Our very first military unit, Xerxes, comprise of some of the most hardened tribals from the early city of Dancing Banana, standing proudly on the Golden Hills over the Dynamite River.

Basically, I will boil down the options into three. As we got a Northern coastline, standing to our rear, we can basically choose between:

1. Eastern Trek. In the far distance east, we can glimpse a hill, could there be iron there? At least one can see a longer distance from that hill...

Pros.

- Better Sight from Hill, can max out moves to intelligence
- Full Awareness of Northeastern seaboard
- Could be iron in Eastern Hill(-s)

Cons

- Not premier city locations for new settlements
- Limited, as we already dominate North on a balanced map
- We can already see some of the Eastern Seaboard

2. Southern Trek. In the far south, we can see the Dynamite River flow mightily northwards to our palace city Dancing Banana. Could this place be a better one to settle?

Pros

- Likely region for immediate new settlements
- Prudent to figure out the extent of the river to gauge infrastructure challenges
- Largest coverage of land

Cons

- No visible hills, as we are looking for iron in the first instant
- River region will be targeted by our two settlers anyways
- Does not give us an outline of the continent

Western Trek. In the far West, we can observe some obscure lands, possibly the far end of the continent.

I cannot give pros and cons on this option, as I see no real benefits in exploring our corner first.It is biased, sure, but I do not vouch for West.

Primary dilemma: East or South
secondary option given good arguments: West

See: "Played turns" for your information on the map.

Go east and stand on the hill then turn south and find our nearest foe.

I say we set him on explore and let him run around like a manic.

Sometimes the best strategy is the lack of one ;).

We should go to the hills to the East.

id say to the south we need to find settlement areas. we wont have iron for a little while and i think we'll have another warrior exploring to those lands.

Let's go south first. We'll have settlers out before we get iron working so there's plenty of time to hit the high ground. Not only do we need to find good places for new cities we need to find out if there are any barbarians out there...

I say go south also. Iron can wait a little while.

Aye, south for me too.