Devel's Workshop III - Surviving Sub-Par Starts

[bobshiznit]

I vote for number 3. It looks like the type of terain I've seen in playing some of my games. Not much you can do besides founding another city.

[-SafaN-]

http://home.scarlet.be/~bc087677/atzek,%20bad%20start.Civ4SavedGame

[binTravkin]

Game IV - that's really one ultra sub par..

[Vulcanis]

I voted game IV, I want to try it out, and it looks to be the worst of the starts, IMO, but Game VI would be interesting too with all those jungles around it

[xxFlukexx]

Originally posted by -SafaN-
i got a real interesting sub-par start! I was trying a atzek jag rush, and ended up in a very bad place. At first it seems ok, certainly with the stone, but in 10 turns u'll know what i mean. Even if u don' t take it for the workshop, i want to see how u will manage this one.

ps yes the blue u see on the other side of the island is also ocean

Well, that's not so much a bad start as it is a continent start. Continents are like that, sometimes you get really unlucky and start on a small bad terrain island. This is what happens in your game, but it is still savagable (I am playing it right now)

It doesn't take more than 10 turns to figure out you are alone on an island so I immediately cancel my jag rush plans and I switched to researching Hindy. Our terrain is bad, but we have stone in our fat cross, so we are gonna get our moneys worth out of it. I grab Hindy and start on Stonehenge and research mining then masonry. I grab the pyramids and stonehenge and swtich to representation and slavery (do it asap as you are spiritual)

Then I went for Organized religion and Judaism which I think was mistake #1 for me. Founding lots of religions is bad, as you want the AIs to have a good shot at getting different religions so they will fight. I get 2 cities, one beyond that jungle and one to the east of my cap. I build some of the Parthenon and a bit of the Great Lighthouse and get about 800 gold that way so I can vamp my reserach back to 100% and take the loss in gold. Somewhere in here my prophet spawns and I *settle* him in my cap. This is important, do not make the shrine, a great prophet gives me 2 hammers, 5 gold and 3 science, much better than +1 great prophet points and maybe 2-3 gold from the shrine.

Mistake #2 for me was not getting the Great Lighthouse. By the time I remembered that the GL gets a bonus from stone it was too late. but a smarter person should definetly be able to get it. By making all of your cities costal and using the GL you can get some good cash, not as much as if you had a trading partner, but any extra cash is worth it. I did manage to get the Great Library(chopping most of my remainding trees) which is a big research boost under Representation and that is the wonder you want to shoot for after the Great Lighthouse.

After this you want to shoot for Code of Laws to get courthouses and settle the rest of your continent. Then you go through a dark ages of sorts. You can't trade with anyone and all the other AIs are trading, which is very bad. By the time Mansa said hello I was far behind. But I chugged along and grabbed Civil Service for irrigation spread and Bureaucracy. Then I beelined for caravels and then Astronomy. Even though it was something like 55 turns to get Astronomy, it is worth it, I can now trade resources with AIs and get trade routes up. I also traded the Astronomy tech and am pretty much caught up in tech:





Score is pretty bad, but we are better than Roosevelt and Tokugawa who have been beatned down somewhat. Plan now is to expand to that newly small island and perhaps invade either Japan or America and get a foothold on the main continent. A space race victory is possible, but not too promising, our hammer production is good, but not where I'd like it to be, too many coast tiles in our cities.

[The keeper]

I just got the worst start I have ever seen. It makes the tundra start look like paradise. I saw it, and then started a new game immediately.


I started on a flood plain. I had 6 flood plain squares. 1 grassland and 1 hill. The rest were desert. I started with 8 useable squares!!

[Velociryx]

Dang! Any way to recover that save!? Guys, if you get stuff like this...save them and we'll put them on file!

-=Vel=-

[Crossfire]

Let's see, 6 floodplains = 42 commerce + 3 GPs; farm the grass and build the mine. Not too bad for a first city. Just make sure you settle a production powerhouse next. I have had way worse starts than that!

[Vulcanis]

I don't understand why people always seem to hate flood plains starts? they give a little negative health, but they are great for early growth and commerce(if you get pottery fast)

[arvcran]

Flood plains rock with plains hills or better yet gold in hills ;-) - oh and vive me some forests too ;-). Fortunately they took out the nasty illnesses CIV III used to have in jungle or flood plain cities.

[arvcran]

First city needs production and food.

I cannot remember ever starting without fresh water but lake starts are worse than river ones.

Even with a great first city site you may end up being surrounded by other civs which can be annoying when they manage to steal your resources. So speed is important hence the need for high food and hammer production.

BTW Vel I have had many reads of your posts and commend your skills and talents in content and writing skills - I hope you have returned to good health. I look forward to your posts.

[The keeper]

I guess I failed to mention there was NOTHING else there. I had a river in the middle of a huge desert.


I was unable to recover that save, but I do have another interesting save.

Playing monarch, continents, Gandhi. I start at the northern side of a decently sized continent. I am the only one on the continent. No copper on the continent. You can get contact with Montazuma across a little piece of ocean. I have played this one out twice and twice have failed.

If you want to use it for the bad start OR starting on an island, it is available.

[Swiss Pauli]

Looks like Game IV wins...and I could do with some tips as I managed to completely mess up my dodgy starts so far!

[gus_smedstad]

The way I see it, Vel could have done a Workshop on every one of those starts in the time we've taken debating which one is worst.

- Gus

[Velociryx]

And he prolly will, too! Been putting the finishing touches on another workshop tho, while these conversations have been ongoing.

It'll be wrapped up soon and posted!

-=Vel=-