which is better?

[Dino the Dinosore]

Jim - to keep your cities from starving all you need to do is make sure the amount of food generated is an even number. Only if it's an odd number can it grow too large and cause a -1 food deficit. (Assuming you don't support another settler, and ignoring food caravans.) So control your settler improvements so that when your done improving a city's squares you have an even number of food. Then when it grows to its maximum size there should be 0 extra food, and it will stabilize at that size.

[IamSlowwHand]

I used to be a "perfectionist", and to a large degree I still am.
Looking for good science sites, I build by cities stretching out, each city using all city squares.
When I run out of land available to continue, I will go back and put secondary cities on sites halfway between 1st groups of cities. Only on acceptable sites.

[Jim W]

quote: Originally posted by debeest on 11-22-2000 12:42 AM Jim W, I think it's pretty inevitable that cities will grow until they run out of food. In republic or democracy, it will happen very quickly because of WLTD. Even under non-trade governments, you'll still grow until you don't have any more food, and then maybe go hungry. Don't worry about it. However many citizens your available land can support, grow the city to that size. Size 8 or size 12 is often good, so that you can skip the aqueduct or sewer. If you've got a small area in between cities, put a city there and just build settlers from it.

I assume by this that you mean building settlers to be used to build other cities?

I seem to recall that cities have this nasty habit of only supplying so many units, after which a unit, possibly one engaged in vital activities, is disbanded on you.

Jim W

[Jim W]

quote: Originally posted by Dino the Dinosore on 11-22-2000 05:01 PM Jim - to keep your cities from starving all you need to do is make sure the amount of food generated is an even number. Only if it's an odd number can it grow too large and cause a -1 food deficit. (Assuming you don't support another settler, and ignoring food caravans.) So control your settler improvements so that when your done improving a city's squares you have an even number of food. Then when it grows to its maximum size there should be 0 extra food, and it will stabilize at that size.

Thank you for the very helpful bit of advice. I'm going to have to print it out and set it in front of me when I'm playing.

Jim W

[East Street Trader]

Very nice point, Dino. And not an idea I've seen before.

Blaupanzer. What you can do is start a settler mining but then found on that square before the work is complete. When the mine appears it stays there.

You have to take a view as to whether this is a legitimate ploy or a programming glitch.

I only fairly rarely found mountain eyries so my own experience is limited to hills. I'd expect it to be the same on mountains though.

The extra shield improves the city square further when railroads come along.