I'm sorry, I still don't see how moving is a better option. Here is Mardoc's start:
Tiles Added: 1/1 plains, 2/0/2 lake, 2/0/1 grassland river, 2/0 grassland, 1/1 grassland hill
Tiles Lost: 4/0/2 crabs (5f with lighthouse), 2/1 grassland forest, 2/1 grassland forest, 2/1 grassland forest, 1/1/1 grassland river hill
So the net trade is losing the crabs resource and losing three choppable grassland forests in exchange for a lake tile (which can never get the lighthouse bonus), a grassland river tile, a non-forest grassland tile, and a plains tile. (Mardoc also traded a grassland hill on a river for a grassland hill not on a river. Pretty minor but also weaker.) In other words, he gave up a food resource tile, cut himself down from 7 forests to 4 forests, and also moved off the coast when he was ORG and had cheap lighthouses. Plus, from the map that Commodore posted it looks like having access to the sea is pretty important. Mardoc's capital isn't on the inner or outer bodies of water, which could slow down expansion a lot.
I just don't see any way that you can argue that this capital is better than founding in place. The tile yields are worse in every respect, there's less chopping potential, and access to the sea is delayed for no good reason. OK, a 4 food seafood tile isn't amazing, but surely it beats a bare plains tile or a bare grassland tile, right?
Jowy's name...I assume that he made that after seeing Sian's? If so, Some people might find that funny, but I like to consider myself pretty hard to offend and that just strikes me as immature.
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.
Losing the crabs resource? He will not be able to hook that crab until T30-odd. He just has other stuff that is more important. So what he has done is enable a southern city to use the crab, a city either 6 or 4 of the crab, which can use a few land tiles and be an awesome moia city.
(November 19th, 2013, 18:46)Krill Wrote: Salt water crab is 4 food. By the time you can afford to research Sailing it doesn't matter. Moving away was the right choice (4 food seafood are the worst food tiles in the game. Plains hill sheep and plains cow don't even count as food).
I want to ask Mardoc about all the cottages he's been putting down. Seems like a lot of them won't be worked for a long time given his happy cap, which feels like wasted worker turns to me. He's had BW since T24 so they could have been going into chops anyway even if it was necessary to get 2 workers before the settler.
Is that sort of question fair from a spoiled lurker? Given he's already completed the moves it feels fine to me, but I thought I should check first.
![[Image: PBEM54%20BC4000.JPG]](https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/16549110/PBEM54%20BC4000.JPG)
Some people might find that funny, but I like to consider myself pretty hard to offend and that just strikes me as immature.
