Best starting position?

[Singularitie]

Hello all,

After getting some awful starting spots on my role, I was just wondering what experienced players find to be the best spots to settle. So like, is plains better than grassland? Highland or lowland? etc.

 

[joshua43214]

A hill on a river in grasslands, with only 1 extra hill in the 1 ring, and a total or 6 to 9 hills within the 3ring. Ideally this would have 2 (or more) sources of wheat on the river
I prefer mining lux over calendar lux, and river side calendar lux's are worse.

Desert hill river with ~5 river hills and either oasis or plains/grasslands beyond the river - big expanses of open desert will hurt you in the long run.

I only like plains tiles when they have salt on them, or I am playing domination where I want more early hammers and do not want a tall city.

 

[rattlejaw]

Pretty much that, yeah.

I'd add that a hill/river/everything-else-that's-good coastal start can be better still, although coastal starts are quite dependent on how good your non-water tiles are.

 

[xPrISM]

How about throwing in a mountain in the first ring?

 

[Buccaneer]

6-8 farmable hexes along the river from your hill capital including 2 food resources; a couple plain/grass hexes away from the river (for planting GP); a mountain next to your hill capital; 7-9 hills including 3 mining lux.

I had originally been exciting about a desert hill/floodplains start and while that can work very well, the number of low-count desert hexes can be a real drag.

 

[kb27787]

Coastal (with room to expand along the same coast for food ships) river mountain with plenty of fish, then some riverside wheat and maybe a couple mining lux tiles... I do get that from time to time.

 

[TheGrumpyBuddha]

SAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

To the extent where if I start close to 3 Salt on Immortal I consider restarting on a new map, because just too easy.

Now, I don't DO that, of course, I play through and have an awesome time, but I do consider it .

 

[Magma_Dragoon]

Taking the cake:
Grassland hill marble next to KSM surrounded by salt and stone, on the coast with every ocean tile containing a fish except for the two the GBR occupies.

 

[TheGrumpyBuddha]

Taking the cake:
Grassland hill marble next to KSM surrounded by salt and stone, on the coast with every ocean tile containing a fish except for the two the GBR occupies.

Sure, until you get denied God of the Sea and then burst into tears.
(Also, why stone?!)

 

[Buccaneer]

Taking the cake:
Grassland hill marble next to KSM surrounded by salt and stone, on the coast with every ocean tile containing a fish except for the two the GBR occupies.

Yeah but there's a difference in rolling a grass/hill/river start once every 5 times vs. once every 10,000 times.

 

[Magma_Dragoon]

Sure, until you get denied God of the Sea and then burst into tears.
(Also, why stone?!)

Three valid pantheon choices: god of the sea if many water tiles, else take earth mother or stone circles. Stone is awesome, 2f1h tiles are great until workers get out.

 

[TheGrumpyBuddha]

Stone is awesome, 2f1h tiles are great until workers get out.

Wouldn't you rather have Wheat, though? Same gist, plus you get the Granary bump. Or horses get you the same, as I recall, and then you can sell them. Stone seems to me to be the worst resource there is.

 

[arand86]

Wouldn't you rather have Wheat, though? Same gist, plus you get the Granary bump. Or horses get you the same, as I recall, and then you can sell them. Stone seems to me to be the worst resource there is.

The quarries pantheon really makes them huge if you start next to some. They're fairly common in grassland, and at 2 faith per pop + 2 faith on marble as well with the pantheon, it can really faithmonger into something big fast. I remember playing a game in which after I got the pantheon I settled into 6 stone tiles with my first 3 cities. That's 12 faith per turn just from the pantheon. Granted, I was lucky, but still.

Also, if your city isn't on plains, you can build stone works which is nice for the extra happiness in the early game and the extra hammer.

 

[chazzycat]

Wouldn't you rather have Wheat, though? Same gist, plus you get the Granary bump. Or horses get you the same, as I recall, and then you can sell them. Stone seems to me to be the worst resource there is.

well in a grassland start, production is more of a problem than food, so stone is pretty nice. horses are nice too but you typically only get 1 per city, not a cluster of them. i agree stone sucks if you only get 1. BUT it's pretty common to get 3 and in that case, you get some nice bonuses. 2 faith and 3 production per with stoneworks are quite good. Also I think the Mausoleum is an underrated wonder...lots of GP get expended now in BNW.