Multiplayer problem - starting next to human players

[Raider]

My dad and I like to play Civ together. We usually do a game on a huge map, picking random for civ and with a bunch of AI opponents on continents map or similar. We grow, fight the AI, and sometimes face each other in mid to late game. Now, in Civ 5 we have a problem. We have started multiple games, and in every game (on continents) we end up next to one another. No matter how many times we restart, we end up within 10 to 25 tiles from one another as each other's immediate neighbors. The start locations simply do not seem to be random as they force human players to begin next to one another, something that forces us into early confrontation since we are basically always closer to one another than any other opponent. At the very least as close to one another as AI opponents. In Civ 4, placement would be random and we'd routinely end up on different sides of the world.

Is there a way around this? As it is, this makes Civ 5 basically not viable for us...

 

[Welnic]

Are you choosing the top two spots in the setup? Maybe you should try spots 1 and 5. Just guessing.

 

[Raider]

Are you choosing the top two spots in the setup? Maybe you should try spots 1 and 5. Just guessing.

How do I do that? Even if I fill spot 2 with AI, when human player joins, he ends up in it, even if a spot is open below. Is there a way to move players around? I have not discovered one yet.

 

[Teejvan]

You have the opposite problem to me and my friend. We often team up but we never start together!

 

[Tamed]

Honestly it's just a bad streak of luck. I have played three continent MP games and only started once near another player.

 

[Thoughtful Thug]

I rather be next to a human player than trying to find them especially in a map like standard or anything higher. Usually it is city-states are the one you have first contact, but then again, you are playing in a game that has random generated map build.

Only solution is to have a custom build setting option specifically for that you can be placed next or afar from human players... oh wait... the game doesn't have that.

 

[Booshaka]

Didn't civ III have a option to start players next to each other by team number or something?

 

[Thoughtful Thug]

Didn't civ III have a option to start players next to each other by team number or something?

Yeah. Civ Editor. It was a quite easy and handy tool to customize your game scenario.

 

[Tridus]

How did you manage that? In the game I played, my friend and I were so far apart (and not even on the same continent) that we spent much of the game playing alone.