This game started out as a private single player game for me. I initially moved the settler south, to enable the capital to build ships and expand more effectively, across the water. You are looking at the only screenshot I took from the initial pass at the game. (I was planning to play and record it under Chronicles.)
However, when the capital's borders expanded, I saw that I had moved away from a third Deer resource. I also suffered the first five turns with no good tiles to work. At this point, it felt like a clear mistake to have moved. Since this seemed like a really fun-looking map, I decided that it was worth too much to waste on a bad opening decision. I decided to stop right there, restart, and not move the capital.
Soren came up with the idea to save the initial autosave, but if he hadn't, I would have asked for that. It's great to be able to go back and start over when you want, without having to take any special precautions. (Well, other than that the game only saves one "initial autosave" at a time, so if you want to avail yourself of it, you have to do so before you start a different game!) Restarting is a no-no for tournament events, but I really appreciate the option for general use.
Before I restarted, my scout had explored as far west as the Silks.
This is a really deep hole from which to start. It might have been interesting to try it with the move to the sea coast, but I think it is more interesting from the original position, which is stronger overall, even though it is weaker in terms of expanding southward. This is one of those kinds of games where the goal is not so much to win (although that would be really cool!) but just to PLAY and try to do as well as you can manage.
I decided to share this start with the Realms Beyond community. Not that the map generator isn't capable of producing all manner of interesting starts (and no player can ever hope to play them all!) but this one had such strength of character, it cried out to be immortalized!
So I restarted the game, having something like eight or ten turns of exploration spoiler info from my scout, and planted the settler on the start plot. I renamed the leader name to RBCiv-Adventure-2 and saved it as the tournament start file, then for my own private use, I changed the name back to Sirian for myself. With my spoiler information, I would be playing a Shadow Game, which is not eligible for scoring because I have unfair advantages, so might as well signify that. This event is not scored anyway, though. This is one of those "fun rides" where the game itself overshadows the competition.
I promise you, this will be a ride you won't soon forget!
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