Finally reporting in at 10AD, now that I've gotten into the Middle Ages. I had full knowledge of the "specific map" for a while now. Sorry, no specific report.
I started like most people by moving to the right one tile. My build on the main island was a little to spaced, in retrospect. I fit 6 cities in there, and I have most of the jungle cleared already, except for the unused tiles in the center. I got Map Making pretty early, because I went for Bronze Working and then a straight beeline. I managed to expand alot faster then the Egyptians. I have 9 cities on the outer islands while the Egyptians only have 3. They have full claim over the two tiny islands to the east, while I have full claim to the three center islands. The big island next to Egypt is spit 3 to 1 in my favor.
I'm gearing up for war with Egypt now. I have the number of ships needed, but its just a matter of getting all the units in place. I know I'm a little behind everyone else (some people have already killed Egypt!) but overall I'm satisfied with my play so far. I went for culture and expansion early, with little military units.
Has anyone else researched all their own techs, pretty much? I've only gotten two from trades with Egypt...
EDIT: I have kudos and flames for the fog and volcanoes. I love the idea and the execution - the fog really adds to the challenge. My only complaints are that, one, the fog and volcanoes block your little city readout under the city. Kind of annoying. My other complaint is that volcanoes are kind of useless. I think it would be cool if they could randomly spawn units ("lava") that had a one tile range before they died automatically. This would make volcanoes actually threatening - right now, its a waste to get rid of them. The only thing they do is block a mountain square that I wouldn't use anyway.
EDIT 2: Looking at some of these screenshots, I notice that I don't have Iron where everyone else does. I think I remember having it - got Iron Working a long time ago, like Saturday! - so I'm not totally sure. Now that I think about it, and look at the conspicous road on that mountain, I think my Iron moved. Funny, I don't rember it doing so, I just remember having some and now I don't.
Either way, it sucks!
