Hello I have a questions that is half fact half opinion?
Basically I'm trying to get the most out of my empire as a builder type.

Firstly (Fact Based), I haven't seen a thread but I'm sure some one knows. What's the max # of cities you can build per/map size---Per Diff lvl before corruction starts kicking in? Mainly for Republic and Democracy but if there a chart out there that would be great?

Secondly (Opinion Based), is it worth building past the optimum # of cities? and how much so before corruption ruins the empire?

I'd appreciate any input from the Civ 3 Guru's out there.

Thanks

There is some great info out there. I believe if you check the FAQ in the General forum, that you can do a search on corruption and will find links to a really good thread analyzing the equations behind it, as well as a link to the Corruption Calculator, which can be used to see just what you're wondering - at what point does corruption start to get bad, is it worth it to add more cities past the optimal number, etc... The utility allows you to see the effects of number of cities, distance to capital, whether or not there is a courthouse or police station, etc...

Optimal Number of Cities by Map Size

Tiny = 12
Small = 14
Standard = 16
Large = 24
Huge = 32

For a detailed explanation of corruption and a link to a corruption calculator go to: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=19922

32 cities for a hugh map? Oh crap! I always have close to a hundred. No wonder my cities sucked.

Oh wait. Most of you out there have a lot more than that after conquering and everything right? right?

Sure you can end up with a lot more than the OCN, but most of them will be totally corrupt. If you want to build in them, you can do it a couple of ways. Rush them - that's what the treasury's for. And you can convert your obsolete units to shields in those cities. I like to think of it as "upgrading my cavalry" to libraries. Cities half way around the world from your core aren't going to be productive, but they can contribute to your culture and histograph score.

You definitely want to build way past the optimal number of cities.

More cities = more territory = more citizens = fewer barbarians. It also means territory other AI civs can't use. So you definitely want cities, even if it's your 200th and is 95% corrupt (the max).

But even for "real" cities with some production value, you can build up to about 2x the optimal number, assuming that you have an FP, you're in democracy, and you build courthouses and police stations.

You will have even more productive cities if you are commercial or have your cities in WLTKD.

And soon you'll be able to make some of your citizens policemen to reduce corruption :) (in Conquests)

Follow that link above to Alexman's thread. I believe it's from there that there is a link to the corruption calculator. Play with it... it's great! You can see how corrupt your 45th city will be on an emperor game before you build a police station, for example.

Repeating the info about Optimal Number of Cities by Map Size

Tiny = 12
Small = 14
Standard = 16
Large = 24
Huge = 32

A player can double that number with a well-centered Forbidden Palace. This is one key to the game. If a player is a pure builder, building the FP near the capital and then abandoning the original capital to get a free palace jump is one way to go. Be careful about doing this. The new capital formula is based on population of natives (not captured) citizens and the number of friendly cities within an eight tile radius. There was a thread about the free place jump, but I don't have the link handy.

A militarist player usually uses the first leader to build the Forbidden Palace, or move the palace (after one is built near the original capital). Establishing the second core is important for both builders and warmonger.

Other useful ways to deal with corruption are to play a commercial civ, build courthouses, police stations and get cities to we-love-the-king day.

Using all of these techniques and Democracy (the lowest corruption government), plus a well-centered palace and Forbidden Palace, the number of productive cities can be quite large--well over double the OCN number. Keep in mind that OCN goes down when playing on higher difficulty levels, so it is ever more important to learn these techniques.
+ Bill

Only when you are communist should we worry about your number of cities, IMO.