Move Civ Settler to Coast?

Prozac1964

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Hey to all. I'm wondering if it is ok to move my first "Civ" settler, from its original starting tile to a coastal tile so I can build naval units, work boats, cargo ships etc. Or is this not a smart move? :D

Any tips? :)
 
it can be; which tile would you move it to? are you losing out on starting luxuries or would they still be in range? are there new ones in range of that city that it would be worth losing your starting luxuries until you can expand to them? tile yields?

whether it's smart or not will depend on those but i'm sure there are scenarios where it's viable; cargo ships alone are a pretty convincing reason to do it
 
Thanks. Yep I always make certain that the coastal tile I want to move to, has equal or greater luxes. Most times I only need to move it maybe 3 or 4 tiles. I just hate my capital being land locked right from the start of a game. So that's my situation. :) Thanks for your input!
 
I settle my initial settler on the very first turn about one third of the time, I move him and then settle on turn 2 about two thirds of the time, and once in a while I'll move him twice & settle on turn 3. There would have to be a *very* compelling reason for me to move him three times & settle on turn 4. (e.g. Maybe if I was playing Spain & moving him three times would allow me to settle near a natural wonder.)

Settling on a hill is almost always more important than settling on the coast. The hill start gives you +1 hammers from the get-go *and* gives you a bonus to defense. (The +1 hammer is the crucial advantage.) Coastal starts are nice, but it's not a big deal if your capital is inland. True, you'll probably have to send 2 caravans to the capital, (rather than 1 cargo ship for the same effect) but that's not *that* big a deal.
 
It really depends on the terrain. Keep in mind that giving up access to a large amount of fresh water tiles will result in less food overall -- sure, the Cargo Ship can bring 8 food per turn rather than 4 from a Caravan, but if you're losing out on 8 fresh water tiles then you need two Cargo Ships to merely break even. And moving off a river would cost you a Hydroplant and Garden as well. Or if you lose a mountain then you're giving up an Observatory which is massive.

The map type can also matter -- as you might imagine, I couldn't deal with an inland capital on an Archipelago map but on Continents or Pangaea it's perfectly fine.
 
Well for me I always want Coastal Cities. Love cargo ships and building a Navy. I also love the Exploration Tree. I believe that's the one which has bonuses for coastal cities?

I will usually play small continents and archipelago so it's huge for me and my game play.

Brew God
 
Nice feedback everyone. I guess if you leave your settler right where it spawns (inland) you can still get the job done, but you would be wise to settle on some coast tiles at some point. Otherwise no navy.... :)
 
Hey to all. I'm wondering if it is ok to move my first "Civ" settler, from its original starting tile to a coastal tile so I can build naval units, work boats, cargo ships etc. Or is this not a smart move? :D

Any tips? :)

This is largely a function of how many tiles you'd need to move the settler.

If this is 1 hex away, it's almost always worth it. One hex away from the coast indeed carries the worst of both worlds (several low value tiles [1:c5food: 0:c5production: 0:c5gold:]) nor the ability to build coastal buildings or naval units.

It is also frequently the case that it's worth moving either to the coast or (alternatively one tile further inland) when it is 2 hexes away.

On standard speed, it's seldom worth moving the starting settler so far that it delays founding the capital two+ turns.
 
Otherwise no navy.... :)

So?

That's a serious question, to be clear. If all of your cities are 3+ tiles inland...why do you need a navy?

This is largely a function of how many tiles you'd need to move the settler.

If this is 1 hex away, it's almost always worth it. One hex away from the coast indeed carries the worst of both worlds (several low value tiles [1:c5food: 0:c5production: 0:c5gold:]) nor the ability to build coastal buildings or naval units.

It is also frequently the case that it's worth moving either to the coast or (alternatively one tile further inland) when it is 2 hexes away.

100% agreed to all of this.
 
So?

That's a serious question, to be clear. If all of your cities are 3+ tiles inland...why do you need a navy?

Good point. I hadn't thought of that. :) I wonder if most people that play Civ 5 try to get at least one coastal city founded? Are there reasonable benefits or no?
 
Are there reasonable benefits or no?

Well, Cargo Ships are better than Caravans...but even in the Information Era it's only a 7 food difference and it starts at a difference of 3. So if you're giving up bonus yield tiles, fresh water, mountains, etc solely for a coastal city...no, you're worse off (this doesn't even take into account the problem some cities have with just running out of tiles to work on the coast).

There's also the issue that having one coastal city means you have to be able to defend that city from a naval attack...while only being able to produce naval ships in one city. And you can't even do food Cargo Ships without 2+ coastal cities.

Now, if you're going Domination on a map where you have to cross water to reach some civilizations, you're going to need a navy (even if it's small and only serves to protect the embarked land units)...but you'll also likely conquer several coastal cities that other civs have and you could use those.
 
Only if there is plenty of fish, otherwise you are wasting your time. Of course you will be bee-lining Optics and building/buying the lighthouse asap(fishing boats can come a little later).

Wasting your time? I'd take an inlet-based coastal city on a river and next to a mountain in a heartbeat, fish or no. Two of those three (inlet, river, mountain) would still make it a much better city than average and even one would be sufficient (assuming there's a luxury and a few other decent tiles around).
 
Having lots of fish (and a proper navy to protect the boats) makes a founding city on the coast a huge advantage even if you are on a peninsula.
 
Being able to build ships in your first city is super important. Exploring for trading partners and natural wonders can give you a big advantage early on. I always move my settler to the coast unless Im giving up something awesome for it.
 
Hmmm, thx everyone. This topic seems to be polarized. Good points for both sides: Coastal city not important and coastal city very important. I guess I'll have to study my next Civ's map a little more. :)
 
You might want to inquire about what difficulty people are playing at when they make these observations. You may disagree with me, but I tend to think that people who are easily/consistently beating Deity have a better understanding of the *actual* value of things like this than people playing on, say, King/Emperor.

There are a lot of things in Civ that people either overvalue or undervalue due to how they feel about the thing rather than an analysis.

And a game I was fooling around with as Venice last night really drove this point home to me -- I ran out of tiles to work like halfway through the game due to a coastal capital. Stopped running food ships to my capital because I'd just be working 2 food ocean tiles. I also had some decent starting resources...but I didn't have a river OR mountain and thus both my late game production and late game science were noticeably worse than I'd prefer (which was compounded by the whole "I don't have any more freaking tiles to grow into" problem).
 
Yeah...I have beaten deity (though most of my games are on immortal). Go for the coast...or try to stay 3 or more tiles from it.
 
Come out to the coast, we'll get together, have a few laughs...

The most I've moved is maybe 3 hexes, but that was for special circumstances.
 
...I'd take an inlet-based coastal city on a river and next to a mountain in a heartbeat, fish or no...
Me too but in my 2000 hours of playing I can't recall a single inlet coastal start. Another consideration is whether you are going wide(or not tall) and whether there is another decent coastal location.
 
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