[The Panther]

If you want a fast, wide open map, then you should go for a wraparound map. I have found Inland to be remarkably well balanced for up to 10 players. Inland also has very few barriers and chokepoints. It is a wide open killing -field. The only drawback to Inland I have found is that there are several places on the map with a cluster of low income provinces. But if you do a lot of searching, you can easily get a nice gem income to offset the gold loss. Inland even allows for one water race, even though the description says to avoid that. There is a nice cluster of 4 water provinces that allow a water race to go on land in any direction they would want. However, you don't want an aquatic pretender unless you are going imobile.

Whether or not it is required, I always do the 'new nation' rule myself since I plan to play my first 17 MP games with each of the 17 races (if I eventually play that many, that is). I think it is a great rule to get people off of playing races that they know well in which they might have a set power strategy.