How long do you keep wandering around...

[Arrogant]

...until you found your first city ?

I usually play pangaea/standard map/emperor. If after the first 3-4 turns I haven't found a good starting place I usually settle without searching more. Lately I've been thinking that this may not be a good tactic and perhaps I should spend more like 20 turns until I find a place with lots of food. I'm starting to believe that a good starting place can compensate pretty fast for the initial delay. What do you think ?

 

[Brewster]

Try to place your first city as quickly as possible (max, two or three moves with your settler) to get some units. Don't wander around and let the AI get the upper hand (I believe they settle on their starting tile no matter how bad it is). You can always look for the perfect spot later in the game after you have scouted out the area with warriors/scouts.

 

[WickedSmurf]

I rarely move my first settler. Just settle on the spot.

 

[Masquerouge]

I settle 95% of the time on the first turn, 5% on the second. I always move my worker first to a tile I know I'm going to improve anyway, and sometimes you can discover a tile/luxury/bonus that makes you want to move your settler one tile...
Loosing turns in the beginning is really an excruciating price, IMHO. To wait 20 turns to settle is suicide. The AI could have produced 4 warriors at least meanwhile, and come to you. What can you do with no cities, no units, nothing ? Plus the AI will have popped all goody huts, you will have lost 20 turns of scientific research (that's almost half a tech !). No, trust me, settle in the first two turns or restart

 

[Qitai]

Two turns at most before making the decision on where to settle. Settler may move one or two more tiles to get to the spot I want. So four moves is roughly the max.

 

[Hayek]

I always settle instantly on the spot. Especially if you happen to have an enemy close to your starting location and don't settle quickly, you're game's lost, I'm afraid.

 

[Pounder]

Originally posted by Masquerouge
I settle 95% of the time on the first turn, 5% on the second. I always move my worker first to a tile I know I'm going to improve anyway, and sometimes you can discover a tile/luxury/bonus that makes you want to move your settler one tile...
Loosing turns in the beginning is really an excruciating price, IMHO. To wait 20 turns to settle is suicide. The AI could have produced 4 warriors at least meanwhile, and come to you. What can you do with no cities, no units, nothing ? Plus the AI will have popped all goody huts, you will have lost 20 turns of scientific research (that's almost half a tech !). No, trust me, settle in the first two turns or restart

This is exactly what I do as well, usually if I am one tile from the coast or river, I will move that one tile then settle.

 

[Xether]

i only move if theres a river or a coast tile within 1 hex.

 

[sealman]

Originally posted by Xether
i only move if theres a river or a coast tile within 1 hex.

I agree.

You never want to spend turns just wandering with your first settler. That is like spotting the AI with a few free turns. You can always relocate your capital later if you are in such a horrendous postion.

 

[wilbill]

I remember a GOTM in which DaveMcW moved his settler 6 or 7 squares to find the "perfect" starting location. Of course he won with an incredible score. But that's DaveMcW. I think for the rest of us mere mortals one, rarely two turns to locate the settler is plenty.

 

[Commander Bello]

I absolutely agree with the description given by Masquerouge. That is exactly my strategy.
The 'perfect' location, as known so far, is for the second city. Maybe, that will become THE city of your empire... Why not?
Remember: in the beginning, speed is survival!

 

[TerraHero]

Unless there is a clear advantage of moving my settles 1 tile i will..otherwise i will settle where i am. Time is crucial in the beginning, techs, military, discovery, gold, goody huts, etc etc.

All are poped in the first 20 turns..dun get 3 turn behind or u will miss most stuff and they will have 2 cities before u build u're first mine.

 

[marioh]

If there's no good starting position within 1 move of my settler, I will almost always re-start. Your initial position is crucial to success in the game, and if you wait too long to settle, you give the AI an advantage.
Of course, if you're playing on Chieftain level, it really doesn't matter.

 

[Adam7Eight]

I won't even bother wasting one move. If my initial starting spot sucks I will restart everytime.

 

[Yumbo]

I always move my worker one direction, warrior/scout the other, survey the landscape, then settle on either the first or second turn. But I ALWAYS check out the surrounding territory before hitting that 'B' button.

I'd say 40% of the time, settle on first turn, 60% of the time, settle on the second. If there is no great settlinglocation, I pick a good one; if there are no good ones, I pick best available. I'm not sure I have ever restarted (though I have had some early defeats, now and then).

 

[Capt Buttkick]

I think restarting without considering to move your settler will ruin quite a few of your games.
In my C3C 20K culture non-scientific game I moved one square to be on a river at the start and it turned out to be a very enjoyable game.

I settle on the spot close to 50% of the time; move one square just under 50% of the time. That leaves < 2% of starts for 2-move settler openings.