Twin cities

[Father Beast]

Ah, Well, it was worth a try. Still, SG reports he's seeen the AI do it on occaision, but I'm not sure of the circumstances. Have cities right next to each other, that is.

situations like Rah's where both cities can use the same two specials approaces the ideal. I wonder if it's possible to get it so both cities have 4 specials, with 2 being shared

[rah]

Unlikely but I guess possible. You must first determine map sizes that would make it possible. It would have to be the right width for the pattern to wrap properly, but they would still have to match up and down on the wrap.

[Old n Slow]

While you're at it, why not work for five specials? Doesn't the dateline occaisionally offer that benefit?

[Scouse Gits]

Although I suspect a 'proof of impossibility' may be very difficult to obtain - much effort has been spent over the years trying to achieve this (a five special site on the idl)with absolutely no success

Stu

[Elephant]

Closest I ever came playing with MapEditor:

[Grigor]

It is definite that more than four specials is impossible. Here is a quasi-proof:

If there are four on one side of the dateline, then the closest a fifth special could be is one vertical row next to the furthest west or east special, but no squares in that vertical row are usable by the city site.

It's only a little more complicated if one tries to put three specials on one side of the Date Line and two on the other, but for starters, the only square available to get three specials is the normal central square. The closest the dateline can be is two vertical rows away. Inspecting the 6 possible placements for 2 reachable specials is easy and eliminates all possibilities.

QED

[Father Beast]

I have been able to approach the ideal in this way, with two cities with one square between them. One city has four specials, the other has three. made with the map editor, of course.

I have attached a save file from a game I was playing on this map. as you can see, Washington has 2 wine, a buffalo and a coal. New York shares a wine and the coal with Washington, and also has a whale. there is another special to the south, but just out of New York's area.

it seems to me that both cities can grow rather large, and share 8 land squares (and one ocean, but that doesn't take improvements) that only need improving once for each city to take advantage of them.

[rah]

Yeah, some people claimed 5, but I always thought it was impossible. I'm glad to hear others concur.