The Stupidest Place to Settle

[PreLynMax]

Do you hate it when the game finds the dumbest area to place a city? Consider my situation:



As you can tell, the game tells me to settle on top of this hemp plot (which I need to research Calender for +1 , +1 , 1 and there's nothing but jungle there, so I find this place to be a hassle later on.

Where I suggested is where the settler is right now right next to the cow AND hemp plots (later on I can branch out and convert it into a production city with those hills surrounded this settler).

Do you think sometimes the game finds the stupidest place to place thier cities? If so, tell me what negitive impact the stupidest city suggestion made.

[oyzar]

The game doesn't really take into account playing with mods anyways so i don't know if it would consider hemp properly... Why are you exploring with an unprotected settler? Also you shouldn't follow the blue circles anwyays but take your own desicssions.. How come you have explored a ton of the map but not anywhere usefull(like where you want to settle your cities...

[PreLynMax]

Originally Posted by oyzar

The game doesn't really take into account playing with mods anyways so i don't know if it would consider hemp properly... Why are you exploring with an unprotected settler? Also you shouldn't follow the blue circles anwyays but take your own desicssions.. How come you have explored a ton of the map but not anywhere usefull(like where you want to settle your cities...)

Because of my capital's first build order: Warrior, Worker, Settler. Then I work on specializing the city.
I built this setter very early in the game (before Mansory even!) so very early in the game I had to attend with sending unprotected settlers.

My point is why the game picked one plot when another plot would be clearly the better spot. The game mechanics should be a lot smarter than this.

[dankok8]

Are you using a mod? hemp? considering that's Zara who is creative, I'd settle in 1S and whip a monument or something ...

[hou jing]

What is a hemp plot?

[oyzar]

In more games than not i have 5+ cities before i get masonery...

[DaveMcW]

There's probably 2 cows in the fog.

[Kippers]

What mod is that?

[EweezE]

How does an Ethiopian settler composed of a horse and 2 dogs populate a city? That must be some kind of sick beastiality mod.

[Bandobras Took]

Originally Posted by EweezE

That must be some kind of sick beastiality mod.

The prereq for building a Settler is Animal Husbandry?

[Belisar]

Originally Posted by PreLynMax

My point is why the game picked one plot when another plot would be clearly the better spot. The game mechanics should be a lot smarter than this.

How do you know?
Your settler stands in a region with 2 good visible tiles, cow and a green hill, the rest is desert and dry plain, not very exciting.
By the time you finish your first settler, you should have explored the neighbourhood which isn't that hard.
If you sent your initial warrior/scout away to get huts, find AIs and find out the shape of the continent (which is a viable strategy), build another warrior early for exploring the area around your capital and as MP.
Do you play with no barbs?

[NintendoTogepi]

Originally Posted by EweezE

How does an Ethiopian settler composed of a horse and 2 dogs populate a city? That must be some kind of sick beastiality mod.

And the default (a family of 4) is much better for populating a city?

[digitCruncher]

I ignore the blue circles, generally. And you should too, as they assume that you use ONLY the blue circles, and build the city how the AI WANTS you to build your cities. You might have a different game plan entirely!!

Alas, the AI doesn't ignore them.

I have a game where the second best civ got Astronomy, and transported to my continent, and built three cities (near the late game)

There was a catch:

Aside from the sea (which, incedentally, yeilds 3 , 2 in the XML change I was using, and which the AI thinks only yields 2 ), there were NO WORKABLE TILES in the BFC.

Sorry... thats not strictly accurate

Except for 1 uranium (DEEP in my cultural influence, near my hermatige city) there were NO WORKABLE TILES at all... just ice and coast. And snow. (And snow/hills, two of them, but they are mediocre as well... either 3 , or 1 , 1 , 1 , still not worth settling a city over.

Add in the fact of colonial expenses, and distance from palace maintanence... and he must have had some SERIOUS problems!! They would NEVER even get close to breaking even for one turn, let alone paying for thier settlement!

[EweezE]

Originally Posted by NintendoTogepi

And the default (a family of 4) is much better for populating a city?

Sure. It is an inbred city, but it's conceivable. A horse and 2 dogs on the other hand, does not substitute for the wife and kids. Maybe that's how they do it in Ethiopia though..

Who wants to tech AH before building a settler anyway?

[PreLynMax]

Originally Posted by EweezE

How does an Ethiopian settler composed of a horse and 2 dogs populate a city? That must be some kind of sick beastiality mod.

A city of dogs? I was wondering that myself...

How do you know?
Your settler stands in a region with 2 good visible tiles, cow and a green hill, the rest is desert and dry plain, not very exciting.
By the time you finish your first settler, you should have explored the neighbourhood which isn't that hard.
If you sent your initial warrior/scout away to get huts, find AIs and find out the shape of the continent (which is a viable strategy), build another warrior early for exploring the area around your capital and as MP.
Do you play with no barbs?

First off, until I actually see the tile, I can weigh the difference and THEN decide where to settle. I don't wonder off into the unknown. It's not logical.

Building another warrior to be sent out means leaving my capital undefended. Sending my only protection out is another logical and strategic flaw; it's better to defend my capital than leave him unprotected. You forgot that players also have personality traits as well as the game leaders, and their traits are weighed solely on probability, and whether they send units out or whether they attack or not. Dispite of Zara Yaqob's Creative/Organized trait, you must consider my Protective/Expansive trait. So you see it's my habit to protect my cities first then REX whatever I explored before everything else.

Because of early game time restraints and an overwhelming work early game order priority, I didn't have the time to build scouts to scout the area after my inital scout to find out whether what is beyond that plot was valuable enough to settle. All I could do is weigh the known and the unknown and guess.

As I said earlier, my intention for that city is not to build population, but to use those hills to produce a production city. Sure enough the surrounding desert tiles have little impact on my desision, and I was thinking of what this city would become in the future when the culture increases. The cow tile produced enough food for a small sized city because the majority of that city wouldve been military and engerneers anyway.

I normally play Raging Barbs, but 99% of my recent games has comprimised to quick starts.

[digitCruncher]

IMO, the benifits of sending out your first warrior to scout massively outwiegh the costs of having an undefended capital. At least loop around your city so you can find several nice build locations for your next cities, that way you are prepared for the late-game.

My normal build order is Warrior - Warrior - Worker - Warrior - Settler. The first warrior scouts, the second one defences, and the third one escorts the settler out to the second city site.

[oyzar]

Rofl... You seriously defend your cities even while playing against AI's?

[Bostock]

Animals can't attack your cities.
Barbs won't appear until well after turn 40.
AI's are too polite to attack this early.

The flawed decision is the decision to not explore, not the decision to not defend your capital against an attack that IS NOT COMING rather than defending your settler against a lack of information when it goes to settle and PHYSICALLY defending your settler against animal attacks that can ACTUALLY HAPPEN, instead of an attack on your capitol, which at this point cannot happen.

(Sorry so strident.)

You forgot that players also have personality traits

Yes -- quirks. And yours are making you play worse for the moment! :-)

[TheMeInTeam]

Scouting is everything...never leave the opening warrior at the capitol, even against humans (in the case of multiplayer I suggest picking up a 2nd warrior as a first build so that you don't get your capitol autorazed instantly, but you still don't want to give up knowledge on important resource and player locations!)

[Guardian_PL]

Once again - which mod is it?

On topic (well, sort of xP) - blue circles are not recommended city spots, they are just blue circles. If your settler is feeling blue, and wants to play some blues - that's where he goes.