One Settler: Build or Explore 1st?

[Didymus]

I recently started my second game on Very Hard. (I quit my first after the Barb AI finished Ramayana w/o any warning. The Ramayana is one of my must-have wonders.)

Having had trouble with my slow start, I decided to explore with my settler before plunking down a city. So I popped a couple huts, got a nomad and a hoplite, and then settled down.

Now, it probably didn't matter, long-term, because I was alone on the second largest continent in the game. But this seems about the only way to make up for the slow start of having only one settler.

Do other people do this, or am I weird?

[This message has been edited by Didymus (edited December 15, 2000).]

[Dave Boshko]

I like exploring then hitting reload
but seriously if the goody huts are close by you can find em pretty quick with your first warrior

[Prince_Vegeta]

My last game I spent some time (maybe ten turns) using my settler to expore and find the best terrain to build on. I actually did better in that game than i'm doing in my present one.

[Dominous Nemo]

I try to find the best spot for the settler but if I can't find a highly productive land within at least 10 moves I settle for the best of what I can see.

[MrFun]

If I do not find a productive starting point for my first city within four moves, I quit and start on a new random map.

[rwz]

Ive been pretty lucky, Ive always been able to settle within about 2 turns in a passable location. Two games ago I founded Rome and then found I was in a small clearing surrounded mostly by tundra. I was going to restart but decided to give it a few turns. I was soon able to find the Americans, trash them, and from their fat citys go on to world domination.
I read some where for Civ2 that you should found your 1st city on your first turn no matter what. That you can never recoup the turns spent wandering. I usually follow that advice.

[phoenixcager]

I tend to vary between explring in the first few moves and settling down almost immediately.
Depends on what kind of terrain I start on. I don't particularly look for an extremely good spot, though.

[Alpha Wolf]

I'll explore for a few turns hoping to find a hut or 2. You are only safe from barbarians for 20 turns, so you have to be settled and defended by then.

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History is written by the victor.

[Dragonfly]

I usually save my game immediately, build right where my settler is, and explore with warriors for about 20 turns. Knowing where your settler started, pick a better spot is there is one, then reload and go there, and then on with the rest of the game.

[marcuspeddle]

Hmmm, when I read posts by players who say they've beaten the AI on impossible and the game is too easy I always think to myself, "Am I stupid? The middle levels are a challenge for me." Now I see that some (many?) players make sure everything is in their favour at the beginning of the game or they start over. Or, they use the reload option to start again after exploring. I don't do these things because I enjoy the challenge of being stuck in a rotten place and then trying to make a decent nation despite the odds or the unknown. Also, I don't play to win (I'm not a competitive person by nature); I play to make the best civilisation I can under hostile conditions. But that's just me.

[Ioannes]

Personally, I also settle ASAP. From my experience in CTP I could still beat the AI on Deity level using my resources efficiently. I'm trying to finish a 16 player Gigantic Map Very Hard game now with out having to restart. I'm very much in the lead with out any challengers. The struggle I'm having is staying interested in a game that I have already beaten. I'm going to try to approach Conquering the World and Science victory equally and see what happens. Waiting for 190 turn will be a struggle.
Ioannes

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[Didymus]

Anatolia:

I'm not as eager to reload/restart as my comments may have made me seem. I folded partly because it was my first game on Very Hard; partly because I got NO warning about the Barbs nearing completeion on the Ramayana (when I could have bought it the previous turn ); but also largely because my strategic position was dismal. I would have needed to take out the Americans, with whom I was sharing a medium-sized half-artic continent. And all the nearby landmasses were settled.

The only time I explore then reload is when I am trying to beat Diety, or OCC. Neither of which I have ever managed to do.

[This message has been edited by Didymus (edited December 18, 2000).]

[mananath]

I like to settle within the first 2 turns. Preferably on or near a river. The only exception to this is if a hut is visibile immediately. I will then build a warrior and immediately send him out of the city to explore. Keep in mind, i usually dont' play with barbarians so this isn't to big of a deal.
-mike

[Dale]

I like to plonk my city down within 5 turns (should know what's around the starting spot by then). If after you can build the capital and your capital is in a crap location, then rebuild to a new city, rip up your starting city and move the settler somewhere else. All that city should be doing at the start is building settlers and units anyway, so you can disband it. That way you get the best of both worlds. Good city locations, but no loss on turns without a city.

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Rommell to a sub-commander outside Tobruk: "Those Australians are in there somewhere. But where? Let's advance and wait till they shoot, then shoot back."

[JC Denton]

1) i played my third game now and i've never seen those huts you guys are talking about. yeah, i know what they are supposed to look like and i could find really a lot of those in Civ2, but i've never encountered one. is there an option to turn it on?

2) i ALWAYS build a city right where i start the game (unless it is a complete desert, a swamp or a tundra) cuz that way you are the first one to start building those wonders and i hate when AI nations build wonders

3) i don't usually play on really high levels cuz it's no fun to play for 6 hours and then losing at the end. it's ok in racing games where a match is only 5 minutes long but not here. maybe after i gain some knowledge and find out good unit combinations (tactics), i will move on to higher diff levels


[This message has been edited by JC Denton (edited December 28, 2000).]