Do you found cities on the tiles the computer recommends?

[joncnunn]

So far, I only place cities on marble spots.

It's actually a semi-cheat in one way, the one time I wanted to found a city two tiles over from where it was located because it looked better, it turned out that the tile I wanted to found it on was forbiden due to a nearby barbarian city that I couldn't see.

[remconius]

Re: Do you found cities on the tiles the computer recommends?

Originally posted by stormwriter
I acquire all this advanced knowledge about this game, and still get confused about the simplest things about this game.

Do i always place the cities where they recommend? Howcome they will recommend a tile that has one food and one hammer, over a tile right next to it that has more food? Is it because you can improve that tile?
Why not place your city on the tile with the most food?
I know you get to work two tiles, and you get BOTH of those tiles the second your city gets put down, though.

You should always found the city on the worst tile. The city standard gets 2 food, 1 hammer and 1 gold. Only exception is plains hill which gets 2 hammers. Hence they are the uber-tile for city founding.

[Balderdash]

Re: Re: Do you found cities on the tiles the computer recommends?

Originally posted by remconius


You should always found the city on the worst tile. The city standard gets 2 food, 1 hammer and 1 gold. Only exception is plains hill which gets 2 hammers. Hence they are the uber-tile for city founding.

I know this was true in past games, but is it still true for Civ4? I only ask because, oddly, this release was the first not to mention that little tip somewhere in the manual.

And to the OP, no, not really because I'm a big fan of not only sufficient spacing but also equidistance between cities, and the AI never seems to care about that sort of stuff.

[krytonix]

I'll consider the AI recommendation, but I often find better spots nearby to the suggested tiles rather than right on them. I trust my judgment much more than the computer AI.... Case in point: why the heck do my cities keep trying to build settlers? There's no space to settle a new town!!!

[snepp]

Re: Re: Do you found cities on the tiles the computer recommends?

Originally posted by Bhruic
You get the same square output regardless of what you build on, with the single exception of hill/plain squares (which get 2 production instead of 1).

Plains/Hill/Copper gives the city tile 2/3/1, not sure about other resources.

[Bhruic]

Well, just goes to show that no matter how much you (think you) know about the game, there's always something new to learn.

Bh

[Sox303]

I found the cities where i want them, sometimes the ai is off by one or right on the spot. Often it´s pretty good spots but i noticed that the ai don´t mind if one or two tiles are covered by two cities instead of pointing out a spot prolly just as good one tile away
As for the "city on resource" i´d rather found the city at the best long term spot rather then get access right away. With Stonehenge it´s just a couple of turns.

[Silencer]

I try to get max squares for cities and then mostly disagree with computer suggestions.

If you put city where there is 3 hammers then the hammers are reduced to 1 so it is not wise to build cities on 3 hammer hills - furthemore if you put a city on a resource you probably won't be able to use that resoruce.

[ahsingjai]

Sometimes the best spots doesn't mean its the best spot, Sometimes you want to take over another spot to control the resources.

One time the adviser recommended a grassland area. WHich I guess because the city will grow fast.

But I settled on a plain/desert area with 2 or 3 different resources

[Stageon]

So wait...let's get a definitive answer on what building a city on a resource square does to the resource. Someone said you lose it, someone said you don't. Seems pretty important to know which is true.

As far as the topic, I'm with most of you. I always look at what the AI recommends, and try to figure out why. A lot of the time it seem like it wants you to expand your borders methodically. I would say I take a recommended square 30-40% of the time, the rest of the time I just go where I think is best. After all, the computer doesn't know your longterm strategic goals.

[Dinner]

It depends. All things equal I take the computer's advice but sometimes I want a geographical point so I build there. An example of this is if a city would connect two oceans or if there is a natural choke point where a city could control the advance of enemy troops.

[Tennyson]

There have been a few times where, after disregarding the computer's advice, a new technology will reveal a resource that would have been in the city radius if I had just listened. This happened with iron in yesterday's game.

All in all, I pick based on where the AI borders are, and on how many bonus resources that city will have access to.

[John-SJ]

Originally posted by Stageon
So wait...let's get a definitive answer on what building a city on a resource square does to the resource. Someone said you lose it, someone said you don't. Seems pretty important to know which is true.

I know from personal experience that you do not lose it. I have done it both when I already possessed the technology to exploit the resource and when I did not. In the one case I reaped the benefit as soon as the city was established, and in the other I got the benefit as soon as I got the tech.

Note that if you do this you do not have to build the farm/mine/plantation/whatever to get the benefit.

[Arrian]

I ignore the computer's suggestions. I build with the following things in mind:

1) Fresh water - health bonus
2) Coast - found either on the coast or 2 tiles inland... 1 tile off the coast should be avoided if possible (but may be the best spot for other reasons)
3) Resources - if I'm gunning to gain control of a particular resource, this can trump #1 and #2
4) Strategic position - cutting off an AI's expansion or the "panama canal" city.

-Arrian

[Silencer]

Oki maybe you can use this mineral but still you are loosing productive bonuses. For example if landing on iron your city will have 1 hammer on that tile, but if you would land near it and put a mine you will have 4-5 hammers.. isn't it better??