@Waldo, the tidal puddles was meant in jest, wai so srs? :) Whilst wind being stronger in
more exposed areas does occur in real life, Spring takes no account of intervening hills, wind direction etc... to introduce the height element struck me as gimmicky. If it is integrated with map independent standardised wind it works well enough.
As for patronising: you just absolutely ignored what I was trying to communicate about wind vs solar, specifically in XTA. A large part of the distinction is the speed of snowballing, caused by the build time and e cost of the winds. It is nearly always more efficient in raw materials to produce wind, but the return on investment is slower.
The survivable nature of solars must be taken into account as well. I know it doesn't happen much in BA SA and CA, but in XTA people often micro raiders to tag individual solars, not killing them but forcing them to close, locking down E prod incredibly cost effectively in the early game.
It's much easier to drop a few solars when you recovering from a raid (no e cost, much easier to build while under fire)
It is a gross simplification to only consider average wind, I would argue that minimum is vastly more important.
Basically, there are way more factors at play than pure cost efficiency, and I know you are easily smart enough to acknowledge that.
TL:DR Standardised wind works well enough, I prefer a more complex eco model
@Google: Low wind maps are low wind for a reason. On a low metal, low wind map, people often go for winds anyway (again I am referencing XTA not BA, do people even play Arctic Plains in BA?) simply because they want to save the metal. This effectively slows the overall economy of the whole game, making for a much more conservative raiding/wreck management environment, completely different from the same map with a higher wind value.
XTA sets the cost of storage very high in comparison to *A, and correspondingly the storage has a much larger capacity. It's not something most people want to rush in the early game though, so wind having a minimum of 5 or below can be a reason many people choose solar.
Im rambling to the extreme here, just trying to relate my notion that a map carries with it more than simply a height map and spots I need to build mex on. The complexity and fluidity of TA style economies is definitely, in my mind, one of it's major draws, and a part of the game CA is moving further and further away from.
Sorry if I sounded overly confrontational or negative about your design decisions, I'm just expressing my preference
