Ugliest start ever

morchuflex · Aug 31, 2004

Hello fellow Civ worshipers.

There was a recent thread about the best start ever experienced.
I suggest that, just for fun, we talk about the ugliest we ever experienced.
Like the one I've attached.
I didn't have the courage to play much longer after exploring the immediate surroundings... :rolleyes:

Pook · Aug 31, 2004

Sorry, no screenshots.
My worst start in Civ II was on the Arctic ice pack- I am not making this up, no continents anywhere near me.
In Civ III, my worst start was in the center of a large jungle, with ocean to the west, a wide mountain range to the east, and nasty neighbors to the north and south. It was 4 tiles minumum in any direction from my start location to the first non-jungle non-mountain tile.
I have seen a screenshot of a start in a large desert bordered by ocean. The human couldn't build a city past size 2.

thetrooper · Aug 31, 2004

It´s bad, but I have seen worse! I think I have one where I can´t build a settler until
I have discovered steam power (i.e. enhanced food production by railroad). I hope I will be able to find it and take a screenie...

Edit1: da.. I have erased the .SAV file...

Edit2: Er... I found a screenie on my USB flash drive

geonnyboy · Aug 31, 2004

I don't have a screen shot (I didn't even bother to save after I got a good look at my land.) It looked good at first (two cattle, by the coast, nice.) But after I built my two warriors and scoped out my land, I soon discovered I was on a (roughly) 25 tile island with two grassland tiles (these had my cattle) three mountains, and the rest was all desert! Not only that, the closest land to my island was already inhabited by annoyed Germans.

viper275 · Aug 31, 2004

I didn't save it, but I got one with lots of jungles and desert, no river. It also had a volcano a few tiles away.

Kalach · Aug 31, 2004

I've never got a really bad start, but quite often get lots of marsh/jungle with mountains, sure it'd be great by the time I clear it all but I kind of want a useful empire by that then..
I have had a lot of archapeligo starts where there has been no lux's at all on my island or any of the near by ones

André Alfenaar · Sep 1, 2004

Those are not really bad starts! Don't forget you can move your starting settler to a better position. In the first picture you could capture the continent with only three cities. Adrianople shouldn't have been built. And there are isles nearby. So go for Mapmaking!

In the case I really have a bad start: no fresh water, infertile squares I move my settler until I contact a new civ and build my capital next to his. (Or stop moving when I have found a good spot.) A very good strategy when you start on the north or south pole.

Besides it seems that if the surroundings are infertile (especially a lack of rivers) the greater the chance the opponent civs are far away.

thetrooper · Sep 1, 2004

André Alfenaar said:
Those are not really bad starts! Don't forget you can move your starting settler to a better position. In the first picture you could capture the continent with only three cities. Adrianople shouldn't have been built. And there are isles nearby. So go for Mapmaking!

In the case I really have a bad start: no fresh water, infertile squares I move my settler until I contact a new civ and build my capital next to his. (Or stop moving when I have found a good spot.) A very good strategy when you start on the north or south pole.

That would be a great idea to increase the difficulty level - moving your settler around for, well what ya like, 10 turns? No - I don´t want to lag behind that much. It is a challenge though! The maximum number of turns I have moved my settler is 3 - but it was rewarding. Otherwise I just start all
over.

Arathorn · Sep 1, 2004

How about 100 turns without even exploring?

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=92599

Granted, the start was fairly fertile and it was a ridiculously easy level (regent), but we had no problems.

Arathorn

dgfred · Sep 1, 2004

thetrooper said:
It´s bad, but I have seen worse! I think I have one where I can´t build a settler until
I have discovered steam power (i.e. enhanced food production by railroad). I hope I will be able to find it and take a screenie...

Edit1: da.. I have erased the .SAV file...

Edit2: Er... I found a screenie on my USB flash drive

Extra YUCK!!! :eek:

I would have restarted with the comment "yeah right" :crazyeye:

morchuflex · Sep 1, 2004

André Alfenaar said:
Those are not really bad starts! Don't forget you can move your starting settler to a better position. In the first picture you could capture the continent with only three cities. Adrianople shouldn't have been built. And there are isles nearby. So go for Mapmaking!

In the case I really have a bad start: no fresh water, infertile squares I move my settler until I contact a new civ and build my capital next to his. (Or stop moving when I have found a good spot.) A very good strategy when you start on the north or south pole.

Thanks for your suggestions, but you're obviously not playing on an advanced difficulty level.
On Emperor or above, you can't really afford to waste 15 turns moving your settler around.
And if you build your capital right next to another empire, expect them to crush you a few turns later. Being late in development, you'll be weak compared to them, and on advanced levels, when they realize you're weak, they attack, even when they are supposedly non-aggressive.

Cuivienen · Sep 1, 2004

thetrooper said:
It´s bad, but I have seen worse! I think I have one where I can´t build a settler until
I have discovered steam power (i.e. enhanced food production by railroad). I hope I will be able to find it and take a screenie...

You would have been able to build a Settler before Railroads in that screenshot. The lake is fresh water -- 2 fpt. Athens wouldn't grow when it reached size 3, but would grow to size 3, big enough to get a Settler out.

thetrooper · Sep 1, 2004

Cuivienen: you are right... It could reach pop3 and produce a settler, bot not pop4(*) (according to my humble math skills). The fresh water saves the settler. But the starting location is still ugly. Cuivinen sounds finnish?

Edit: *Forget the rails.

sorky · Sep 1, 2004

I had one start with 19 water tiles without bonus... only one tile with plain to connect the capital to the continent (Pangea... lol)

Not good for corruption héhé

thetrooper · Sep 2, 2004

sorky said:
I had one start with 19 water tiles without bonus... only one tile with plain to connect the capital to the continent (Pangea... lol)

Not good for corruption héhé

Wait for the offshore drilling platform. Then you get 19 shields from the water tiles. Add some factories and you have a below average production city. Nah... Just kidding! It´s no good.

thetrooper · Sep 2, 2004

Arathorn said:
How about 100 turns without even exploring?

Arathorn: I´ve read the complete story. Interesting twist! It had some embarrasing moments too... But it was fun. What about taking it to a higher level?

Arathorn · Sep 2, 2004

What about taking it to a higher level?

It could probably be done. I don't have the interest to do so at this point, though. The key is surviving long enough to plant your first city without declaring war.

Arathorn

Tweedledum · Sep 2, 2004

Arathorn said:
How about 100 turns without even exploring?

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=92599

Granted, the start was fairly fertile and it was a ridiculously easy level (regent), but we had no problems.

Arathorn

Regent is ridiculously easy!? Aaaarrrggghh. Now I'm gonna have to bang my head on the wall... :cry:

Khshayarsha · Sep 2, 2004

Cuiviénen is Quenya Elvish for 'Water of Awakening'. It was the lake in the far east of Middle-Earth where the Elves first awoke in the Elder Days. Glad to see this name here. Tolkien designed Quenya to sound like Finnish, so your guess isn't too far off.

thetrooper · Sep 6, 2004

Khshayarsha said:
Cuiviénen is Quenya Elvish for 'Water of Awakening'. It was the lake in the far east of Middle-Earth where the Elves first awoke in the Elder Days. Glad to see this name here. Tolkien designed Quenya to sound like Finnish, so your guess isn't too far off.

"Kven" is a scandinavian designation used inn the middle ages about a finnish people from "Bottenviken". Later used for people with finnish origin immigrating to the northern part of Norway. Smart fellow Tolkien - see the resemblance Kven - Quenya.

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