Tundra

[vee4473]

If you start a game in an area surrounded by tundra, is there ANY way to survive?

I hate to re-start because I don't like the terrain, but.....DAMN!

[Swissy]

Your going to need at least one game square or you willl not be able to make a settler. If you have no game adjacent of within the first culture border jump, search a bit to find one.

[Platypus]

The fourth tournament had a start in the tundra. What most players did was hike the first settler towards the equator (using the position in the minimap to determine which direction that was) and found the first city in better territory.

I had never played such a tough starting position, and was pleasantly surprised to find it wasn't too hard to overcome. It took 8-10 turns to find some non-mountain, non-tundra terrain, to found the first city. From there, I went into the usual expand, explore mode and didn't feel too badly handicapped.

If you've already founded your first city on the tundra and you have a small amount of growth, you want to keep it for a short while and then dispand it, and get your capital auto-magically moved to one of your other (hopefully better situated) cities. If you've got no growth at all, you'll probably have to disband the city and move your settler to a better location.

[Thrawn05]

Originally posted by Platypus
It took 8-10 turns to find some non-mountain, non-tundra terrain, to found the first city. From there, I went into the usual expand, explore mode and didn't feel too badly handicapped.

Damn son, usually if I don't my capital withing the first or second turn, I get slaughtered by some other civ. There was one time I looked for about 5 turns for a good site to plant my city, an a damn persian warrior captured my only settler and worker. That was the end for me. Caesar the worthless was an UNDERSTATEMENT when it came time rack up score.

[vee4473]

I should have clarified...I didn't start on a continent where i could just trek until i found non-tundra land.

I started on an island that had only enough non-tundra for two cities, the rest was ALL tundra, and having no ships yet, i couldn't found elsewhere. (even when i got my early ships, i kept losing my settlers to ships that foundered in ocean squares)

Now, once i could build harbors, the food problem was alleviated in coastal cities.

But, inland cities were screwed.

I miss the "transform to" command for workers.

Do workers ever get the ability to transform land?

[Dom Pedro II]

Well, starting on only tundra is usually fatal, but you can build quite a northern empire if you know what to do.

Building cities near water on forested tundra squares is good. Look for Game, Fish, or Whales for the extra push. Then wait until Engineering is discovered and just plant forests EVERYWHERE. The city will have at least some value then. I mean, you shouldn't have the core of your empire in all tundra, but far northern territories don't have to be the fringes either.