Hardest/easiest map

[Gillipig]

List the maps you think are the hardest and easiest. List as many as you like, here's my top 10:

Hardest:
1. Stalingrad
2. Waterloo
3. Das Schloss
4. City Mogul
5. King's Court
6. Antarctica
7. Peloponnesian War
8. Arms Race!
9. Poison Rome
10. Rail Europe

Easiest:
1. Madagascar
2. USA
3. Tamriel
4. Midkemdil
5. Golfe Du Saint-Laurent
6. High Seas
7. USA Southwest
8. Midgard
9. Netherlands
10. Eurasia Mini

[ManBungalow]

On your Easiest list:
Midkemil and High Seas suffer from some difficult-to-discern borders (at least on the small maps). And I've found that some troop numbers are really difficult to sea on particular coloured backgrounds on USA and Tamriel.

I found Northwest Passage really confusing when I first played it. More so than some of the maps on your Hardest list. But perhaps that's a list of maps which are hardest for an average player to win on, which is obviously relative, and subject to there being quite a specific set of strategies for winning most games on a given map/settings which seasoned players may be aware of.

And I still have no idea what's happening when I end up in a game on the Austerlitz map. I'm sure it's quite simple, but it still doesn't make much sense. Conquer Rome, Trafalgar and WWII Ardennes I'd more more inclined to have on the Hardest list than Antarctica, Peloponnesian War and Arms Race. Oh, Forbidden City has some funny borders, and Napoleonic Europe has some funny bonuses.

I'm sure I've missed some out. And, of course, some would say that you should have Doodle etc. on the Easiest list, but that seems too obvious.

[Gillipig]

On your Easiest list:
Midkemil and High Seas suffer from some difficult-to-discern borders (at least on the small maps). And I've found that some troop numbers are really difficult to sea on particular coloured backgrounds on USA and Tamriel.

I found Northwest Passage really confusing when I first played it. More so than some of the maps on your Hardest list. But perhaps that's a list of maps which are hardest for an average player to win on, which is obviously relative, and subject to there being quite a specific set of strategies for winning most games on a given map/settings which seasoned players may be aware of.

And I still have no idea what's happening when I end up in a game on the Austerlitz map. I'm sure it's quite simple, but it still doesn't make much sense. Conquer Rome, Trafalgar and WWII Ardennes I'd more more inclined to have on the Hardest list than Antarctica, Peloponnesian War and Arms Race. Oh, Forbidden City has some funny borders, and Napoleonic Europe has some funny bonuses.

I'm sure I've missed some out. And, of course, some would say that you should have Doodle etc. on the Easiest list, but that seems too obvious.

This is just my list, I encourage people to make their own. However I do find it hard to believe that many would consider the maps on my easy list, to be harder than those on my hard list. Every map is easy once you understand it, difference is that some maps take fifty games to understand while others only take one.
Das Schloss is very easy to me now, but it sure wasn't the first couple of times I played it.

[Funkyterrance]

By hardest and easiest I'm assuming you mean hardest and easiest to learn?

[premio53]

There are a few maps that to me would be impossible to figure out without Bob. I never did figure out Arms Race but did manage to crossmap it.

[The Voice]

AYBABTU gives me a headache.

[HighlanderAttack]

There are a few maps that to me would be impossible to figure out without Bob. I never did figure out Arms Race but did manage to crossmap it.

Arms Race is easy

[Metsfanmax]

There are a few maps that to me would be impossible to figure out without Bob. I never did figure out Arms Race but did manage to crossmap it.

Arms Race is easy

Going to have to second that. It's not something you can win at on your first play, but it really doesn't take long to figure out the route to victory.

[Funkyterrance]

The combination of crazy graphics and strange wording(mind blast, etc.) made Monsters come pretty slowly to me.

[Swifte]

doesn't get much easier than doodle earth, right?

[Gillipig]

No one seem to debate that Stalingrad is the most difficult map.

[Funkyterrance]

I do have to contest that Peloponnesian War is hard.

[Qwert]

I do have to contest that Peloponnesian War is hard.

ha-ha funky, in every step and every topic, he left hes comic post

[Funkyterrance]

I do have to contest that Peloponnesian War is hard.

ha-ha funky, in every step and every topic, he left hes comic post

By contest I mean I disagree, qwert. I think we may be having a communication/language gap here. I think that map is pretty easy. I also love it, thanks.

[greenoaks]

Realms 2 and Realms 3 are really easy

[Gillipig]

Realms 2 and Realms 3 are really easy

Sometimes, having more bonuses and features makes a map easier. AoR 2 and 3 is an example of that.

[laughingcavalier]

Seems to me there are 2 types of hard:
1. Maps where you have to master unfamiliar map elements and tactics but which then offer relatively few routes to victory (eg monsters, trafalgar).
2. Maps which throw up multiple different strategic options which you have to choose wisely between (eg stalingrad or waterloo). It's these latter maps which I think are most challenging.
From the maps I play regularly, the map I find I have to give the most concentration to for the most turns is WW2 Ardennes.

[AAFitz]

I do have to contest that Peloponnesian War is hard.

ha-ha funky, in every step and every topic, he left hes comic post

By contest I mean I disagree, qwert. I think we may be having a communication/language gap here. I think that map is pretty easy. I also love it, thanks.

Honestly I missed it too, but because I was assuming you were arguing that someone that suggested it was easy.

For the most part it is easy, and the dice will decide the thing in 1v1 most of the time, but certainly there are settings that make it a fun strategic game, if not a difficult one.

[Funkyterrance]

For the most part it is easy, and the dice will decide the thing in 1v1 most of the time, but certainly there are settings that make it a fun strategic game, if not a difficult one.

This is a good point; many maps change in difficulty depending on the settings.

[Gillipig]

Seems to me there are 2 types of hard:
1. Maps where you have to master unfamiliar map elements and tactics but which then offer relatively few routes to victory (eg monsters, trafalgar).
2. Maps which throw up multiple different strategic options which you have to choose wisely between (eg stalingrad or waterloo). It's these latter maps which I think are most challenging.
From the maps I play regularly, the map I find I have to give the most concentration to for the most turns is WW2 Ardennes.

Three types actually, there's the type of hard that you feel in your pants after winning a game .

[Funkyterrance]

Seems to me there are 2 types of hard:
1. Maps where you have to master unfamiliar map elements and tactics but which then offer relatively few routes to victory (eg monsters, trafalgar).
2. Maps which throw up multiple different strategic options which you have to choose wisely between (eg stalingrad or waterloo). It's these latter maps which I think are most challenging.
From the maps I play regularly, the map I find I have to give the most concentration to for the most turns is WW2 Ardennes.

Three types actually, there's the type of hard that you feel in your pants after winning a game .

+1
Looks like your gf is dissapointed most of the time though, eh gilli?

[Gillipig]

Seems to me there are 2 types of hard:
1. Maps where you have to master unfamiliar map elements and tactics but which then offer relatively few routes to victory (eg monsters, trafalgar).
2. Maps which throw up multiple different strategic options which you have to choose wisely between (eg stalingrad or waterloo). It's these latter maps which I think are most challenging.
From the maps I play regularly, the map I find I have to give the most concentration to for the most turns is WW2 Ardennes.

Three types actually, there's the type of hard that you feel in your pants after winning a game .

+1
Looks like your gf is dissapointed most of the time though, eh gilli?

nope, I've got a huge one actually. That's why I'm so cocky

[Catarah]

some of the maps are rather hard to figure out, yet very easy to play once you get to know them. some maps don't use half of the bonuses ever, because the winning route doesn't use them.

i suppose trench quads on doodle earth is one of the most strategically heavy maps/settings right now.

[Funkyterrance]

Seems to me there are 2 types of hard:
1. Maps where you have to master unfamiliar map elements and tactics but which then offer relatively few routes to victory (eg monsters, trafalgar).
2. Maps which throw up multiple different strategic options which you have to choose wisely between (eg stalingrad or waterloo). It's these latter maps which I think are most challenging.
From the maps I play regularly, the map I find I have to give the most concentration to for the most turns is WW2 Ardennes.

Three types actually, there's the type of hard that you feel in your pants after winning a game .

+1
Looks like your gf is dissapointed most of the time though, eh gilli?

nope, I've got a huge one actually. That's why I'm so cocky

That's cool but since when are girls satisfied with huge yet flaccid penises?

[Kaskavel]

I am not a many-maps player. From what I ve seen, Peloponesian is a reasonably difficult map, but not at the top of the list. ThelaughingCavalier is right. Multi-optional maps are generally more difficult. Conquer Rome is a good one. It encourages attacks against neutrals, even in 1 vs 1, so it calls for difficult decisions. Stalingrad, Waterloo, Das Schloss, King's Court are probably even better, but I have not mastered them well.
Of course, AAFitz is also right. The proper settings make the challenging map. Peloponesian seems difficut for many people because of the difficulty of reading the log, which demands experience. And 2 surprising difficult settings I ve recently noticed in hive, yes, that huge simple map. Quads escalating and, even more difficult, quads no spoils trench. I never recall so many arguments in my team before trying that last one.