City Council: City Placement/Spacing

[UnOrthOdOx]

OK, it's time to get this going.

With the game underway, it's time to discuss city placement and spacing. I will keep an updated map here, once we know our surroundings a bit better as well.

Generally, in most my games, I prefer 3-tile spacing for my core at the start of the game. However, this being Diety, we may need to go a bit closer to begin with by building temporary 'suburbs'.

I know there are many who dislike overlap, and I was one of them some time ago, I intend for the DM to place cities according to the will of the people, so we need to discuss both the advantages of placement as well as ways to convince the public at large. Once more map is revealed, a discussion on specific locales will take place in this thread as well.

References:
http://www.apolyton.net/forums/showt...threadid=78486 Good visuals to help see the different spacing

http://www.apolyton.net/forums/showt...threadid=77451 Very good and detailed debate on the topic, some visuals, mostly screenshots

[Inverse Icarus]

i'm not the domestic minister, and with good reason.

build them the way that gets me swordsmen

[Octavian X]

I think we can all agree that, with a packed world on a deity game, initially a tight build would be best for us, so as to minimize corruption and maximize production for a smaller space.

[UnOrthOdOx]

Here is a current map. We will have a settler in 11 turns, barring and GOOD luck with huts...we had to empties so far

[Epistax]

As far as being able to support a city, there are plenty of good spots on that map. Considering that we want to be dense, and don't want to miss out on a resource...

The jungle SE SE SE S of our city would have access to fish, and would have two mountains under its radius. It would have many tiles connected by river. However it looks like production would be scarce and it would end up sharing two tiles with our initial city. Still, it looks like it's this, or good-bye fishies.

It's entirely possible that any one/number of those mountains will have important resources, not sure how to tackle it.

[Inverse Icarus]

theres been no real consensus on city spacing.

personally, i'm against ICS on grounds of homosexuality, and i would advise expanding towards our enemies.

[UnOrthOdOx]

Here is my original thoughts on city locations around the core.

A3 has the advantage of being able to share units with the capitol in both directions, where A1 and 2 could only recieve units from the capitol in one turn due to the river. Depending on what lies behind the darkness, I would suggest A2 as the best site, and my first choice for the first city out.

B 1 has the advantage of eventually gaining both bonus grasslands, one to it's north, and one to the south. B2 gains the grass south immediately and may not give anything in terms of long term developement depending on what the darkness holds. One of these I would like for the second/third city out if possible.

C is supposed to be on the shore, kinda unclear on that map, sorry, I need some graphical help. This is lower on my priority list as a city.

D1 has the advantage of sharing a bonus grass with the capitol and the ability to share units. D2 may be a better long term choice, and could possibly gain the bonus grass north, but misses out on the fish. I would take D1 as the second/third city out, personally.

E 1 shares a bonus grass with the capitol, and could share units with both the capitol and D1 with proper roads. E 2 will have a port, though. I like E1 as the third/fourth city out, personally.

Thoughts? Contentions? Suggestions? Heart attacks at being too close/far?

[Epistax]

Originally posted by UnOrthOdOx
D2 may be a better long term choice, and could possibly gain the bonus grass north, but misses out on the fish.

The fish is W, SW of D2, so unless I have an incorrect view on the city radius, the fish is in D2's range.

[Donegeal]

We are the Vikings. We are a seafaring Militaristic civ. We need to maximize our strengths. A tight city build (with "Camps" as opposed to "Cities" that build no cultural and can be disbanned once we grow) with emphsis on production, not food, is what is needed. Building in the direction of the Ottomans is also desirable. Site C, or one SE of C for the extra commerce, would be a great start. Another one 3 NW of Asgard would be a great location. These three cities would put almost all the "Where Is It" Forest and River to excellent use. A fourth city, If possible as mentioned in my WAR Party thread, would be great at D1.

[joncnunn]

Much as I dislike tight city spacing, with 24 civs in the game, we will need this, at least until we get into areas other civs initally founded the cities.

We also need to have some coastal cities with productive shields so that we can produce the Galleys to transport our Berserkers.

[Octavian X]

It looks good, unorthodox. The cities are about as close as we want them.

[Epistax]

I'm personally used to large cities with specializations, but I agree lots of little ones are needed.

My suggestions on D2 are long-run based, as in the short run, we'll need production rather than trade and research.

The question isn't which of those choices we will do, but which first. Assuming short run, the B's have the highest production potential (unless I am reading a forest as a jungle somewhere). Of the two offered I like B2 more because it has an extra production square we are aware of.

I would want an A afterwards to increase our Area / Border ratio. Assuming we will build in both a D and E, I would go with E before D as it will tighten our border barrier between the two bodies of water.


I am also big on keeping a high ratio of Land Area to Border, so any cities that don't increase border (push it out to sea) probably wont be defensive liabilities. Then again that's just me.

[GodKing]

I like a2.
I would move c one to the southwest so it is at the mouth of the river.
D1 is good.
B3 should be due north of B2 - that makes lots of woods available and closer to water for future irrigation.
E2 I like.
F can go where Thor is by the lake and the river.
G should be somewhere in the hills by b & c
I wonder what else is to our north.
Any goodie huts discovered?

[MrWhereItsAt]

Apart from the two popped nothing ones, there are no others yet.

[GhengisFarbâ„¢]

Little cities are fine, but we need to space them out first to claim the area then build them in between our cities once the land is all taken up.

Otherwise we could end up with 5 cramped cities and the AI civs could have 5 well spaced cities and then fill in the gaps later.