Bad Starting Positions: Restart or play on?

[-proletarian-]

Originally posted by The_Aussie_Lurker
Well, I ALWAYS stick it out to the bitter end becuase I reckon "Hell, if the real-life Egyptians could make a go of a DESERT, then I can't complain!" .
What surprises me, though, is that no-one has voted for "whines that Civ3 sucks" option, given the number of people who do claim it sucks here on the forum! .

Yours,
The_Aussie_Lurker.

Sorry to throw a spanner into your argument, but 2500 years ago Egypt was a lush tropical landscape.



There is extensive water erosion on the sphinx, a sign of regular rainfall, something that doesn't exist in the are nowadays. Add to that the fact that heiroglyphics (sp?) show animals that no longer reside in the area, and would need a lush environment to survive in. Plus, well, there is their written history that tells us what Egypt was like back then.....

[jshelr]

So, was Moses crossing a desert or not?

[Catt]

Originally posted by -proletarian-
Sorry to throw a spanner into your argument, but 2500 years ago Egypt was a lush tropical landscape.

I'm not sure you could ever call it a lush tropical paradise. For thousands of years, virtually the enitre Egyptian population has lived along the banks of the Nile or in the delta -- outside of a narrow corridor along both sides of the Nile, desert ruled and rules.

Even today the Nile River Delta area -- north of Cairo where the Nile fans out into a delta -- is pretty green, especially considering most people think of Egypt as all sand. Also, even today, the banks of the Nile (for several miles deep on each side) are often quite green and vegetated -- and this after the building of the Aswan Dam which eliminated the annual flooding along the Nile (an important source of plant nutrients, not just water). Though I don't claim any particular expertise on ancient Egyptian weather patterns and geography, it seems to me that the Nile (and virtually the Nile alone) has made Egypt hospitable to man for thousands of years -- and only with close proximity to the Nile were there areas that might be called "lush."

Catt

[Alex]

Catt is right. That's why Herodotus called Egypt "a gift from the Nile".

[aaglo]

Bad starting locations are challenging, but I also think of them as 'annoying'.

I had this one game, which some of you may find not bad at all. Well, it really isn't that bad in the beginning. Lots of grassland.
But I was the only player in this tiny continent (or a large island). There were NO rivers and NO hills. Only two mountains in the tundra.
And all the five islands/minicontinets I've so far found had only one luxury and one iron. Great.

Here's a zoomed-out pic...

[aaglo]

Oh, and I was playing the japanese, so my military trait came to be really handy

Here's a mini-map of the world a couple of turns later, when I met all other civs... my capitol has a red dot on it.

It's not very good anymore for me.

I don't have enough productive cities...

[MyOlde]

I must start on a river.

BTW, aago, I kind of like your little islands. Looks interesting but you have a point.

BTW again: do you never irrigate tiles?

[aaglo]

Yes I do. But I had no other means of making shields, so that's why I mined them all. Not the one single cow included (which is irrigated) under the name Tokyo.

[Alex]

Why haven't you connected silks to your trade network? You have four silks in your main island, including the one at the southern tip (south of Nagasaki).

[badams52]

I enjoy REXing the most when playing civ, so I often restart until after the REX phase, the game seems interesting. My starting point is irrelevant, though rivers are nice.

[TheArsenal]

I am not good enough to compensate for a lot of terrible terrain or a very small island. But since I play on a huge map setting, I will explore and expand a good while before starting over.

[Panag]

hi ,

well moving a couple tiles can improve things , .....

if it still sucks then the plug is pulled , .....

have a nice day

[Japher]

Banana!!!

[Odin]

I play on unless I find I'm stuck in a huge jungle, surrounded by mountains, or have no way to irrigate my early cities.

[pedrojedi]

It depends on how bad the terrain is, for me. If it is lots of Tundra or Mountains, ba-bye. But, a desert becomes a little more interesting, specially because 95% of my games I have a start position on a river, and at least 80% are inland and not on beach coast.