Initial spot of settler when map starts...

[.Shane.]

I actually posed this question in another thread, but it got buried pretty quickly as it was OT to the original question.... anyhoo....

Does the game always default to put your initial settler on the best spot for a city, or do you often find you have to move around a turn or 2 to identify a better spot?

Just my observation from the little bit I've played of C3 + my memory of C2 = that almost always the AI defaults you to a prime spot.

Will my continued playing of C3 prove this assumption valid?

 

[Abaddon]

ish.

Move your worker first to increase what you can see.. if you are a tile from a river or sea its worth moving to before you settle.

If you move too much though you waste very valuable turns.

 

[.Shane.]

Move your worker first to increase what you can see.. if you are a tile from a river or sea its worth moving to before you settle.

Sure, on occasion I'll move it a space, never more than 2, to suit personal preference, etc..

My more general question/assumption is that the AI will never start you on a bunk of snowy mountains or frozen tundra. It always will be you in a decent (sometimes GREAT!) position.

 

[Xerol]

I've started in positions where it's not even possible to get a settler out until Map Making(for harbors) or even at all(i.e. not coastal in the middle of tundra with no Game around). In those cases once I find out where I am, I usually start over, especially if there's not enough food to get to size 3.

 

[Abaddon]

....waits for someone to link to the thread showing worst starts ever...

 

[vmxa]

When to move or weither to move a settler is a much debated topic. Suffuce it to say that there are times when it makes sense to move. Moving more than one or two tiles requires some very special conditions and you need to know how to manage our empire, if you do move far.

 

[Pentium]

In those cases once I find out where I am, I usually start over, especially if there's not enough food to get to size 3.

I've won a game where I couldn't build settlers in my capital. I just captured the neighbouring Civ.
Though it was on Chieftain or Regent, don't remember exactly.

 

[StavrosMelb]

It always will be you in a decent (sometimes GREAT!) position.

That hardly seems to be me, though.

Not to say I get horrible starting positions, but I just started a new game today (2nd restart too!) where the other AI's seem to get great spots with lots of plains and grasslands while I'm surrounded by one of the biggest mountain ranges I've ever seen!

I have had a 3 wheat + 2 bonus grassland start before, but good starts for me would require a lot of restarting which is just too much effort.

 

[Pentium]

3 wheat + 2BG's is exactly what I got in my last game. But not all that glitters is gold, so I was alone on an island on a Pangaea map. I eventually won that game, but many credit for this goes to constant war between the 2 largest civs.

 

[LLXerxes]

How does the game find you're starting position?
The producers of the game made thousands of maps with the editor I think, each one has special spots called starting locations. Starting locations are put on by the maker of the map, and it's where Civs start. There are ways to make it so that certain Civs start at certain locations, but that doesn't matter.

 

[Tomoyo]

The producers of the game made thousands of maps with the editor I think, each one has special spots called starting locations.

Nope. What do you think the world seed is for?

 

[gmaharriet]

That hardly seems to be me, though.

Not to say I get horrible starting positions, but I just started a new game today (2nd restart too!) where the other AI's seem to get great spots with lots of plains and grasslands while I'm surrounded by one of the biggest mountain ranges I've ever seen!

I have had a 3 wheat + 2 bonus grassland start before, but good starts for me would require a lot of restarting which is just too much effort.

You might want to try Moonsinger's "Map Finder" utility. You can set up what is most important to you in a good starting position, and it will run overnight or while you're at work (or school) and save only the maps that meet your requirements.

I believe her latest version is 6.5 and you can find it in the 2nd post at http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=75992