Balance in HotA.

I believe that if we just make a checkbox, as was done everywhere else, the ideological position will not suffer. If you want to play for fun — please do. If you want more of a competitive element — check the box for rebuilding.

As already noted above, checkboxes are an extremely undesirable way to solve problems.

Wicc, you've been carried off course again, sir. By making more junctions, villages, and roads, we will get even more Diamonds and Mini-Nosts.
Again, apparently due to a long lack of practice, rebuilding seems like some kind of easy way out

Due to a long absence of gaming practice, the point of view has definitely shifted. It was shifted especially strongly by long experience as a spectator.

For example, it turned out that the most spectacular templates (among non-mirrored ones) are Jebus Cross and Diamond; others lag far behind. Even though I never liked Jebus Cross, considering it a flawed template, so there is no question of bias here.

And, for instance, Mini-Nosta and all XL maps are boring. Although playing XL maps is perhaps the most interesting part.

Similarly with mirrored ones — mt-Diamond is total nya, although for the player it's sometimes ololo. While the more solid h3dm1 is a bit dull; there's reason to watch only if there's a mutual stream. Whereas mt-Diamond is quite watchable even from one side.

Cases where you can find the necessary amount of resources in a small space will be very rare, therefore territory exploration and resource gathering are complementary things

In terms of "chances for control/territory size," resources clearly win over utopias; to get a utopia with control, one often has to run very far, and without any guarantee of success, whereas the necessary res can be systematically collected on a much smaller area.