Yea ... the primal association with Post-Appocalyptic is that it isn't going to get better any time soon.

Meanwhile, here its used as the setting/background for a 4x "Renaissance" period of civilization ... much like FFH2

Of course ... another thing to think about, is that the Cataclysm isn't just cosmetic but is VERY much a part of the lore, and the fact that you are probably going to have to deal with the sins of the past (pre-Cataclysm).

So basically, there used to be a whole lot of stuff ... but everyone was ruled by Titans. Now there are no more Titans, but there is still a whole lot of stuff left about in the Ruins. Meanwhile the earth isn't completely dead, and the Nations are rebuilding and establishing political rule (where before it was just revival in anarchy).

Also, while I don't mind Inns, I don't think all quest-locations need to be so cookie-cutter. Not only that, but such locations need to be more sporadic, and hopefully persistent (don't disappear) ... and have multiple quests at various times/ tech levels.

And occasionally an Inn could pop another Level 1 Quest ... and 5-10 turns after solving that one a level 7 quest is popped.

Actually now that I think of it, definitely all quest locations should be semi-persistent just like the Inn, and there should be way, way fewer of them. The higher the quest level, the fewer there should be. The more I've thought about the quest-tile lifespan thing, the more I like it, too. To reiterate:

1. Normal quest tile, level N: Gives out quests. After set amount of time converts to worn out quest tile.
2. Worn out quest tile: Gives out one more quest / collapses soon. After collapsing, becomes a goodie hut of the same level.
3. Goodie hut, level N: Converts to goodie hut level N-1 if not picked up soon.
4. Goodie hut, level N-1: Converts to goodie hut level N-2 if not picked up soon.
5. .. and so on, until the goodie hut is picked up or it vanishes.

Occasionally a new quest hut is spawned in place of the old one, to keep the world from being compeltely static.

• Inns prefer to be spawned along roads between cities, especially intersections.
• Witch huts prefer to be spawned in marshes or forests.
• Ruins prefer to be spawned in places far away from existing cities on plains.
• Wizard Towers prefer to be spawned in remote places, such as islands, mountain ranges and forests.
• Etc.

Same thing for the different kinds of goodie huts. Ominous spider webs should spawn in marshes/forests, wagons along roads, dragon bones in deserts.

Yes, and this spawn chance increases as the number of total "quest locations" goes down.

Each map could have a "Clutter Counter" or an "Activity Meter" which designates the desired maximum quest locations at any one time.

As long as QL is below the total QL max, spawn chance is increased for new QLs.

The lower the current number of QLs dips below QL max, the higher the spawn chance of new QLs.

Once QL # reaches QL max, spawn chance reduces by several powers of 10.

A WorldMap starts with 25-50% of QL max.

... same for Spawning Lairs that are not QLs, and same for Monsters that don't use Spawning Lairs.

Ooooh. Fall From Heaven 2. Got it.

yup, and I can't praise it enough, and I only got around to trying it last month (as a warm up to Elemental, which I've been looking forward to for ages). And its looking like I'll be sticking with it for the time being, at least until post-release patches and mods make Elemental more interesting (which I am sure will happen: both GalCiv2 and Sins are far more interesting now than they were on release).