Civilization 5 - Settling Your Capital

The game has started, you've randomed your favorite civilization and it's time to kick some ass! But wait... where are you going to settle?
Everyone knows you want a sweet capital with great production, great growth, and resources, but man, where exactly is that?! This land looks like crap!
FilthyRobot and Zempt talk through 3 start locations, the choices they would make, and why they'd make them.
Hope you enjoy!

[@aarondafunchio5610]

I just restart my game until i spawn on a perfect spot that makes me win on turn 10. Cant play with less than 20 luxuries on my first city

[@jimmythebuddhistbee8786]

I never knew that settling on a luxury gave it to you. I have 300 hours and I always assumed that it destroyed it

[@alecmueller3299]

Sorry for the necro, but it only gives it to you once you research the tech for it. You've probably figured that out by now though

[@richtigerfeger]

@@alecmueller3299 If I, lets say, settle on Incense but don't have Calendar researched, but then I research Calender, will I then get Incense?

[@johndevlin9225]

Yes

[@reubenfromow4854]

Is it the same for strategic resources?

[@richtigerfeger]

@@reubenfromow4854 for example?

[@NiwatiX]

The start with Rome tho... man I would have played that game I think hahaha

[@mjbball0610]

Your Civ V guides are still the gold standard all these years later!

[@Basensproductions]

Wow, Mind blown about how much I did not think about in my 100 hours played... Fun video and very good info.

[@FilthyRobot]

Glad to hear you're enjoying it!

[@hydrohydra9534]

Basensproductions You're telling me I've played 700 hours

[@Basensproductions]

Hydro Hydra Hah :D Yeah amazing stuff in this vid for sure...

[@MsZsc]

100 hours = knowing the basics 200 hours = starting to know how to play 300 hours = mediocre

[@Basensproductions]

Seems fair!

[@Charge183IF]

Watching your vids improved my game immensely. Very informative and entertaining. Cheers!

[@FilthyRobot]

Nice to hear!

[@nerijusvilcinskas7851]

Mine too, I am playing CIv games for more than 10 years and recently started watching his videos and I am amazed.. Love this game so much more right now. Any way, what do you think about Civ IV vs V?

[@Puckanm]

Thanks man Im a late comer to the game but you are the Big Daddy of Civ 5 Videos :) learning so much.

[@FilthyRobot]

Glad to hear!

[@blarg2429]

Puck aNm Meaning that he protects Little Sisters from all the splicers of the Civ 5 community?

[@blarg2429]

Come to think of it, there _is_ a mod that adds Rapture as a civ.

[@genericcommenter1809]

blarg2429 Lolol XD

[@davindeol1379]

This comment did not age well...

[@lildictator21]

With 200 hours into the game, I have learned I have oh so much to learn. Loving all of these videos.

[@gametangia]

I watched all your guide videos and the byzantium liberty game in the last to days (my pc broke can not play anything) and i like this video most. Especialy because there was a little discusion going on between the two of you. If you make more of these shorter guides i would like to hear more discusions with other good players (i have a hard time beating emperor ai myself :/ ). Anyway thank you for all your videos, even tho i do not play multiplayer i still learned a lot and got some pretty sick ideas and strategies i want to play and test. Keep the videos coming, im a loyal subscriber now.

[@aussiejinjo]

just watching the thought processes of you guys in action is amazing

[@Pheralrage]

Just started playing CIV 5 or any CIV for that matter! Discovered FilthyRobot and his tutorials the other day Just want to say THANK YOU! :-)

[@filipstysiak]

I recently started watching your videos. It's nice to see that you still comment on your guides even if they're a little bit old. By watching your guides and games I feel like I know a lot more about the game, and I'm thankful for it. Can't wait to see Civ VI videos if you happen to play it in October.

[@FilthyRobot]

I'll definitely be playing it. Here's fingers crossed that it'll be good!

[@filipstysiak]

My hopes are really huge for this game. I think that the sole "unstacked cities" approach could create a whole new dimension to playing the game. Although for highly competetive players like yourself it could mean that the game won't be as good for MP, since the starting location could really be everything. But I think it's unlikely they'd screw it up this way.

[@Pastshelfdate]

Hi, FR, Thanks, especially, for the discussion about whether to go with Tradition or Liberty.

[@johnboyjjb]

On the last segment, I immediately jumped at the tile to the southeast in the crux of the rivers. Is there a reason why that wouldn't be a good choice? I was thinking the defensive bonus of four river crossing, the potential of the hills and woods and still being fairly close to the horses and salt would have been balancing.

[@Eon2641]

This was a lot more dynamic and informative than the average tutorial, I kinda like this style and I hope you'll do more like it.

[@The_Scouts_Code]

Wow, so, i always avoided mountains like the plague because they don't seem to give a yeild and you can't improve them. i know they can make certain wonders but, why else are they beneficial?

[@FilthyRobot]

Observatories. They can only be built if your city is adjacent to a mountain and (in the unmodded game) give a +50% science modifier to the city, which is huge. For your capital, an adjacent mountain is one of the most all around powerful starts.

[@The_Scouts_Code]

Thank you for letting me know.

[@charlesthomashanley]

Loving all of your Civ5 videos, only just noticed they are 8 years old. Damn.

[@nathones]

great video. looking forward to more in this series.

[@j97fishes]

Great video! I wonder why you don't use your settler to explore though (sometimes you move it through rough terrain when there's flatland next to it, wasting a movement point and losing out on a little bit of visibility).

[@mikezissou]

iv played civ games for 15+ years and i still learn stuff from your videos, i love it

[@FilthyRobot]

+mikezissou Nice to hear!

[@ChairmanMeow1]

31 minutes for something that takes one button click to do. But yet I watched the entire thing and loved it!!!

[@Birdofgreen]

I was screaming at the computer on the 3rd video about the warrior wine move. Move the damn settler to the wine then to the hill!!!!

[@markmorris7123]

Me too. Settler should have moved to wine then sheep. 1 move

[@kevintyler24711]

This video is very interesting you should make another

[@Watermeba]

More of these please! Its really fun to watch

[@timmietimmins3780]

Minor tip. If you are moving onto a hill, actually use your first movement point before doing it. On the assyria start, you agonized over moving your warrior onto the wine... your settler had already forfeited his opportunity to look around from standing on that tile, and it would have cost you absolutely nothing, because you spend both move points moving onto that hill anyways.

[@nanook6620]

I saw the title and thought what could I possibly need to know about founding my capital I just click settle...I'm such a noob.

[@Zjarrain]

I really appreciate these guides. Hope you come out with more of them in the future.

[@EdwardClayMeow]

A lot of good information in your videos, it's help me improve my game play. I play single player exclusively for various reasons, but I get a lot out of your videos.

[@kingdaven1]

You were awesome on PKA. Glad they brought me here.

[@grippercrapper]

I have to second Ben Closel's comment. Please do a guide on tradition vs liberty. Specifically, liberty openings seem to work best when you build the monument after the first scout is kicked out, but I rarely have enough info to make the call on that turn. Also, your game loaded much faster than mine. Any tips on good hardware or settings for running civ v faster.

[@patrickhenry1307]

Great video! This will help many people in the community. Having both you and zempt discuss the starts was very informative. I would like to see a lib vs tradition video with both of you discussing that too, along with different expansion options depending on which tree you opened. Good job guys :) BCBWolfy

[@Salmakatory]

Absolutely loving this vids man.

[@KemmHuHelu]

Hey. Thanks again for this. Could you provide a handy list (like the wonders') of priorities one must look for when settling for new cities in both the early game and later on? Thanks!

[@TheDoublePs]

Awesome guides man! So when settling a capital, focus first on growth tiles, then hammers, strategic resources, then coastal cities, river cities, mountains, then anything else? What do you want to prioritize here?

[@arcticice1061]

I know you've recorded a tradition liberty opener guide! You said so on your stream yesterday! I know you don't like it, but for us n00bs it'll be quite useful. This video was super useful to me, thanks!

[@dimi192]

Really interesting and helpful, thanks! Keep up the good work and GL HF!

[@brandonm8901]

His "almost as garbage as you get" is better than most of my starts 😂 I never seem to get accessible luxury or strategic resources

[@xygdipper2291]

I am quite new to civ still learning about it your video helps alot

[@Emperorerror]

On the third one, why didn't they even consider the possiblity of moving onto the grassland hill forest next to the mountain? Give up coast, get hill and mountain, and the silver that was out of range. I guess coast is strong enough that you do it, and most of the negatives to coast are the tiles, which you'll have anyway.

[@RyanKnudson]

That liberty vs tradition talk would be amazing.

[@windsound2010]

Hey Filthy, do you think on the third game, it is better to move the warrior to the hill on the left and then move it to the hill? I felt it will be shorter for you to get information of where to settle.

[@scotts1138]

my friend as Japan once, had 3 wales, pearls and 2 or 3 fish lol. Only issue was locked in the corner

[@morerog3108]

So the bested start is costly river hill with silver on it next to wounder that counts as mounten

[@paulsimion4995]

dude you are the best ! keep up the good work ! cheers

[@andrewkrusac621]

Filthy, why did you not move your warrior across the river and onto the grassland hills when playing as the huns? I understand the visibility wasn't as good as moving north toward the grassland, but I think that hill start would have been worth settling on, even if it takes another turn to settle and we lose the initial salt yields. Anyone else agree?

[@zecoregamer5288]

My strategy is a tradition liberty mix, and I only go down honour, piety, or patronage as an extra, when I get the oracle the free policy will be patronage if I don't yet have it

[@jodinha4225]

I’ve had this in my watch later for 4 years

[@MsZsc]

Good for you

[@chrisstapleton5652]

at 18:30 the settler move should have been up to the wine to the NW and then SW to the sheep hill. That way, the settler could have had a better glimpse of what was up in the NW while only making it in one move. Then, there would have been more info to determine where the warrior should ahve been moved.

[@klumbdolt4636]

I learnt so much on the game watching this vid. thanks

[@edcook456]

can you please do a Raze/Puppet/Annex guide? I never know what to do when i capture a city

[@davidpatterson1967]

Thanks for this excellent commentary.

[@coobybooby933]

Filthy why didn't you mention settling adjacent to a mountain at the beginning? Just curious.

[@lodgin]

He mentions that sea resources are a late tile to improve, so my guess is that while settling next to mountain would be nice in some cases, it wouldn't be a deciding factor because Observatories are by comparison very late.

[@user-yu7fi1cd2v]

When you started as Huns, it is good to settle in river hill near gems and lake.

[@lendvandenberge9383]

would you have moved your roman settler to that location next to the mountain if you had NQMod enabled? (because you dont need to have your city be next to a mountain for an observatory anymore)

[@uBenji1234]

Hey there Filthy. I've been learning the game from your vods. Thanks! :D Concerning starting locations... don't u think that it's sick and almost weird that you get 2 hammers and 2 food for starting on a hill while u 'only' get 2 food and one hammer for settling on grassland? :O :/ ! - Wouldn't it be more realistic and fair if u got for example 2 hammers but only 1 food for settling on a hill? - As is settling on hills is almost always better. :/ (Unless there is almost nothing around it so to speak...)

[@Deluxegameplayer]

This guy logically thinks on where and why to settle, and am here trying to attack something

[@ccricers]

+Dlxgp Yeah it used to be my instinct to attack barbarians but I've come to realize, if they are not extremely close to you and your civ doesn't have perks related to destroying barbarians don't bother, let some other greedy civ deal with the risk of attacking them and it may give you a slight advantage for other things

[@said6210]

You're a pro , I really learned alot. Thanks! :)

[@KoskeshAbdulwahab]

Wow, what a fucking Petra dream Cusco was.

[@quentintoffano-floury9206]

for the start with 3 wines . why didn't you move the settler on the hill and the warrior on the deer or the wine ?

[@peaivea]

so, in the rome start, he talks about archer rush and killing the other player quickly, is this a common strategy? are archers good enough to take cities early on?

[@TomReiffer]

Cracking video! How do you normally handle civs that get a bonus for certain terrain, such as Brazil, Morocco or Inca? I mean you're going to be at the mercy of the map generator to a certain extent, but I find it difficult to weigh their bonus against time spent moving.

[@FilthyRobot]

You can't go looking for specific terrain, because you're not guaranteed it. You basically have to hope you have some around you, or that later, you can expand to some.

[@viniciusandrade9288]

this should be a weekly series, only 1 or maybe 2 cities.

[@Wehra96]

i bought Civ 5 complete edition for 9$ last night because of pka and i thought i look up your channel to see if you had any guides and i wasnt dissapointed hopefully the game is as good as i think it is.

[@edymonstar]

I did exactly the same xD

[@kevinkernel8392]

useful for peoples playing a quick speed, personalty i playing at marathon speed (the slower), so the time for tec and stuff are way way longer. Anyway i don't move a lot the 1st settler, my next cities do the rest to adjust with my needs.

[@alandouglas2789]

Fuck you are good. I feel so out of league now

[@enKageKagen]

Assyria screamed for warrior on sheep and sertler into hills. I cant imagine why you didnt figure it out. Settling then on a hill next to cows on T 3 makes really strong capital.

[@braders790boop]

So its definitely worth sacrificing the first turn or two in order to potentially get a better start

[@FilthyRobot]

Tʜᴇ Gᴀᴍᴇ Cʜᴀɴɢᴇʀ It's a tradeoff. Moving blindly isn't likely to improve your start,e specially with strategic balance on, but sometimes a superior position is fairly close.

[@Savage.Doomer]

What game were you talking about when people thought you two were hostile towards each other? I know this is a year and a half old :/

[@rheiagreenland4714]

"Lakes are amazing for Aztecs and pretty shitty for everyone else"

[@xxDeathlord]

What happens when you start on Tundra? Been trying to play Russia recently, and their Start Bias is Tundra- and with my luck, it'll be a mix between Tundra+Desert. I realize it has the benefit of getting Deer+Furs, which means grabbing Goddess of the Hunt makes it salvageable... but sometimes it's just flat Tundra which is near worthless And sometimes a mix of Snow, which is actually worthless. Thoughts?

[@FilthyRobot]

Sometimes you have to move, or hope that your expands can make up for a bad start. There's a few Russia games in my videos, and a few of them have the issues you mention.

[@xxDeathlord]

Yeah just watched your latest Egypt start... such awfulness, yet that's what I get about 50% of the time. X_X

[@ChristopherOdd]

Really interesting to watch. If I may ask, how are you screen sharing with your friend?

[@RyanKnudson]

He is more than likely streaming on twitch without a delay.

[@Speedsters727]

@bill gates ah yes because discord was around in 2014 plz don't 6 year necro

[@romeodavis1052]

@bill gates possible Skype. Skype was around in this time period.

[@Tekau1]

he says its on skype at the very beginning

[@xplah]

for assyria, you could've moved your settler up to the wine instead of the warrior, then onto the sheep hill.

[@Dinkas2]

It's only when your headphones break and you try to watch the video with subtitles that you realize how hilarious google subtitles really are.

[@Luisin88]

Informative video , thank you.

[@Mars133788]

Hey, i like your videos very much. Eventough I play on deity in single player and win about 50% of the time (pangae, normal size and normal speed), i have no experience in MP and think i can still learn a lot from you ;) My question: As the huns - why didn't you move next to the mountain? The warrior revealed that there are no ressources in the north. Also the move next to the moutnain would have only cost you 1 turn. You would also have been further away from the stupid sea and you could see that it's very likely to get more river tiles. The only argument in my opinion is that you can work the salt and the horses immediately. But does this fact really beat more usefull tiles and an observatory in the capital in the long run??? I mean especially an obeservatory in a strong capital is very powerful, isn't it? I'm looking forward to your answer :)

[@Mars133788]

+Mars133788 ok, you wouldn't have had more river tiles, but there is still the observatory-argument ;D

[@dunderdippmw3]

I've been only playing for roughly about 40-50 hrs and im pretty bad, but i've never thought about settling on a luxary before, always thought that it was just good to construct on it, and also maybe this is a shit thing to do but is it good to spam farms etc on random tiles in your city?

[@Scylaxius]

If you have no cattle, luxuries, or anything like that and you have a worker sitting around, a couple things you could do include: 1.build farms (like you said.) eventually when your pop increases having extra farms on tiles gives you something to have citizens work. 2. Build mines. Mines are extremely helpful on hills and certain luxuries. They increase productivity on the tile it was built on so that helps. 3. Chop down forests/jungles/marshes. Doing this adds around 13-20 production to the current thing being built in the nearest city. Taking a turn or two off of the production of whatever you're building at that time. Hopefully I explained some of these correctly lol

[@atombindungen]

9:30 so your only reason to move over the river and sacrifice one workable tile in early game is having the mountain, as far as im concerned if you settle on the spot you will be able to build macchu picchu and observatory? (2tile- rule) i mean yes by moving that one tile you will be able to accquire more gold fairly early but isnt having 2 tiles with 2 food 1 prod wo/ upgrades better for the first couple of turns?

[@FilthyRobot]

+atombindungen Observatory isn't a 2 tile rule, you have to be adjacent to build an observatory.

[@atombindungen]

+FilthyRobot wow thanks for the fast answer, youre right 2 tile rule only appears to apply to wonders, which noob me forgot. whats your point on the production/food issue though? dont get me wrong im not trying to tell you whats better im asking you for your insight.

[@FilthyRobot]

+atombindungen You still have an immediate growth tile and another good growth tile in the 2nd ring (which you can purchase from gold from meeting a CS). The mountain and corresponding observatory is very much worth the loss of the deer in the first tile.

[@atombindungen]

yes observatory seals the deal i guess, bigup for replying on an 8 month old video immediately!! definitely one of the Civ5 PvP Moguls!

[@mindlessambience6253]

When looking for a place to settle a new city, there will sometimes be a location that has many great tiles in its 3-tile radius, but none of these tiles will be in the city's immediate borders, so if you found a city there it will take some time before the city's borders expands to take up these tiles. Alternatively, you could settle adjacent to a couple of these good tiles, but some of the other good tiles would no longer be in your city's 3-tile radius. Assuming that you don't have enough gold to just purchase all the tiles, what do you do in a situation like this?

[@FilthyRobot]

Mindless Ambience Depends on what type of empire you're building, what social policies you have, how likely those tiles are to be stolen by another player, and how much you need those tiles NOW as opposed to later.

[@mindlessambience6253]

A question about your Assyria start around 17:00. I would have moved my settler to the forest hill adjacent to mountain in a heartbeat. I don't remember hearing you say anything about it, but you abstained from that position because it wasn't on the coast, right? You talked a lot about the importance of settling on coast. Besides cargo ships giving twice the yield of caravans, I don't see why this is so important. It also leaves you vulnerable to naval attack.

[@FilthyRobot]

Mindless Ambience Briefly: Coastal tradition with food cargo ships is one of the strongest science games out there. One of the game ending techs is atom bombs, and these can be delivered nearly anywhere on the map with naval dominance and carriers.

[@mindlessambience6253]

So your argument against naval vulnerability of coastal cities is that nukes can hit anywhere? I see where you're coming from, but nukes don't come until the modern era. With a coastal city you're vulnerable starting at Navigation. Not knocking coastal cities, I acknowledge the benefit of cargo ships too. Just saying that they do have their downsides. And I really would've considered settling on a non-coastal tile in that one.

[@FilthyRobot]

Mindless Ambience Nope. What I'm saying is that in the unmodded game, entire games often end if one player is vastly ahead in science and has the location to effectively nuke the other contenders. And that coastal tradition is one of the absolute strongest science games. Frigates can be defended, often without having to tech for your own frigates. It's not worth giving up some of the strongest starts in the game without something like England in the game.

[@mindlessambience6253]

Ah ok I understand. How would you recommend defending against a frigate bombardment without your own frigates though? Caravels are mostly out of the picture, so I'm assuming you mean using ranged land units to defend. I think there would be many cases where frigates could stand out of range of land units and fire on a city unopposed.

[@FilthyRobot]

1) Don't be taken by surprise. 2) Stack city combat strength that are likely to be attacked. Castle, walls, get red fort if possible, etc. Tech era and population both contribute to city-strength. 3) Stack units. Gallease+xbow+roads+potential citadel spots. Frigates are 2 range. There aren't many likely city configurations where the city can be shot where you can't shoot back at all.

[@colinrydell]

on the last scenario, i'm surprised you didn't consider the 2nd turn settle on the mountain/river

[@lexxon11]

thanks keep up the great work. You have a new sub

[@FilthyRobot]

lexxon11 Glad to hear!

[@Savebabygorilla]

I know these are 3 years old but I love them :)

[@Chris-xl6pd]

Watching your videos made me realise im doing everything wrong.

[@tiemen596]

10:47 Should have moved the settler onto the wheat tile first for extra free information.

[@MrScottmonster]

Watching 5 minutes of Filthy talk about Civ 5 is inspiration enough to uninstall Civ 6 and go back.

[@stick7913]

Awesome video, very informative.

[@davebowman314]

Quick question, why is the mountain an important tile? I thought it was only useful for Machu and that only requires within two tiles. Thank you

[@joslenpettit5350]

+davebowman314 Observatories.

[@icewatever]

+davebowman314 Just to add to what Joslen said, the most important and game winning resource is science, and the ability to get an additional non-wonder building that gives +50% science is huge.

[@cxsss]

Would you say these tips would carry over to Contenants/Small/Prince/Quick games against unskilled friends or AI?

[@NiteCyper]

Yes

[@user-yu7fi1cd2v]

Civilization 5 bnw is three tile strategy. Every time assume early three tiles for every city. Three tile psychology.

[@traster1013]

Liberty: Making the Best of a Bad Situation Since 19:48

[@SadhuTravels]

On the 4th (or may be the 3rd) one, why didn't you settle on the sheep which would give you 4 production?

[@NiteCyper]

Doesn't work that way. Settling on sheep wastes the resource.

[@thedeep6570]

im just plopping down whereever i start and put my warrior on autodiscover xD

[@milat9287]

As a Dane, I can confirm that there exists no reason we shouldn't have a coast bias xD Our capital city, in our native language, literally means: "The Merchant's Harbour", although some would say it just means "Purchase a Harbour". That's just cause they don't look into it's namesake further tho..

[@ovrwrldkiler]

this is really interesting stuff.

[@Redragonclaws]

Are there any civs in the game that are specialized towards both the Diplomacy and Culture victories in single player?

[@jacobfreeman609]

Mordin Solus Brazil is amazing for culture victories

[@nathanfontaine3406]

i dont get it.. at 12:14 you say you dont want to move on the copper cause you lose food.. but either way do you not get 5 food regardless? if you stay where you are at 12:14 you get 4 tiles = 5 food. if you move on the copper you get 5 tiles = 5 food. am i missing something here?

[@nathanfontaine3406]

ps im new to the game been playing for only 4 - 5 days never played Civ before

[@KevinClark798]

You would loose immediate food. When you settle your city you only get one citizen which can only work one tile. If he settles on the copper all the tiles in the immediate vicinity only have one food each. This means it will take much longer to get a second citizen. Early game this is huge because a difference in 2 or 3 citizens can lead to a very significant production difference.

[@FilthyRobot]

Kevin Clark Exactly

[@nathanfontaine3406]

ahh yeaah i played for a few days more and i understand how you lock in and micro manage your cities now. Makes total sense. but thanks for the reply :D

[@Nor1998_]

Better place it on fertile ground. Can make it grow faster that way. Then can create more units to train it.

[@Tristan-rg4jn]

How do you get different CIV's? Like, I've seen Dutch civ's and now danish civ's etc, how do you unlock them?

[@FilthyRobot]

+Tristan Geutjes DLC

[@Matthew-xf4ks]

How do you know your guarantied iron and horses, because a lot of times I never have iron in my capital?

[@IamS0Cool]

Strategic Balance under advanced settings :)

[@CalimeroDu64]

I've had many civ 5 games where I got neither horses nor iron near my capital. Is that because I'm using the latest version with all the DLC's ?

[@surr3al305]

+Nymeria64 he selected the Strategic Balance option before starting the game