Deer pushing is one of the most controversial topic of the game for a long time now. And with the rise of White Phosphorus strategy, I feel like it is more controversial than ever. This made me think, if we could try some experiment on deer number between 2 different but very similar maps. Arabia vs Runestone seem perfect to me.
The major difference between these 2 maps is that Arabia is more open and usually have 3 deer while Runestone is easier to wall and have 4 deer that are closer than Arabia.
My experiment idea is - in Runestones, what if we swap 2 deer with 2 shore fish? Like in this picture.
I think this will create strategical variety. Some player may put a mill on the area and some may just ignore the shore fish and push the 2 deer. I also think the civilization will have a big impact on this decision. Civs with big wood savings at the start like Japanese, Malians, Georgians or civs that want to rush asap like Lithuanians, Aztecs, Bulgarians, Magyars, Dravidians can try building mill on this area. On the other hand civs that want to play defensive or slow like Poles, Bengalis, Teutons may just play like before the change.
I hope this change will minimize the “Deer pushing is too rewarding” and “Everyone is forced to push deer despite hating it” debates that we are seeing over the years.