This is the map so far, theres Brazil to the north, Morocco to the east and I think Denmark is also east as well. Ty for any help.
In my games, about 9/10 AI seem to beeline Gunpowder. But then, I do play with a range of mods, so that might affect this. Some civs, like Denmark, beeline optics and a few, most notably the Maya, beeline Education.
I guess that's a good spot if you play unmodded game. One of my irks with the small details in Civ5 balance is how it's more beneficial to settle on a hill than on flatlands, so I play with a mod that, among other things, cut the extra free food you get when settling, so that placing your city on a hill will mean 1 extra production at the expense of 1 less food. This makes it generally unfavorable, if not unfeasable, to settle on hills compared to grassland, so that was why I didn't really consider that spot.
I don't exactly think of coastal cities as “naval combat”, but three exposed hexes is enough that the AI initial swarm can really all hit over just a couple turns. I am sure I am less competent with combat than you, but I have much less trouble keeping my cities with less ocean exposure. Three hexes versus two for water exposure is a huge difference, in my experience. And as Kaspergm points out, too many trash tiles limit the city's potential.
Yeah, but then the cities on flats get to build windmill later, so that catches them up.
True, did remove that restriction also. Didn't make sense either, I mean, why wouldn't you want to build a windmill just because you are in an area of hills?
Same about the random no-stoneworks-on-plains condition.
Preference if fine. For me, it seems illogical. I mean, how many of the world's major cities are located in hilly areas?
