Just starting a game as England and got this start location. I'm trying to improve at the game and would be very interested to hear some different opinions on where you would choose to settle and why.
I'm thinking maybe ill move down and to the left, on the coastal hill, but obviously this means losing a little time. How bad is this? is it something you would try to avoid?
My decision tree goes something like this:
1. No luxuries to settle on. Too bad.
2. Lots of plains hills in range. That's good luck. Plains hills are great starting tiles for cities, as the city tile will generate 2F, 2P rather than just 2F, 1P.
3. No 5 yield tiles in sight. Those are worth moving towards, but we don't see any after your Warrior has finished moving.
4. There are a number of 4 yield tiles. For your initial city, I prefer the 2F/2P tiles over the 1F/3P tiles, but having both is even better, as it gives you flexibility in generating early yields.
5. The plains hill due west of your starting Settler has two 2F/2P tiles within two hexes, and a 1F/3P tile in it's inner ring. I'm inclined towards that tile.
6. That tile, however, does not have water access. I don't normally care about water access, but I do for my initial city. So I either create a challenge for myself in settling a no water initial city, or I delay settling to move to the river.
7. Both plains hills tiles on the river have within two hexes three different resources that can be improved: Stone (Quarry), Cattle (Pasture), Wheat (Farm). That's ideal for hitting early Eurekas.
8. Both plains hills tiles on the river have space to put a Campus beside a Mountain (and a Holy Site, too, if you're going for a religion). That's ideal for getting early Science (and a little extra Faith).
9. The plains hills tile two spaces east of the Cattle only has one 2F/2P tile within two hexes based on initial visibility whereas the one to it's west has two. Within the inner tile, count is one/zero. So I'm inclined to go for the more westerly of the two.
10. The quickest route to that tile, however, can pass over the other river plains hill so I take that route, and evaluate whether it reveals any tiles that change my mind.
11. When I get to that more easterly river plains hills, there are no new interesting yield tiles to change my mind, but by then the Warrior has confirmed where the
eastern coastline is. If I proceed on to intended tile (the one you settled), then the only tile I can add a new city on to my
east west is the grassland woods to the far northwest. If I stop here, I can still add a city to that far northwest grassland woods tile, and I can add a city to the grassland hills to the southwest. Leaving room for an extra city causes me to stop and settle this tile instead.