What type of start do you enjoy?

[Onionsoilder]

When you start a game, what type of tiles do you generally enjoy? Lets assume you get the usual balance of resources and features that comes with the start, I.E., Plains usually have Wheat and Ivory, Grassland usually has Corn/Rice, etc., and lets also assume you have a healthy balance of hills and flatlands.

I would have to say grassland is my favorite. Even though the base tiles give 1 less then floodplains, usually you have a few food resources which make up for it. In addition, you gain health from those food resources, instead of the sickness floodplains give.

 

[Lemon Merchant]

To start, I like a mix of river tiles and hills for a nice balance. If I really luck out there might even be a resource or two in the BFC and some forests to chop, though usually I wind up having to settle a second city for that. If I can swing it, I like to get a mix of commerce and production in my capital because I like to run Bureaucracy for a while mid game.

The neatest capital I ever had was smack in the middle of a bunch of floodplains with some hills around it. My citizens were tres ill, but it sure made a good GP farm.

 

[Mesodius]

Some floodplains, with some trees in the BFC, and a few hills.

Ideally, I have copper and horses nearby FTW.

 

[Lemon Merchant]

Ideally, I have copper and horses nearby FTW.

I don't understand. You mean there are actually games where you get copper nearby? And what are these things you call "Horses"?

We obviously aren't playing the same game.

 

[6K Man]

I like floodplains in moderation - and floodplains are the only tiles listed in the options above that automatically come with a river.

Settling on a river - ideally a rivermouth with a seafood or 2 nearby - will help to offset the unhealth from floodplains.

 

[Sisiutil]

I prefer a fair number of grassland river or flood plain tiles for cottaging, myself, along with some hills for mines. That sort of capital leverages Bureaucracy best.

Alternatively, a super-food starting capital (GP farm) and I'll move the capital to a hill/river site pre-Civil Service.

Gold, silver, or gems are always nice, but not essential, and sometimes make me feel like I'm cheating.

 

[bippukt]

I don't understand. You mean there are actually games where you get copper nearby? And what are these things you call "Horses"?

We obviously aren't playing the same game.

In my latest game, I got a coastal city with 2 gems and 2 seafood resources in my BFC. A horse wasn't too far away. But, I have to say that this was the most unfair start - no iron, no copper, no marble, no stone anywhere near my city! I had to take my settler large distances to get iron and stone. And later on, when my empire was quite big, I found that I had no OIL or ALUMINIUM. In fact, none of my 4 vassals had Aluminium. Talk about the map gods

On topic, I like coastal starts (on continents) with some grasslands and hills. Nice combo of commerce, food and hammers.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

Flood plains. After growing you can work cottages/mines simultaneously. They grow the city quickly even if cottaged and very soon the yield of 2 floodplains is far more valuable than gold (although the slightly earlier commerce and from gold helps compensate having the resource substantially).

Gold/gems starts weren't an option though. The best tiles in the poll are flood plains.

 

[bestbrian]

Coastal starts with seafood resources, and some hills for production, are always appreciated.

 

[djvandrake]

Coastal starts with seafood resources, and some hills for production, are always appreciated.

A coastal capital allows me to build (more easily) one of my fav wonders, the Great Lighthouse. Those +2 trade routes per coastal city are quite a boost to the early economy.

 

[Evil Beejeebers]

I like flood plains with cottages, food and money what more could a person ask for. although plains hills and a food resource or two never go a miss.

 

[Justy]

I had to say coastal tiles. I like not having to worry about attack on one of my borders. I can expand with strength in a single direction. It's nice to get a boat out early to do a little exploring. The trade is nice as well.

 

[oilnwater]

i'm mainly looking for 1)food and 2)stone or marble. food is pretty much a given. i cant remember a game where the computer didn't start me with at least one special food tile. marble/stone is more of a dream start, as i want to kick out Great Wall real early and Artemis/Parthenon if possible. since you usually find marble/stone on a grassland if not a hill, i'd have to say grassland.

but really i want floodplains with grassland on the outer and forests. i want it all! lol

 

[PreLynMax]

I MUST have a costal start... or near a coast... I want to be the one to circlivate the globe... me me me. Nobody else. First one to Optics, then around the world we go.

 

[Iranon]

Ice! Nigh-unwinnable starts force me to appraoch the game as a puzzle rather than a strategy game, which can be fun. Whether they work or not, they usually demonstrate that diplomacy is ridiculously unbalanced... in favour of a human milking the system for what it's worth.

 

[Cutlass]

A hill next to a river on the coast.

 

[HUSch]

I would have to say grassland is my favorite. Even though the base tiles give 1 less then floodplains, usually you have a few food resources which make up for it. In addition, you gain health from those food resources, instead of the sickness floodplains give.

That's wrong, after founding a city at floodplains, you have a city at desert. You can test it easy.

 

[Onionsoilder]

That's wrong, after founding a city at floodplains, you have a city at desert. You can test it easy.

Umm... I'm talking about the tiles in the BFC, not the actual tile you settle your city on... Otherwise a coastal start, which is an option in the poll, would mean settling in the ocean.

 

[MrCynical]

Grassland and/or moderate amounts of floodplains for preference. Loads of floodplains can result in hitting unhealthiness too early, and you don't always get a food resource in a high floodplain start.

Plains are marginal terrain - really not likely to get used prior to biology if I have any choice. Farming them is largely a waste of time till then and food resources can only balance so many cottaged plains.

Tundra and ice are obviously not good, but neither show up in starting locations in normal map scripts, even if the generator has to place a fat cross shaped piece of grass land in the arctic to do it.

Generic coastal tiles I don't really want. On the other hand I do like my capital to have sea access, and the generator is usually quite generous with seafood. Seafood/fishing with a fairly limited number of water tiles in the city radius is probably my favourite starting location.

 

[Kiwi Tyrant]

A start I would enjoy would be founding on a hilly plain tile amongst river'ed floodplains with a splattering of hills. To make it a truly unplayable, it would include an oasis, be a harbour, and be surrounded by good land for the first ring of cities to make the potent 'breadbasket'....