Hi - excited for a new look 4X to come out! One thing I wanted to suggest, and the reason that I signed up to this platform, is that current 4x games really miss the mark on the 'explore' aspect. For a map-focused game as I understand yours to be, I would want to see you let the player roam around and discover lots of things; events, major/minor resources, competitors, natural wonders, villages, choke points for wars, etc. The best parts of games like CIV are when you first start out and try to see what is around you, and when technology allows for a new method of exploration (e.g., sailing, air travel) and you set sail for that new continent's treasures while keeping your neighbor at bay on the home continent. A big empty map with beautiful land to conquer and surprises to discover really scratches that explorer itch - you're putting a lot of work into the map I can tell, so make sure to let the player really play with it! And the map can really create strong tactical challenges too -- think of a city on the edge of the desert, at a natural choke point on a peninsula, a single fertile fjord valley or midway island. Your maps are very visually interesting and I hope it will drive the stories that 4x games tend to create. Give the map itself some weight as geography in shaping the course of each game. Let us play in part as Eric the Red or Lewis and Clark, stake out outposts, and try to connect a favored spot/resource back to the main cities after we explore them with trade and troops. That is a mid-game challenge that I don't really see in other 4x games, in large part because the exploration aspect is missing.

Would love to hear how humankind is going to address exploration, but in any case very excited for the game. Thanks!