NONE settlers

[Ayatollah So]

What do y'all think of building a road before even your first city? Dumb idea? Situation: grassland and plains, a few ocean squares visible, no fish, no river, perhaps a bonus forest square in sight. I seem to face this kind of situation often.

 

[ElephantU]

At 4000BC? Try moving around a bit first. If you have two settlers and are determined to build ASAP, one Roads while the other builds. Then found another nearby.

 

[Old n Slow]

Build a road before my first city? I do it often. At the cost of two to five turns delay, I get twenty to thirty arrows of value. Natch if the optimal location is flashing with three whales in sight, build right away.

If on the other hand, you're looking at a lot of green, why not start a city (but, but, no arrows!) -- sooooo build a road, maybe two & then plop.

Searching with the starting settler (s) has value of course, but why not build a road on a grass shield, bild the city within a space or two & then build a warrior to go search for better horizons?

 

[Xyvyr]

Ctrl+N ends the movement of all your troops and allows you to end your turn. Yes, it can make triremes and planes where they won't sink/crash.

So that CTRL-N trick is what the AI must be doing to have their triremes lollygagging about in the middle of the pacific for 5 turns. Now if I could just figure out how to make my archers bribe enemy troops...

 

[Ace]

No. The AI just cheats. His triremes move 3 hexes and still don't sink.

 

[sethos]

@Ace
... and bombers won't crash down after 2 turns ..
- AI-cheating

 

[sethos]

If you find a NONE-settler, lookf for a good site for him - an then found a city. It's very probable you'll find another one a little bit later.
I had games where I found more than 10 NONE-settlers!
I once calculated the difference in population for one of my best games (8000 points in deity): Without NONE settlers I would have had about 500 million people less (remaining about 320 million).

 

[yami]

japanese usually have two settlers at the start...on the regular world map.

 

[ElephantU]

The starting generator gives extra settlers and extra techs to civs that start in "bad" locations: too small an isle, too close to other civs, not enough "good" city-planting land around. Since the civs are "placed" in order (White first, Purple last), higher numbered civs tend to get worse starting locations and are compensated via an extra settler and techs. The world map is different than a random start if you do not "randomize player starting locations". Also, on Deity level, the human player always gets two settlers at the start.

 

[Gurney]

Originally posted by SlowThinker
The principle that causes triremes/planes are unsinkable/uncrashable is not to make their last move. You can also press the spacebar (it ends the movement of the selected unit) when your trireme is selected.
For example: a trireme may go 2 squares into a deep water, but then you have to press the spacebar.

The Duke posted that this trick (not making the last move on triremes/planes) doesn't work on MPG and 2.42 version, also it does not work on the playstation version either

 

[Duke of Marlbrough]

It doesn't work the way is was described (pressing the spacebar), but it does work if you leave the movment on the units and then end your turn by pressing Ctrl+N. I'm not sure if it's possible to end your turn early on the playstation version.

 

[Terrapin]

I did not know the extra settler was for "bad" locations on the lower levels. I always thought that was random. It does explain why I have never gotten good starting terrain with two settlers!

Having another civ right next door is not always bad: Very early wars are often short and cheap. Also, fighting early on does not conflict with the goal of exploring, so long as you are winning. Plus you usually can capture at least one city greater than size 1, making three free cities in the early game! Of course, about half the time, I have to force build settlers to disband the city: The ai will have built the city to carefully avoid getting specials within the city radius!

 

[NorvilleB]

Sometimes I'll leave the settler as NONE and always use him for improvements between cities. He doesn't cost any resources from a city and if I get leos workshop, he becomes an engineer someday.

 

[ElephantU]

Leaving a NONE settler means any more huts popped on that island/continent will not give you another one...

 

[funxus]

Early on it can also mean half as many cities as you would have had using both settlers...

 

[Ace]

Right! In the long run, it is almost always better to start a city with that second none settler. It really boosts your growth and you can always get more none settlers by bribing AI ones.

 

[woke26]

i play diety 1x1x and always get a second settler. I always build 2 cities right away unless:
1. i want to found my first city on a hill. then i will use the second settler to mine a mine in my first city first.
2. my land is extremely poor, only plains. i use it then to irrigate.
3. i am in the middle of the hut pattern. then i will get some huts first, untill i find a mercenary.

later in the game, when i have more then 5 cities, i will use NONE settlers for huts to build my roads and irrigations.

 

[ElephantU]

Dont found your first city on a hill - takes too long, grows too slowly. Found on grass, in river if possible. Early growth is vital.

If your starting land is poor, dont settle there. Spread the two settlers out and move toward the center of the map. Look for huts along the way, keeping Archers near settlers and sending out Horses.

Samson on Apolyton discovered that keeping a NONE settler eliminates the chance of getting another from a hut on any particular island, so any NONEs you get should be turned into cities ASAP until all the huts on the continent have been opened.

 

[Ace]

Thats right. You always get two settlers on Diety level. And building your first city on a hill is costing you a lot of time. It can be a good idea latter in the game, but, in the begining of the game, it ties up your second settler too long, and stifles the growth of the city on the hill.

 

[woke26]

in 1x1x it is worthwile, because you get a good production in your capitol and it is well defended. i always prefer settling any city on hills over grass. 3 shields, 2 food, 100% defense against 1 shield, 1 trade, 3 food, 0% defense. do the math.