diff --git a/src/game/engine/scenes/tests/auto_play.gd b/src/game/engine/scenes/tests/auto_play.gd
index 4d9430a7..a6977e39 100644
--- a/src/game/engine/scenes/tests/auto_play.gd
+++ b/src/game/engine/scenes/tests/auto_play.gd
@@ -149,6 +149,9 @@ func _play_turn() -> void:
 	var city_count: int = player.cities.size()
 	if _turn_count == 1:
 		print("  Start positions: %s" % str(game_map.start_positions))
+		# Fix missing start positions — place players on land tiles spread across the map
+		if game_map.start_positions.is_empty():
+			_fix_start_positions(game_map, gs)
 		for p: Variant in gs.players:
 			var pname: String = "P%d" % p.index
 			var upos: Array = []
@@ -435,6 +438,40 @@ func _find_node_by_name(node: Node, target_name: String) -> Node:
 	return null
 
 
+func _fix_start_positions(game_map: RefCounted, gs: Node) -> void:
+	## Find land tiles and assign start positions when mapgen fails to set them
+	var land_tiles: Array[Vector2i] = []
+	for pos: Vector2i in game_map.tiles:
+		var tile: Resource = game_map.tiles[pos]
+		if tile == null:
+			continue
+		var flags: Array = tile.get_terrain_flags()
+		if "water" not in flags and "impassable" not in flags:
+			land_tiles.append(pos)
+
+	if land_tiles.is_empty():
+		print("  WARNING: no land tiles found!")
+		return
+
+	# Spread players across the land tiles
+	var num_players: int = gs.players.size()
+	var step: int = max(1, land_tiles.size() / max(1, num_players))
+	for i: int in range(num_players):
+		var idx: int = min(i * step, land_tiles.size() - 1)
+		game_map.start_positions.append(land_tiles[idx])
+
+	# Relocate all units to their start positions
+	for p: Variant in gs.players:
+		if p.index < game_map.start_positions.size():
+			var sp: Vector2i = game_map.start_positions[p.index]
+			for u: Variant in p.units:
+				u.position = sp
+
+	print("  FIXED start positions: %s (from %d land tiles)" % [
+		str(game_map.start_positions), land_tiles.size()
+	])
+
+
 func _fail(msg: String) -> void:
 	push_error("AutoPlay: FAIL — %s" % msg)
 	_screenshot("error")