How much area does a single tile cover in Civ?

civ54lyfe · Jun 24, 2013

similar to a recent post (i didn't want to hijack it), has anyone worked out the square miles (or hectares, kilometers, w/e unit you like) that a single tile covers? and does that area change with map size? i suppose counting the tiles, dividing the surface area of the Earth by that number would yield an answer.

in my mind i've always considered a tile to be roughly the same area of a typical suburban metro area of ~80,000 people. or perhaps 4 giant stadiums in square formation or something.

kingchris20 · Jun 24, 2013

That's something I'd like to know as well. I kinda feel like it would change based on the map size, but the fact that the map sizes change while the hex sizes do not makes me think that the hex is a standard Unit of measure.........but what size does it represent?

ptoss1 · Jun 24, 2013

It's a game.

Petiscator · Jun 24, 2013

Well... if you check the demographics ingame, you'll see how big is your empire in SQUARE KM (or was it miles? I think it was KM). So, you start the game with 7 tiles (1 tile hex grid + the tile of your capital city). Checking the demographics to see the area and dividing it by 7 will probably get you an answer. IIRC, you start with 21.000 km², but I might be very mistaken. It should lead to 3.000km² per tile.

You should really confirm this, though

Syailendra · Jun 25, 2013

its huge! You can fit more than 5 real life metropolis in one standard hex.

InsanelyApple · Jun 25, 2013

Syailendra said:
its huge! You can fit more than 5 real life metropolis in one standard hex.

It's a game ... You can think of cities as regions/counties/districts if you'd like.

Wodan · Jun 25, 2013

Each tile is generally about 3/4" across, unless you zoom way in or hold a magnifying glass up to the screen.

The formula for the area of a regular hexagon is sqrt(3)/2*w^2. Using w=.75", that gives an area of almost exactly 1/2 square inches.

otaman1 · Jun 25, 2013

Petiscator said:
Well... if you check the demographics ingame, you'll see how big is your empire in SQUARE KM (or was it miles? I think it was KM). So, you start the game with 7 tiles (1 tile hex grid + the tile of your capital city). Checking the demographics to see the area and dividing it by 7 will probably get you an answer. IIRC, you start with 21.000 km², but I might be very mistaken. It should lead to 3.000km² per tile.

You should really confirm this, though

So does this mean that one hex is bigger than Luxembourg by 413.6 km²?

Tsoate · Jun 25, 2013

I think the unit is impossible to relate to a real world unit.

scheva007 · Jun 25, 2013

Tsoate said:
I think the unit is impossible to relate to a real world unit.

Offcours not. We just have to find a unit that both represents the size of a city as well as a small cavalry squad.....

IAmOzymandias · Jun 25, 2013

don't forget that it can take anywhere from about hundreds of years to 2 years for one man with a shovel to build a road across one, depending on what turn it is.

thegingerninja · Jun 25, 2013

Think of the giant cows...

SYKOJAK · Jun 26, 2013

Since the size of the earth is a relative constant (approximately 25,000 miles around at the equator.)
It will depend on the map size as to how much space each hex represents in game. A larger map has more
hexes so the size of each hex decreases accordingly.

Unless of course, a smaller map actually means a smaller selection of the planets surface to play on. Which,
in turn, means the hexes are the same size.

civ54lyfe · Jun 26, 2013

i suppose next time that i start a new game, i'll try to check infoaddict, or any other statistic that would possibly give me empire size (hopefully in any dimension of area) and then i guess that's what the game considers a tile to be.

kingchris20 · Jun 26, 2013

Wodan said:
Each tile is generally about 3/4" across, unless you zoom way in or hold a magnifying glass up to the screen.

The formula for the area of a regular hexagon is sqrt(3)/2*w^2. Using w=.75", that gives an area of almost exactly 1/2 square inches.

you win

Seabastian Civ · Jun 27, 2013

12 square miles in Ancient/Classical eras, 14 in Renaissance/Industrial, 24 in Modern and later.

Ryoga · Jun 27, 2013

Just checked under several conditions (tiny and huge maps, ancient and information eras) the size of a square is always 10000 square Km

That means that the side of each hexagon is roughly 62 Km. and the length between opposite corners is 124 km.

That's certainly a lot more than I originally thought...

civ54lyfe · Jun 27, 2013

Wodan · Jun 27, 2013

Killlbray said:
Just checked under several conditions (tiny and huge maps, ancient and information eras) the size of a square is always 10000 square Km

That means that the side of each hexagon is roughly 62 Km. and the length between opposite corners is 124 km.

Well that would mean that the diameter of the planet actually changes based on the size of the map!

/too obscure?

SYKOJAK · Jun 29, 2013

Wodan said:
Well that would mean that the diameter of the planet actually changes based on the size of the map!

/too obscure?

Correct! Or.... smaller maps could mean a smaller selection of the planet's surface?! Hense, a huge map is the entire surface. But a standard map could be Continent size. I will let the real mathematicians do their magic, to find the real surface area of each map size type.

How much area does a single tile cover in Civ?

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