Tiles used by adjacent city

In civ 2 it was pretty clear from the city screen just which overlapping tiles were being used by another near city, however, having played civ 4 twice now, I have found it frustrating that when I allocate a tile for use by a citizen, I have unwittingly removed a tile already in use by another city nearby. I am sure that there must be a setting that allows me to see tiles used by city 2, while I am in the city 1 screen, but I cannot see how to do it.

The tiles available to the city are brighter than the tiles not available--whether they're outside the BFC or being used by another city. It's subtle, but visible.

Not really. I had a tile another city was using and it was darker. But when I went into the the other city and switched to a different tile, and went back to the original city, it was still dark. It wasn't until a selected it again in the original city that it got bright again. It can be confusing and is not as straightforward as it was in 2.

The darkness and brightness of a shared tile in the city screen indicates whether or not the tile is allocated to the city, not whether or not the city is using it. You allocate a shared tile to a city by clicking on it in the city screen. The city will then begin using it immediately and if the other city was using it, the other city will start using a different tile. You can then choose to have the city keep the allocation for later and use a different tile, if you want to, by the usual tile clicking method for switching tiles within a city screen. It is wise to check the other city to see if you like the tile use distribution after changing which city the tile is allocated to, unless you already know that the switched tile was not in use in the other city.

That's the point the original OP is trying to make. In civ II when you looked in the city screen you could tell the other city was working a tile. He was asking if you could tell in IV and the answer is no.

The graphic on the tile is slightly different depending on whether the tile is being worked or not. For example, a worked farm has more green fields and no brown fields. This is often very subtle and is even harder to spot when the tile is dimmed in the city details screen due to being assigned to another city.

I agree that there should be a much more obvious indication in the city details screen.

Also, I hate to nitpick but my OCD is kicking off. Clicking once on dimmed tile in the city details screen reassigns it to that city but the city does not begin using it immediately unless city governor is enabled and he/she decides it should be worked.

Yes, you are correct, I don't use the city governor so it must be clicked twice.
I'll have to look at that "subtle" difference. I've never noticed it before, but in all honesty, I never looked. I always assumed it was the darkness that was the indicator. Of course the point being it shouldn't be that subtle.
In II, you could easily tell.
Learn something new, every day. You gotta love this game.

Thanks for the replies everyone. At least I can stop searching around for an option toggle/keyboard shortcut which does not exist. I'll too have a look for those subtle shading characteristics, or perhaps more likely just space my cities out to save my eyesight for now.

I think you can kinda tell whether another city is using the tile, if it's grayed out and also 'active' although I can't remember whether worked tiles still show up as such in the city screen (to be clear I'm talking about the animations that indicate a tile is being worked). You of course can't tell which city is working the tile though it should usually be obvious since you can't build cities that close together.

Yes, in combination of seeing it grayed in the city screen and then seeing the animation you can infer that that another city is working that square. (obvious once someone points it out to you )

But again, it was blatantly obvious in II that another city was working it because there was a circle around it in the city screen.

rah said:

Yes, in combination of seeing it grayed in the city screen and then seeing the animation you can infer that that another city is working that square. (obvious once someone points it out to you )

But again, it was blatantly obvious in II that another city was working it because there was a circle around it in the city screen.

Click to expand...

My son often accuses software companies of finding bugs and saying "too hard to fix, let's call it a feature." I think in this case it's the opposite. The circle seems like a good thing that is now "missing," but I think it was really just made obsolete by "cool graphics that show if a tile is being worked or not."

That said, working mines and lumber mills are obvious. Squares being fished are really obvious. Undeveloped squares being worked have the little hut, and farm fields change color when worked. But, can anyone explain how to tell a working cottage/village/town from one that isn't being worked?

Hovering over it it will tell you how many turns to the next bump or that it needs to be worked.