Capital stops growing at size 12?

[Bogdanovist]

This is probably a dumb question, but I'm midway through my first real game of CIV (18 civs on a duel map , Noble though so it's a bit too easy) and my Capital Mecca has stopped growing at size 12. I have excess food, have more health than unhealthiness and have no unhappy citizens. On the world view the orange food bar for Mecca is full and there is no number indicating when it will grow. It looks like it has run up against a hard limit like in previous Civ games, but I though all that was gone with the new healthyness system? I've looked through the tech tree and buildings and can't seem to see anything that mentions allowing cities to grow beyond size 12?? Therer are several AI cites that are size 13,14 and I have a reasonable tech lead over them.

What am I doing wrong?

[Tulthix]

Make sure you don't have the prevent city growth manager activated. I'm not sure other than that.

[kretos]

My last capital was 32 at size - I haven't noticed any hard limit - but I always build hospital if my city is going to 12. As I remember hospital was required for growth in Civ3 about certain limit - maybe it goes in same way in Civ4

[RogerWilco]

Are you constantly building settlers or workers out of your capital? That could be a reason....

[Bogdanovist]

No that's not it, I have a food surplus of 1-2 at least from memory (I'm at work now, can't fire up my home PC to check). I don't use any of the automations and do all that stuff myself. Thanks for the tip though hopefully someone might know what is going on?

Edit: 3 more posts while I was replying!

I don't have a hospital (havn't got whatever tech you need for them). I'm also building military units in the city at the moment, so it's not from building a settler or worker.

This is really puzzling me now, I assumed I was missing somthing like a tech or building, but it appears not?

[Tulthix]

I'd double check the city automation prevent growth option. It really will prevent growth even if you have a surplus.

Other than that, maybe you have a surplus of 1 food, no granary, and have no options for adding another food tile, so you end up with a 1 food deficit (1 surplus minus 2 for the new pop) and shrink the next turn.

[Bogdanovist]

Hmm didn't realise the 'no-growth' automation stops growth even if you have a surplus, thought it would just changed the squares worked to not give a surplus in the first place. I'll have to double check that tonight, though as I say I havn't really used any of the automations, but might have clicked it by mistake. Thanks for the help.

[TomVeil]

That's more powerful than I would have thought, too, but I guess it's yet another way of avoiding that annoying cyclical starvation that huge cities would get in the modern era of Civ2/3

[Yolky]

I thought other cities that can't grow food can take it from anthour city now. I don't know how that works but maybe anthour city is taking your food?

[Bogdanovist]

Well I was a goose and had the very powerfull no growth setting on. All fixed now!

Yolky: I havn't heard of any kind of resource sharing between citys like you describe, where have you heard this from? It would be usefull to be able to do though.

[joncnunn]

It's me that's the one that initates the no-growth option; always in combo with both emphanize production and emphanize great leaders.

It's rather easy for health or happiness to be more of a limiting factor than food starting around the late classical era.