Best Start ever??

Worthingtons · April 4, 2003, 00:21

Take a look at this folks, I know it's not cow filled Grassland exactly, But in a luxury sense can you get any better??

You'll notice London with all the cows, well that incense is right next to it, a couple of furs to the north west, and to the extreme west you'll notice there's a patch of spices!!! - Up North is mainly grassland with No AI around, and to the East is a beutiful Coast to fill.
Only problem is I got Lincoln down there, and apparently he's got 4 cities already

(I give the AI a few free workers to combat my REXing).

I'll keep you posted, but this is about the best starting posistion I have ever had.

Worthingtons · April 4, 2003, 00:25

Here it is, didnt seem to work last time...

Jarvin · April 4, 2003, 05:51

London didnt show up...

Worthingtons · April 4, 2003, 06:35

What am i talking about , I meant with all the wines (there's more just off the edge of the screen.

yxhuvud · April 4, 2003, 08:03

No offense, but while that was a good start, it wasn't phenomenal.

The best start I remember was, playing the persians, and getting six or seven cows on grassland + river, between the first city and the second city, with like 3 tiles between..

And to make it even more silly, the first city also had iron within its perimeter..

Arrian · April 4, 2003, 09:59

Why did you mine the plains cow? Under despotism, that mine has no effect. Irrigate it.

-Arrian

Worthingtons · April 4, 2003, 11:19

yxhuvud - Guess it comes down to the poll in the other thread, some want cows on rivers, some like Luxuries.

Arrian - I was waiting for something like this, i was expecting my road to somehow come under fire but didnt realise what i did with the mine. My problem is that I'm always bothered about irrigating grassland but forget it applies to shields&mines too :s

Yahweh Sabaoth · April 4, 2003, 11:54

Maybe I'm a picky person. I definitely wouldn't put this as an ideal starting location. When I'm playing a civ that I know I might struggle with (militaristic and expansionist in particular) I like to start on a river near either cows AND grapes or plenty of game.

For a civ such as the English, that can't rush anything in particular, I'd probably hold off for an even better starting position - though what you got doesn't seem bad. It is nice to have those luxuries close to each other. But the absence of rivers near them bugs me.

Sincerely,
Picky Boy

DaveMcW · April 4, 2003, 12:25

Here's my best start. Yes, one of those hills does have iron.

(You only get the settler under vanilla civ3 though.)

Ephesos · April 4, 2003, 16:04

DaveMcW, nice start. And something I've been meaning to ask: what is vanilla civ 3? I don't know if I have it, but if not, then your settler comment isn't true: you just have to be an expansionist civ.

Rothy, one problem with your start. You don't seem to have much in the way of food-filled land. Also, the large amounts of luxuries will probably mean few strategic resources. I'd say that start is pretty average, since I've had groups of eight silks in one spot before

.

Yahweh Sabaoth · April 4, 2003, 16:12

Yes, I love huge silk-filled forests... second only to grape-covered plains and grassland...

You don't need to be expanionist to get a second settler. You need to have NO SETTLERS ACTIVE or IN PRODUCTION. You also need to have less than the current average number of cities per civ.

I played as Spain not too long ago, and by switching settlers under production temporarily to something else before I popped a goody hut, got 2 free settlers. Arguably, these settlers gave me the lead I needed to get ahead in the game.

Ephesos · April 4, 2003, 16:22

Thanks for clearing that up.

Konquest02 · April 4, 2003, 19:01

Vanilla Civ3 means the original Civ3, with no rules modifications (except ones with the patch). Basically, it's Civ3 with the 1.29f patch.

Worthingtons · April 4, 2003, 21:59

I know it's bad lighting but you might be able to tell - I have grassland to the other side of my capital (2 or 3 wheat's in there too) . I showed the west side because of all the luxuries there really.

I can see how people would sniff at that start with the attraction people have to river filled grassland. I once had another that i mentioned to people when i was a newbie as Rome, Rome itself has 8 cows if i rememebr rightly and a couple of fish, as well as the usual river and shielded Grassland. I didnt consider that as good a game since when you ventured about 10 turns from the capital it was Jungle everywhere (and coast the other way, hence the fish)

Cheers,Matt
Matt

epics · April 5, 2003, 02:05

DaveMcW what did you do to this cows? I mean have you got them only to Persepolis or you built another city near them?
I always have that problem, what to do with so many resources close each other.

DeepO · April 5, 2003, 06:08

Rothy, one of the reasons why I don't pick that start as the best one (it's decent of course), is that I think you had to settle a floodplain. I prefer to keep cities away from floodplains, it gives disease without any extra food. Disease with 3 food under despotism isn't a bad deal, but 'free' disease? No thanks.

If you irrigate the cow, it can be a nice place to start, though, but I like Dave's spot better

DeepO

badams52 · April 5, 2003, 12:47

I think most people on the strat forum given the opportunity of 4 cows on grasslands close to each other will build another city close and try and spit it for 2 cows/city. The advantage here lies in getting 2 settler factories going for an unbelievable REX phase.

Without being able to see the rest of the map, settling a city one tile NE of the hill with a river will give you all 4 between 2 cities without the need for cultural expansion. On the other hand, since this is the capitol which will expand in 10 turns anyway, going SE from the same hill looks like an Ideal spot to me for the 2nd city. You clear jungle and inherit all 4 cows like the capitol.

And you could always disband/starve out the second city later if you wanted the super capitol.

The only thing that can make Persiopolis better would be to have coal on the other hill making an IW city!