As I recall it, the main deal was, if you were about third or fourth civ on the list, you were likely to end up with poorer territory, and thus were given an extra tech or eighteen just to make up for the poor start.

The impression I got was that civs were taken in order from the list, and if you played as someone way down on the list, there were unlikely to be many people below you.

Now, in this present game of mine, the Balhiri, whom most of you know as Romans, are first on the list. But when we started, I find us in vast areas of desert, with a bit of plain and hill thrown in. as well as a few mountain ranges. We were given a couple of extra techs at the beginning.

But my understanding of the situation said we shouldn't have the last and poorest choice. Or am I wrong?

Or maybe the whole world was so poor that everybody got a bad deal?

(However it works, using my vast skill and ability, I've managed to pull ahead of everybody, thanks to Leo's Workshop. )

I'd just like a little better understanding of why the game opened like this.

There are many starting situations, which seem to defy any logic or reason! Aztecs on a 20 square barren island with no techs - or the Vikings with eight techs sharing their continent with the Spanish some distance away. The overall trend is the important factor to remember.

The game places a high priority on food and population. If your 21 squares at the start are "green" the AI will think this is great. You will receive little or no science - unless the Mongols are sharing your grassland. Conversely, you may start in mixed terrain. There is a gold mountain, some woods, a whale in a lake and only a few grassland squares! The AI thinks - better give some science out here.

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SG (2)

However, there have been starts which have yielded some good techs with a river system only a few squares away from the first location from the settlers.

The point which needs clarification is how far the AI "looks" at the hinterland terrain before awarding science.

This is guesswork - but I feel it is only the 21 original squares + one beyond!?

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But back to the main point of the post, I guess all I can say is that it's one of those things, right?