Something's very wrong with Civ placement

[Willem]

I've reduced Deserts and Jungles by 10% each, pushed Tundra and Ice north/south by one degree of latitude, decreased the number of civs to 10 in a Huge game, and increased the Huge map size to something like 38 X 26. Yet still I start a game having another civ being placed only 3 squares away. It's getting downright ridiculous. I keep increasing the map size everytime I have a game where a civ is clearly not placed at the default distance as set out in GlobalDefines.xml. And at the rate I'm going I'm going to end up with a map so large my computer won't be able to handle it. It's really starting to p*** me off.

[Jaybe]

I always play huge/noble/marathon, and I

Originally posted by Willem
... Yet still I start a game having another civ being placed only 3 squares away....

I always play huge/noble/marathon. I have NEVER seen another civ start nearly so close. Is it because of the difficulty level you play, or is it because of some modification you have made?

In Assets/XML/GameInfo/HandicapInfo.xml,
iStartingLocPercent =40 at Noble.
I don't know if that determines potential "proximity" or not. See what happens if you lower yours at your difficulty (assuming you play at a higher level).

I trust you know to work off a copy in your CustomAssets folder.

[Qwertqwert]

I remember playing 1 game, twice the size of Huge, and started extreemally close to Montezuma. Thankfully I had a warrior and Monty only had a scout so I whiped him out by 3900BC. I posted about it somewhere around here.

[MightyTiny]

I also never see that close placement - I did have a game once where my closest neighbour was something like 10 squares away on a large map.

But really, that's a good position to start from! Just aim at an early attack against that neighbour, and eliminate him from the game. Not only do you get his capital (and other cities if he's had time to found them), but with you two being so close to each other, it's quite likely that there aren't other neighbours anywhere near - you then have the space of two civs to expand and explore.

I also play marathon exclusively, and on large maps, close civ placement is very rare, especially if I reduce the number of opponents.

[Will9]

I once had three people 4 squares away and another 3 squares away. (Deul 18 civ)

[DrSpike]

I remember you said this before and most people said they did not face the same problem. If you have made modification maybe you should check them, as in all the games I have played I have never started 3 squares from another civ.

[LordShiva]

Meh, it just means your army doesn't need to walk as far.

[Adagio]

Originally posted by Willem
Yet still I start a game having another civ being placed only 3 squares away.

I believe the closest I've ever been to an enemy the first turn is like 7-10 squares away (if we ignore the 18 civs dual map game )

[Willem]

Originally posted by Jaybe

I always play huge/noble/marathon. I have NEVER seen another civ start nearly so close. Is it because of the difficulty level you play, or is it because of some modification you have made?

In Assets/XML/GameInfo/HandicapInfo.xml,
iStartingLocPercent =40 at Noble.
I don't know if that determines potential "proximity" or not. See what happens if you lower yours at your difficulty (assuming you play at a higher level).

I trust you know to work off a copy in your CustomAssets folder.

I play with the same settings, and the only real modifications I've made have been to reduce the amount of useless land and make the map larger. So there should be no excuse for a 3 square away start. As it turns out, I didn't have my altered map generator file in my Custom Assets folder at the time this happened but still, with a map size of 39 X 27 and only 10 civs, there sholud no way I could start that close to someone else. I started another game later and had a civ start 7 squares away. In Global Defines, the minimum distance is 10 squares with a 12% increase according to map size. On a Huge map, that should be a minimum of 16 squares. Yet I regularly see civs that are much closer than that if I have a look in the World Builder. That's why I ended up with such a large map size. I've had this problem since the game first came out, though it seems to have gotten worse in Warlords.

[Willem]

Originally posted by LordShiva
Meh, it just means your army doesn't need to walk as far.

It takes away some of the challenge having a start like that. The civ I started near was Persia so after Cyrus' Scout went off exploring, my Warrior took him out of the game within 3 turns. That's way too easy IMO.

[I_pity_the_fool]

Rather like this unfortunate pair, eh?

[Willem]

It wasn't even like that, there was no peninsula they had to go around. If you count the squares around that isthmus, you'd still end up with a respectable distance apart.

[Guynemer]

I have not altered my game at all, and I had a similar experience on my last random marathon/huge/noble start.

I (Persia) was on a small peninsula, Korea was 7 squares away on the isthmus that connected my peninsula to the bulk of the continent, and Egypt started another 3 squares away from Korea on the far side of the isthmus.


You can't tell by the picture below, but this was a Shuffle map that produced two gigantic continents, nearly stretching from pole to pole. Germany had the NE side of the continent all to themselves, and Carthage started out far to the South, without any constraints.

[Guynemer]

.

[I_pity_the_fool]

I've tried to catch civs that I know start with a scout without any garrison in their capital cities. Just as I move into take their capital city, a warrior appears.

If I didn't know better, I'd think one was provided for the AI in blatant contravention of the rules!