That jungle tile between the two deer seems like the map makers hint at where to settle unless it’s a trap.
It is an interesting question. I don't think that DynamicSpirit would set up that kind of a trap on a Deity map.
Thus, the question becomes: was the Jungle added? Maybe DynamicSpirit moved our Settler when he replaced the Scout with a Warrior, in which case the Jungle is less likely to have been added.
I believe that Jungles in the big, fat cross are normally removed by the map generator, but could there be exceptions? For example, if there is Oil underneath of a Jungle, will the Jungle perhaps remain?
Failing the possibility of the Settler having been moved and if a map-generator will always remove Jungles, then the probability of the Jungle having been added is quite high.
- It's also important to have any good city site you want to grab early fog busted as described by Dhoomstriker. Barb cities spawn early on deity and can steal your spots.
You raise a related, but very useful and separate point. I mentioned spawn-busting, while you mention fog-busting of potential Barb City locations. They are different concepts, and it is worth pointing out the difference.
When we say spawn-busting, we are only referring to Barbarian Units spawning.
But, the generation of a Barb City follows a different set of rules: Barb Cities can be generated in any square that is not currently revealed (in any square that is fogged). By "revealed," we mean any square that the human player or any AI can see, which can be revealed through line-of-sight from a Unit or line-of-sight from Cultural Borders. An important distinction is that while a Barb Unit will prevent other Barb Units from spawning, Barb Units and Barb Culture are not used when determining which squares are revealed or fogged.
Barb Cities tend to spawn in areas with multiple Resources.
Thus, in addition to spawn-busting, it can be worth it to ensure that the squares near a large amount of Resources are unfogged (are fully visible), since, while a Barb Unit might not be able to spawn 2 squares away from our Unit, a Barb City can spawn 2 squares away from our Unit if said square is in the fog.
Doing so may require adding more Units in an area with a lot of Resources, or simply aiming to place spawn-busters to fog-bust the Resource-heavy areas while leaving regions with fewer or no Resources in the fog.
- Note that if you're going for catapults, then after the initial techs (bronze, pottery), you just go for Math (not Alphabet), and then Construction. Math can almost always be traded for iron working on deity, all AIs research that very quickly.
Great idea! Early Math makes Chops more powerful. Construction is a tech that is generally quite hard to get in trade.
Some Deity players swear by teching Aesthetics, as AIs tend to go for Math and sometimes Alphabet more than they do Aesthetics, allowing the player to trade away Aesthetics for Alphabet with a bit of research put into Alphabet. It is also a decent approach that often works well. But, if trading opportunities don't go well, you can get a bit stuck with Wonder-unlocking techs when you usually don't have the resources to be able to build said Wonders. With your proposal, the stronger Chops and the eventual Construction can be useful even if you don't get an AI going for Alphabet relatively early.
It could take quite a while to get to Construction, though, and thus your advice to ensure that there is a source of Copper or Horse connected, and if not, Archery having been researched, would be wise to follow before going after Math and Construction.
Alas I've never been able to make buffy work on my Civ configuration
Did you switch which Steam version of Civ 4 you are using to "Original Release - UNSUPPORTED"? More details:
Look at the other tabs there for other possible clues, including perhaps the Assets Checker tab if you may have edited any of your Civ 4 files.
And I can confirm that I have not set any deliberate traps. (Of course I can't promise that there's nothing I've missed that won't make the game harder than intended).
