[Speculation] Land Caravan will Require 1 Horse Resource

[Jman5]

During the PAX demo they showcased the same map they have used for some of their screenshots. If you watch carefully you will notice that the Polish player has a single +2 horse resource. (You can tell by counting the horses in the Horse resource Tile)

So theoretically, he should have +2 horses. Instead he is missing one with just +1.



If you watch the map as they scroll from city to city, you don't see any horse units. No Hussars or anything.

In another screenshot where they specifically want to show off the Winged Hussar, the horse resource drops 2, to -1. The gold/turn also changes -1 which indicates that those units weren't there before. (added gold maintenance)



Almost as if they just spawned 2 with the editor to show them off.

So if we ignore the small assumptions that the game is bugged, or that the player inexplicably traded away 1 horse resource, or that they artificially edited the horse resources from +2 to +1, there are two plausible possibilities.

1. Some random Hussar or horse unit is placed in some random spot on the map. Never seen in the demo or any of the screenshots.

2. Early Land Caravans will require +1 horse resources each.

 

[Greizer85]

Interesting. I think option #1 is more likely, but I do wish for #2 to be true. They would have to alter the resource algorithms so that Horses would be more common... And/or add more pack animal resources, like camels or llamas for instance. Ship routes could be made to require resources too... Fine Cedar Wood and the like. I like the idea that you have to work a bit at setting up your trade routes. Makes you want to protect them that much more.

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

That seems unlikely to me. To make caravans horse dependent would be a scary proposition for civs who have desert, forest, or jungle starts which are unlikely to have horses nearby. They would be unable to form land trade routes from their first city unless they happened to get an ocean start as well. Secondly, it would eat into your horse supply for mounted units, a nerf for civs who have early horse-based UUs like Greece. Civs who have horseless mounted UUs like Egypt, Huns, and the Elephant UUs would then have an advantage.

 

[TheMarshmallowBear]

Don't take the Top bar seriously, the live demo started at Turn 0 and not 220 like they do in the screenshots.

 

[Tinker]

Considering the icon of the caravan is a camel, that would be rather strange.

 

[Louis XXIV]

Requiring horses would be hugely unbalanced. Not only would it be unfair to those without horses, it'll make horse units even less common than now because horses will be too valuable.

 

[HeraldtheGreat]

Best not read too much into it. This is just a PAX demo, and you'll probably get disappointed (or relieved, especially if you're the Aztecs or the Mayans )

 

[Jman5]

Don't take the Top bar seriously, the live demo started at Turn 0 and not 220 like they do in the screenshots.

Well the +1 horse number is consistent throughout the PAX demo and in Polish screenshots that aren't highlighting the Winged Hussar.

Requiring horses would be hugely unbalanced. Not only would it be unfair to those without horses, it'll make horse units even less common than now because horses will be too valuable.

I hate to speculate even further, but if it was a balance issue, they could always increase the spawn rate of horses. Or if they wanted to get real fancy, they could create a more generic beast of burden strategic resource that could include: Horse, Camel for Desert, and maybe something for Jungle and and Tundra. But again, this is probably too speculative at this point.

Perhaps the player has control over what type of caravan he creates. So he could create 4 ship caravans, or 4 land caravans depending on his needs and resources. There might even be more types.

Whatever the case is, it's something to keep an eye on as more screenshots and information comes out.

 

[kingchris20]

I see no Hussars with +1 Horses, then I see 2 Hussars with -1 Horses, looks logical to me. 1 - 2 = -1

 

[Jman5]

I see no Hussars with +1 Horses, then I see 2 Hussars with -1 Horses, looks logical to me. 1 - 2 = -1

I'm not sure if you're agreeing with me, but if you look at the empire's one and only horse resource, you see 2 horses. Civ 5 does a clever thing where you can tell the value of a strategic resource by the artwork. You see 2 horses in that horse tile, so you know without hovering over it, that it gives you 2 horses. If it rewarded 4 horses, you would see a pasture of 4 horses.

So if there isn't a random horse archer off screen, where did one of the two strategic horse resources go?

 

[Dregor]

It won't require horses. That's just an absurd thought. What's that, no horses? Oh sorry, no trade routes for you on land.

 

[McSaucy4418]

While unlikely it is possible that land based caravans don't require horses but that you can use a horse resource for some sort of boost, most likely more movement points.

 

[synulia]

Or if they wanted to get real fancy, they could create a more generic beast of burden strategic resource that could include: Horse, Camel for Desert, and maybe something for Jungle and and Tundra. But again, this is probably too speculative at this point.

I would love love love this, although I don't know what beasts of burden can be found in jungles or tundra. Water buffalo and dog sleds, respectively? I wouldn't mind that one bit. Especially if the latter gave more credence to including the Inuit.

 

[Jman5]

I would love love love this, although I don't know what beasts of burden can be found in jungles or tundra. Water buffalo and dog sleds, respectively? I wouldn't mind that one bit. Especially if the latter gave more credence to including the Inuit.

At the risk of completely derailing this thread, I would use Reindeer as my Tundra Beast of Burden. As you said, Water Buffalo would be a good one for Jungle.

 

[Cyon]

to make it even more elaborate, only camels can make trade routes through more than four tiles of constant desert, only water buffalos (or elephants?) through four tiles of jungle, only lama through any mountain and any animal on plains and grassland, (with donkies as the generic plains animal)

but it would be to complicated.

though maybe some kind of desert limitation on land traderoutes could be fitting, and mitigated by oasis and new arabia UA

 

[Biologist]

Another reason trade routes aren't likely to require horses is that historically, horses were not used in large trade caravans to haul goods. They were too expensive and prone to illness or injury when compared to oxen, camels, or elephants. In the New World, where horses were extinct prior to the arrival of the Spanish, civilizations that had trade "caravans" probably used llamas, alpacas, or just human feet.

Also there is the consideration that land transportation of goods in industrialized nations is performed using trucks and trains, not beasts of burden. Unless the requirement was going to be removed at Combustion... frankly, it just seems simpler to not have a requirement in the first place.

 

[Stonecutter9]

I seriously doubt they would require horses (or any resource) for a trade unit. These units, if they pan out as the designers prob intend them to, are like settlers or workers; very important to the success of your civ. Neither of these civilian units require a resource, and I don't think that the designers would want the trade system to be crippled on a map that rolls the wrong way.

 

[Sid Simelia]

Looks legit to me, I always have more horses than I need anyways..

 

[animalguy]

I am assuming that this map was created via the world builder. When you place strategic resources they automatically give one by default, which never happens in game (afaik). So when a situation like this does occur they defult to the closet graphic, which depicts 2 horses.

 

[HeraldtheGreat]

I would love love love this, although I don't know what beasts of burden can be found in jungles or tundra. Water buffalo and dog sleds, respectively? I wouldn't mind that one bit. Especially if the latter gave more credence to including the Inuit.

Or if they had differant graphics for differant ethnicities. For example, Central American Civs/Inca would get a Llama Caravan!