A Start I won't play

[darski]

I'm just wondering if people have some criteria for that first city. What must you have or what will you not play ever.

I refuse to start any game when I can see a volcano in the first tiles. I generally refuse to play in a swamp (marsh)... since swamp/jungle tend to be about 50 % of every world (tiny maps) I am not wasting my time on those turns to drain the swamp.

when I play as my fave Iros I have to have at least a Bonus Grass but prefer a water start as they are Agr.

How about others? There used to be a tradition that you played whatever start you got but I'm in it for the fun these days.

 

[Hellfiredoom]

I'm fussy, I want the perfect start. Along with what you already mentioned, I want bonus food (cattle preferably, wheat works) and rivers. Also, too many mountains and I might reroll. If I'm playing Emporer I definitely follow these rules cause I'm still learning that level. When I want a more fun game at Monarch (ie building a bunch of Wonders and beating up on the AI at will) then I don't need all the items on my list. To me there seems to be such a huge gap between the two levels I want as much in my favor as possible when playing Emp.

I'm still somewhat new to these boards (since last Fall) so plead ignorance to the tradition you mention.

 

[Lone Wolf]

Every tile in the BFC should have a cow in it. It's only just.

 

[Bartleby]

Sometimes I like to play a game where I take what I'm given.
More often I play games with a view to submitting to the CFC HoF. For those games the general minimum is a river and a grassland cow, and I'll usually reject anything with volcanos/swamp/marsh. I don't like floodplains or tundra either, but I might scout around a bit in those starts.

 

[Aabraxan]

Sometimes, I take what I'm given. Sometimes I want a better, like when I'm moving up a level, or doing a pan AW. The only ones I routinely reject are the really heinous ones, like no river in sight and standing between two volcanoes on an 80% water arch.

 

[Snarkhunter]

It's highly dependent, but I tend to play more and more starts as given these days. I'm more inclined to play out the first 40 or so turns before deciding on whether it is a keeper or not. As it happens, I am methodically going through the seed numbers in turn (though not looking at every combination of civ/map parms/etc) & an am currently playing number 440. I'm looking for the same bonuses as everyone else, particularly for luxes not too terribly far off.

A related question is, under what conditions do you move off a tile to found the first city vs. just abandoning the start, or accepting the location as given? In 440, I was on a flood plain, thought it over for several minutes, then displaced 1 tile before founding. I've had too many problems building a city on a flood plain to want to continue a game like that.

kk

 

[Hellfiredoom]

I take the starting tile about 50% of the time, move 1 tile about 50% of the time to move off a BG to a non-shield grass or pull a bonus tile into my city radius, and have even moved 2 tiles a few times (ie. everything was nice about the start except for that nasty volcano too close for comfort).

 

[darski]

I think I tend to move more often than not. It just seems that a better spot is nearby. If I have to move 2 I quit the start.

 

[GamezRule]

I won't take tundra starts.

 

[Ataxerxes]

I won't take tundra starts.

Me neither, or desert. I admit I probably restart a fair amount if I don't like the start. Fussy, I guess.

 

[GamezRule]

I will take a desert start if there are floodplains present.

 

[timerover51]

Since I build my own maps and set the starting locations, I have a specific set of criteria for a starting location. On a coast, fresh water available, at least one or more fish/whale resources, hill or mountain in city radius, and some food/shield bonuses.

When I did play random starts, if not on a coast or no fresh water, dumped it immediately. If after iron and horses should be there, none close, I also dumped it.

 

[Lanzelot]

I've always played out every game I started. In my pre-GOTM times this of course meant quite a high number of losses. I guess like 40-50% losses on Emperor/Demigod. I liked the challenge and a long uphill struggle. Why play a game, if it is clear right from the start that I will win it?

Then I found civfanatics and started playing the GOTM. Here as well you have no other choice than to play what is given to you... And we get some lousy starts here as well: just take a look at the starting position of GOTM102:

This turned out to be a small island with mainly hills and plains and absolutely no fresh water on it! The only tiles that had more than 1 food, where the cow you see here, another bonus grassland somewhere else, and another cow on plains at the west end of the island. (That means, only size-3 towns, except for the ones that settled by these "food-rich" tiles...!) And of course there was not a single luxury on that island...

I ended up walking my settler the first 5 turns to get onto the tundra tile NW of the cow. That way I could use the two coastal fish tiles (which can be seen in the fog) and the cow tile to get the capital to size 5...

This was only Warlord, so it was still possible to win from that start. And as a matter of fact, it was a fun game!

BTW, one of my favorite games is DaveMcW's tundra start on Deity, that he ended up winning. (Couldn't find the link anymore, perhaps it was on Apolyton?)

 

[Theov]

I find everything fine.

 

[Loki130]

I'm embarrasingly picky about being near the coast, so I can get started early on navy and colonization and a navy

 

[el_griffador]

I'm pretty fussy- has to have fresh water, and at least 1 cow or wheat

 

[Turner]

Seems to me you could get any start you wanted by using the editor.

 

[Bowsling]

I just take what I'm given. I find it funner to fight your way to victory than to restart to victory.

 

[darski]

I just take what I'm given. I find it funner to fight your way to victory than to restart to victory.

So where is the joy in clearing a million acres of jungle and swamp? - You can't grow, expand or do anything with dead citizens.

 

[CommandoBob]

It is not the joy, it is the challenge.

Just like building Swamp Castle.


Link to video.