The team is divided on the best strategy for the long term

Mar 1, 2014 00:19 GMT  ·  By

One of the greatest debates in the world of turn based strategy gaming is whether a player should always create a city on the first turn in Civilization V or if he should move to a better location nearby, if one is available.

Now the development team at Firaxis, which has created the series under the leadership of Sid Meier, has weighed in on the issue, explained their choices and even delivered a little bit of statistical info on the issue.

The Escapist has managed to get opinions from Ed Beach, lead designer on the last two Civilization V expansions, and developers Peter Murray and Dennis Shirk, in an in-depth article.

Shirk is quoted as saying that, “I was on the side saying ‘You never move your settler’ when he first mentioned it. You never know how everything is going to ripple across the entire game.”

Peter Murray adds, “The only thing worse than an obviously bad Civ start is a Civ start that's mostly bad, but has a good city position just a few hexes away. I've always moved my settler then, because I figure compound interest on a better position will make up the difference. The grass is always greener two hexes away.”

The team has also tried to offer some statistical insight on the settle problem by running a simulation for 100 games, using three situations: creating a city on the first turn, moving away to a better location and skipping their first turn altogether.

The data, although it offers no definitive proof, shows that moving to a better location can be a good idea in the long term, even if it might seem like a bad idea right away.

Civilization V is one of the most complex turn based strategy games that players can buy at the moment and the two expansions, Gods & Kings and Brave New World, add a wealth of new mechanics.

The biggest change introduced by the title is a new hex system which changes how strategy works and a new rule that only allows one military unit to sit in one location.

The title from Firaxis also offers strong mod support and there are some pretty impressive community made scenarios now available.

Firaxis has not yet announced a new expansion for Civilization V and some fans have suggested that it is already setting down the core ideas for the next installment in the strategy series.