Ghpstage
Deity
Bare in mind its not an absolute guarantee, if you've built many wonders before, or waited too long to run scientists after building one you won't get any, but 2 scientists in a wonderless city will pop a GScientist after 17 turns on normal speed unless something beats them to it."What context were the 200+ cities comments you have seen been brought up in?" Malganis - post 12.
"You can guarantee a GS as your first Great Person, and get it very early, by simply running 2 scientists in a city till one pops up."
Thanks Ghstage - I found that quite insightful as I didn't know this.
Its difficult to give precision on this, especially in practical terms where cities don't just fall into the single category of 'commerce' or 'production etc city. But I try to keep a surplus of at least +3 food while growing a cottage city, preferably more if practical. An important note if your not already aware is that citizens working in a city eat 2 per turn so the net food of a tile is its yield - 2 meaning the common grassland tile is food neutral and doesn't slow growth making them perfect candidates for cottaging, though floodplains are better.However, please explain this ".. enough food to grow respectably .. ".
Plains on the other hand have a net -1 which is why they are considered weak tiles, I tend to avoid working them in any real number until at least Guilds, but more often Chemistry or Biology where stronger improvements can make them profitable. The sole exception however is in a Bureaucracy cottage capital when all better tiles are already in use, then I will consider cottaging a plains tile as its yield will be its base commerce +50%!