Oh my, guess what I get to do this evening? That's right! Report on a turn I haven't played five times already! Sadly... not much happened... or did it????
My scout to the west didn't find much, so nothing to say, but look what happened when we visited those tribal peoples:
This seems like a big deal, yes?
Also:
Fire, fire, everywhere. And it seems like most magic nodes are typed already. I'll probably swing the scout around to the southwest to unlock that units. Still, I'll probably be griping about this for a while, but I'm not really sure what I think about all the map design edits, especially since I was under the impression that we asked for an unmodified game. I really have no idea if the typed nodes mean anything at all, though the presence of hell terrain so early could be troublesome. I'm not really sure how to deal with that.
Anyway, popping Ancient Chants was nice. I wonder if any of the other players will have similar luck.
0. Player Requests: The player's requests take precedence, even if they contradict the following guidelines.
1. Balance: The map must be balanced, both in regards to land quality and availability and in regards to special civilization features. A map may be wonderfully unique and surprising, but, if it is unbalanced, the game will suffer and the player's enjoyment will not be as high as it could be.
2. Identity and Enjoyment: The map should be interesting to play at all levels, from city placement and management to the border-created interactions between civilizations, and should include varied terrain. Flavor should enhance the inherent pleasure resulting from the underlying tile arrangements. The map should not be exceedingly lush, but it is better to err on the lush side than on the poor side when placing terrain.
3. Feel (Avoiding Gimmicks): The map should not be overwhelmed or dominated by the mapmaker's flavor. Embellishment of the map through the use of special improvements, barbarian units, and abnormal terrain can enhance the identity and enjoyment of the map, but should take a backseat to the more normal aspects of the map. The game should usually not revolve around the flavor, but merely be accented by it.
4. Realism: Where possible, the terrain of the map should be realistic. Jungles on desert tiles, or even next to desert tiles, should therefore have a very specific reason for existing. Rivers should run downhill or across level ground into bodies of water. Irrigated terrain should have a higher grassland to plains ratio than dry terrain. Mountain chains should cast rain shadows. Islands, mountains, and peninsulas should follow logical plate tectonics.
![[Image: Civ4ScreenShot0014.JPG]](https://dl.dropbox.com/u/58121394/Civilization/EitB%20XXVI/Screenshots/Civ4ScreenShot0014.JPG)
