Fight to the bitter end or call it quits at the start

[JereL]

I've been starting emperor games now that I finally got enough experience in beating the game at monarch.
Sometimes the starting loc is just downright lousy, so much so that it almost guarantees that you won't be in the race to win the game in the end. I played a few games into something like 1000 AD even though it was clear that it would be very difficult to win. At that point it's usually clear if one or several AIs are well ahead in tech and have knocked an AI or two out of the game and so are usually also ahead or close in land area and pop.
I have yet to win an emperor game, the closest one was with me playing the Celts but alas, the slightly smaller but more advanced India managed to get in front. They were about to start building their SS and I had not yet even researched those techs so I made a last ditch invasion to grab enough land and pop for a domination victory but India's mech inf was too much for my tanks and I admitted defeat. Maybe I need to work on my REXing, I keep losing unescorted settlers to sneaky hiding barbarians x)

So how many of you people actually choose to try to beat the odds and see how far you can go and how many choose New game from the menu after you see that yes, the island is just an endless morass of jungle and wetlands with the occasional mountain thrown in there?

[Dauphin]

In single player I would tend to start again if my immediate lands are poor.

In MP I stick it out no matter how crap the land is, because there are more options on strategy and more ways to be a nuisance to the big boys.

[Solver]

Never restarted a game of Civ because of the starting location. And my most satisfying wins ever have to come from the times when I spent the early part of the game trying to get over the terrible terrain, when for most of the game I wasn't anywhere near the first-rank world powers, but managed to survive that, and somehow got myself to win.

[bob rulz]

If I have a bad starting position I usually end up playing a bit, and if it doesn't go well I just start a new game. However, I save almost every game I play just in case I want to go back and try it again.

[Dis]

my recent game I quit I had no access to Iron, and had a largely jungle starting area. I had good resources, but the jungle was slowing me down. I was India, so I could build war elephants. but I would never be able to build factories without iron.

I usually don't just quit. I retire. Which is essentually the same I guess. I just wish I would get the winning screen when I have more points

[zorbop]

I usually play the bad starts, unless i am playing on sid.

[Vince278]

I always restart on bad starts. I once remember restarting about 30 times in a row before I was happy. I've done this in MOO3 too.

[JereL]

A river with grassland around it is a huge boost for research in the beginning.

One other thing I've noticed is that the AI seems to know where the iron deposits and horses and such are GOING to be, even when he doesn't have iron working or the wheel etc. Same goes for far away islands. Do AI galleys ever sink in non-coastal waters? I've tried to block the AI by putting my own ships into the coastal waters so he has to stop in non-coastal but he doesn't seem to mind.

[Last Conformist]

Never quit a game just because a poor start loc.

[Kropotkin]

A couple of guys are obviously lying!

[Dauphin]

I've had a start before where all lands within immediate vicinity were mountains, tundra or forested tundra - I did have a fish resource in one the coastal squares though. Its starts like this that make it hard for me to believe anyone would choose to carry on no matter what the terrain start.

[spy14]

I dont have enough time in life to play lots and lots of loser games - espec as I prefer modern era

[Kloreep]

Originally posted by Dauphin
I've had a start before where all lands within immediate vicinity were mountains, tundra or forested tundra - I did have a fish resource in one the coastal squares though. Its starts like this that make it hard for me to believe anyone would choose to carry on no matter what the terrain start.

Yeah, I don't try to carry on with starts like those. I demand a decent amount of potentially 2 food tiles at least.

But if you want to see such a start played out, check out this thread

Edit: Hmm, the images are gone. That kind of ruins it.

[Robert]

I try to have a good start.
On demigod level you make no change with a bad start.

[MrWhereItsAt]

Originally posted by Kloreep

But if you want to see such a start played out, check out this thread

Edit: Hmm, the images are gone. That kind of ruins it.

A shame, but just think of a start on a reasonable-sized iceberg. I mean it. Almost nothing but tundra, with a few fish etc around and Mtns + hills. And he did it too.

That's why I'm paying VERY close attention to Aeson's advice in the SPDG.