Ideally, you want two mountain squares and two forest or jungle squares inside the city radius. Look at the square you're already in - will it make a reasonable city? If it's a food-producing square such as grassland and, even better, on a river, then build straight away.
If you specified an earth-type world in the starting options, you can expect ice in the polar regions, so if you happen to be sited close to the top or bottom of the map, head the other way for the more fertile land. Before you even touch anything, look at your 'radar' map in the lower-leftĬorner. You kick off with a settler, nine squares of visible terrain and a big black curtain covering the rest of the planet surface. However, you don't have to decide which route to take right away, as the strategies and tactics employed are broadly the same in each case. There are only three ways to win at Civilization: Call To Power, you can conquer the entire world using your military genius, lead the first civilisation in the race to synthesise an alien life form, or play out the full 7000 years of the game and go for the highest score.
