Really, I'm at a lost. I hate plains and I'm never sure what exactly I should do with them when I have them.

Well, I ignore them until I get the workshop, for the most part. Then they can be really great, depending on your civics. But for early develpment, pretty much everything but plains (or unworkable tiles) are going to be a better focus for improvement.

I s'pose, I'm mainly asking since I think I'm going to have to found a city with a lot of plains tiles out of neccesity. Bleh, I'll probably just workshop them and forget about it until they become more useful.

If they are between me and an enemy, i put roads on them alot.

Sometimes I move in to chop them also.

do you have food surplus? if so, cottaging is just about viable depending on the food levels. if it just an all plains city, farm is you best bet. it will be rubbish until biology but at least it will grow and produce some average production.

Thanks for the responses. I kind of had the same ideas, I was wondering if I was missing some obvious yet drastic way to improve them.

Thanky.

Ignore them, mostly. If food surplus, cottages, else, dont settle them unless absolutely necesary (claiming vital resource or blocking AI). Can be backfilled post-biology