I have played several games now where i start near a long or semi long river(4+ cities all connected by the river). And it is amazing how much difference it makes to your commerce both through connecting cities for trade routes faster and by giving all other titles +1 commerce(or sometimes +2 with financial if it already have a commerce, like cottage, some pastures etc). I think this feature of the game is more effecting the game than what sort of food or other resources you have. Of course gold gems etc are nice but river is far better imo.

I agree a long river where you can plant 2 or more cities is one of the best things in the game, providing you do not have to chop out alot of jungle.

Par tof the charm of the game is playing with different terrain, which is why I always have randon terrain on (rocky, arid, cold, temperate, tropical).

Don't forget the awesome Levee that can sometimes more than double a city's production capacity if there's enough river tiles around.

I've found that if my first three cities are on the same river, I can get a huge lead early on, not only because of commerce, but because my workers don't need to be working on roads to connect them.

Also, this may just be imagination, but it seems to me that religions spread better along rivers.

Rivers are also non-pillagable trade routes. That's one reason why religions tend to spread more.

Floodplains are the best feature.

Floodplains are just extra food. Getting an irrigated corn is better than floodplains.. You can't have floodplains without river anyways... I would rather have a long river without floodplains than a short one(for one city) with plenty of floodplains.

A hill with iron on it is the best terrain.

Having iron or not certainly haven't mattered as much in my games as the boost that river gives. Iron on grassland is better than iron in hills anyways, but that is beside the point. Of course having metals or not is very determinal to what you can do with your game(mostly attacking) however it doesn't have anywhere near the same impact on your research as a river. By the time you exit the BC stages a river can easily give 20+ commerce. You can do find without high hammer titles as you can always whip, there is however nothing that can replace the insane boost a river gives.

Floodplains are the superior overlay, I agree with DaveMcW.

Floodplains are just extra food. Getting an irrigated corn is better than floodplains.. You can't have floodplains without river anyways... I would rather have a long river without floodplains than a short one(for one city) with plenty of floodplains.

But have you ever gotten 7 irrigated corn tiles in a single city radius? Assuming the surrounding terrain is similar, I would definitely prefer a short river with lots of floodplains to a long river without any.

Anyhow, extra food translates to extra commerce, either via specialists or extra workable tiles, at a rate far greater than 1c:1f. Thus a floodplain, which gives +3f (or +1f at the minimum, if you assume the alternative is grassland and not desert), is worth more than the +1c from an extra river segment.

A hill with iron on it is the best terrain.

Nah, for early game, green grass with copper on it is the best terrain--a self-sufficient miner the minute you get bronze-working!

floodplains are superior and always come with rivers as well.

I vote for tundra.

I'm a big fan of the underwater forested coastal towns (with the river alongside it). Sure, forested Fish are nice with the fishing boats, but it's a real pleasure to come home every evening to a zillion commerce from that one tile.

Plus, your city gets to have the Harbor and Custom House.

I'm a big fan of the underwater forested coastal towns (with the river alongside it). Sure, forested Fish are nice with the fishing boats, but it's a real pleasure to come home every evening to a zillion commerce from that one tile.



You only get the bonus from seaweed with Sid's Sushi, plus the underwater forest is destroyed when the town is built AFAIK.

But seriously I'd have to go with the floodplains being the best.

Rivers provide :traderoute: and :commerce: in addition to connecting cities and spreading :religion:, and are the only terrain that can survive Global Warming. Floodplains will dissapear, but watermilled rivers will provide the :food: and :hammers: to keep your civ going even when the entire world is desert.

I would take a Gold Mine anyday. Are you kidding? +1 happiness to all cities- priceless. +6 commerce, price... well okay, priced at +6 commerce.

Now, a Rivered Gold Mine... that's a thing of beauty, well worth sacrificing dozens upon dozens of Axemen for.

Cheers,

Dai

The best thing about river, is there is probably more of it close by (infact, you can generally tell in what direction too).

An extra commerce on each square is certainly useful, but the best tile improvement? I think that's going a bit far. I'd rather have grassland with cows or a gold mine.

You only get the bonus from seaweed with Sid's Sushi, plus the underwater forest is destroyed when the town is built AFAIK.

But seriously I'd have to go with the floodplains being the best.

If I'm going to place a forest underwater on a coastal tile (with a river running through the sea instead of just to it), then I'm not going to have a big problem with placing a town (or even just cottage) on the tile with worldbuilder too.

The iron on a hill can be railroaded for an extra hammer boost.

So there!

The best terrain feature is the shape of the land itself, for exapmle a nice peninsula to settle without competition.

Floodplains are the best feature.

by far.... especially in the capital