What is the 'optimum' amount of cities?

[ShredZ]

I think this is the last question I can think of to ask, I hear ppl mention that on a medium map you should have XX number of cities. Well, what happens if you go over that, or stay under? Is it just a general number of cities to help you understand the distance of corruption/waste?

[alexman]

Here we go again

*alexman puts on corruption-expert hat

The optimum city number (OCN) is what chiefly determines your corruption due to number of cities. It's not a hard limit. You can have many more cities than the OCN, and still have a productive empire. What matters more is the modified OCN. That is not a hard limit either, but the penalty for adding an extra city after you have already exceeded the modified OCN is twice what it would have been if you were below the modified OCN.

For more info like this, check out the corruption FAQ

*alexman takes off corruption-expert hat, and becomes his usual clueless self

[Hagbart]

The optimum city number rises when you play on larger maps.

[woody]

The optimum number of cities is as many as you can build! Extra cities don't negatively impact you empire. They always add at least 1 extra resource, 1 extra gold, and grow pop. Under some forms of government, they allow you to support more free units, and you can use the pop to produce things.

[alexman]

Originally posted by woody
Extra cities don't negatively impact you empire. They always add at least 1 extra resource, 1 extra gold, and grow pop. Under some forms of government, they allow you to support more free units, and you can use the pop to produce things.

True, unless:
1) You are in communism, or
2) The new cities are closer to your palace (or FP) than already existing, productive ones.

[trickey]

more cities usually arnt bad at all. unless you are just placing them to up your score. then, you can usually run into some nasty situations.