Random map generation is still iffy

Yeah, I have had some fights on stacked discs, and they are a massive pain in the butt.  Sometimes without meaning to, you accidentally give an order which sends ships to the wrong gravwell.  You have to pan about 70degrees to give orders effectively.

I love how this one is a dead end!  Great screen shot!

This is a real pain, it just makes navigation and planet selection so difficult. I tried to get round it by generating my own custom maps, but the controls there are just not intuitive.

I tried increasing the phase lane length, thinking that would ensure planets are well spaced, but all it seemed to do is ensure ships took minutes to transfer from planet to planet. Does anyone know what the various sliders there actually do?

Phase lane length

Min Distance

Max Distance

Map Size

And what the relationship between them is?

Thanks

What really sucks is when it is a dead end (like above) and you acidentally send your cap there.  There's about a 90% chance it won't be able to jump out.

I played on a random large (3 planet) map yesterday.  One system had mostly volcanos, 1 ice planet, and 2 desserts on top of the usual asteroids, while another system was exactly reversed (all ice, and 1 volcano, asteroids, 2 desserts).  3rd system (with no spawn points) was more balanced.  While this made for an interesting match, I'm not sure this behaviour was intended.

I can supply a save game if this is worth following up.

No need, they are quite aware of the multitude of problems with the random map generator. I have whole posts dedicated to this that are about 6 months old.