City spacing

[aoav160]

I'm a n00b to Civ and was curious as to what is the best distance to space your cities?

[fanes7]

More space is more good

[aoav160]

Thanks, but do you have an actual number? I noticed the AI has them pretty close.

[vmxa1]

There are many things to consider when using spacing for cities. In general the 19 size works well at levels of Monarch or lower. Tighter spacing use often a better plan above that level.
If you want to war or build has an impact. If you want to war you may go with closer spacing to get more cities sooner and defend them easier. It also lets you crank out units sooner. If you want to make temp cities to create troops from and later disband. I mean it is a complex subject.
If in doubt, go with CxxxC. This can handle most maps and most levels.

[badams52]

As you are new let me give you 3 excellent links in decreasing order of importatnce. THe first link goes over to CFC which produced ring placement.

Ring Placement

City Replacement Redux (for the third time)

Appropriate City Placement

[badams52]

Originally posted by aoav160
Thanks, but do you have an actual number? I noticed the AI has them pretty close.

Actually, compared to many advanced players who win at high levels, the AI spaces it's cities father away.

[aoav160]

Thanks!

[Theseus]

I would recommend pretty tight spacing until you have a good handle on things.

3-tile, or CxxC, adjusted for terrain.

I know that feels too close, but think about it: for much of the early game (which is where you set up to win or lose), this will get you the most optimum usage of your best tiles.

[Gufnork]

I tend to build cities exactly three spaces apart. Makes your defense more flexible in the early game, reinforcements are never more than one turn away.

[fanes7]

It takes me about half an hour, :-)

You can look, the black is your capital,

And red is your city nearby.

And green is "both-use" block.

You can easiely expand by this.

[Theseus]

fanes7' example is of what we call 4-tile and 5-tile placement.

It is fine, but I again recommend 3-tile placement (stretching to 4-tile according to terrain) for a newer player.

Remember, the key is to maximize turn-by-turn use of your best tiles.

[Arrian]

Ok, I'm just reading the "Ring" placement thing for the first time. I kinda wondered what you guys were talking about...

It almost feels like an exploit to me. But, when faced with geographical constraints, plus my tendency to build a FP close to home & rush a palace move later, it actually doesn't sound like a good idea for me.

-Arrian

[alexman]

Arrian, I usually do the same as you with the FP, but this city placement is worth it, even if it's just for the early-game boost.

And the actual pattern is not as restricting as you may think, especially since distances are rounded down to the lowest integer number.

[Arrian]

So 2 and 2.5 are considered the same?

-Arrian

[Arrian]

It would also conflict with placing cities to take advantage of rivers, coast, defensive considerations (building on a hill, for instance, or bonus tiles... wouldn't it?

Hmm... I guess I should have a good look at the map next time I load up a game.

It still kinda smacks of exploit, in that you are essentially deliberately "tricking" the game into thinking all cities founded at a certain distance are one city (for corruption purposes).

-Arrian