Newbie question

[twocan7]

I've played civ II, III, and IV for quite a while but I have been thing about something. How close do you cities need to be or does it matter. I'm starting to play on noble but I think I might be putting my cities to close. Do the cities only work the Fat Cross? I usually put the Fat crosses about a tile apart. Of course if I need to move a little to get a resource then I will. good or bad idea?

[xanadux]

You don't want a lot of overlap of Fat Crosses, but some overlap is fine, and occassionally a lot is ok. The biggest thing is to make sure cities have enough food to grow, and have useful terrain. Sometimes founding a city with a pretty big gap between cities is good. In the earlier Civs, just working the most land was the biggest priority. In CivIV, having several strong cities is.

[madscientist]

Originally Posted by twocan7

I've played civ II, III, and IV for quite a while but I have been thing about something. How close do you cities need to be or does it matter. I'm starting to play on noble but I think I might be putting my cities to close. Do the cities only work the Fat Cross? I usually put the Fat crosses about a tile apart. Of course if I need to move a little to get a resource then I will. good or bad idea?

I am speaking for CIV IV only.

Each city has a BFC, which is a total of 20 workable tiles. If two cities are three tiles from each other there will be tile overlap which simply means both cities cannot work 20 tiles each (say only 37 combined tiles). If they are 4 tiles apart (I think that's right) they each can work 20 each, total of 40.

There are plus and minuses for this. Obviously you want to work maximum tiles, but think like access to fresh water, cutting an AI off, resource etc... play into it. Also say your second city is working a river commerce tile most of the game which is shared with the capital, you can turn that tile off to the capital once it is a town rather than wasting a workable tile from the usually more valuable capital.

I usually play the map and do not warry so much about city spacing.

[SenhorDaGuerra]

everything is situational. sometimes, usually on smaller maps, it is far better to have your cities BFC overlap because of the limited space available. on larger maps, i try to overlap as little as possible.

and yes, the city can ONLY work the fat cross.

i dont usually mind overlapping a few tiles as long as i can forsee a benefit from doing so, but many player dont like to overlap at all. post some screenies and people will be able to comment objectively on your city placement.

happy gaming!

[twocan7]

No internet at home. I only use internet at work
Can't post pictures.

[CharlieM]

I've noticed the AI puts their cities a LOT closer together than I would ..... but that's the AI.

On the other hand, I think I'm putting mine too far apart ... I've been leaving three or four (or even more) non-worked (non-BFC) tiles between my BFC's. And then I grab lots of land and feel great about THAT, but: 1) my maintenance costs go up; 2) it's hard to defend that much land; and 3) I notice mid-game that I could have built more cities and increased my production.

And then I beat myself over the head for leaving too much space between my cities.

I agree with comments above, it depends on the map and other things. I play pretty easy settings (Warlord, standard settings, Pangea or Terra) and I usually have plenty of room to settle in.

[Gooblah]

The Tile Manager in the City Screen (where you assign which tiles the city works) controls 20 tiles, excluding the city. These 20 tiles (The original culture radius around the newly settled city, plus the first expansion) are the Fat Cross. If two city's fat crosses overlap, (as far as I know) the first city's culture that existed there keeps the overlapping tiles.

[Refar]

You can reassign those between your cities as you like.

The city governor will not take overlaping tiles if they are used by the other city, but once you assigned it yourself, he will manage those as well.

[KMadCandy]

Originally Posted by Gooblah

If two city's fat crosses overlap, (as far as I know) the first city's culture that existed there keeps the overlapping tiles.

aha! i can help you! edit: or refar can beat me to it. but i explained how more specifically, so maybe that counts a bit *giggle*.

if you want to swap ownership of a shared tile, go to the city not currently using the tile. click on the tile, it'll be greyed out. that assigns it here! you don't have to work it yet, if you do, make sure you click it again to put somebody on it, or that the governor has assigned someone to it if you use the governor. don't forget to go back to the city that used to use it, and be sure those people are now working the right tiles, too .

i don't know how long i'd been playing before i found out about that one. too long! it's very useful.

[CharlieM]

This is great information!

This forum rocks!