04-01-2004 20:37									#1
	Starting location - a new aspect of difficulty Support Apolyton, buy Alpha Centauri

Anyone who want to call themself a hard-core civer, should have read "Guns, Germs and Steel" by Jared Diamond. That book gives a credible explanation why a few countries in western Europe could defeat most other nations on the world.

The geography of Europe - and to some extent the Far East - is simply better fit for building up a powerful empire than places like Australia or sub-Saharan Africa.

The difficulty settings in Civ 4 should allow a novice player to start in a good spot - for instance a fertile territory with plenty of resources and calm seas. A higher difficulty level would place the player in the middle of the Amazonas without any metals or good crops.

	06-01-2004 03:03									#2
	Support Apolyton, buy Galactic Civilizations: Deluxe Edition

I hear about that book a lot, and I agree with you.

	06-01-2004 06:18									#3
	Support Apolyton buy from Amazon

I thought of that book the other day when I started as the Egyptians and landed on a continent without horses. No war chariots for me. Diamond talks about how Mesoamericans had the wheel but no animals to pull anything.
Interesting idea.

	06-01-2004 10:43									#4
	Enter the AD-FREE zone

This shouldn't be a component of difficulty level, but rather just another map setting, so you can mix and match at will.

Oh, and wrt "Guns, Germs, and Steel": there used to be a game being developed here under that name (it was supposedly going to be based at least loosely on the book) but it died of apathy. They got rid of the forum (I think it may be archived though).

	19-02-2005 06:19									#5
	Support Apolyton buy from Amazon

I believe that this feature shouldnt be so hard to implement. Each terrain type and resource would be given a "location score", and in the beginning of the game you would be able to choose whether to start in a good, mediocre or poor location.

	19-02-2005 22:34									#6
	Remove this text

I wouldn't mind being able to choose to start as an island civ - and not just on island maps either.

	19-02-2005 22:50									#7
	Support Apolyton buy from Amazon

"Guns, Germs and Steel"

Wish I could find this book as an ebook.

	20-02-2005 19:21									#8
	Browse Apolyton AD-FREE

Sounds like a great idea

	20-02-2005 19:32									#9
	Increase Your PM Length

As long as it is a map setting - fine. Still I prefer to just restart random maps, if I am looking for a challenge.

If it would be the part of a difficulty level - wrong.

You see, only a few kinds of terrain can be called "bad" or "good". Most are labelled "it depends". A simple scoring system will run into trouble trying to handle this correctly. Especially since you are not talking only about the starting spot, but also about the not-so-close surroundings. Not just one city in Europe, but the whole Europe.

	25-02-2005 21:23									#10
	Got spare money?

I agree that it will be difficul to quantify and score a starting position. When you toss in the civ selection, barb level, and all the other settings, it's not such a clear cut, mathematical exercise.

However, the concept of strong civilizations emerging from certain conditions, as relayed in the OP, is an interesting area of research for Cultural Geography.

	09-03-2005 02:12									#11
	Inflate your Upload Space

quote: Originally posted by Kuciwalker This shouldn't be a component of difficulty level, but rather just another map setting

	12-03-2005 19:50									#12
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization: The Boardgame

As a map setting this would be nice. Sometimes I want to play Civ to build a large and peaceful nation. Sometimes I want a challenge.