Asymmetrical hexagonal matrix the optimal city layout?

[duodecimal]

I'm about to set up a miracle continent in the editor, and plan on a game with very aggressive AIs that will attempt to conquer my landmass. At the difficulty level I'm planning to use, my terrain advantages would likely be offset by being far behind technologically.

I've designed the terrain layout - every city, even in the core, will have access to the sea. They will be arranged 5x5 in a grid, giving me 25 total cities.

Attached is the grid I've decided on. I call it hexagonal since every city would have 6 immediate neighbors. There are no unworkable tiles, and 2 overlap tiles per city. I've tried just about every other combination, and this is the only one that doesn't waste workable tiles and has minimal overlap.

[duodecimal]

This is the continent.

Light blue = ocean
Blue = lakes
Blue lines = rivers
Brown = hills (all cities are perched on hilltops)
Green = grasslands, plains, forests

[QuestGAV]

Why lakes/grasslands instead of rivers/flood plains?

[duodecimal]

The lakes are so that the inner ring of cities (and capital) can build naval vessels and ocean improvements. All the cities connect the various lakes, and so there's an outlet into the ocean even for the Capital.

I'm debating flood plains. Every city will have 4-6 hills to work, so most non-hill tiles can be food production focused. There are rivers -- they're the blue lines connecting all the cities. The green areas are catch-all non-hill terrain. I'll balance them out a bit as I actually build in the editor.

The AIs will be on two or three teams, each team on its own continent. That should keep them very competitive. I'll be expecting them to be landing musketmen around the time I research longbows.

[QuestGAV]

By putting them on teams together on a continent do you reduce the chances of a "killer AI" developing that can develop a more effective challenge? I can't imagine multiple AIs on a team will coordinate an attack as well as a single strong one.

Great design though, I hadn't considered that the cities would connect the ocean squares.

[duodecimal]

AIs on the same team will have advantages over AIs that are simply allied, if it works the way it seems to in hotseat. Many things are automatically shared.

I'll have a complete scenario to post to the Creation/Files forum over the weekend. I don't think there's any more efficient use of land than the city layout given above.

[Fruny]

A perfect continent ...

I suggest "Atlantis" as the name for the scenario.

Then you can add a script that sinks that part of your land when a city is taken.

[upsidedown]

My kingdom, my kingdom for a horse!

[Harovan]

This pattern is known as OCP (Optimal City Placement) from earlier Civs. It can seldom be applied purely without interruption, due to lakes and mountains, and the sometimes strange form of generated continents.

I think in cIV you should try to found cities in the best positions land- and resourcewise and if possible, without overlap, even though you may waste tiles. It is better to swallow unhabitable territory with your expanding cultural borders (to secure eventual resources) than to found a city in the mid of the desert just because it follows the OCP pattern.

[Rogerdude]

That's a very nice "cooked" map you have there.
"AHM" seems to be a very interesting placement pattern, but I wonder how it will fare with all those Peaks and Deserts on real maps.

[sittingsparrow]

Shouldn't the AI have more landmass? I'm not sure, but given the effectiveness of your landmass vs 2? AI civs on each continent you will only be facing 4 underdeveloped civs.

I like the map/scenario, esp the "coastal"/shallow water tiles that connects the continents and islands.

[duodecimal]

I was worried there was too much landmass (the map is 128x80). I think it'll be offset by there being no 'worthless' tiles - the deserts will all be floodplains, there's no tundra, etc. The peaks are just in for effect and strategic blocking. I'm planning on there being 4 civs per continent (the northern continent is split in two by a peak on the isthmus).

I figured the city pattern was ancient history -- but was wondering if there was one any better.

I agree about naturally occuring continents - they're just never content to let you place your cities perfectly and like to screw you up with peaks, lakes, and resources that won't be available if they're on a city tile (horses).

In my games I try to avoid overlap, but I have a compulsion about leaving tiles unworked within my territory that makes me weep when I set some cities down. In the end I feel a wasted tile is slightly worse than an overlapped tile (I'm 60/40 on the issue).

Atlantis didn't even occur to me. So far all my files are "miracle_t.bmp" and so on. The blasted continent even has rings of canals leading to the capital.

At least two scenarios can be available with this map - one with the player starting on the perfect continent, and the other with that continent acting as a 'new world'.

The mid-ocean ridges will be navigable by galleys, but the islands at the intersections block passage with ocean tiles up against the landmass. The islands will have to be settled before one can travel from one continent to the other (before galleons). I'm open to changing this though.

[sittingsparrow]

Hmmm I'm still not sure, but seeing your map-scenario and reading about earth map in the forums I'm seriously going to play more scenarios =) Sounds like good fun.

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by duodecimal
The lakes are so that the inner ring of cities (and capital) can build naval vessels and ocean improvements. All the cities connect the various lakes, and so there's an outlet into the ocean even for the Capital.

Are you sure the inner cities will be able to build ships? I'm not sure that the algorithm used to determine that does any more than ask "am I on the shore of an ocean", rather than pathing through cities and such. The check may also only be done once, so you'd have to build the outer cities first.

[duodecimal]

Ah... I was expecting it to allow to build ships if two conditions are met:

1. Water tile adjacent to city tile
2. Continuous water path exiting city radius

Inland seas might not have ocean tiles, only 'coast', and we're able to build ocean improvements/water units there (or I'm mistaken).

If not... no great loss. Water tiles can be great for food, and with all those hills the inner ring won't be hurting for production.