Well, then, despite the unfortunate relationship between Glare and our save file, we should still have me, Norvin, Dave, and radio on our line-up. I can wait another day to start, though I'd like to get rolling with the first move planning (and maybe it'll drum up some more interest, too).
I took the liberty of making a couple of "dot maps"
designating the two contending points for Moscow (unless we want to call our capital Stalingrad?). The main problem is, there's a lot of black tiles in both spots!
I did attempt to peer into the fog, and I think I have a vague idea of what lies beyond. To the north, I was mistaken, there's no coast, just flatland. 1S-2E of the Settler is a plains hill, I'm pretty sure. 2E might be normal plains, or a hill--not as sure.
2S-1E, under the river bend, is a grasslands most likely. I see green and there doesn't seem to be the desert to indicate that it's flood plains. The rest are likely plains. Not really sure what's west of the hills; could be flatland, could be more hills.
I turned on the resources indicators, but I guess I zoomed a little too far out. Sorry 'bout that.
So, In-Place we have 6 Black Squares and 11 river tiles. 1NW is 4 Black Squares and 10 river tiles. Right now, the biggest reason I see for staying in place is that I think it's a more efficient use of flatland vs. hills. Staying where we are, more of our flatland can be irrigated, whereas 1NW grabs 3 tiles beyond the hills which, unless there's water over there, cannot be irrigated until Civil Service. We also lose some hills by moving, I think.
Ok, doing my best to add up food potential, I see that we might have too little food to work all the squares anyway. We only have one bonus food resource and a bunch of hills, but here's my estimates:
Base food for both sites is 26. However, assuming we farm all potential land (minus camps for ivory), starting site has 36 and 1NW has 34. (If we play long enough to hit biology, we should have enough food, too.)
I'm still voting for settling in place. I imagine that we'll still have room for a coastal city if we need one.
I also made a picture with potential scout movement.
I don't see a point to green arrow, but I thought I'd put it in, anyway. I don't know how much use we'd get from purple because of the hills and trees. Maybe blue?
)
