Which spot for capital?

[ehampton2]

I haven't moved my warrior yet. Stay there or settle on the hill to the left?

 

[InsanelyApple]

I'd personally stay so you could build an observatory. Plus, you could always build a windmill later.

 

[DaveMcW]

The amount of effort and luck required to beat the map generator is enormous.

Always settle in place, and find some more useful strategies.

 

[VilePilot]

It depends on what kind of victory you are aiming for. Conventional wisdom says to place the city next to the mountain at all cost for the 50% science, but if you are aiming for a domination victory a starting location that gives you an early advantage might be the best course of action.

 

[sufficiency]

This is Immortal, right?

I would just settle in place.

 

[Shafi-is-back]

Mountain and river with Babylon - I would defintely Settle in place.

 

[guinsoo]

I guess I'm the contrarian voice here.

I'd settle on the hill to the west - it puts a wheat in the first ring, and a wheat in the second (as opposed to 2nd and 3rd), plus you get the copper in the third ring in case there's nothing over that way.

Settling in place leaves you only 1f tiles in the first ring... so you'd have to work a hill sheep until you got 50 gold. Lots of suboptimal tiles to the E. The more I look at this start, the more certain I am I'd move onto the river hill.

EDIT: Oh, and move your warrior before you decide! There's not a ton of information to be gleaned, but you never know

 

[The Pilgrim]

I guess I'm the contrarian voice here.

You're not alone. Warrior to forested hill just in case and settle 1W. I don't like going science with starts like this and for domination riverside hill will definitely be stronger.

 

[VilePilot]

I guess I'm the contrarian voice here.

That's what I would suggest doing something like if you are playing for a domination or diplo victory or a science victory with puppets.

 

[digrosz]

I would settle on the hill to get some of dat early production

 

[budweiser]

IMO this is one of the best kind of starts you can get. I would settle in place and use the observatory as Babylon. Sometimes you have to play the map.

 

[azzaman333]

You're Babylon, so you'll almost certainly be plopping an Academy down by your capital. Means the Observatory will be more valuable.

If you were almost any other civ, I'd advocate moving to the hill 1W.

 

[kaspergm]

The amount of effort and luck required to beat the map generator is enormous.

Well that depends on how you see it. On higher difficulty levels at least, there is a tendency for one or more luxury/bonus resources to always appear in 4th ring just out of reach for your starting position, and more games than not, when I come further into the game I realize I would have been better off settling one or two spots in one direction off the starting spot. Problem is it's very hard to get the full overview in the first two turns, so in that respect you are right, that it does take some luck to locate the perfect starting spot with the information given.

I would settle in place in this case.

 

[kirbdog]

I really appreciate the spirit of what Dave had to say. Yes, sometimes you can scout with your warrior on turn 0 and know with some probability that there is a better spot. That is strategy. But so many players are re-rolling maps or restarting turn 0 in order to "beat the map generator." That's going for luck over strategy, in the same way going for the Great Library and reloading on failure would be. The game can be deeper and more fun if the player weans off stuff like that.

(This is part of why the HoF is less fun than the actual game, or GotM/challenges, IMO.)

It may have been a bit misdirected though. The OP doesn't seem to be asking for answers based on hidden information or risk-taking.

 

[Poomermon]

I would definitely move the warrior first to gain extra information. There is no reason not to do that. That said I really like settling on resources so I would consider just settling on wine to get quick cash boost when you hit calendar. You also get wheat right away which accelerates growth. Then again this is babylon as others have said so observatory is extra nice to have.

Bit aside the point: I would probably try to build hanging gardens here as you are low on food and have lots of hills to work with. Maybe even great library if you are feeling greedy and not playing deity.

 

[anthropophage]

Settle where you are. If you work the wine tile you can buy that wheat on turn eight.

 

[dpunk]

If I were going to science VC I would settle on current location. Otherwise, I would settle on hill.