

Randomly picks one of the other map scripts for you — useful if you want variety without deciding yourself.

A more aggressive, war-focused ruleset with faster unit upgrades, cheaper city razing, and harsher consequences for climate change — built around a shorter, more destructive game.

Adds hidden factions you can secretly join for unique bonuses and units, each with its own agenda and rewards for staying loyal to it.

Lets you corner the market on a resource for empire-wide bonuses once you control enough of the world's supply, and later found full Corporations with their own franchise buildings.

Adds legendary (non-historical) hero units you can recruit and level up over time, each with unique abilities outside the normal tech/civic-gated unit progression.

Reworks Barbarians into a more structured faction you can bribe, ally with, or destroy for rewards, rather than a purely hostile nuisance.

Makes Golden and Dark Ages more extreme in both directions — bigger rewards for a Golden Age, steeper penalties for a Dark Age.

Randomizes the order of the technology and civic trees each game, so the optimal research path is different every time instead of memorized.

A survival-horror-themed mode where a zombie outbreak spreads across the map and every civilization has to defend against it — a genuinely different pace from a standard game.