Crowded?

[azmundai]

Is it just me?

easily 90% of my starts, I am surrounded by AIs and city states. Im sick to death of having to constantly go to war. It's either that or I am alone on an island which sucks too. Mostly I am pinned in a corner against / in tundra or a coast. War is easy, getting out of the situation is not hard, but it's the same game ... every time. Ive tried map mods, they often make it worse. Id much prefer to play more of a peaceful game, but it seems bloody impossible. I settle 1 tile outside of my capital and AIs get pissed and attack me .. where the _%)*#_%)* am I supposed to grow to??

At this point I have to reroll for hours just to get a decent start, which I don't want to do. I don't want to restart at all, but I wanna try more peaceful games, but its impossible ...

I haven't finished a game in weeks .. I just get bored of fighting all the time and think .. this time!! I won't have 4 AIs surrounding me or pinning me in a corner .. this time!!

idk .. any suggestions .. maybe I should just stop playing for a while.

 

[Jackanape]

I have had a similar problem. I seem to reroll multiple times before I have even a modicum of space available, and then the AI settles towards me, not the open space behind it. It's a bit annoying, but perhaps accurate.

As an early tribe at 4000 BC, it seems we just have to pick a target and assert our dominance--wipe them off the map--and we can breathe easily...play a peaceful game. After all, that IS human history, is it not?

We don't have to warmonger the whole game, but it is clear we MUST destroy a neighbor early to survive.

Sounds right. Even though it would be nice to grow peacefully, we are human, after all...

 

[aguliondew]

The AI tends to attack you if you have low military. Even if they spawn close to you they may not attack you just because you are to prepared for their assault. The mogul spawn 10 tiles away from me I was expecting an early war but it never happen because of how big of an army I had at that time.I doubt you can avoid all of the early wars but it should be easy to form an alliance during mid game if you do not take any of the AI cities. Still its easier to win the game if you wipe out your neighbor.

 

[Cagarustus]

There’s a mod on steam called Starting Units which gives you the same number of starting units as AI. This really helps with the early game.

Some people may call this cheating but I call it progress.

 

[azmundai]

War is easy, I am not having trouble killing the AI. I am bored of always having to fight in early game. Archer spam is boring. I'd rather do other things for a change ... like poke my eyes out with a spork at this point.

I can deal with an AI attacking me, and id have no problem with some combat in that area, but that still doesn't leave me with any other option than to conquer an AI if I want to have any room to grow ...

 

[Jackanape]

The AI tends to attack you if you have low military. Even if they spawn close to you they may not attack you just because you are to prepared for their assault.

Yes, but that doesn't solve the crowding problem, which almost forces you to fight for breathing room...hence the reason for this post...

If I'm playing a game where I have some.elbow room, I follow your advice every time.

War is easy, I am not having trouble killing the AI. I am bored of always having to fight in early game. Archer spam is boring. I'd rather do other things for a change ... like poke my eyes out with a spork at this point.

I can deal with an AI attacking me, and id have no problem with some combat in that area, but that still doesn't leave me with any other option than to conquer an AI if I want to have any room to grow ...

Again, I agree, but it seems our first 50 turns must always be dedicated to struggling and fighting for that "breathing room". It may not be what we're looking for, but at least it's historically accurate...

 

[Zenstrive]

I just reroll if I know I am pinned. But sometimes I am in the middle of a continent and half of the continent is empty and the other half is filled with two other civs and several city states. That's when I try to get religion, get a classic golden age, and expand my civilization by faith settlers.

 

[Kyro]

If you're facing a lot of early aggression it is unfortunately all intended by design.

The problem you are facing is because minimum starting distances between Civs are set to low values. You can do a quick search on the net to find out how to adjust that in the XML, doubling the existing value usually works.

You can then play on a larger map with fewer players and you should have the same level of freedom and advantage in not having to warmonger as you would expect in Civ 5. (Just doing this without editing the XML file would result in zero difference.)

 

[Atwork]

After experimenting with the number of Civs and CSs on a huge map, I'm consistently getting starts that satisfy me. IMO, you really need to experiment to find a number that works for you.

If you're consistently getting starts that you consider too crowded, then try taking out some Civs and maybe add back a few CSs or something along those lines. You have the power to experiment, you shouldn't be afraid to use it...

 

[PYITE]

When I want some space I increase the land percent of the map and the minimum starting distance.
Read this post
https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/changing-the-advanced-map-options.628976/#post-15046483

 

[KandAffar]

Try low sea levels.

 

[Peserwin]

I just want to say I completely agree with OP

 

[halfhalfharp]

I guess its how it should feel historically, on the crowded European continent.

 

[Art Morte]

Try the Inland Sea map. There seems to be loads of space there.

I remember in Civ5 the Highlands map had tons of space. Kinda bummed it's not in 6.

 

[RealHuhn]

I agree. On Deity it's particularly annoying when two civs forward settle your capital on turn 20 or so. With their 3 early cities, loyalty is also a huge issue when you are boxed in. Without an early war, it's basically game over at this point.
On Immortal I rarely had that problem though.