Short version: moved the sentry scout to the ancient tower on the plains hill. Saw only two decent capitals - in place, or on the hill. On the hill lost the fish and the silk, but gets the first worker out faster, and less coast worked. Ended up going with that - silk delay will hurt, but I won't miss the fish until I've leisure to research Fishing. Still coastal for eventual island settlements, though, and still have the rice and sheep and river. I wish I had time to run a sandbox, but decided to go with a less awesome eventual capital for a better short term one, ideally one that spits out the first few cities fast enough that I don't mind.
Research on Calendar for Agrarianism mostly, building a worker.
And...my non-sentry scout has begun exploring the dungeon. Can't afford to leave it there unused, and if it kills me, at least it'll be quick.
0. Player Requests: The player's requests take precedence, even if they contradict the following guidelines.
1. Balance: The map must be balanced, both in regards to land quality and availability and in regards to special civilization features. A map may be wonderfully unique and surprising, but, if it is unbalanced, the game will suffer and the player's enjoyment will not be as high as it could be.
2. Identity and Enjoyment: The map should be interesting to play at all levels, from city placement and management to the border-created interactions between civilizations, and should include varied terrain. Flavor should enhance the inherent pleasure resulting from the underlying tile arrangements. The map should not be exceedingly lush, but it is better to err on the lush side than on the poor side when placing terrain.
3. Feel (Avoiding Gimmicks): The map should not be overwhelmed or dominated by the mapmaker's flavor. Embellishment of the map through the use of special improvements, barbarian units, and abnormal terrain can enhance the identity and enjoyment of the map, but should take a backseat to the more normal aspects of the map. The game should usually not revolve around the flavor, but merely be accented by it.
4. Realism: Where possible, the terrain of the map should be realistic. Jungles on desert tiles, or even next to desert tiles, should therefore have a very specific reason for existing. Rivers should run downhill or across level ground into bodies of water. Irrigated terrain should have a higher grassland to plains ratio than dry terrain. Mountain chains should cast rain shadows. Islands, mountains, and peninsulas should follow logical plate tectonics.
Crap. I don't understand this at all...It happened like half the times in my tests, but I thought I was just imagining it because it wasn't consistent.
Merovech's Mapmaking Guidelines:
0. Player Requests: The player's requests take precedence, even if they contradict the following guidelines.
1. Balance: The map must be balanced, both in regards to land quality and availability and in regards to special civilization features. A map may be wonderfully unique and surprising, but, if it is unbalanced, the game will suffer and the player's enjoyment will not be as high as it could be.
2. Identity and Enjoyment: The map should be interesting to play at all levels, from city placement and management to the border-created interactions between civilizations, and should include varied terrain. Flavor should enhance the inherent pleasure resulting from the underlying tile arrangements. The map should not be exceedingly lush, but it is better to err on the lush side than on the poor side when placing terrain.
3. Feel (Avoiding Gimmicks): The map should not be overwhelmed or dominated by the mapmaker's flavor. Embellishment of the map through the use of special improvements, barbarian units, and abnormal terrain can enhance the identity and enjoyment of the map, but should take a backseat to the more normal aspects of the map. The game should usually not revolve around the flavor, but merely be accented by it.
4. Realism: Where possible, the terrain of the map should be realistic. Jungles on desert tiles, or even next to desert tiles, should therefore have a very specific reason for existing. Rivers should run downhill or across level ground into bodies of water. Irrigated terrain should have a higher grassland to plains ratio than dry terrain. Mountain chains should cast rain shadows. Islands, mountains, and peninsulas should follow logical plate tectonics.
We've shipwrecked, and now it's time to enter the jungle.
Exploring on T0, we saw only two possibilities. But, we're a circus! We've therefore got to go where we can be seen - up the hill it is! Really wish I'd spent the time to actually sim this instead of going by gut. I think the earlier worker will pay off the later silk and fish, but I'm not sure
Of course, we aim to take advantage of the power of randomness...
Looking around this world, we have hints of epic guardians somewhere:
After this, things calm down for a bit. Polo goes off scouting, while the Unnamed One delves in the dungeon. On T2, we get a pair of bad news results:
This aren't crippling by any means, but they're a disappointment. And we'll potentially be using those supplies early, for a Palisade to give our warrior somewhat better odds. Yes, defending a hill city with full fortification ought to be pretty good, but there are two skellies incoming now.
Of course, we turn around and send the scout right back in to try again. This time, he's bound to come back with a Great Person, right?
Exploration overview so far:
City 2 definitely needs to go for the silks. I'm debating what else to try to claim with it - maybe the plains hill, for the gems and oasis, trusting in Agrarian farms to feel the city? Maybe east of it, to also claim the cotton? Maybe to the south coast, for silks and fish that Ringmaster neglected?
My gut again says we want the oasis early, and gems. That would only require a bit of extra tech to take full advantage of - Crafting and Mining, and the Calendar we're already going for, and the city would have all it needs. I still have some time to think, though, and perhaps to sim.
Worker plan is fortunately quite simple at the moment: farm the rice, then the two grassland river tiles. Or, actually, given the skellie eta, probably the grass first, then the rice after they're killed.
![[Image: PBEM25%20Settler%20Tower.JPG]](https://dl.dropbox.com/u/16549110/PBEM25%20Settler%20Tower.JPG)
![[Image: PBEM25%20T0%20Explore.JPG]](https://dl.dropbox.com/u/16549110/PBEM25%20T0%20Explore.JPG)
![[Image: PBEM25%20T0%20Event.JPG]](https://dl.dropbox.com/u/16549110/PBEM25%20T0%20Event.JPG)
![[Image: PBEM25%20T2%20Skellies.JPG]](https://dl.dropbox.com/u/16549110/PBEM25%20T2%20Skellies.JPG)
![[Image: PBEM25%20T2%20Giant.JPG]](https://dl.dropbox.com/u/16549110/PBEM25%20T2%20Giant.JPG)
![[Image: PBEM25%20T2%20Overview.JPG]](https://dl.dropbox.com/u/16549110/PBEM25%20T2%20Overview.JPG)
