Classic turns, 4 players and huge map size: we meet at turn 2 !!!
How is it possible ? Why maps are so "small" in multiplayers games even we set it to the biggest size available ?
It is annoying, I totally agree. Appearantly it has to do something with the Engine not being able to cope with the extra load of huge maps.
The reason you meet at turn 2 on a large map is that they removed the Player distance "Far" option. Although that option did not help much, it did help somewhat. I reckon they removed it because of all the crashes.
You can see the reason why the game became more stable since the last DLC and patches is because they limited the amount of players (from 12 to 9) and removed the aforementioned Player distance "Far" option.
Do you still get a turn 200+ session with a very large map with maximum players? Yes. Is it stable even late game? Also yes. So that is good in itself.
The large map
@Fistandantilus2000 linked, and made by a Triumph Dev, does cause a lot of crashes so I would not recommend installing it until it is updated (which I doubt as the Engine cannot handle it well).
I think the main culprit is the heavy load of the graphics. Age of Wonders 3 had smaller city-, unit- and environment graphics which made huge maps viable, and the game was very stable. I think they designed 4 with the smaller-map-faster-victory playstyle in mind, which is a real shame for the players who like huge maps with enough room to grow your empire.
The game has more of an arcade-y feel instead of an epic strategy game like AoW 3 and, even more, Shadow Magic (there you could play on
3 interlinked XL maps and it was still stable as hell, even with heavily modded custom units courtesy of Kirky Picardo to name one).
