Disable start bias?

Does anybody played with this setting?

This setting causes that certain civ start near certain terain spots (celts iroquois forest,england coast,arabia desert )
However I olso noticed that it usually puts you next to a AI

These are my experiences when I play with random start bias :


I get continents games where I was the only person on the continent or only 1 AI on my continent or the standard continent game
and pangea's with sometimes a lot of room to expand and sometimes not.. Highly random map..


It olso seems that there is more iron scattered around the map usaly when I research iron working I found out I have all the iron or i have non..

Do you disable it or not?

I used to, but I don't disable the option anymore. It truly hampers certain Civs (England in the middle of a continent or The Iroquois surrounded by desert). Even though I tend to play Civs that don't need the start bias, I'm not inclined to hamper the random Civs chosen by the AI...it needs all the help it can get.

bcaiko said:

I used to, but I don't disable the option anymore. It truly hampers certain Civs (England in the middle of a continent or The Iroquois surrounded by desert). Even though I tend to play Civs that don't need the start bias, I'm not inclined to hamper the random Civs chosen by the AI...it needs all the help it can get.

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Yeah only thing that botters me is the iron problem where it seems to give a player all the iron if you enable start bias don''t know why

apocalypse105 said:

Yeah only thing that botters me is the iron problem where it seems to give a player all the iron if you enable start bias don''t know why

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I fine it the other way around. I've turned it off a couple of times, but most of the time I don't and 9 times out of 10, all the iron is controlled by CS' or AI's.

Lord Kid said:

I fine it the other way around. I've turned it off a couple of times, but most of the time I don't and 9 times out of 10, all the iron is controlled by CS' or AI's.

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...I find Iron is often a problem...in my current game I had only a 2-Iron resource... However as it turned out a CS right on my borders has a 6-Iron immediately adjacent.

Normally I would try to ally with the CS...but I decided in this game that would be an expensive and frustrating approach...the CS is allied with Alexander....and he has a huge pot of gold... something like 15,000 compared to my current level of around 1200. [I didn't check the policy screen, but I think he has the Patronage tree filled in...]

Although it may be a bit of a short run benefit, I decided that rather than get in a bidding war ...along with the AI propensity for back-to-back coups, I thought I would just steal the iron with a citadel.... I have plenty of generals at the moment....

[Edit:...and maybe I'll built a half-dozen frigates with it and, along with a couple of privateers, maybe go and start a war with him over one of his prime coastal cities ... ]

My last game I had something like 25% of the land mass in the game and NO IRON.

I may start using 'strategic balance' in my resource options.

Sherlock said:

My last game I had something like 25% of the land mass in the game and NO IRON.

I may start using 'strategic balance' in my resource options.

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I've done that and Legendary Start a couple of times just to try and get the iron, and still had shortfalls. So thankful iron isn't as big of a game breaker as it used to be. You can still build a great siege force with Cats, CB's and Pikes, but the mid game does suffer a bit without Frigates if you're on a water heavy map.

I play Russia... and often do not have any iron or horses.

However, I wish people would stop claiming that no iron for Frigates is a big deal. That's no problem at all. Just build Privateers and steal whatever Frigates you need. It's cheaper, anyway. Sure, they are a bit weaker, but who cares when they are free to steal?

AiTenshi1 said:

I play Russia... and often do not have any iron or horses.

However, I wish people would stop claiming that no iron for Frigates is a big deal. That's no problem at all. Just build Privateers and steal whatever Frigates you need. It's cheaper, anyway. Sure, they are a bit weaker, but who cares when they are free to steal?

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Agreed. I usually tech to subs ASAP to deal with the issue. I love having my wolfpacks roaming the oceans and surprising unsuspecting civs who come to call in a not so nice way.

Sometimes i do, sometimes i don't.

For me, when i disable start bias, i end up with maps that look like civ 3 maps.

Buried in middle of huge jungle with nary a luxury in sight unless I travel to the edge of jungle to grab it, its only saving grace is that it has a single long river running through it lol.

Stupid global happiness, i can't quite play as i want to with it hamstring me xD