Here's typically how my first dozen new games in Elemental start out.

Start.

Go in a direction.

Recruit Janusk.

Send Janusk out the opposite direction.

By the end of Year 1, if I don't see:

-A materials spawn

-A gold spawn

-A metal spawn

-At least one other resource spawn

I restart. I do this about, oh, 10 times at least until I find a location/spawn set that gives me some minimal resources.

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Increasing how much of the map is revealed when the player starts the game would save me a lot of time and trouble.

The game flavor texts even implies you should know at least SOMETHING about the area you've arrived in. "After months of searching the wilderness..."

Did our sovereign do it blindfolded?

It doesn't need to be drastic. But 2 to 3 extra tiles of the map being revealed, even outside the player FoW, would tell me a lot quicker whether or not I should regen, or play the world that got rolled up. Because let's be honest. Not all Elemental game starts are created equal, Sometimes you just get the shaft when it comes to available resources. I'd rather not have to spend about 3 minutes at a time exploring my immediate surroundings just to know whether or not I should restart. If people like to play the map they're handed, more power to them. This change doesn't affect them in the slightest. But for those of us that like to game it a little bit more, a small visibility tweak would make Elemental FAR less obnoxious to start a game of.