What biome size? MC 1.8 custom world options

Option for "large biomes" world in MC 1.2 upscaled the size of biomes 4 times while the shape and the distribution of biomes remained the same. See http://www.minecraftforum.net/forum...-biomes-vs-vanilla-10000x10000-comparison-map

With MC 1.8 we are able to upscale and downscale biome size in steps 1 to 8, every step doubles the size. The difference between "Biome size 1" and "Biome size 8" is 128 times! Again, the shape and the distribution of biomes remains the same, and biomes shrink or expand around the map center eg. X=0, Z=0 coordinates.

What does this mean?

To know how biomes will be placed in new world, start one with biome size 1 first and explore the map, then start the world with the same seed using the "Re-Create" option and tune the biome size up.

Biome size 1 = the smallest possible

So we have a tiny archipelago with mesa, forest and swamps. Notice the river in bottom left corner. This river merges with the ocean and cuts islands apart.

Biome size 2

Doubled the size 1. River remained on its place but biomes (including ocean) expanded. As a side effect of expanding the mesa, hills are now taller because smoothening edges of the biome didnt affect its center.

Biome size 3

Quadrupled the size 1. As a result of further expansion, the river is not surrounding the mesa biomes anymore and it is rather cutting through the middle.

Biome size 4

8 times bigger than the size 1. Default world size. Mesa expanded so much that it doesnt fit into the image, river remains in its place.

Biome size 5

16 times bigger than the size 1. Half step to large biomes.

Biome size 6

32 times bigger than the size 1. This is the "large biomes" option.

Biome size 7

64 times bigger than the size 1. Even those once small beaches grew into size of deserts. Unlike on deserts, there is no vegetation like cacti.

Biome size 8

128 times bigger than the size 1. As we started over the ocean, there is now little to be seen except for the ocean and small part of the beach. Notice the river is still in the place. Mesa biome island that had about 60 blocks across in the smallest scale now has about 7500 blocks across.

What size is the best one?
In small biomes map you can quickly go through plenty of biomes and have better chance of spotting rare ones. Do you need specific kind of wood? There was some dark oak forest over the hill, maybe 20 trees total. Swamps? Yay, i found 7 orchids in this one! Harvesting all spruce trees in one forest takes less than one minecraft day. There arent big amounts of resources but you get big variety.

Big biomes can be tedious and offer specific challenges - imagine spawning in the middle of the desert, having to walk 5000 blocks without spotting a single tree. Do you want to build a house on the edge of the forest, overlooking the beach towards the pier and the ocean? But the beach is like 500 blocks! Crossing the mountain range will take a whole stack of steaks to prevent starving from all jumping up and down. Mesa is so big that you can build a city with 1000 houses in that biome. Dark forests or jungles can host dozens of towns or villages without them knowing about each other.

Default biome size 4 is okay for singleplayer map i guess, but for a big map i lean towards the "large biomes" of size 6 or maybe even the size 7 - the size slider has some smaller steps too so maybe the size 6.5 can be the right one.

For a mining world map we should have the smallest possible biomes for all reasones mentioned above. It also brings more challenge for miners: did you spot an ice spike in snow plains? Take it before someone else does. Mesa island? There was one small here but it is harvested now to the stone layer, another one is just 400 blocks away, run for it. Mushroom islands are so tiny that those few blocks of mycelium can keep the price high for some time.