Starting a game

[dregor]

When you start a game, do you settle right where the game places you, or do you look around first and sacrifice a few turns?

[Smellycowsquid]

Hmmm, usually I settle, but if you are playing Marathon or epic, and want to look for a better site, the few turns you sacrifice can be made up for, if it is a good site.

[Nugog]

Originally posted by Smellycowsquid
Hmmm, usually I settle, but if you are playing Marathon or epic, and want to look for a better site, the few turns you sacrifice can be made up for, if it is a good site.

It's pretty rare to find a better site quickly IMO

[Metaliturtle]

Yeah, I haven't had a starting city site that didn't have 4+ resources eventually (like hidden oil or aluminum etc) only time I move is to get next to a river or ocean.

[rjwoer]

I agree. Most of the time I settle immediately. Very rarely I'll move a space or two if it puts me on the coast or next to a river.

[Six Thousand Year Old Man]

I usually settle right away. I can't think of a time I've really regretted it - i.e. I haven't found better land close by in subsequent turns.

[Bkeela]

In Alpha Centauri I would rarely settle at my starting position, but Civ IV I'm the opposite.

[VonSharma]

Yeah that's a good question. In civ3, I would always move to be next to a river or lake if it was within 1-2 squares. I might take 1-2 moves for the first settler in civ4, but that does run the risk of delayin getting Buddhism or Hinduism.

I haven't played civ4 as much (due to time, not cause it doesn't rule)... would you guys say it makes much of a difference starting on a river or by a lake as opposed to a few tiles away (bein that there is no growth constraints other than unhealth/happyiness)?

[Will9]

I would move as long as it takes less than a turn. If I'm not playing as Rome, which rarely happens, I would settle in the second turn.

[fani]

Settle right away...except in rare cases and in such cases rarely more than a turn lost....

[Bobby Chicken]

I move to get next to water or to make use of a hills/plains. No more than 1 turn delay though.

[Snotty]

I will often move if i can put my city on a defensable plains hill, or into a bend or a u-turn in a river.

I wont waste more than 1 turn moving though

[Azuarc]

Move your warrior/scout first usually. If you have a scout, sometimes the two-movement can actually uncover something decent.

Rarely, though. Usually your starting place is as good as it's gonna get, plus or minus wiggling one space.

[Adagio]

In 90% of my games I settle in the same spot I start, but in the very few cases where I can see a better spot within a turns walk of my settler I move to that spot (which is mostly situations when my settler is one tile away from a coast)

[Nugog]

Originally posted by Azuarc
Move your warrior/scout first usually. If you have a scout, sometimes the two-movement can actually uncover something decent.

DOH!

Sometimes it amazes me the obvious things I've not thought of