The happiness problems soon to befall us will require extraordinary efforts to solve. Our nation has begun a great undertaking in research, and I come before the assembly to undertake a great military and civil project - to claim the gems that lie far to the east of Abydos. While they are at a great distance from us, I suggest that we settle the tile two plots directly to the west of the nearest gems resource, hereafter site Alpha (see figure 1, CRIMSON). This gives us a vital six-plot choke line from the peak to the sea; access to gems after the expansion of our cultural borders; a fresh water tile with irrigation potential within the radius of the city; and a whopping eight hills in addition to the small contribution from the mine on the gems. This site, if chosen wisely, can become a productive center that immediately threatens the German gem mines - on which they will depend more than we, given that their dominance in that area will lead their trade to depend on the gem trade. It is this position that I believe is the strongest.
Figure 1.
Figure 2.
A great advantage of site Alpha is its occupation of a six plot choke line. After the expansion of the site's borders, we have the option of precluding movement along a vast area. See figure 2. Site Alpha, being only five tiles away from the soon-to-be-expanded borders of Abydos, GOLD, provides us an opportunity both to gain an essential luxury, and to link an expanded frontier between our home peninsula, the gems, and the strategically essential center of our continent. A prospective site (see figure 2, TAN), hereinafter site Beta, could bridge the gap and complete this expanded three-city frontier. The merits of this site will be further discussed below - but the advantages of site Alpha to maintaining our territorial integrity should be clear.
This site has explosive natural potential, if we exploit it wisely. A possible counter argument to settling at this site is that Alpha has no food resources, and excludes corn to its north and south. But the abundant jungles that surround it cover a vast grassland. It will be slightly food deficient before we discover how to implement a civil service, supporting only sixteen population, unimproved, after the jungles and forests are cleared. But after we master the bureaucracy necessary for irrigation projects, site Alpha has an unparalleled hammer capacity. Consider, for example, the case in which we irrigate all but two of the tiles that are arable at site Alpha. This will feed twenty and a half population adequately, allowing us a workshop or a lumbermill. At a conservative assumption of two hammers for the mill or shop, the city will be able to support a base productive capacity of
thirty hammers. This site is an excellent candidate for West Point, the Heroic Epic, or the Ironworks.
Site Beta would make a fine commercial city, situated as it is along a river. It has a number of hills, and a high base food capacity. Together, the sites would allow us to roll our borders forward towards the center of the continent while giving us the capability to reserve, should we need it, a great deal of space behind those borders for future internal expansion.
Because of its strong resource advantages, strategic location, and ability to roll our borders forward, I urge Licentia to choose site Alpha.
Chillaxation