Starting with 2 Settlers

[Osvaldo Manso]

Most experienced players know that starting with 2 Settlers is just a way of compensating for poor initial location and bad neighboorhood.
Strangely, the game only takes into account the square where you start.
So, if you start on Plains, even though there's plenty of Grasslands, Rivers and Hills nearby, you might be lucky enough to get extra Settlers.

What I didn't know is that apparently the second/bonus Settlers is like a ghost unit.
If you check the Military Advisor it will show only one active Settlers as you can check on my screenshots.

 

[Osvaldo Manso]

Then, after the first city is founded only the "ghost" Settlers remain as you can check on the screenshots.

 

[Skybuck]

Yes, I noticed this via the word: NONE.

The settler seems not associated/attached to a city, so even if all your cities are destroyed this settler will stay alive, kinda funny.

Can be exploited too/as well by stuffing it in a ship and fleeing if all cities destroyed.

Reminds me a bit of civilization 3 where settlers are not associated to cities if I recall correctly, so in civilization 3 it's always possible to flee with a settler

I am not sure why civilization 1 sometimes starts with two settlers ? I considered it a bug ? Is it maybe documented somewhere ? perhaps in the manual ? or on a website ?

What causes the two settler start ?

 

[Mize]

This forum has some nice people on who've documented everything they know about the game. It also has a really nice search function. You should use it more often. But I'll get this one for you.

https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/number-of-starting-settlers-and-techs.494994/