I'll admit this map is a bit of an oddball considering there are no Frythan lairs on this map. Even though I have the game set to create them.

Oddly enough all of the villages on the smaller islands are mixed in terms of nationality which makes them less useful if you have disasters turned on. Especially if you have them set to be frequent.

Oddly enough the preview for this photo is based on the setup if your Egyptian which reduces the number of Frythan lairs on the map while increasing the number of villages that are available to conquer. On the other hand if you play the Egyptians the starting set of independent villages will all be mixed in terms of population.

I'll admit I'm not super fond of this map. After all, there aren't any pure villages on your starting island and you share it with four other kingdoms. On the plus side there is a Japanese village on the Orange Kingdom's island and a small island just a bit above the center of the map that is uninhabited. As a result, it should be pretty easy to relocate yourself on this map.

I'll admit upfront this isn't my favorite map. After all, we've got a 5/2 split going on the kingdoms with you sharing an island with four other powers. And the only pure Japanese village on this map is on the island being shared by the Yellow and Orange Kingdoms. On the other hand, the map does offer you the chance to relocate to a medium sized island and has a lot of potential in terms of achieving a high score.

I'll admit this isn't the most impressive map I've seen over the years and I usually don't recommend maps with small landmasses that have you sharing territory with all of the AI kingdoms. After all, I usually save maps that require relocating yourself for maps with large landmasses, but these sorts of maps do allow for a slow burn. And if the AI is set to very aggressive it will potentially weaken itself to the point of helplessness if the player remains relatively weak as they focus on developing weaponized boats to take out enemy harbors.

Though, I recommend playing as the Egyptians on this map for two reasons. For starters the uninhabited island on the right side of the map actually gains a Frythan lair when you play as them. So it gives you an easy target to take out with a small military force if you want to use the powers of Isis to build up your economy/population. And secondly, the village on the inhabited island is a pure Mughul village with 29 citizens. Which is really useful if your playing on this map with disasters active since it means that the village in question can't be taken out by a single earthquake.

If this maps looks familiar to you, then congratulations since you've definitely been messing around with the scenario portion of this game. Oddly enough this is one of those maps where your starting position can be heavily influenced by your nationality. As far as I know the only nationality that ends up on the bigger island on the left side of the map by themselves is the Greeks, but the only other nationalities I've tested so far are the Japanese and Chinese whose starting location is on the big island on the right side of the map and both of them shared the island with five other kingdoms.

Note: The picture shows the starting layout if you play as the Vikings and have selected for a single starting resource to be far away from any kingdoms.

Another map that should be familiar to those that like to mess around with the scenarios. Though unlike the previous map your nationality doesn't appear to effect your own starting position on this map. Admittedly I didn't test every nationality, but I tried at least eight of them on this map. If anything your starting nationality dictates if there will be two enemy kingdoms on the island in the top left corner or if there will be one kingdom in the top left corner and one kingdom in the bottom left corner.

A pretty decent split with the player sharing an island with two AI Kingdoms and a couple of unmixed villages.

A map where you share your starting island with two other powers and have the option of moving to another island if you want to be alone.

A map that offers a couple more splits then you usually see,but my favorite aspect of this map is that 6 of the 9 villages on your starting island are a single nationality.

You share your starting position with a single AI Kingdom as well as have easy access to a Japanese and Mayan village. So this should be a pretty easy map to clear.

While I like the kingdom split on this map. I'm not as fond of the resources you have access to. While five of the nine villages on your starting island are of a single nationality, none of them are of your nationality if your playing as the Japanese. Which means I'm going to have to either hire a general of the right nationality to make capturing a village easier or spend a lot of money on bribes to lower their resistance to my rule. At least if I want to avoid losing valuable peasants or hurting my reputation.

A pretty solid split, but I kind of wish this map gave you access to a couple more villages. And especially villages of your starting nationality. At least that is an issue if you choose to play as the Japanese on this map. On the plus side at least two of the villages are only a single nationality. So it's possible to play this map with disasters on and not completely risk losing entire villages worth of people.

While this map does offer the best split possible. It also lacks good towns to pick up if your playing as the Japanese since there is only one village that isn't a mixture of multiple nationalities. On the plus side there is a Japanese town near the Brown Kingdom. So it is possible to rapidly increase your base population if you build a port and some boats to transfer them to your starting island.

Another perfect split if you want to be by yourself, but it leaves the player with little resources if they aren't willing to send people to the mainland. You also share the island with some really rocky Frythans if your playing as the Japanese.

Another great split that's hampered by how many resources you have readily within your kingdom's reach.

I'll admit this isn't the best split, but it is nice to see the AI kingdoms split between multiple islands every now and again.

On the plus side the split is pretty good, but the amount of resources available if your Japanese is pretty limited on this map.

An alright split, but the amount of villages on this map is pretty limited even with the option for many villages set.

Another map with a bunch of kingdoms split up on various islands, but only a small number of villages even with the many village option selected.

A solid split, but you may be better of moving towards the nearby island in order to put some distance between yourself and the AI.

I'll admit this map doesn't feature the best split, but it does offer a pretty large island you can relocate to.

I'll admit upfront that I like the amount of islands you can potentially utilize. After all, you have a pair of small islands, a pair tiny island, one medium sized island, and a few tiny rocks you can build harbors on in order to create a powerful seafaring empire. On the other hand, the lack of exploitable resources on those islands means you'll have to spend a lot of your early game effort on relocating people to islands so worthless that even Frythans overlook them.

I'll admit this map looks less like a sea map and more like part of a crater lake. I'll also admit I'm not super fond of the location of several of the other kingdoms on this map in relation to my own starting position, but you can always relocate your village if that's a deal breaker for you.

I'll admit this map does offer the benefit of being on an island by yourself, but also hinders the player by requiring them to either land some generals on the mainland in order to capture some villages. Or will require the player to focus on developing cannons early in order to build caravels. That way you can patrol the long coast on this map for harbors. After all, the enemy can't beat you if they can't land any of their forces on your shores.

I'll admit this map feels a lot more like an island map to me. And yeah being in the corner with a pure viking village nearby if your playing as the Japanese on this map is pretty nice. And the village on the island near the center of the map is a pure Mayan if your playing as that nationality as well.

I've actually tested the Egyptians on this map and they do share the same spawn location as the Japanese, but the kind of Frythans on this map is completely different between the two nationalities. And while the village on the Northern portion of your island remains the same. On the other hand the pure village on your island is no longer a Viking village to the West, but a Mayan village to the East.

While you don't start on an island by yourself on this map. This map does offer a pretty good reason to relocate since there are three pure villages on the island in the South-West corner.

While this isn't as good of a contender for a relocation as some. If your playing as the Japense then the villages on the island in the South-East corner are all pure villages and the Frythan lair is for the humble Rattus.

Four of the seven pure villages on this map are on the islands in the corners. So this is definitely a map where you'll want to relocate the center of your operations. At least that's how I would tackle a map like this.

Sadly the two villages are mixed if your Japanese, but a starting position on an island of your own is a serious boon if you want to avoid major battles with the AI.

I suppose this isn't the best split, but you do have a pair of options North of your starting location if you want an island to yourself.

While the split isn't the greatest on the map you still have a couple of options for relocating. Though it will take a bit longer to get there then the previous map.

While the split on this map is nice since it's usually pretty easy to keep the AI at arm's length when you start on an island by yourself. The map also suffers a bit from the player starting in location with zero villages to take over.

While the split on this map isn't as good as the last map with the player sharing an island with three other kingdoms. At least you don't need to build a harbor and transport ships in order to reach an island with villages on them.

While this map doesn't offer the greatest split ever. It does showcase a pair of AI's that will struggle to grow.

I'll admit I'd prefer a map with a better split, but it's a bit harder to find those when your looking at medium maps.

A map that places you close enough to the water that moving to a new island should be pretty easy. Though you may want to leave a general or two behind to gather up additional villages for your new homeland.

A 4 - 3 split is pretty decent for a Medium Map and if your playing as the Japanese you have access to three other pure Japanese villages on this map. So this map should be pretty useful for building up your military might and economy if you like being a Samurai.

An impressive split with an equally unappealing amount of starting resources. Oh well, at least you can always send your king or some generals to the mainland to gather more villagers.

A map built around leaving your starting shores for lands abroad. Though you'll definitely want to leave some generals and construction workers behind to acquire more villagers.

A map that's all about relocating your kingdom to a new land and coming back to wipe out your enemies later.

A map with an iffy split, but a decent island to move to.

A medium map with a pretty decent split.

I'll admit, I really don't think I'm going to add a lot of maps with land mass set to large to this list. After all, these sorts of maps are rather iffy in terms of even calling them island maps. While this map does feature an island in the bottom left corner that is on the dinky size if I'm being honest. It's still big enough to fit a few villages, research towers, war factories, and harbors. And you could put harbors on some of the smaller islands in that corner if you want to free up space on your main island.

I suppose this map offers a similar campaign setup to the last map. Though if your playing as the Japanese I recommend grabbing the village to the East of the brown kingdom since it's a pure Japanese village. There's also a pure Egyptian village on the island in the bottom left corner. So you'll probably want to hire a mercenary with high leadership near the start of the campaign in order to keep your own people in line for a bit. You'll also want to pick up a few of the villages around the lake next to the one surrounding your island.

And much like the last couple you'll lose a lot of time on relocating your people if you want to experience the joy of being an island nation in this campaign. If your playing as the Japanese at least there's a pure village you can pick up of your own nationality just South of your starting location. Though you'll have to reach the lush grass in the far South to find it.

Another map where you'll need to relocate if you want to become a naval power, but at least your pretty close to the shoreline this time. And if your playing as the Japanese the bulk of the villages at the top of the map are pure. So expanding your population should be easy. Though, I'll admit transporting them all will be a bit of a pain in the backside.

Another large map where you'll need to relocate in order to become an island nation. Of course, what I find odd about the map is that it doesn't show the impassable isthmus that connects the land in the bottom right corner with the rest of the land.

Another map that looks like it has a medium sized island, but in reality that piece of land is still connected to the mainland through an impassable isthmus. Though, I'll admit this map does include a few actual islands you could use as small population centers or naval ports.

I'll admit this map is a bit of a rarity since it showcases an actual notable split on a large map. Sadly changing your nationality really doesn't change your starting position on this map, but it does influence how many kingdoms are on the lands in the bottom left corner. You can have as few as 0 kingdoms down there or as many as 2 inhabiting it. Though this assumes your going up against six AI kingdoms. After all, the number of AI kingdoms on a map at the start has influenced my starting position on a few maps in the past.

Yeah, you'll definitely have to move if you want an island of your own on this map. Though, I suppose that tends to be the norm in this category.

Another Large Map where you'll need to move to a new land if you want some privacy. Though it will definitely be a long journey if you want to do so. On the plus side the map does leave you a couple of small islands to build harbors on if you want multiple ports to launch caravels and galleons from.

Another map where you'll need to make a long journey if you want to be cut off from the rest of the kingdoms by land.

If your playing as the Normans the Orange Kingdom will also be located on the mainland and you'll have a bunch of unmixed villages you can quickly try to tap for resources. At least if your willing to send a few leaders over to lay claim to such virgin lands.