Route Map & Planner
The planning table opens on M. A hand-inked emigrant's map lies on the wagon's tailboard, with a ledger pad beside it. West is left, the same way the wagon rolls on the travel screen. The red trail is the one you're on. The grey dashed trails are maps you don't own yet. Click one to see what unlocks it. The pad is where you commit to the route before you leave: departure month, fork choices, a crossing method for each river and your standing orders. Anything you pre-select there is a checkpoint the wagon can roll through while you're away. Click the canvas, then use the number keys.
How the table reads
West is left
The map is drawn the right way up, and that matches the game. The travel screen scrolls right to left, so the wagon crawls leftward across both. The Missouri sits on the right edge and the Pacific on the left. Nobody has to translate between the map and the trail.
Three kinds of ink
Red: your active trail, with landmark dots and fork branches. The branch you haven't picked is dotted.
Grey dashed: a trail you don't have the map for, with a padlock and a one-line requirement.
Faint dotted "?": a rumour. It's the hint that maps join into a bigger network.
One pad, two languages
The ledger uses the same visual language as the HUD scratch pad: spiral rings, ruled lines, a red margin, and a red pencil loop around whatever you picked. Keycaps are the same dark caps as the HUD. Tooltips use the HUD's walnut glass, because they're UI, not part of the map.
Numbers are choices
Every control on the pad is numbered: 1–2 forks, 3–6 crossings, 7 month, 8–0 orders. That keeps the rule that a key never changes meaning. M keeps its HUD role: it's the key at the bottom middle-right of the keyboard, next to N.
How locked maps are gated
Each map is a Phase 2 unlock that goes through the same trigger / modifier / condition layer as everything else. The requirement is always printed on the map in one short line. Clicking the trail shows the trigger type and a hint. Nothing is hidden behind a wiki.
| Trail | On the map | Trigger type | Condition (sketch) | Why this type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oregon Trail | Red, active | — | Owned from the start | The faithful Phase 1 campaign |
| California Trail | Grey dashed from Ft. Hall · "Needs a guide's map: found or bought" | Item | has_item:guides_map_ca. Sold by the Ft. Hall trader, or found (an abandoned wagon, a dying traveller's pack) | You can earn it on your first run if you look for it. It rewards talking to people and reading the world. |
| Santa Fe Trail | Grey dashed from Independence · "Opens after you reach Oregon" | Activity | on:arrive dest=willamette, account-wide | The agreed second map. It's a trader's road, so it's the natural doorway into the logistics and profit layer. |
| Old Spanish Trail | Faint dotted "?" from Santa Fe to Los Angeles, plus a margin rumour | Knowledge | rumour:ost count>=3. Hear it from traders on the Santa Fe road, then the ink firms up. | It teases the network: maps link end to end, and your home camp can sit on more than one of them. |
Planning feeds the away-from-game rules
Pre-selection is permission
While you're away, the wagon rolls to the next checkpoint (town, fort, landmark, river or fork) and waits there, unless the pad already answers the question. A fork with a branch picked rolls on. A river with a method picked is crossed. Anything left on "Decide" stops the wagon.
The checkpoint strip
The bottom of the pad lists every checkpoint on your route as a dot. A red flag marks each one where the wagon will wait, and the first flag is named. The same flags appear on the map. Waiting costs money, so a player can see at a glance how far an unattended wagon gets.
Standing orders
Minor events are handled by rules you set here: make camp at storm stage 3, rest a day when anyone reaches Poor, restock at forts when food falls under 15 days. Orders feed the time estimate (rest days are added to the total), so their cost is visible.
Month is a risk dial
The pad works out the date you'll reach the Blue Mountains from your departure month and route. A March start warns of thin grass and high rivers. From June on, a snowflake appears over the Blue Mountains and the risk line turns red. Try July start.
Open questions
- Can the plan change on the trail? The away rules say you're committed once you depart. Should the pad lock completely, or can you still change crossings and orders (but not forks already passed) whenever you're at the game?
- Should the California guide's map be findable on a first run? If yes, a lucky first run can branch before it ever sees Oregon. That's exciting, but it may undercut Oregon as the teaching campaign. The alternative is to show the lock on the first run and only offer the map from the second.
- How accurate should the map be? This one is loosely true to 1848 geography, with the original game's mileages (still unverified). Do we want a stylised "emigrant's guess" map with period errors, such as rivers in the wrong place, that the Scout corrects as you travel?