Where/when to settle your capital?

[njmfff]

I think you're crazy to not settle your capital where you spawn, especially if you don't settle on your first turn. There simply is not enough information available at the initial screen to determine whether you should settle your capital so many hexes over, and the starts will never be in such bad locations that you won't have access to some valuable resources early on.

Yeah, but sometimes it's worth to lose turn or two to get into better position. One missed turn can mean you'll end up on a hill and your city will be less prone to early aggression, and you can potentially grab one more lux\cow\wheat.

I wouldn't lose more then 2-3 turns tho, especially on higher difficulties.

 

[Ikas]

Mountain>Coast>Hill>River

That's generally my priority.

 

[TomKQT]

I used to restart to get better starting position (ocean, river etc.) and (mis)use save at the start a lot - scout with both my settler and warrior, find the best place, reload and go right there to settle as soon as possible. Of course never a lot of turns away

But nowadays I somehow take it as a challenge - "play with what you get". I settle immediately and try to adapt to the location.
My last two games had very slow start because I was in a deep jungle and also all luxury resources were on jungle tiles and needed plantations (calendar). That's quite a lot of techs needed to be able to improve them, and for example the path that leads to the tech that allows you you remove jungle is at a very low priority for me, usually.

 

[evilcat]

So far i only once reloaded for better start position, but it was some turn after since the one i got, was just horrible boring.

Other than that i generally settle when i spawn, sometimes not everything is visible at first glance, and after few turns some iron or pearls shows visible and it is doable. It may however influence Tradicion vs Liberty opening.