V1.09 - Is it just me or that the opponents starting city is too near to each other!!!

yeah, I am noticing the same thing ...

I literally had a string of enemy cities blocking me into a peninsula one right after the other barely outside limit of too close to build.

They seem to be clustering.

It's random. Literally. That's part of the problem is that I think we need to have a minimum distance based on map size.  We don't want players to be able to count on opponents being far away but if we have the extra space it would be nice to have them not start so close.

Is this something that is moddable?  I like random, so I am not complaining, but it would be cool if we had some kind of ability to control the range.  A slider would be nice  [close]...[not so close]...[far].  If its possible I would mod it in myself.  Because, sometimes I feel like a quick game so i choose tiny land, and sometimes I feel like a long game so I choose medium or large land, but sometimes when I choose large land expecting a long game I get  tiny land placements.

If that makes any sense.

So basically what I am saying is Placement is a concern to me because it defines the game length.  Close placement == short game, distant placement == long game etc.  It is game length that I want to manage .. when I feel like a long game I want a long game but I keep getting short games on a big map.

Thank you Frogboy for your reply.

My 2cents

As hannahb has mentioned, I believe that the size of the map will roughly give you an idea of how long you wanted your game to be. I wouldnt start up on a tiny map if I wanted an extreme lengthy epic game or a large map which I want a super quick smash/rush game.

From V1.06 to V1.09, I notice that resources are made more scarces, and opponents starting city are usually surrounded by 3 or more resources. This make ME as player rather green-eye to their plot of land, which usually result in their early retirement.

Another thing is that with my opponents starting out so near to each other, they are stunting their own city growth. I have a few games, V1.08, V1.06 where one sovereign has 2 - 3 cities (unfortunate to start out in the centre/or coast) and surrounded by other sovereign which has like 6 - 8 (fortunate to start out at the outer rim) Usually if I started out at the outer rim, I can find mass of unexplored land rich with resources, unsettled by anyone which can supports like 6++ cities. It is a waste that all these lands remain unused.

Honestly I do not see a sovereign city starting too near us as a threat but more of an annoyance which player will remedy quickly. To me I feel that if the opponents sovereign have more cities under their control, they will do better against me and themselves (Coz they are the ones who likely to threaten me)  But sometimes I also wonder how the opponent can manage 100+ gold per turn while I am struggling to hit 50+ gold per turn. But opponent who manage to get 100+ gold usually are the sovereign with more cities, those I see with fewer can barely hit 30 gold per turn.

I really do like my opponent sovereigns to have like 6++ cities and doing well and majority of them still around by 600+ turns in Large map.

I have some suggestions to this.

A WORLD BUILDER similar to Civ4 which allows us players to choose placement of opponent sovereign starting point will be helpful.

When a opponent sovereign die in early game, allow the systems to allow random re-spawn of his son/daughter (secret heir) somewhere far away from this conflict so they can restart anew to avenge their father/mother.

Besides the obvious in here: I m all for increasing the minimum distance between 2 cities when settling a new one. 5 is just not enough.

Can we increase the minimum distance between cities and increase the likelihood of special resources clustering?  If they cluster more, I dont need to create more cities to get them all, and if they have to be farther apart, I can't make more cities.  I think that would really help the city spam.

Actually, I noticed that the AI starts with lots of resources; while I have some Fertile land and maybe a gold mine, they have a Fertile land (or 2), a Gold mine, and Lost Library or two, sometimes even some Old Growth Forest, and half a dozen misplaced purse/old battlefield/whatever and Iron.

I would actually like to see more spreading of resources.  I hate exploring a quarter of the world and find nothing.

But yes for increasing the minumum City distance.

If there was an option in the map file to disable the random placement of resources and stuff, I could do some experimentation in regards to how things ought to be placed. That's what I've been hoping for anyway for Elementerra.

personally i think there's a good argument for just predefining a bunch of starting locations and just randomly allocating them. the same could even be done with starting resources; just randomise what types of resources they are to stop people planning ahead. then you're guatanteed fair starts. i get bored of regennin in gc2, and i'm bored of it now. i know usually the challenge police turn up at this point and tell me to learn to deal with it, but i don't think it's too much to ask for a start position that is at least interesting, even if not particularly powerful. and i think it's a good policy to be able to guarantee people a fun game with a decent shot in their first play through.

i think giving each player

1 x fertile land

1 x mine/gold mine/library/temple/old growth

and

1 x shard/horses/scenic view/other powerful resource

is a pretty fun formula that no one would ever find particularly borring or overpowered.

really, i personally don't see much advantage in random generation for it's own sake; if the game can be made more fun and balanced more easily, i wouldn't want a desire for randomness to stand in the way of that. i don't think it adds any replayability beyond purely arbitrary distinctions.

it doesn't bother me too much, but if stardock start to feel this way too, i won't be complaining.

as an aside, as much as i hate city spam, i don't think increasing the limit is the answer. it's a dirty, quick fix that doesn't deal with the real issues of why people feel forced to city spam. see one of the many other threads on the subject.