By request, here are six original maps that have been enlarged by four times the original size.. They are -
New England
Bayou
Yucatan
Amazonia
Great Plains
Rockies
To play these maps, place all files in this zip (not this readme) into the folder: My Documents\My Games\Age of Empires 3\RM. Do not place them in the game's install folder - that will not work. When you start up a skirmish game in Single-player or Multiplayer, use the small blue 'Custom Map' button, which allows you to then select one the random maps in the 'My Games' folder from the drop-down window
That’s most kind of you to do & very-much appreciated.
Have them downloaded and installed, & actually just finished a war on the New England 4x map… Perfect!
Can’t really imagine any better average-intermediate size than these at 4x.
One gets the larger area than those puny default skirmish ‘yards’ – but still of reasonable-enough size that one can defeat two enemy Civs. on ‘Hard’ – (everyone reaching Imperial) within or just around one hour’s time.
There is some good ground to cover, plenty of maneuvering space, but the distances are reasonable enough to keep the integrity of an invasion force without losing units to sporadic encounters one often gets on Much-larger maps; plus the travel times are just much shorter…
Perfect size for a ‘quick war’ that’s still enjoyable and with plenty of potential for the Commanders who enjoy strategic maneuvering to maximize Offensive power.
Too as you have noted previously, at this size even lower-end systems shouldn’t really have any FPS issues, it was smooth as silk here in any event…