Exploration

Joined
Mar 23, 2006
Messages
800
Location
Adelaide, Australia
The basic idea here, is that military units are not skilled cartographers or map makers, therefore the best way to explore the map shouldn't be with light cavalry. So I suggest the following
1) Military units cannot reveal unexplored areas of the map
2) The recon class becomes a civilian rather than military class. This is to make exploration more dangerous.
 
Another way could be allowing military units to explore, but they don't remove fog of war until Cartography or unless they have a scout, or limiting military units' ability to move far away from their territory without adequate supply.
 
A fair amount of exploration was done by military expeditions, though...
 
A fair amount of exploration was done by military expeditions, though...

Fair enough I guess.

My ideas about exploration are kinda opposite : or we OWN the territory if we are the first to reveal it (>tiny tribe of the stone age possessing Russia), either the fog of war doesn't disappear when explored, because we don't have the technology yet to precisely map any place. However, the game can "remember" for us if we went to a place with a newly discovered resource (like copper, tin or iron), by marking the fog of war with a large icon representing possible sources of that resource. It would be RNG determined as such icons don't always lead to the desired resource. It might be gems, lead, etc. or nothing at all. (legend) Note that the game needs an incentive on trading key resources, because, even now, we can't get all of them for sure. But I feel trade is underrepresented especially for military-use resources.

Or both ! If so, we have to determine if our territory gives line of sight. If not, how would we get any in our cities ? An enemy settling into such borders could give an early casus belli if discovered. You could choose among a variety of bonuses when going into a goody hut, like make a city, getting a free tech, gold, or else. (basically short term goodies vs long or average ones)
 
Mapping is being seriously misunderstood here.

The kind of complex precise cartography requiring significant work and specialized people and rools is a relatively recent phenomenon. Geographically accurate navigational aides largely emerge in the late medieval era, along with tools like compasses and astrolabes which made that kind of map far more feasible and useful). There were maps before then, but they were symbolic and/or approximate maps, often used more to illustrate than to guide (and that kind of map predates the start of the game, so making it a tech wouldn't be very sensible)..

Instead, people on long journey needing to know where they were going relied often on oral or written instructions that told them what was where and how to get there. And that worked. (you even see it today: even with google map, you don't necessarily need the map, just the driving instructions that go with it). And that was enough to build massive trade routes and empires over thousands of kilometers.

Accurate maps and navigational tools proved super useful and made some forms of travel far, far, far easier, but the idea that you you need to develop mapmaking to know what's where in the world is modern cultural blinders.
 
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The basic idea here, is that military units are not skilled cartographers or map makers, therefore the best way to explore the map shouldn't be with light cavalry. So I suggest the following
1) Military units cannot reveal unexplored areas of the map
2) The recon class becomes a civilian rather than military class. This is to make exploration more dangerous.
How can I lead my troops to the unknown land if I can't see where I'm going. I think all units need to reveal some map.
 
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