Curious: time spent on opening position?
- Thread starter Jaca
- Start date
G
Gainy
Guest
Normally i'll just have a quick glance, and without moving any units, either choose to continue playing, or stop -- in about 10 seconds. This is mainly because the only games I finish are submitted to the HOF, which isn't often 
Normally I won't accept a starting position unless it has a few bonuses of some sort. Ie cows, or luxury resources
Normally I won't accept a starting position unless it has a few bonuses of some sort. Ie cows, or luxury resources
I would guess it depends on what I want to do with the game.
Say I play on a level I find that I handle well, and want more of a challenge. A thing to do then is perhaps to start with bad terrain, so I have to work more to get ahead in the game.
If I try for the One City Challenge - a variant of gameplay where you are only allowed to own 1 city for the duration of the game, and can try to achieve a 1 city cultural victory, a spaceship victory, or conquer the whole world whilst razing all cities. Then I would be more picky about the start: a good idea is to have a source of fresh water - a lake or a river. You get extra commerce on river squares, so the more river squares that actually is in the start position, the stronger the start, I reckon.
Then there is the issue of grassland, bonus grassland, cows, wheat, bonus resources
In conquests, forests can be useful early - you can chop them to give good help in terms of shields. So a forested start isnt necessarily a bad start.
If I am lucky enough to get more than 1 cow (I got 3 once), I ll look into developing what they call a settler factory- where I produce settlers every 4th turn at least. To do that, you could use a combination of different types of terrain as well, but I tend to have more faith in the game with cow a start for some reason.
Jungle or desert starts is most likely to be a "start new game" attempt. Unless I have a civ with the agricultural trait, I wont bother (with the exception of the above mentioned extra challenge)
Also, it is important to look beyond the initial 9 squares. If I feel that the initial 9 is worthy of settling on the spot, I do so, and check the total 21 squares my city would be using in the future. Even then I may reload, if I feel the start is too weak.
Hope this was helpful for you Good luck!
I am mostly a regent player myself - a level I feel I handle well now.
Monarch is my new arch-enemy, and I tend to chose stronger starts when playing that level, than when playing regent.
Edit:
Woops -forgot to give an average
Probably 10-20 seconds, more if I cant remember the correct civ traits, less if I am looking for something specific.
Say I play on a level I find that I handle well, and want more of a challenge. A thing to do then is perhaps to start with bad terrain, so I have to work more to get ahead in the game.
If I try for the One City Challenge - a variant of gameplay where you are only allowed to own 1 city for the duration of the game, and can try to achieve a 1 city cultural victory, a spaceship victory, or conquer the whole world whilst razing all cities. Then I would be more picky about the start: a good idea is to have a source of fresh water - a lake or a river. You get extra commerce on river squares, so the more river squares that actually is in the start position, the stronger the start, I reckon.
Then there is the issue of grassland, bonus grassland, cows, wheat, bonus resources
In conquests, forests can be useful early - you can chop them to give good help in terms of shields. So a forested start isnt necessarily a bad start.
If I am lucky enough to get more than 1 cow (I got 3 once), I ll look into developing what they call a settler factory- where I produce settlers every 4th turn at least. To do that, you could use a combination of different types of terrain as well, but I tend to have more faith in the game with cow a start for some reason.
Jungle or desert starts is most likely to be a "start new game" attempt. Unless I have a civ with the agricultural trait, I wont bother (with the exception of the above mentioned extra challenge)
Also, it is important to look beyond the initial 9 squares. If I feel that the initial 9 is worthy of settling on the spot, I do so, and check the total 21 squares my city would be using in the future. Even then I may reload, if I feel the start is too weak.
Hope this was helpful for you
Good luck!I am mostly a regent player myself - a level I feel I handle well now.
Monarch is my new arch-enemy, and I tend to chose stronger starts when playing that level, than when playing regent.
Edit:
Woops -forgot to give an average
Probably 10-20 seconds, more if I cant remember the correct civ traits, less if I am looking for something specific.
SuperBeaverInc.
Groucho
I just take a quick look at the start location. If I think that it is a decent location, then I will start playing. If not, the reload!
Atleast a few minutes to see if I should settle where I am, or take a chance and move next to a, hopefully, better spot. Sometimes, I've moved over to a spot thinking that it was coast, but it was a lake, and 1 tile away from the coast.
Tomoyo
Fate
A map with jungle on all sides and the only non-jungle within a million miles being a lake isn't very good either... I usually spend like 1-2 minutes looking at a position, most of that time zoning out.
truckingpete
On a Stark Trek
Really bad starting position, I'll try to get another one that's better, but that rarely happens..
rychan
CS geek
I try to suck it up and play, unless the position is really bad (which it is sometimes).
Big exception being OCC, or 2CC. For OCC I'm very picky. I will reload until I get a river near the coast. Because it's very important to get the colussus and to grow past 6 before construction. (and to get all the bonus trade from a river)
Big exception being OCC, or 2CC. For OCC I'm very picky. I will reload until I get a river near the coast. Because it's very important to get the colussus and to grow past 6 before construction. (and to get all the bonus trade from a river)
Interesting to read those first reactions. Few seem to take (a little) time to check the starting position and make something out of it. Most only go for the first glance! I myself tend to try and take the challenge in most cases, no matter what terrain. I guess a bad initial position can mean a good spot in the neigbourhood.
I posted this thread for two reasons. How would the (really) good players evaluate the starting position? (and would it be a matter of taste?) And secondly, maybe this could tell us something more about the map generator. I mean, is there really something as a bad starting position (apart from finding out that later you're on an island)?
Jaca
I posted this thread for two reasons. How would the (really) good players evaluate the starting position? (and would it be a matter of taste?) And secondly, maybe this could tell us something more about the map generator. I mean, is there really something as a bad starting position (apart from finding out that later you're on an island)?
Jaca
The Last Conformist
Irresistibly Attractive
I usually hit 'b' pretty much immediately. The exception would be if it's glaringly preferable to move one tile in some direction. I've never yet restarted just because the start looked poor.
WackenOpenAir
Deity
It all depends on difficulty. like with everything in the game you can spend time on. On low difficulty, you can take any starting, build city and send worker in 10 seconds and be good.
On deity, i also make new games until i have an acceptable start. Since if i keep remaking until im happy with it takes forever, i just make 10 games and choose the best of it.
when i startet the first campaign level where you start with 3 workers, i sat and reasoned for 10 minutes before sending my warriors around, then i sat and reasoned for another 15 minutes where i would build my cities.
On deity, i also make new games until i have an acceptable start. Since if i keep remaking until im happy with it takes forever, i just make 10 games and choose the best of it.
when i startet the first campaign level where you start with 3 workers, i sat and reasoned for 10 minutes before sending my warriors around, then i sat and reasoned for another 15 minutes where i would build my cities.
DS_Legionary
King
My only criteria is that my city be on a river. (Unless I'm Agricultural then it doesn't matter quite so much) If there is a river one tile away I will move to it. But as long as there's a river that's the position I take, except for the rivers on tundra.
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