Noob question - Cities - How Close

How close should you found cities to each other?

Should the fat crosses overlap at all? Or should you try and move far enough away so that they touch? Or further?

Now, I know there's a lot of "It depends"... But in general, what's the best strategy??

When cities are close - so that the workable areas overlap... How does the "system" determine which cities work the tiles?

Also, Does that limit the growth of the cities?

I think the best strategy is to concentrate on obtaining resources; when you consider maintenance costs, it makes sense to have some overlapping, plus your cities probably won't use all their tiles until the industrial times.

the last answer was a good one..

As a rule I usually have 4 clear tiles between cities. That sufficient room for both cities to make use of all the squares

but sometimes the map suggests obvious places to build cities to capture rare resources or to utilise natural defences and that means cities will sometimes overlap.

I just answered this in another thread:

JackOfClubs said:

There is a rule of thumb that if you space your early cities 3 tiles in one direction and 4 in the perpendicular direction, they will interlock perfectly. So, for instance, if you go 3 N and 4 E, the "missing corners" of the fat crosses will interlock. As noted above, however, it is wise to pay more attention to resources and workable tiles rather than worry too much about city distances. I usually use the 3:4 rule to find the "potential" site and then examine the squares around int for the "optimal" site. I generally don't want to overlap more than 3 tiles or leave a gap more than 2, but even these rules can be broken if there is a really good reason.

Click to expand...

BrantleyL1 said:

How close should you found cities to each other?

Click to expand...

As close as you need to because... it depends

You can have overlap, but try to minimize it as much as is reasonable. Don't sacrifice a resource in one tile just to avoid overlap in another however.

BrantleyL1 said:

When cities are close - so that the workable areas overlap... How does the "system" determine which cities work the tiles?

Click to expand...

Whichever city works it first, gets it. You can of course override that and give it to the other city. You can even flip-flop a tile back and forth between them at need.

Also consider the tiles your city will have for its own. If they're enough to feed the city to size 20 then don't worry about the overlap. If they're not enough to feed it to 20, then consider moving the city if at all possible.

Remember "3x4" (or 4x3). Counting from your existing city count three tiles "left" or "right" and then four tiles "up" or "down". (Or count 4 tiles over, 3 up or down) Either way will put you at exactly the right spot to smoosh two cities as close together without overlap - but don't be ruled by it. If you need overlap to secure a resource then by all means, do it.

The one thing I will not do is have overlap so tight that one cities starting 8 surrounding tiles overlap any of another cities tiles. That is way too close and you're better off just letting your culture take those tiles than saddling yourself with one cripplingly small city.