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Waterways

A Symmetrical inland ocean map. Not too cramped or spacious. Provides good naval play without making a land army useless. 6 players and 12 city states. The center island is surrounded by mountains, the only way you'll get in is through the city states guarding the passes. But if you can conquer or ally them, you'll have access to their uranium.


I always liked the inland sea maps, but trade and naval warfare wasn't as important as I would have liked, because very few civilizations started off on the coast. At the same time, there was barely any water. It just felt like a plains map with a small lake in the middle. In this map, which is a bit like an inland ocean, all players and city states will start on the coast, and have the potential to send sea-trade routes to each other. (Assuming you have the range.) There is a decent bit of space to expand. If you're playing with barbarians, after you wipe them off the mainland, note that they will probably spawn on the jungle islands. They'll use this as a base to strike at your trade routes, so if you want to stop this, it is a good idea to station a unit on the island, with a view of the whole island. (You only need one unit to do this.) That will stop the barbarian from spawning.

As for strategic resources, everyone starts with some iron nearby, and horses can be gotten from the central island or along the coast of the mainland. The jungle islands have a single coal each, but most of the coal is also on the central island. Aluminum is next to the peninsular city states, and they will also have some land oil. Sea oil is found just off the mainland's coasts. Uranium is found only on the central island, making it a hot-spot late game.

To make it work:
(Due to Steam's/Firax's problem, not mine.)
Copy the map from the mods folder to the Maps folder in User\Documents\My Games\Civilization 5. Look for the file called waterways.