Why am I always next to the same Civs?

[Pembleton]

Does this annoy anyone else? I have started my third game (the first 2 going unfinished) with the French and I have encountered the English AGAIN.

When I played the Indians I was always next to the Chinese. Is there any way I can prevent this other than choosing the civs intentionally and making sure not to pick the English as an AI civ?

Could anyone make a mod that could fix this? Why does it have to be the same civ that I fight first every time?

[Malkuth]

Because those are the civs they were by in real life. Too bad though on the Earth Map they didnt put everyone in the Right place.

[General Ludd]

Re: Why am I always next to the same Civs?

Originally posted by Pembleton
Does this annoy anyone else?

Yes.

Is there any way I can prevent this other than choosing the civs intentionally and making sure not to pick the English as an AI civ?

You'll still get placed by the same civs, provided that you chose them.

For example, playing as china, if you pick russia and america among other civs, you will always be placed beside russia and america

[Grumbold]

It is a "feature" that civs of the same cultural groups tend to clump together. Once the full fledged editor is available it should be a doddle to switch cultural groupings around or experiment putting everyone in the same group etc.

[Pembleton]

Originally posted by Malkuth
Because those are the civs they were by in real life.

Well gee. Why are you smater than me? I couldn't figure this out by myself. My question was rhetorical. Sorry to be snappy but I was just about to start a new game until this really pissed me off.

[Stuie]

Re: Why am I always next to the same Civs?

Originally posted by Pembleton
Does this annoy anyone else? I have started my third game (the first 2 going unfinished) with the French and I have encountered the English AGAIN.

When I played the Indians I was always next to the Chinese. Is there any way I can prevent this other than choosing the civs intentionally and making sure not to pick the English as an AI civ?

Could anyone make a mod that could fix this? Why does it have to be the same civ that I fight first every time?

It is annoying, and something I identified early on that could severely limit replayability if not corrected.

Civs are currently placed near other civs in the same Culture group (same color rows on this chart: http://www.civ3.com/devupdates/abilitiespopup.cfm). So, for instance, the Russians/English/French/Germans will always be in close proximity to each other.

Now one thing this does is cause most of your neighbors to get their unique units about the same time you do. Notice the UUs are grouped:

Aztecs/Iroquois/Americans: Ancient (except the Americans - they are my exception to the rule)
Russians/English/French/Germans: Industrial (I know, the French are actually Middle Ages)
Greeks/Romans/Egyptians: Ancient
Babylonians/Persians/Zulus: Ancient
Indians/Japanese/Chinese: Middle Ages

So there is some rational for the grouping: Not giving one civ the UU advantage over their immediate neighbor. But that's pretty weak in my mind.

[General Ludd]

You don't always get grouped with the same culture group, it depends on how you set the game up, if all the civs are random, you do start with your culture group, and almost every time you will get the exact same set of civs playing, if you chose them your self, you will still get stuck with certain civs, even if they are not of your culture group (China, Russia, and America, for example)

[Guynemer]

This does NOT happen all the time. I haven't had much time to play, only on my second game, but I'm playing the French on a huge random map with the full compliment of civs. My closest neighbors were the Indians to my north, and the Iroquois to the south. To the west, the ocean; the east, a vast uninhabited (at least initially) jungle. Right next to the Iroquois, boxed off on a peninsula, were the Persians. The Romans were bordered by the Babylonians and the Chinese. The Germans were clear across the one massive continent from me, stuck between the Egyptians and the Americans.

I've also seen the AI fight wars amongst themselves in this game. Virtually everyone ganged up on the Germans, and then turned their attention to the Aztecs (who had major borders with the Russians and the English). The AI was also open to diplomacy in regards to war, as I convinced the world to gang up on the Chinese and Zulu.

[Yohan]

Hmm... I've played 2 games as the Egyptians. Both times the Greeks were up north and the Romans were south. Coincidence?

[G.A]

Yes, coincidence

I play as Greece, and Romans are North and Egypt are South...

Lame, I know

[Stuie]

Well, I ran a quick experiment and switched the Romans to the "American" culture group then started a game with 16 civs. My neighbors: The Aztecs and the Germans. Guess that's pretty inconclusive.

[Sevorak]

I agree with Stuie. This not only can, but most certainly will limit replayability. I liked that feeling in Civ2 wondering which enemy civs were where, and they weren't even different back then. Now that they're different, this forced cultural grouping eliminates the "every game is different" feel and limits strategy to just learning how to deal with the civs that you "know" you will be grouped with.

-Sev

[narmox]

the "Communications with..." exchange too I'm starting to hate. I don't want to know all the world map too soon, from people on the other end of the world. I don't want them knowing my maps too soon either It's just not realistic enough until more modern techs (maybe this should be available only with electricity?). I liked the feeling of actually going out and exploring, meeting new civs, making some alliances with them before my neighbours knew about them, etc...

And I agree too that in the long term, always having the same civs nearby is going to get boring

[Comrade Tribune]

I agree: There should be an option to totally randomize the starting places of all Civs.

I also agree: It is now too easy to get a complete world map.

[GNGSpam]

My last 3 games

Huge Map
Pangea
16 Civs
Im the Aztecs
Im by America, Japan and India

Huge Map
Pangea
16 Civs
Im the Zulus
Im by the Persians and Babylonians

Huge Map
Pangea
16 Civs
Im the English
Im by the Chinese, Japanese, French, Greeks and Egyptians

While the probability seems to be increased that im near certain rivals (England/France) it doesnt seem set in stone.

Also of note. Rome is on the otherside of the map as Greece in the English game as is Germany on the otherside of the map as France and myself. Ironically though, France and Germany DID ally together against me