No Citys on desert

[Patroklos]

You know, there have always been cites in the desert, it is just that they could never develope for obvious reasons. So I say we just make irrigation impossible on desert squars. If that is possible.

[Willem]

Yes it is, I've done it in my game. Myself I prefer the strategic element of not being able to build cities there. I have to place them around the desert carefully, and it sometimes provides a buffer from a neighbouring civ. I tend to try and build alot of culture producing buildings their, to try and control as much territory as possible, and the resources that are/may be in them.

[ghen]

the only reason I put cities on desert was to fill in border gaps or else the computer would slap one down to piss me off.. There's always been the ability to make cities on the desert squares unless you're talking IRL.

[Jaybe]

(Re: Las Vegas is in a desert)

Originally posted by Ozymandias
Yes, thanks to intense diversion of water from every imaginable source of water within striking distance; and it and other SouthWest US conurbations are rapidly depleting the natural fresh-water infrastructure upon which they depend.

-Oz

Yes, Los Angeles is a much bigger offender in this regard.

It is such a shame when localities depend on "growth" for their economies, even when it is not environmentally sustainable (I'm referring to Las Vegas here).

--
Back to the game: Another option to prohibiting cities in the desert is to give desert tiles NO shields.

[HazieDaVampire]

Does that stop you from being able to build citys there?

[Kuciwalker]

It makes it unrealistic if you do, because the game can't simulate the negative effects.

[Ozymandias]

I would also argue that the effects of flood plains are grossly overstated in the game, and that eliminating cities from (forgive me ) the lone and level sands is a fair trade-off.

... On the other hand, another approach entirely would be to simulate the major oases etc. upon which a desert city would depend by laying down a single tile-side of river in the middle of a desert, thereby creating two flood-plain tiles.

-Oz

[ghen]

The entire middle east is full of different flood plains in what would otherwise be desert.. its so bountiful that civilization began there, I think the flood plains are fine.


Anyway my current game came up dry and hot so there's lots of deserts around the world. perfect Now my cities are much more spread out and noone has stupid cities that only grow to size 2. There's even a few colonies for incense and barbarians still roaming in the industrial age Perfect!

[Jaybe]

Originally posted by HazieDaVampire
Does that stop you from being able to build citys there?

If you were questioning whether [Desert Shields = 0] prohibits building cities in the desert, no it does not. It DOES however, DISCOURAGE it (which is to my liking ). You can still mine the desert, but then it gives no food at all.

Living in the Vegas valley, I know of their being several (abondoned) mine shafts in the desert, but any productive mines are in the hills/mountains surrounding the valley.

[Quasar1011]

Originally posted by Willem
No you can't, the game doesn't make any distinction between the two. They're both just Mountains.

Oops, Willem, you're right. My bad

[xyrael]

What about increasing the amount of food consumed per citizen to 3? (It works in PTW but then you have a lot of ruins in the desert) I know that then cities cant grow as large (just increase amount of food provided by resources/non desert terrain). This also causes problems when a civs capital city is destroyed due to lack of food. Just an idea.

[Willem]

Originally posted by xyrael
This also causes problems when a civs capital city is destroyed due to lack of food.

You don't get cities being destroyed because of lack of food. The center square always provides enough for at least one citizen.

[xyrael]

The mod that i got this idea from was the Medieval Europe Mod, a good mod, but in it each citizen eats four food, which causes most of the AI civs to die off since they dont focus on food. I decreased the food eaten per citizen to 3 and i still had a city destroy itself on a desert tile.

[edit: my cities only produced 2 food from the city tile]

[Willem]

Originally posted by xyrael
The mod that i got this idea from was the Medieval Europe Mod, a good mod, but in it each citizen eats four food, which causes most of the AI civs to die off since they dont focus on food. I decreased the food eaten per citizen to 3 and i still had a city destroy itself on a desert tile.

[edit: my cities only produced 2 food from the city tile]

Then you need to get the latest patch for the game. As of 1.29f, I believe, the center square always produces enough food to support one citizen.

[ZargonX]

So, I recently whipped set up a scenario with desert and tundra unable to support cities. After playing it a few times (Monarch), I've discovered that it seems to make the AI insanely agressive. In each game, I've started on a continent with 5 other AI players, and as soon as a few of them get iron working, they all ally against me. This keeps happening. Is this a side-effect of the decreased useable lands?