Terraforming

[Nubclear]

How should I terraform my tiles? I tend to put cottages nearly everywhere - my cities will have a couple of farms, but everything else is mostly cottages.
Plains ---> Cottages
Grassland ---> A few farms, cottages
Hills ---> Mines
Flood plains ---> Cottages

I also try to leave a couple of forests around for the health bonus and then, later on, to put lumbermills and railroads on them.
I also eventually start putting workshops everywhere, with state property (which I always run), for high production even in small cities.

Wise? No?

[Metaliturtle]

I don't normally work a plains although I will do plains w/river farm if nothing better is available.

Flood plains ---> cottages

Grassland ----> cottage unless resources

hills -----> always mine unless pig or sheep dictates otherwise

never really did anything with workshops... hmm...

experiment and read blake's stuff about whipping... very helpful

[LDiCesare]

Plains -> farm, then workshop later in the game (for use with state property). Also put a few watermills and windmills late game. Watermills with state property are great, windmills can give you the +1 food needed to work the mine beside it.

[Blake]

I also try to leave a couple of forests around for the health bonus and then, later on, to put lumbermills and railroads on them.
I also eventually start putting workshops everywhere, with state property (which I always run), for high production even in small cities.

Build cottages where you can, build farms where you have to . That's my motto. If a city can get by without farms, it does.

Basically - here's how it is for me. I want my cities to have about +5 food surplus total, so for a city on pure grassland that would require 3 farms. I may get a +7 food surplus if the city is far, far below caps. Of course come biology, 3 biology farms will do the trick... but you do need that food surplus so don't skimp on farms if there is no other food source.

I also build farms to allow working of resource tiles (if there's no easier source of food). If there's a surplus of hills, I usually just use them for windmills. But in production cities (Heroic Epic, especially) I build Farm/Mines for maximum production and I may configure a city that way for wonders. So 2 cities of farms/mines and everything else with as much commerce as I can (sometimes I get extra production cities for domination style victories).

Note that post-biology farms are awesome. For example you can use a biology farm to feed a rep specialist, which yields almost as highly as an end game cottage, but without the investment in a cottage.

I adore State Property and those sweet watermills and workshops. Those workshops spell the end of slavery because they are much more productive than slaves. I love a good Ironworks city plastered with State Property watermills and workshops - nothing is better.

The combination of Biology and State Property can be very dominating... because food is always important, and the less you give up to get that food, the better.