Coastal capital - should I just restart or am I missing something?

[Hitman]

Hi.

I've reached 1000 AD on my first game and have realised that I may have made a mistake having my capital on the coast.

I'm struggling for housing in my capital which is by far by my biggest city and can't build many improvements or districts.

Should I just restart?

The game often puts your first settler near the coast, as if it's a good place to start but it seems coastal tiles are as bad as tundra/desert - or am I missing something?

[sauluxville]

Usually you'd want some sea resources on the coast, to place a harbour with good adjacency. Then a lighthouse gives you 3 housing - not so bad. Together with more housing from granary, fishing boats and farms you can scrape up enough housing.

If you still need more, you could build an aqueduct if there's some fresh water or a mountain nearby, or build a neighbourhood or two: coastal tiles tend to have nice appeal. Look also into policy cards, some of them can give you more housing.

And no, don't restart, that would be a massive overreaction :)

[Stormwinds]

Coastal cities start with less housing than cities with access to freshwater. However, coastal cities with a harbor and a lighthouse will have more housing than the freshwater city. Coastal cities also have to specialize into food and gold as coastal tiles often have less production than inland cities. You could also build an aqueduct if your city is a tile off of a mountain or a source of freshwater.

[RubrumCustode]

Coastal cities require more infrastructure in order to compete with in-land cities up until your Harbors get shipping yards up and running, turning the Harbor adjacency bonus into additional production.

This means that, in the early game, coastal cities are objectively worse than in-land cities. This flips later in eras when you can turn all those coastal tiles into additional food and gold, while your actual harbors and water bonuses provide additional production.

I wouldn't restart a game if your Capital is on coast. It depends on what's around it. People tend to sleep on a coastal game when the combination of Harbor Wonders and Great Admirals can make colonizing other land masses quite easy.

[donald23]

I like to make the game with what I get and still get to victory. That means I often play randomized civs and always go with my initial map.

For me the fun is in winning the game with any start condition. Why would you restart until you have your "perfect" starting location? The game is about getting from nothing to winning, precisely doing that with whatever you're given.

Oh, so to answer the question, no, IMO you should not restart, but try to actually beat the game ;)

[grognardgary]

Okay without seeing a map It's hard to be certain. It is quite possible to be on the ocean and still have 60 to 70 percent of your tiles, or more, be land tiles. In fact that's one of the things I look for when starting, It is also possible to Be on the ocean and adjacent to a river

[Catalytic]

Messaggio originale di Hitman:

The game often puts your first settler near the coast, as if it's a good place to start but it seems coastal tiles are as bad as tundra/desert - or am I missing something?

Probably missing something. Hear me out.

As others have said, coast takes a little longer to get started since you need the pre-requisite techs. For example, you need sailing to improve tiles, so if your initial luxuries are sea-based ones, you'll go a while with low amenities before you get that one locked in. And of course, you need the harbor in classical which often requires you deviate from a more standard beeline to get the Eurekas. We could go on, but you get the idea. You have to adapt your game to play on the sea.

That's ok. You have to adapt for desert or tundra as well. Both are excellent in the right circumstances. Getting a great Petra city is a ton of fun, as is putting in St. Basil's in a city with 15 tundra tiles. Both are risky, but highly lucrative. With the sea, you can achieve the same with Mausoleum and it comes much earlier. In addition, if you're chasing wonders, getting that extra charge on certain great engineers can be a game changer. So, take advantage of your wonders.

But you were talking specifically about housing, in what I'll assume is Medieval/Renaissance? Depending on how many coastal tiles you have, consider getting Liang as a governor and filling the coast with fisheries. 2 governor points well spent! Do you have fresh water with this city? If not, get an aquaduct in if possible for 6 more housing. Some city-state improvements also give housing like Armagh's monasteries. Also, at this phase in the game, you should be running a Tier 2 government like Monarchy which gives housing for walls for a little extra boost. If you've got a religion, some of those beliefs may help with housing. And if you can hold out til Industrial, you can build Neighborhoods and Sewers for a big boost.

This would be potentially easier with some screenshots so we can see the land ourselves.

Regardless, as Donald23 suggested, be creative and play it out. You're not really that gimped with a coastal start, though if you're playing as Ambiorix (Gaul), coastal is a royal pain since his civ ability locks you out of harbor adjacencies! lol)

[Gorgeous_Joe]

Depends on settings and your civilisation as to where you start (Usually) England will usually always start by the coast as it gains a great boon from doing so, same with the Vikings but for most civs its not an ideal place to start, no. Ideal starting locations are usually next to a river will hills and mountains surrounding you. America usually has by default one of the best starting locations in the game, although that is no guarantee once you explore past the x3 tile radius the entire area outside of that isn't desert.

[MOST GREEN OF FN's]

multiplayer 1v1 u are f'ed if u settle for the coast over a turn or two of walking or a muligan its to easy to have your capital taken from the water its not advantageous at all unless your civ benefits from it even then i wouldnt put the capital on the coast

[Steve]

Messaggio originale di Hitman:

Hi.

I've reached 1000 AD on my first game and have realised that I may have made a mistake having my capital on the coast.

I'm struggling for housing in my capital which is by far by my biggest city and can't build many improvements or districts.

Should I just restart?

The game often puts your first settler near the coast, as if it's a good place to start but it seems coastal tiles are as bad as tundra/desert - or am I missing something?

Depends on your civ, and your city-state allies. Being friends with Auckland is every coastal civ's dream if it can be had, since they improve production on the coastal tiles. As a Kupe player, I wouldn't start anywhere other than the coast (unless that meant starting on islands with only a few land spaces -- avoid the hell out of that).

(edit: did not notice the necro, whoops)

[gdshore]

if building on a coast, you may want to take as a pantheon God of the Sea. Your first research should be the sea form (it's actual name escapes me at the moment) which will give you galley's and the ability for your worker's to build on the coastal shallows. Working sea resources gives you a +1 production per resource, more production faster build, as well worked sea resources usually means better food production. Then as soon as is feasible build a harbour (as has already been suggested) improves food production, gold, straight production and trade. I usually play the sea borne cultures, Dido (bireme's faster than galley's and hit in sea melee harder), the Byzantines (dromon's hard hitting early sea bombardment units), Vikings (longship's can enter and cross ocean tiles from construction) and these are only some of them. Coastal capitals rock.