Some civilizations have a starting bias which affects their spawn location. Often, this helps the civilization make better use of its unique ability, units, and/or infrastructure (i.e. buildings and tile improvements) that can get benefits from certain tiles. The bias is usually based on historical data. Starting biases can be disabled in the advanced options screen when setting up a new game.
List of starting biases
| Civilization | Icon | Starting bias |
|---|---|---|
| Byzantine | 
|
|
| Greek | 
|
|
| Korean | 
|
|
| Japanese | 
|
|
| Indonesian | 
|
|
| Portuguese | 
|
|
| Venetian | 
|
|
| English | 
|
|
| Danish | 
|
|
| Ottoman | 
|
|
| Carthaginian | 
|
|
| Spanish | 
|
|
| Polynesian | 
|
|
| Arabian | 
|
|
| Moroccan | 
|
|
| Aztec | 
|
|
| Brazilian | 
|
|
| Iroquois | 
|
|
| Celtic | 
|
|
| Indian | 
|
|
| Dutch | 
|
|
| Russian | 
|
|
| Swedish | 
|
|
| Mongolian | 
|
|
| Polish | 
|
|
| Shoshone | 
|
|
| Austrian | 
|
|
| Incan | 
|
|
| Zulu | 
|
Avoid
|
| Egyptian | 
|
Avoid and
|
| Siamese | 
|
Avoid
|
| Hunnic | 
|
Avoid and
|
| Assyrian | 
|
Avoid
|
| Babylonian | 
|
Avoid
|
| Songhai | 
|
Avoid
|